Need advice "Upgrade or not to Upgrade"

FrostFox

FrostFox

FrostFox

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K guys im needing a little help here :confused:

My current motherboard of the rig which is in my sig has gone after just over 2 years loyal service ;)

Now Ive had the rest of the components checked and there all fine but my questions are.

1. Do I try and get another socket 754 motherboard and just keep using my current setup.

No, it's not OK. It's still computer hardware even though OcUK don't stock that particular socket any more.

OR

2. buy a basic AM2/939 setup so that I have the option to buy better upgrades for it when I have the finances. Also I know that if i go this option Ill either need to buy power adaptors for my current trueblue 480w or buy a new PSU completely. Money is a problem at the mo and I can maybe spend £300 tops.


Any and all help will be appreciated guys and if your recommending a new setup, Recommendations on hardware will be appreciated too :)
 
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Well if you want to reuse your RAM then its going have to be socket 939 as AM2 needs DDR2

But im sure ive seen a conroe board that takes DDR1 and AGP so maybe thats a possibility
 
K if I go the new setup I dont want a new setup that will be worse than my current rig, but a rig that I can upgrade to top end stuff at some point so can any1 recommend a just as good setup with(I also dont mind if any1 can recommend an old 754 board for my current rig as this would help me save money for a better complete rig in the future)

CPU
MoBo
GFX
Ram

for a good price, the cheaper the happier Ill be ;)

Also I was thinking If I use my current PSU Ill need the following adaptors and also would a 480w be enough for a basic AM2/939 setup?

PCI-E 6pin - 4pin (CB-018-AK)
ATX 20pin - 24pin (CB-019-AK)

are these correct for the current PSU connections I have:-
Trueblue 480w
20pin main power
6 pin Aux power
4pin +12v Power connector to Mobo
 
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MeatLoaf said:
Well if you want to reuse your RAM then its going have to be socket 939 as AM2 needs DDR2

But im sure ive seen a conroe board that takes DDR1 and AGP so maybe thats a possibility
Click to expand...

Well im looking at all posibilities at the moment and If i can get a decent AM2 setup with new ram etc for a good price then I might go down that root now instead of getting an old socket 754 board and having to upgrade anyway in the future.

Am2 is the latest socket and 939 is slowly being phased out for the AM2 right?

Im not uptodate on PC hardware etc so forgive my stupidity :(


MeatLoaf said:
Is the budget still £300, and do you wantto reuse your GFX and RAM ( is your gfx pci-e or AGP )
Click to expand...

Oh yeah forgot to say my current rig is 754 socket AMD athlon 64 with DDR ram and AGP Gfx. Also Ill go either way on re-using Gfx and ram if I can get a good deal on all the new hardware.

Soz for that wrote everything except what my current rig is.

Also I am just wondering is socket 939 really a serious upgrade option? Cause if im gonna end up buying a complete new setup Im looking for good longevity out of the connection type so its easily upgraded later on.
 
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Did u check out the

ASRock 775Dual-VSTA for Conroe (Core2) with both AGP/PCI-E and DDR1/DDR2

link cos then u may be able to use most of your old rig ?
 
wizardmaxx said:
Did u check out the

ASRock 775Dual-VSTA for Conroe (Core2) with both AGP/PCI-E and DDR1/DDR2

link cos then u may be able to use most of your old rig ?
Click to expand...

I understand it will but I couldnt find a socket 754 version in Ocuk shop :( it seems to be Am2/939/775.
 
wizardmaxx said:
With that mobo you could re-use your AGp and ddr ram, get a 775 processor and upgrade to pci-e, ddr2 and conroe as u got cash
Click to expand...


I know where your coming from but I dont really want to get a 775 procesor when I could have just bought an older model motherboard and use that in the mean time.

On another note would the ASUS K8N-E or ASUS K8N-E Deluxe be a good replacement for my MSI K8n neo platinum?

Dont worry guys Im still undecided so for me Im just looking @ just motherboard replacements until some1 gives me an idea of what a new setup would cost :)
 
K guys I had a quick look round on the Ocuk for a new setup and this is what I came up, bearing in mind im not looking for a serious upgrade from my old system and Im not very spec minded. So if any1 thinks I could save money on any of my selection then by all means recommend something else.

Old rig
in sig and is a 754 socket and using AGP gfx


New setup

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2ghz (CP-164-AM) £64
(does having a lower lvl 2 cache than my current cpu really matter?)

MSI K9N Neo-F (MB-071-MS) £55
(not bothered with xfire/SLI so went with this)

Geil 1gb(2x512mb) (MY-057-GL) £117.49

HIS ATI radeon x1650 (GX-062-HT) £93.99

total inc vat = £330.50 (needs a little work :eek: )

Also Id need the power adaptors I mentioned in a previous post due to my old PSU?
 
Not trying to steer you anywhere, but most would agree ;)

Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-004-AK) Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-004-AK) £45.99
(£54.04) £45.99
(£54.04)
Intel Pentium 4 805 Dual Core "LGA775 Smithfield" 2.66GHz (533FSB) - Retail (CP-116-IN) Intel Pentium 4 805 Dual Core "LGA775 Smithfield" 2.66GHz (533FSB) - Retail (CP-116-IN) £61.99
(£72.84) £61.99
(£72.84)
Corsair 1GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x512MB) (MY-112-CS) Corsair 1GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x512MB) (MY-112-CS) £84.99
(£99.86) £84.99
(£99.86)
OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-042-OK) OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-042-OK) £98.99
(£116.31) £98.99
(£116.31)
Sub Total : £291.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
Vat : £52.54
Total : £352.75
 
K guys after looking through prices etc I think im gonna go with a socket 939 system and use my existing ram.

This is what ive picked out:-

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (CP-121-AM) £93.99
Asus A8v-XE (MB-160-AS) £46.99
HIS X1650 pro (GX-062-HT) £93.99

Now my final few questions are:-

Will a 480w PSU be ok to power this?
Also will I only need the following power adaptors to use my current PSU with this new system or do i need any additional adaptors?:-
PCI-E 6pin - 4pin (CB-018-AK)
ATX 20pin - 24pin (CB-019-AK)

are these correct for the current PSU connections I have:-
Trueblue 480w
20pin main power
6 pin Aux power
4pin +12v Power connector to Mobo
 
Personally I would go for the Asrock Dual-VSTA 775 board as you can reuse everything from your old system bar your processor.

Total cost of the Asrock board + an E6300 would be around £180-£190 and would beat the pants off the Athlon 64 3700+.

After that you could upgrade your graphics card/RAM whenever you feel like it. It even has 2 IDE channels and 2 SATA channels so if you have old harddrives you can upgrade them later as well.

Upgrading to Core 2 would be the best £200 you've ever spent on hardware ;)
 
but surely having a mobo with so many different features means more possible problems with it? also would a mobo that just deals with 1 type of ram and gfx etc not be better than a multi format mobo?
 
It's only £40, use it until you can upgrade the mobo then replace with a better model. There's as much risk that the Asrock will go wrong as with most other manufacturers' boards. You pays your money...
 
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