Nooblet needing advice

[Incognito2me]

Basically, I bought my first real computer a few years ago, when I was young and inexperienced (and about 14), and had it custom built. Cost a lot of money, ran nicely e.t.c.

However, time passes, technology moves on, and the components slowly became old and redundant. I put in some more RAM. New soundcard. New graphics card. But there's one problem i've been avoiding - the processor. My poor old 1.8GHz Athlon 2500+ is simply not able to cut it with the latest wave of games that have come out. I just tried playing the new UT3 demo, and it was...horrible. Suffice to say the processor wasn't really up to par. So I need to upgrade the processor.

Now I have virtually no experience with putting in new processors, so I had a look around the internet to see what information there was. And I think i'm looking at having to upgrade the motherboard for the processor. Which will need a new fan. And a new GFX card for the PCI slot (And the fact I need SM 3.0). And a new case for the new motherboard (?) Which would mean a total refit, pulling out all the old components from my old computer and either putting them into storage or moving them over. This prospect scares me.

So a couple of questions:

Do I need a new case for a new motherboard? Or would my existing one be fine? For that matter, what will I need to do this processor upgrade?
aaaaaand
What would you recommend for a budget of about £500?

Thanks for your time

Existing specs below:

Field Value
Computer
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name JAMES-JR (James' Computer)
User Name James

Motherboard
CPU Type AMD Athlon XP, 1833 MHz (11 x 167) 2500+
Motherboard Name MSI K7N2 Delta-IL (MS-6729) (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 ACR, 3 DDR DIMM, Audio, LAN)
Motherboard Chipset nVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400
System Memory 1536 MB (DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type Award (03/31/03)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM2)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display
Video Adapter RADEON X800 GTO Secondary (256 MB)
Video Adapter RADEON X800 GTO (256 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon X800 (R430)
Monitor CTX EX950F Series [19" CRT]

Multimedia
Audio Adapter Creative Audigy LS Audio Processor
Audio Adapter nVIDIA MCP2 - Audio Codec Interface
Audio Adapter nVIDIA MCP2 - Audio Processing Unit (Dolby Digital)

Storage
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
SCSI/RAID Controller SCSI/RAID Host Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive Maxtor 6L250R0 (250 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
Disk Drive IC35L120AVV207-0 (120 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
Optical Drive SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-252B (52x/24x/52x CD-RW)
Optical Drive SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-616Q (16x/48x DVD-ROM)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions
C: (NTFS) 117789 MB (22743 MB free)
D: (NTFS) 239366 MB (34576 MB free)
Total Size 348.8 GB (56.0 GB free)

Input
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse HID-compliant mouse

Network
Network Adapter NETGEAR GA311 Gigabit Adapter (192.168.0.3)

Peripherals
Printer hp deskjet 930c series (Copy 1)
Printer hp deskjet 930c series
Printer Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
USB1 Controller nVIDIA MCP2 - OHCI USB Controller
USB1 Controller nVIDIA MCP2 - OHCI USB Controller
USB2 Controller nVIDIA MCP2 - EHCI USB 2.0 Controller
USB Device Generic USB Hub
USB Device Logitech Microphone (Messenger)
USB Device Logitech QuickCam Messenger
USB Device Logitech USB Camera (Messenger)
USB Device Razer Diamondback

 

[ExRayTed]

Ok,easy stuff out of the way first..the case will be fine.It'll be a standard ATX case.However the power supply will likely not be powerful enough.You haven't mentioned what's in there at the moment but it'll probably not have enough juice or have the correct cables for PCI-E and SATA.

Also a new motherboard will mean new RAM and video card at the very least.If you're unlucky you'll need new optical drives too as IDE is being phased out by a lot of manufacturers in favour of SATA.

So,you'll most likely be looking at motherboard,cpu,ram,video card,hard drive and power supply (I'll assume you'll get lucky and keep your old dvd and cdr/w by finding a motherboard with IDE).

So,you want an upgrade that'll play games for around the £500 mark? It's gonna be tough but lets see...

Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A33423) £34.99
(£41.11) £34.99
(£41.11)
Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £66.99
(£78.71) £66.99
(£78.71)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £33.99
(£39.94) £33.99
(£39.94)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (21119-00-40R) £149.99
(£176.24) £149.99
(£176.24)
Asus P5K SE Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Sub Total : £400.94

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 : £71.73

Total : £481.62

That'll do the job nicely..although you'd need to buy an operating system too which would put it over budget a little

 

[Amnesia]

im just glad you didnt include your windows serial lol.

 

[Incognito2me]

Ok,easy stuff out of the way first..the case will be fine.It'll be a standard ATX case.However the power supply will likely not be powerful enough.You haven't mentioned what's in there at the moment but it'll probably not have enough juice or have the correct cables for PCI-E and SATA.

Also a new motherboard will mean new RAM and video card at the very least.If you're unlucky you'll need new optical drives too as IDE is being phased out by a lot of manufacturers in favour of SATA.

So,you'll most likely be looking at motherboard,cpu,ram,video card,hard drive and power supply (I'll assume you'll get lucky and keep your old dvd and cdr/w by finding a motherboard with IDE).

So,you want an upgrade that'll play games for around the £500 mark? It's gonna be tough but lets see...

Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A33423) £34.99
(£41.11) £34.99
(£41.11)
Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £66.99
(£78.71) £66.99
(£78.71)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £33.99
(£39.94) £33.99
(£39.94)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (21119-00-40R) £149.99
(£176.24) £149.99
(£176.24)
Asus P5K SE Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Sub Total : £400.94

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 : £71.73

Total : £481.62

That'll do the job nicely..although you'd need to buy an operating system too which would put it over budget a little

Actually, due to my repeated upgrades, my old power supply was upgraded to a brand new one (like 3 months old now or something), and i'm pretty sure it has PCI-express and SATA cables. Runs about 470 Watts. Don't know if that would be enough.

And I already have windows xp. Can't I just stick with that?

 

[steve258]

What is your PSU brand?

If it's a quality 470W then it will handle but 2900pro needs a lot of juice so will stress even the quality PSUs to the limit.

Yes you can just stick to your XP.

The above is a good spec but I'll stick to your current 2 IDE hdds just get a SATA optical drive. Spend the money on a E6750 / E6550 instead or if you wish to overclock go for an E2180 and a decent motherboard.