Sorry another spec me

[Scratchy]

Hello folks, it's been a while since I upgraded my PC I'm running a AMD 3000+, 1Gb and a quite over the hill 9500pro so I'm a bit out of the loop as to what to buy, I'm hoping you guys can give me some tips.
I think I need everything, I mostly play fps games and am running at 1680x1050, not in games of course I have to run all of them at min detail and 800x600 or something pathetic like that, budget is about £800, I can go higher if spending an extra £50 on a card or something is really going to increase performance, I'll probably be ordering on Monday but if something superduper is on the horizon I should wait for I can do that to, anyway thanks

I have been keeping an eye out for anyone after a similiar system for the same cash the last week or so so I didn't have to bother people with another spec me thread and did see one but now I've lost it

Forgot to mention I have 2 HD's
Samsung SpinPoint P SP1634N 160GB ATA-133 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-009-SA)
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800JB ATA-100 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-000-WD)
not sure if I need new ones of them also?

 

[Explicit]

Do you need case, psu, keyboard, mouse?

 

[Scratchy]

My Keyboard + Mouse is probably worth more than my pc
I have a Chieftec Dragon case which I should beable to still use? and a Tagan PSU which I don't believe is ATX2.01 compatible though also already have DVD drive and so on.

 

[Explicit]

My Keyboard + Mouse is probably worth more than my pc
I have a Chieftec Dragon case which I should beable to still use? and a Tagan PSU which I don't believe is ATX2.01 compatible though also already have DVD drive and so on.

Case should be fine with PSU upgrade

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£214.97
Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£82.19
Mushkin 2GB DDR XP4000 Extreme Performance Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) CAS3 (991483) (MY-000-MK)
£170.32
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£270.19
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£70.44

Total inc VAT: £808.11

Not sure if you want crossfire support, but I spec'd it anyway. You could change the mobo to an DFI LanParty Ultra-D (overclockers dream) but you can't crossfire on that board.

 

[Scratchy]

Thanks for the advice Explicit, would spending the extra money on a

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4200BVBOX) (CP-126-AM)
be worth the increase in performance.

Also what kind of Hardrive would be worth getting at the moment something like

Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)
maybe?

 

[Runningkid]

Raptors are 10k RPM so they are really fast, but mines very noisy.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I wouldn't bother with the X2 4200, chances are good that you can overclock the 3800 to the same sort of speed and it is cheaper.

Your case will be absolutely fine when you replace the PSU.

 

[Scratchy]

That rules out Raptors then I hate noisy computers

Is the stock cooler that comes with the AMD good enough for overclocking or would I need something better if I was looking to get near 4200+ performance?

 

[ACESHIGH]

Case should be fine with PSU upgrade

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£214.97
Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£82.19
Mushkin 2GB DDR XP4000 Extreme Performance Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) CAS3 (991483) (MY-000-MK)
£170.32
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC)
£270.19
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£70.44

Total inc VAT: £808.11

Thats a very good spec.

You could get this to help overclocking .. Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR) £17.04 Including VAT

 

[Explicit]

^ Yup, a freezer 64 with a dab of artctic silver 5 will help with overclocking