HELP ME - Cheapest way to get PCI-E??

dougieboy · 17 Mar 2008 at 08:52

Hi there. I want a new system, will have to get a PCI-E sooner or later. Just wondered what the cheapest way of improving my system below is, and more importantly: Will the cheapest PCI-E system be much better than what I have below?

Was thinking of a system based on ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 512MB for the GPU and Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz for the CPU. Have never had a Intel system before....

THIS IS MY CURRENT SPEC
Abit NF8 nForce3 (Socket 754) Motherboard (MB-064-AB)
AMD Athlon 64 3000 Newcastle 130nm (Socket 754)
Arctic Cooling Silencer 64 Ultra CPU Cooler (Socket 754)
Arctic Cooling T2 Silentium Silent Midi Tower Case
OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6B160MO SATA 8MB Cache
AGP Nvidia GeForce 7600GS GPU.

Many thanks....

Trunks9486 · 17 Mar 2008 at 09:19

dont think its worth it... look at asrock mobos, they usually have nice cross compatible boards.

semi-pro waster · 17 Mar 2008 at 10:13

Given the age of your system there isn't really an upgrade path as such, you could buy PCI-E socket 754 motherboards previously but it would now be throwing good money after bad so to speak.

A system based around the E2160 and 3850pro would destroy your current system in games. You would also need a new motherboard (Gigabyte P31 DS3L is good for around £50) and possibly a new PSU as well although I believe your current case uses a PSU made by Seasonic so you might be ok.

dougieboy · 17 Mar 2008 at 10:17

Thanks waster. I was suspecting that sort of an answer.

I am building a new system for my flatmate. Just realised his machine will kill mine. Got a bit jealous, but cant really afford to upgrade myself....

grrrrrr.....

will save hard and splash the cash in a wee while... perhaps online auctins can help me!!??

thanks