Spec me an upgrade (low budget)

spib · 16 Aug 2007 at 07:49

I need to upgrade my mate's system because it's become very unreliable. He doesn't want to spend too much so I'd like to get this done for £250-£300 if possible

He currently has

AMD Barton 3200+
512MB PC3200
ABIT NF7-S2
FX5200 GFX
300GB Samsung disk
No-brand case/psu

I want to give him a nice performance upgrade which will obviously require a new mobo/cpu/ram/gfx. He doesn't play games (but uses media centre for watching movies) and probably won't overclock (maybe a modest one if it's easy).

Stability is the number 1 priority!

Any help much appreciated

lee87 · 16 Aug 2007 at 08:06

If all your doing is using it as a media centre pc and not overclocking then this system is more than enough. You could change the cpu to a X2 3800+ to save money as I doubt you would notice any difference in speed with the programs you use.

the shadow · 16 Aug 2007 at 08:16

Why not just a 7600 agp or a 6600gt cheap and abit more ram and a power supply.3200 aint that bad. or if not start will an integrated board 1 gig ram cheap coreduo with a case+suppy :cool:

hp7909 · 16 Aug 2007 at 09:28

C2Dernative...

Barry1337 · 16 Aug 2007 at 10:01

hp7909 said:
C2Dernative...

That looks a nice system but im sure the amd will be faster at stock.

hp7909 · 16 Aug 2007 at 10:55

Barry1337 said:
That looks a nice system but im sure the amd will be faster at stock.

I'm sure for playing videos/movies its 'faster', thanks to UVD

spib · 16 Aug 2007 at 12:54

Thanks for the replies. I see you guys have specified a case - I don't think he really needs one because he's happy with the one he has. However, he may or may not need a power supply because I can't rule that out as a cause for the stability problems he has at the moment.

I should probably also have said that this is his primary desktop so he uses it for word/excel/outlook so it's not enough to just have it good enough to run media center.

So, are AMD better cpus at the budget end of the range? I have an E6600 so I was thinking the intel route

lee87 · 16 Aug 2007 at 18:34

spib said:
I should probably also have said that this is his primary desktop so he uses it for word/excel/outlook so it's not enough to just have it good enough to run media center.

So, are AMD better cpus at the budget end of the range? I have an E6600 so I was thinking the intel route

Any C2D or X2 cpu will run word/excel etc fine.

If you are not overclocking then AMD will be faster at stock compared to a same priced C2D but if your overclocking then the intel will be faster.