Please help me, :)

damianp429 · 23 Feb 2008 at 22:25

Just a couple of years ago I spent what seemed like a small fortune on building my PC.

I was able to play almost every Game in HIGH. Of course now I cant play anything at all even in low.

So what I want to do is upgrade a 3 parts of my pc.
But I dont want to spend too much like I did last time at I am more prepared in play games in medium and upgrade more often when the prices of parts drop.

Ok the parts I want to upgrade are

2 x 6800 xfx pci-express, I want to upgrade this for a single card but I dont want to spend more than £200 and would be much happier if I could get away with £100 - 150 ( i am prepared to wait until the 9800 are released )

amd 64 3400, Ok having been out of the loop for a year I want to know 1, can my asus a8n delux run a AMD AM2 Athlon 64 6000+ Dual Core ? 2 do you think this is my best option?

and the last part I want to upgrade is my ram, I have just 1 gb of ram, ( I never got round to buying any more. I want the cheapest option but with good results.

I will be deeply thankful of any help

Damian

Oh also do you think I should switch to VISTA?

decto · 23 Feb 2008 at 22:31

Graphics - easy. An HD3870 or 9600 for a little over £100 is where the best bang per buck sits.

CPU wise, I think the AN8 is socket 939 and DDR only so you need to replace the CPU, Mainboard and memory.

Good news is a P35 mainboard ~£65, a Intel core 2 2180 or similar ~£60 .. a little tinkering will get you 3Ghz+ and 3x the performance of your 3800. Finally DDR 2 is around ~30 for 2GB.

Best of all you can sell of your old gear and the upgrade should cost less than £150

AD

damianp429 · 23 Feb 2008 at 22:47

thanks decto.

I was considering buying a 8600 but after checking benchmarks I found out my 2 6800 out performs the 8600, Do you have any benchmarks on the 9600, I am asumming that the 9600 in mid range and the perform wont be that good.

also yes my mobo is 939 I was assume the amd am2 was also. I havent been reading any mags since I built my pc because I knew when new parts came out I would just be dissapointed.I am guessing now I have to replace my mobo aswell.

decto · 23 Feb 2008 at 22:55

The AM2 supports DDR2 and socket 940.... the second socket 940... not compatable with the early AMD 64 which required ECC memory.

The 9600 is just coming out. It offers performance comparable to the 8800GT and the 3870. Although badged as a mid range card both this and the HD3870 offer fantastic performance for the price not forgetting the 8800GT 512 of course.

If you google you should find some reviews are appearing.

AD

damianp429 · 23 Feb 2008 at 23:04

Thank you once again, decto.

I have just read some benchmarks on the graphic card forum post by meatloaf.
Crysis OcUK Benchmark :

8600GTS SLI : 23 FPS
8800GT : 42.35 FPS
8800GTX : 38.26 FPS ( strange but true )
9600GT : 30.03

3DMark06 :

8600GTS : 9115
8800GT : 11204
8800GTX : 12006
9600GT : 9919

I am hoping once the full range of 9000 card hit the price of 8000's will drop a little and then I can see which way to go, but it looks like the 9600 is a very good buy right now

( would never of though it )

Also do you think I should change from xp to vista?

Thanks Damian

decto · 23 Feb 2008 at 23:11

damianp429 said:
Thank you once again, decto.

I have just read some benchmarks on the graphic card forum post by meatloaf.
Crysis OcUK Benchmark :

8600GTS SLI : 23 FPS
8800GT : 42.35 FPS
8800GTX : 38.26 FPS ( strange but true )
9600GT : 30.03

3DMark06 :

8600GTS : 9115
8800GT : 11204
8800GTX : 12006
9600GT : 9919

I am hoping once the full range of 9000 card hit the price of 8000's will drop a little and then I can see which way to go, but it looks like the 9600 is a very good buy right now ( would never of though it )

Also do you think I should change from xp to vista?

Thanks Damian

There is something odd in those benchmarks ... 8600GTS @ 9115 .... that must be in SLI

The 9600 is a great priced mid range card but don't forget the HD3870 which is faster than a HD2900XT so is a decent card.

Vista is more a personal choice... I'm sticking with XP for now bit will probably go to Vista on my next build. I don't want to lock an OEM version to my current setup so my next major rebuild may well be vista.

If you can reuse your XP then the only thing you loose is some of the DX10 graphics which are few and far between. You can always get Vista later if you don't mind the reinstall.

