Associate
- Joined
- 2 Jan 2004
- Posts
- 1,866
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
Hey guys,
After a looong time uming, ahhing and generally avoiding taking the plunge I think I'm finally fairly close to ordering my new bits! The idea is fairly bog-standard: I wish to upgrade from my rather aging 939 3700+ to a nice dual core setup, primarily for gaming, but also general work and internet gubbins.
I'm planning to port over my Corsair 620w PSU, 2xIDE HDDs and (probably) an X-Fi. It's going to be bunged into my much loved Lian-Li PC7+. I also have the option of using my old IDE DVDRW, but as I'd rather take both HDDs with me I'm planning to replace it for a new SATA drive.
The catch? I really don't want to spend more than £400. The budget really is tight, £10 or so over is just about doable, but no more I'm afraid.
What I've tentatively come up with is something like this:
I havent OC'd for a good few years (back in the days of the 2500XP I think :S) but I'm keen to get back into again, which is just as well given my budget.
My monitor sits at 1680x1050 res, so I'll be needing a fairly decent graphics card - I'm pretty set on the 3870XT here.
The main unknown for me at the mo is the motherboard. I've thrown the MSI board in as it seems to suit my needs and falls into budget well, but in truth I'm also still torn toward the similarly priced Abit, ASUS and Gigabyte boards. As it stands, I'm looking at between £65-£80 on the motherboard, and I want something that (ignoring the possibility of RMAs) is going to work straight out of the box - I'm really not interested in having to faff about with BIOs flashing.
Aside from all that, general comments and observations welcome.
I'm looking to get this ordered ASAP now (before I bottle it again!)
After a looong time uming, ahhing and generally avoiding taking the plunge I think I'm finally fairly close to ordering my new bits! The idea is fairly bog-standard: I wish to upgrade from my rather aging 939 3700+ to a nice dual core setup, primarily for gaming, but also general work and internet gubbins.
I'm planning to port over my Corsair 620w PSU, 2xIDE HDDs and (probably) an X-Fi. It's going to be bunged into my much loved Lian-Li PC7+. I also have the option of using my old IDE DVDRW, but as I'd rather take both HDDs with me I'm planning to replace it for a new SATA drive.
The catch? I really don't want to spend more than £400. The budget really is tight, £10 or so over is just about doable, but no more I'm afraid.
What I've tentatively come up with is something like this:
I havent OC'd for a good few years (back in the days of the 2500XP I think :S) but I'm keen to get back into again, which is just as well given my budget.
My monitor sits at 1680x1050 res, so I'll be needing a fairly decent graphics card - I'm pretty set on the 3870XT here.
The main unknown for me at the mo is the motherboard. I've thrown the MSI board in as it seems to suit my needs and falls into budget well, but in truth I'm also still torn toward the similarly priced Abit, ASUS and Gigabyte boards. As it stands, I'm looking at between £65-£80 on the motherboard, and I want something that (ignoring the possibility of RMAs) is going to work straight out of the box - I'm really not interested in having to faff about with BIOs flashing.
Aside from all that, general comments and observations welcome.
I'm looking to get this ordered ASAP now (before I bottle it again!)
