Mid range system

arqueturus

arqueturus

arqueturus

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Joined
14 Feb 2007
Posts
16
Ok, little bit of a challenge here, my current system specs are:

Barton 2500+
Nvidia 7600OC(agp) with 512mb
2 x 512mb DDR400 ram
80gb EIDE HDD
Couple of random DVD drives
450w Thermaltake PSU
19" Samsung TFT

As you can see, this system is rather creaky. My technical knowledge is rather out of date these days so I wonder if someone could spec me up a system for around £350 that incorporates as many parts of current one (I'm not out of date enough to know that's likely most of it unusable)

I'm not bothered about ultra powah(tm) - just something solid that will last me a year and have a decent performance boost over the above. if you don't think it's possible to do it for £350, try to get as close as you can.

cheers arq
 
Welcome to the forums. I think that for £350 you may have to use some of the old parts so I'd suggest the ASRock 4Core DUAL-VSTA as it supports DDR and DDR2 as well as AGP and PCI-E so it would allow you to upgrade in stages if necessary. Other than that I'd go for an 4300 and maybe a new PSU, something like an Enermax Liberty 500w. It comes in under the budget but the choice is either a bit under or probably a fair bit over because you will need a new graphics card and Ram. :)
 
semi-pro waster said:
Welcome to the forums. I think that for £350 you may have to use some of the old parts so I'd suggest the ASRock 4Core DUAL-VSTA as it supports DDR and DDR2 as well as AGP and PCI-E so it would allow you to upgrade in stages if necessary. Other than that I'd go for an 4300 and maybe a new PSU, something like an Enermax Liberty 500w. It comes in under the budget but the choice is either a bit under or probably a fair bit over because you will need a new graphics card and Ram. :)
Click to expand...

Wonderful! didn't know there was a motherboard that could combine so many things - forgot to mention, i'm not interested in DX10 - won't be getting Vista for a couple of years I expect so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Are you sure the bigger PSU is necessary?

Any other suggestions folks?

cheers arq
 
I don't know when you bought your PSU, if it was recently then it might well be alright but if it was bought at the same time as the CPU then it won't support ATX 2.0 and remember PSUs do become less efficient over time so that is why I'm suggesting an upgrade. :)
 
processor and mobo mentioned by semi-pro will set you back about 160/170, if its a purepower psu then it should be fine, or it shows as atx2.0 compatible, if not you have money spare to replace it or get 2gb of ddr2 memory for you're 350 :D
 
Thanks to everyone for the replies, one final question. I'm thinking my harddrive is on the way out not to mention being tiny - the motherboard above supports SATA I only - can you plug SATA II HDD in there and run it slower as it were?

cheers arq
 
Thanks one more time to everyone that replied, a newer system that can at least cut the (DX9) mustard is looking likely now. All I need is OCUK to sell that mobo :(

cheers arq
 
Hmm i had a kinda same setup before,


If i was you i'd go auction or any where that sells a good 939 mobo, OCuk did a DFi mobo for 35inc vat not so long ago,

you can get a dualcore cpu for around £90 if not a single core 3700 for around 35-40 with fan (i sold mine :( on auction) .

a decent PCIE 7600GT for 60

use your current
2 x 512mb DDR400 ram
80gb EIDE HDD
Couple of random DVD drives
450w Thermaltake PSU
19" Samsung TFT

You will see a massive improvement and even upgrade to new GFX cards when you have fund.

edit

x2 3800 £93.99
DFI LanParty UT RDX200CF-DR Crossfire (Socket 939) £58.74 (you may find cheaper ones else where but this is good)
8800 GtS £185 (if you really wanna gaming system) or something like 7600 GT £60
 
Last edited:
arqueturus said:
Thanks one more time to everyone that replied, a newer system that can at least cut the (DX9) mustard is looking likely now. All I need is OCUK to sell that mobo :(

cheers arq
Click to expand...
think you might be waiting a while i thought ocuk did sell asrock not too long back, guess they figured they werent the sort of boards they should stock.
 
If only there was a powerful search engine that could locate things for sale in the UK. Wait, i have a business idea!

Whilst you wait for my startup you could post in the product suggestions forum.
 
artaxerxes said:
If only there was a powerful search engine that could locate things for sale in the UK. Wait, i have a business idea!

Whilst you wait for my startup you could post in the product suggestions forum.
Click to expand...

Oh, I've found it for sale in the Uk :) It's just I'd rather purchase it from here...

cheers arq
 
Ok, all this looking at pc parts and theorizing has made me start thinking...

What would I be able to knock together for around £650? (oh my gawd! don't tell the missus! :D )

I'm thinking It'll be a :

New Motherboard, CPU, Memory, PSU, Graphics, and HDD.

I'll rely on other folks suggestions for the spec, thanks in advance.

cheers arq
 
Ever so slightly over the new budget but you could pick a slightly smaller hard drive. The motherboard will allow you to overclock better than the ASRock would have, I've selected an Enermax Liberty PSU since the Corsair 520w is out of stock but if it comes back in before you order go with that. Other than that it is all good solid parts. :)

Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £42.99
(£50.51) £42.99
(£50.51)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £164.99
(£193.86) £164.99
(£193.86)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £13.99
(£16.44) £13.99
(£16.44)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £99.99
(£117.49) £99.99
(£117.49)
Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £95.99
(£112.79) £95.99
(£112.79)
Sub Total : £547.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
Vat : £97.63
Total : £655.51
 
Thanks for the prompt reply there. One of the area's that I was having trouble deciding over was the motherboard, mainly due to the variety of them so it's nice to get some well informed advice. I also wasn;t sure it was worth going for a 8800 as they have no competition atm - I'm still not that interested in DX10.

cheers muchly

arq
 
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