Help with upgrade?

[Rainy]

Hiya all.

Im currently using an AMD 64 3200, 1 gig ram, and a ATI X800XT. I only use this PC for gamming and a very small amount of video encoding. I have decided to treat myself to a new setup. Im just really stuck in what to choose. I have spent 2 days looking at reviews and tech sheet and if anything has me even more confused than I was at the start

Am I correct in thinking that I should only have to change the CPU, Memory, and motherboard? My GFX Card should be ok for another 6 months or so?

If thats the case could someone please give me some suggestions as what is best for a gamming rig? I really would like 2 gigs ram as 1 gig is starting to lack a bit in some games these days. I also will have around £700 to spend. I used to use AMD all the time but it seems that Intels new duo 2's are fighting back, so would intel be the route to go?

I'm so confused, lol. Any help would me most Appreciated.

 

[Rab]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Intel_LGA775_Bundles.html

check out those deals, some pretty good ones the, the ones most gong for r the ds3/ds4 m/b with the 6300/6400 conroes, 6600/6700 chips more go for the asus. u g card will work fine with any of the above np

Intel Core 2 DUO LGA775 E6300 1.86GHz Retail /
Gigabyte 965P DS3 /
1GB GeIL PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (BU-036-OK)

subtotal £306.97
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.95
VAT £55.29
Total £371.21

if no to Oc this will beat or match almost all the amd (939) cpu's @ stock
this would give you a grt Oc & save u £320

 

[semi-pro waster]

If you want to use up most of your budget this would be good, I've included a PSU in case you don't already have a good one. If you want to save a bit of money and try overclocking then going for the DS3 and 6300 combo would do but I'd still get the Arctic Freezer 7 as well.

HS-017-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR)
£11.99 £11.99
MB-152-AS Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-152-AS)
£129.99 £129.99
CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
£194.99 £194.99
MY-058-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)
£169.99 £169.99
CA-001-SS Seasonic S12 500W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-001-SS)
£67.99 £67.99
Subtotal £574.95
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.95
VAT £102.19
Total £686.09

 

[Rainy]

Both of those deals have me very interested. I have allowed myself to spend the £700 so saving whilst nice is not essential.

Would I see an obvious increase in performance from my old system to the 2 systems you recomend? Also what is the biggest difference in the 2 systems mentioned apart from the obvious price tags? Is one fast whilst the other can be as fast with Overclocking? I'm allways worried about overclocking and have never tried it in the past with the fear of frying something. As for the power unit I have an enermax 450W, would that be substantial enough?

Many Many thanks for the replies peeps.


Edit - One thing I forgot to mention is my HD. Its a maxtor 210gig IDE drive. Are the new mobo's all sata these days? if so I'm going to need one of those too hehe. Guess my budget could squeeze a few more quid for sata as I suppose it must be a lot faster than IDE?

 

[semi-pro waster]

The Enermax should be fine in terms of power supplied but you may need adapters for it as I'm guessing it isn't ATX 2.0 compliant, normally a 20-24pin adapter for the motherboard and a 4-6pin adapter for the graphics card(but you probably already have that). I am assuming here that your graphics card is PCI-E? If not you will need a new one to go with a new motherboard.

Yes you will notice a difference, both systems will be fast at stock but the 6600 will unsurprisingly be faster. With overclocking you can probably get the 6300 to be as fast or possibly even faster than the 6600 at stock but of course there are never any guarantees about overclocking. Remember also that you can overclock the 6600 as well if you wanted to.

 

[Rainy]

Hmmm. My GFX card is AGP as its about 2 years old. Looks like this could really start getting expensive with a new gfx card too

Are there any mobos that still use AGP? I really dont want to upgrade my GFX card untill the new DX10 ones are readily available with Vista etc. The 6600 CPU I favor just for the speed as thats my only aim in the upgrade is to increase speed, but the GFX problem has really put a downer on my plans

 

[semi-pro waster]

You should be able to sell off the X800XT to recoup some of the costs, it might fetch somewhere in the region of £60-75 as a rough guess and you can get a 7600gt for ~£90 new which is a comparable card(it is in fact slightly better).

No new motherboards that I know of use AGP I'm afraid.