Need Help maxing out my A7N8X-E Deluxe

[CrashEd]

I'm planning on upgrading some things on my current rig, but can't afford to go bonkers and buy a completely new system. This is what I have and wondered what I can get to make it as good as poss:

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
Amd Athlon XP 2800+
1 GB ram (not sure of model, probably cheapo stuff)
Seagate Baracuda 300GB HDD

I'm thinking of upgrading the RAM and graphics card as a minimum as I intend to get into gaming again (flight sims and FPS mainly). Could upgrade the CPU, but might not be worth it.

I'd like at least 2GB RAM and 256MB gfx card.

Any suggestions? What can I theoretically get that is compatiable with the A7N8X-E Deluxe??

Cheers

 

[sid]

I'm planning on upgrading some things on my current rig, but can't afford to go bonkers and buy a completely new system. This is what I have and wondered what I can get to make it as good as poss:

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
Amd Athlon XP 2800+
1 GB ram (not sure of model, probably cheapo stuff)
Seagate Baracuda 300GB HDD

I'm thinking of upgrading the RAM and graphics card as a minimum as I intend to get into gaming again (flight sims and FPS mainly). Could upgrade the CPU, but might not be worth it.

I'd like at least 2GB RAM and 256MB gfx card.

Any suggestions? What can I theoretically get that is compatiable with the A7N8X-E Deluxe??

Cheers

You could probably put a xp3200+ but i'm sure you could overclock what you have now.

Any new graphics card will be cpu limited

perhaps x1950 256mb AGP will do nice there for around £80ish?

sid

 

[semi-pro waster]

Welcome to the forums. I don't know what your budget is but something like this would offer a good base to build off. To upgrade to an AGP X1950 pro would cost about £100 and another 1gb Ram is about £35.

Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £35.99
(£42.29) £35.99
(£42.29)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £63.99
(£75.19) £63.99
(£75.19)
Sub Total : £184.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £33.93
Total : £227.84

 

[CrashEd]

Thanks for the replys guys.

You could probably put a xp3200+ but i'm sure you could overclock what you have now.

Any new graphics card will be cpu limited

perhaps x1950 256mb AGP will do nice there for around £80ish?

Would there be any mileage in getting an X1950 Pro ICEQ3 V2 Turbo 512MB? Or would it just be a waste of money/limited by the CPU?

Welcome to the forums. I don't know what your budget is but something like this would offer a good base to build off. To upgrade to an AGP X1950 pro would cost about £100 and another 1gb Ram is about £35.

I'm looking to spend around around £150 tops, but I see what you mean, a few more quid would get me a better system. What increase in performance do you think the system that you have recommended will give me? Much better??

 

[sid]

Go for the upgraded system

its a lot faster no doubts.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I'm looking to spend around around £150 tops, but I see what you mean, a few more quid would get me a better system. What increase in performance do you think the system that you have recommended will give me? Much better??

The system I recommended is dual core so you've effectively got 2 of your old CPU there more or less plus Core2Duo is a much more efficient design so clock for clock it is faster anyway. You'd have double the Ram and the graphics card is easily the best in its price range. If the budget is really important then you could do it in stages with the following motherboard. Still slightly over the budget but it can use DDR or DDR2 (not at the same time) and AGP or PCI-E (not at the same time).

Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £35.99
(£42.29) £35.99
(£42.29)
Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express/AGP DDR2 Motherboard £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £63.99
(£75.19) £63.99
(£75.19)
Sub Total : £136.97
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 is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £25.41
Total : £170.63

 

[CrashEd]

The system I recommended is dual core so you've effectively got 2 of your old CPU there more or less plus Core2Duo is a much more efficient design so clock for clock it is faster anyway. You'd have double the Ram and the graphics card is easily the best in its price range. If the budget is really important then you could do it in stages with the following motherboard. Still slightly over the budget but it can use DDR or DDR2 (not at the same time) and AGP or PCI-E (not at the same time).

You're right, going for the new system is a no-brainer. No point updating the old one if I can get a far better system for slightly more.

Can you give me an idea of what I can get for around £300? Also, would I need a new case with the new mobo or could I use my old one?

Cheers

 

[semi-pro waster]

I've included a new PSU but your existing case will be fine if you are happy with it. There is still a bit of room in the £300 to get a new hard drive, optical drive or aftermarket CPU cooler if you wanted as well.

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £35.99
(£42.29) £35.99
(£42.29)
Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £63.99
(£75.19) £63.99
(£75.19)
Antec EarthWatts 380W PSU £25.99
(£30.54) £25.99
(£30.54)
Sub Total : £210.95
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £38.48
Total : £258.38

 

[CrashEd]

I've included a new PSU but your existing case will be fine if you are happy with it. There is still a bit of room in the £300 to get a new hard drive, optical drive or aftermarket CPU cooler if you wanted as well.

Nice one, thanks for that. That looks great. So, lets say for instance Santa is brought into the equation. What would you get for ~£500. Would you recommend this:


Asus P5KC Combo Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard £74.99
(£88.11)
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £63.99
(£75.19)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 "LGA775 Conroe" 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £143.99
(£169.19)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS) £61.99
(£72.84)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £29.99
(£70.48)

Sub Total : £404.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
Shipping : £8.95
VAT : £72.43
Total : £486.32

Would you recommend this motherboard? At least it is CrossFire ready so both the gfx card and the RAM could be upgraded in the future.

What do you think? Do you have a better solution for this price range?

Cheers mate.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I probably wouldn't bother with a motherboard that supports DDR2 and DDR3, although I like Asus motherboards in general. Given £500 I'd spend it like this, I think a new PSU is still a good idea unless you have bought a good one in the past year or so. The graphics card is much better than the X1950pro although you get 100gb less hard drive space and you'll need to overclock a bit to match the E6850. Overclocking is pretty easy now though but if you aren't confident then you'll have to compromise a little on at least one area.

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £29.99
(£35.24) £59.98
(£70.48)
Abit IP35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Point of View GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £144.99
(£170.36) £144.99
(£170.36)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD4000AAKS) £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Sub Total : £411.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £73.65
Total : £494.53

 

[CrashEd]

I probably wouldn't bother with a motherboard that supports DDR2 and DDR3, although I like Asus motherboards in general. Given £500 I'd spend it like this, I think a new PSU is still a good idea unless you have bought a good one in the past year or so. The graphics card is much better than the X1950pro although you get 100gb less hard drive space and you'll need to overclock a bit to match the E6850. Overclocking is pretty easy now though but if you aren't confident then you'll have to compromise a little on at least one area.

Nice one mate, thanks for that, really appreciate it. Just have to decide if I can afford the better system!

One final question, if I went with the GeForce 8800 GT, would I be able to SLi it with a second card in the future, using the Abit IP35 mobo?

 

[semi-pro waster]

Not using that motherboard, it supports Crossfire which is a different technology and even then it only has one PCI 16x slot and one PCI-E 4x slot. I'm personally of the opinion that SLi/Crossfire is generally not necessary unless you have a huge monitor and lots of money because by the time most people need more power there are new single graphics card out that outperforms the mid-range dual graphics card systems.

 

[CrashEd]

Not using that motherboard, it supports Crossfire which is a different technology and even then it only has one PCI 16x slot and one PCI-E 4x slot. I'm personally of the opinion that SLi/Crossfire is generally not necessary unless you have a huge monitor and lots of money because by the time most people need more power there are new single graphics card out that outperforms the mid-range dual graphics card systems.

Thought as much.

Thanks for your help