AD

marc69 · 23 Feb 2008 at 23:11

Id stay away from Vista at the moment.

If your going for vista your going to want 3-4gig of ram which is going to bump your price up, whereas you would be fine on xp with 2gigs.

Vista's only real benefit on games is dx10, im not sure how a "budget" build will handle dx10 but its not really needed.

You will see more of an fps drop in vista rather than xp.

Maybe otheres disagree but thats my opinion

Blackhawk47 · 23 Feb 2008 at 23:18

i would honestly do decto said n that you should really get a new motherboard, cpu and ram.

motherboard - if your after amd then i would go with this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-071-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=805

cpu: honestly it really depends how much you want to pay and thats how much speed youll get but i recommend this
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-198-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=803

ram: this really is going dead cheap nowadays on ocuk and you can pick up 2 gig ddr2 800mhz for no more than £35. and these are good, reliable and fast makes of ram such as gskill or cruical etc

graphics card: definatly a 8800gt and depending on what you can afford and what monitor you have i would go for this. a reliable make and fast card at a brilliant price even i am tempted as soon as i get enough £££.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1008

and of course sell your old parts on the well known auction site.

damianp429 · 23 Feb 2008 at 23:22

Decto I think you have given enough too read up on for now

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I currently have 98 2000 nt and XP on cd, however I found the move from 2000 to xp very painful and I still prefer some elements of NT but I am old fashioned like that. However I think I may wait until I have built my pc and then decide whether to invest in vista.

Also thanks Marc69 for you advice aswell. Becauce I am not so concerned with getting caught up in hitting everything to high on games, fps are far more important to me when running in medium

Thanks Damian

decto · 23 Feb 2008 at 23:25

Blackhawk47 said:
i would honestly do decto said n that you should really get a new motherboard, cpu and ram.

motherboard - if your after amd then i would go with this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-071-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=805

cpu: honestly it really depends how much you want to pay and thats how much speed youll get but i recommend this
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-198-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=803

ram: this really is going dead cheap nowadays on ocuk and you can pick up 2 gig ddr2 800mhz for no more than £35. and these are good, reliable and fast makes of ram such as gskill or cruical etc

graphics card: definatly a 8800gt and depending on what you can afford and what monitor you have i would go for this. a reliable make and fast card at a brilliant price even i am tempted as soon as i get enough £££.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1008

and of course sell your old parts on the well known auction site.

have to disagree a little ......

You'd get a lot more out of an Intel core 2 than then AMD. I have 3 AMD 64's and 1 Core 2 so I'm not Bias .....

Graphics Card.. really should be a 512MB card for modern gaming resolutions... sure 256MB is ok for 1280 but I wouldn't go less than 512MB

AD

damianp429 · 23 Feb 2008 at 23:27

Blackhawk47 said:
i would honestly do decto said n that you should really get a new motherboard, cpu and ram.

motherboard - if your after amd then i would go with this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-071-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=805

cpu: honestly it really depends how much you want to pay and thats how much speed youll get but i recommend this
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-198-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=803

ram: this really is going dead cheap nowadays on ocuk and you can pick up 2 gig ddr2 800mhz for no more than £35. and these are good, reliable and fast makes of ram such as gskill or cruical etc

graphics card: definatly a 8800gt and depending on what you can afford and what monitor you have i would go for this. a reliable make and fast card at a brilliant price even i am tempted as soon as i get enough £££.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1008

and of course sell your old parts on the well known auction site.

Thank you more good advice

damian

Blackhawk47 · 24 Feb 2008 at 16:10

decto said:
have to disagree a little ......

You'd get a lot more out of an Intel core 2 than then AMD. I have 3 AMD 64's and 1 Core 2 so I'm not Bias .....

Graphics Card.. really should be a 512MB card for modern gaming resolutions... sure 256MB is ok for 1280 but I wouldn't go less than 512MB

AD

yeh i mean ... it really depends on what hes after. sure i also have a core2 and its great but if he is a amd fan or something or if he can stretch his budget for a 512mb card then great.

Big.Wayne · 24 Feb 2008 at 17:06

decto said:
Best of all you can sell of your old gear and the upgrade should cost less than £150

Indeed!

You should be able to harvest quite a few £££ from finding a buyer for your old hardware, Socket 939 kit sells suprisingly well second hand, especially ASUS boards!