Old machine needs a refresh

GingerNinja1989 · 26 Dec 2011 at 13:01

*Pokes head around door*

Hi all, not been in here in a loooong time.

Anyway, I'd like a bit of an upgrade on the cheap as my machine's getting a tad long in the tooth now.

I currently have:

2x 250GB Seagate Barracudas (bursting at the seams!)
2GB GeIL Black Dragon DDR2 RAM

o)
Intel E2180 @ 3GHz
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R motherboard
Inno3D nVidia 8800GT 512MB pre-overclocked
600W OCZ Stealth Xtreme PSU
Creative X-Fi Gamer soundcard

So, seeing as I've been out of the loop for a long time and am confused by all this talk of Bulldozers and so on, what would you change with a budget of £300ish (could increase a bit if was worth it). I know it's not a lot but my poor old system needs a kick up the backside!

Thanks for any help :cool:

EDIT: been looking at OcUK's pre-overclocked bundles for around this price (because I'm lazy). Would these be a better bet than buying components separately?

95thrifles · 26 Dec 2011 at 13:04

use 5% code and free shipping, comes in easily under £300, will allow you to drop in an i5 later down the line and OC, wait a few months for HDD prices to come back down then get a new one of them, make do for now

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £107.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £95.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/4GX) £19.99
Total : £320.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).

GingerNinja1989 · 26 Dec 2011 at 13:06

95thrifles said:
Helpful info

Thanks a lot, any reason you went Intel and not AMD?

95thrifles · 26 Dec 2011 at 13:10

Theyre a lot better

Heres a comparison of i3 2100 (dual core) vs Phenom x4 955 (quad core) As youll see i3 still wins, plus as above it gives you a future upgrade path if you do need more grunt

GingerNinja1989 · 26 Dec 2011 at 13:11

95thrifles said:
Theyre a lot better

Heres a comparison of i3 2100 (dual core) vs Phenom x4 955 (quad core) As youll see i3 still wins, plus as above it gives you a future upgrade path if you do need more grunt

Ahh, thanks for that.

mickyflinn · 26 Dec 2011 at 13:19

You said you could stretch your budget if its worth it , can stretch it far enough to get a 2500k quad core which is about another £90 on top of the i3 dual core price.

GingerNinja1989 · 26 Dec 2011 at 13:23

mickyflinn said:
You said you could stretch your budget if its worth it , can stretch it far enough to get a 2500k quad core which is about another £90 on top of the i3 dual core price.

It's a possibility, but Christmas has decimated my disposable dosh!

mickyflinn · 26 Dec 2011 at 13:29

What do you use your pc mainly for ? e.g. gaming and at what resoloution?

GingerNinja1989 · 26 Dec 2011 at 13:32

Bit of gaming here and there at 1680x1050 and typical web surfing/office work.

I'd like to start playing a few games again, but my machine isn't up to the task of running many recent ones!

mickyflinn · 26 Dec 2011 at 13:45

The i3 and the 6870 will hold you in good stead especially at that resoloution . The 2500k is the real sweet spot for cpu Which will overclock to at least 4.2ghz, has 4 cores which more and more games are utalising. So basicaly spend a little more now and save on future upgrade, but as long as its not a stretch to far.

GingerNinja1989 · 26 Dec 2011 at 17:02

Thanks, maybe I'll have to see if I can stretch my pitifully small budget then!

fowler002 · 26 Dec 2011 at 17:42

are the hard disks and optical drive(if you have one as not mentioned) sata? as new mb don't have ide.

if you can stretch then would say

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £173.99
1 x HIS ATI Radeon HD 6870 IceQ X PLUS Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £143.99
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £29.99 (£59.98)
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £500.93 (includes shipping : £10.00).

if buying today by 11.59pm you get 5% off using the code ocukxmas and free delivery(tho you get that anyway) so it comes to £464. the code expires at midnight.

GingerNinja1989 · 26 Dec 2011 at 20:01

Thanks,

Yeah, they're all SATA. Looks like I'll be placing an order tonight!

fowler002 · 26 Dec 2011 at 20:40

what will you be getting?

with the new graphics cards out in january might be worth getting the main system minus the card and use an old card/onboard vga till the new cards come out, then once the new cards are out decide on which graphics card to get?

GingerNinja1989 · 26 Dec 2011 at 20:47

Was thinking of buying a new graphics card to replace the old one (8800GT), Do you reckon the new cards would push the price of the older ones (6850/6870) down a considerable amount?

fowler002 · 26 Dec 2011 at 21:35

let me get my crystal ball out

GingerNinja1989 · 27 Dec 2011 at 00:28

Trigger finger has been pulled.

Thanks all :cool:

kmax86 · 27 Dec 2011 at 01:10

you will see a a very good jump from your old system i myself came from an e2140 @3.2 and moved to an i5

J-FRO · 27 Dec 2011 at 01:21

Shoulda bought an i5-2500k and gone with the rest of 95thrifles spec.

By the time you sell your old card, the DDR2 RAM and the processor, the difference would only be about another £30-£40!