Good time to upgrade on a budget?

Cutshaw

Cutshaw

Cutshaw

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14 Nov 2007
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I'm usually operating on a fairly tight budget, and my present machine is really starting to struggle, but I can live a month or two with it. A friend said that RAM was pretty cheap just now and it would be a good idea to bite the bullet.

I was thinking of picking up one of the OcUK gamer bundles and leaving the new GPU till a later date. Graphics only drop in price so I figured that would be a safe bet.
I'm looking at spending a absolute max of £300 on cpu/ram/mobo. Would this be a good idea? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-038-OK&groupid=701&catid=339&subcat=944

or should I just wait the month or so and get it all together?
 
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail
Asus P5K Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-6400C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ)

Total : £270.51 (inc del)

I would go for that, unless you think your going to be using quad core, I think the extra speed would help more but it really depends what your going to be using your PC for. If you dont want 4GB of ram you could knock off another £30.
 
I'd go for this:-

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £20.49
(£24.08) £20.49
(£24.08)

OcUK Value IP35 Pro Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)

Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £45.99
(£54.04) £45.99
(£54.04)

OcUK GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £109.99
(£129.24) £109.99
(£129.24)

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Total : £305.97

Why wait for the graphics, when it is the part that will make the biggest difference? ;)
 
I use my machine for gaming mostly, actually, aside from the usuall net stuff, downloading, browsing, chatting, that's all I use it for.


Some really interesting options there.

4gb of ram sounds fantastic. I'm not really up to speed(pardon the pun) on the Intel naming of models, though. Are the quads always faster than the duo cores, regardless of following numbers. Would this cpu handle something like Crysis and the games coming out for the next handful of months no problem?
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail
Asus P5K Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-6400C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ)

Total : £270.51 (inc del)

I would go for that, unless you think your going to be using quad core, I think the extra speed would help more but it really depends what your going to be using your PC for. If you dont want 4GB of ram you could knock off another £30.
Click to expand...


I really had no idea you can make money go this far. :) But, I was going to wait on the graphics just to see what happened pricewise in the coming months. I'm not really looking to upgrade again for a while.
I'd go for this:-

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £20.49
(£24.08) £20.49
(£24.08)

OcUK Value IP35 Pro Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)

Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £45.99
(£54.04) £45.99
(£54.04)

OcUK GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £109.99
(£129.24) £109.99
(£129.24)

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Total : £305.97

Why wait for the graphics, when it is the part that will make the biggest difference?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
fobose said:
I would go for that, unless you think your going to be using quad core, I think the extra speed would help more but it really depends what your going to be using your PC for. If you dont want 4GB of ram you could knock off another £30.
Click to expand...


Sorry, I didn't read you right. I had a look into and I think you are right about the quad idea, I don't think I need quad core, and the extra speed would be a better idea.
 
Guys, could you cast a glance over this. I've been trying to bump things up and get closer to my £300 mark, and I overshot by a bit. Can anyone see any problems with compatibility or general waste of cash?

Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail (£123.36)

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (£93.99)

Asus P5KC Combo Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard (£85.76)

With shipping it's £312.81

I've been reading around on the forums, this bundle and a single high end GPU, like a gtx should be fine on a HX520?
 
Cutshaw said:
Guys, could you cast a glance over this. I've been trying to bump things up and get closer to my £300 mark, and I overshot by a bit. Can anyone see any problems with compatibility or general waste of cash?

Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail (£123.36)

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (£93.99)

Asus P5KC Combo Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard (£85.76)

With shipping it's £312.81

I've been reading around on the forums, this bundle and a single high end GPU, like a gtx should be fine on a HX520?
Click to expand...



Anyone have an opinion on this? I'm thinking about getting it tomorrow. I was just hoping for a second opinion before I take the plunge.
 
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