Please spec me an Upgrade

[Rockbottom]

Hi guys

Looking to upgrade my PC this Christmas, the current specs are:

AMD Athlon Dual Core 4600+ (2.4Ghz)
Abit AN8 Ultra Mobo
ATI Radeon HD 4870 GFX Card
2GB RAM
Various hard drives (250GB, 500GB, 1000GB, 2000GB)
Corsair TX 650W PSU
Antec P180 case

I'm just looking to upgrade my CPU, mobo, RAM and get a solid state hard drive to use as my primary hard drive.

First of all, is it worth getting a solid state hard drive to use as the primary drive? Last time I was shopping for PC components, they weren't on the market so I don't know much about them.

I'm happy to go with AMD or Intel, whatever you guys think fits my needs more.

I'm looking to spend around £300 on this upgrade, but will stretch to £400 if it's going to get me much better stuff.

Your help and advice is appreciated.


Cheers,
Steve.

 

[stulid]

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 970 Black Edition "140W Edition" 3.50GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £149.99
(£127.65) £149.99
(£127.65)
OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G) £91.99
(£78.29) £91.99
(£78.29)
Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £74.99
(£63.82) £74.99
(£63.82)
Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS34G1600LLK) £58.74
(£49.99) £58.74
(£49.99)
Sub Total : £319.75
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £57.62
Total : £386.87

keep the rest of your gear, PSU/GPU/Harddrives/Case.



or closer to your desired budget,

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G) £91.99
(£78.29) £91.99
(£78.29)
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 630 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £75.19
(£63.99) £75.19
(£63.99)
Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 microATX Motherboard £74.99
(£63.82) £74.99
(£63.82)
Patriot Viper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS34G1600LLK) £58.74
(£49.99) £58.74
(£49.99)
Sub Total : £256.09
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £46.48
Total : £312.07

you dont "have" to get a SSD, but they do make things happen quicker, just install your windows and games/applications on it, use your harddrives for storage.

 

[shadow_boxer]

Yeah I would agree with stuild, good choice with the gigabyte motherboard, ram and SSD. For the cpu AMD sounds like the way to go to be honest, the 630 would be a good upgrade for the lower budget but if you could stretch a bit more maybe have a look at getting a Phenom II 955 Black Quad Core Processor. OcUK have stopped selling these now but are widely still available else where for around the £100-110 mark. I wouldnt personally pay the extra for the 970.

 

[Rockbottom]

Thanks guys, would you be able to recommend a full size ATX mobo? As I have a lot of expansion cards. Preferably one with 6 SATA slots, but 5 will be OK.

 

[stulid]

Thanks guys, would you be able to recommend a full size ATX mobo? As I have a lot of expansion cards. Preferably one with 6 SATA slots, but 5 will be OK.

no problem buddy - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-134-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1782 only adds £3 to the total.

but if you want a 970BE cpu, I am not sure but think you need a motherboard that can support a 140w cpu, such as - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-408-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1782