Speccing budget upgrade

antikewl · 22 Jul 2007 at 09:59

Speccing budget (£300-ish) upgrade

I'm just speccing an upgrade for my girlfriend. Don't really want to spend much more than £300, so I'm trying to salvage as much as I can from her current machine -- namely two IDE DVD drives and an IDE hard drive... which might cause problems with nVidia 5-series motherboards. Nothing an extra IDE controller card couldn't fix, though, I guess.

Antec NSK6500 Super Midi Tower Case – 430W PSU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-067-AN
£58.99 inc VAT

Asus M2N-SLi Deluxe (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-144-AS
£72.84 inc VAT

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-189-AM
£84.59 inc VAT

Crucial 2GB (2×1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-084-CR
£52.86 inc VAT

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-036-MS
£64.61 inc VAT

Going to re-use the monitor, keyboard and mouse for now. And I've got a Asus 6600GT PCI-Express card in the loft from my last upgrade that I can use for now as well.

It'll mainly be used for web and email, and the occasional game of the Sims. I don't intend to overclock this one.

Any comments or suggestions?

Cheers!

Will_3rd · 22 Jul 2007 at 10:48

Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA (Socket 775) PCI-Express/AGP DDR2 Motherboard £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
Antec NSK6500 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W PSU Antec NSK6500 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W PSU £58.99
(£69.31) £58.99
(£69.31)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA667) Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA667) £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Sub Total : £245.95
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £44.78
Total : £300.68

antikewl · 22 Jul 2007 at 11:54

Thanks for that, Will.

Isn't the E2160 slower than the AMD 5200+ if it's not overclocked?

Secondly, I've got a dual boot of XP 64-bit and 32-bit on my main PC and had all sorts of problems getting anti-virus and software firewalls for it and didn't notice any advantage in using it. I now exclusively use the 32-bit install. Is 64-bit Vista better than 64-bit XP?

lee87 · 22 Jul 2007 at 12:10

I think the E2160 is slower than the X2 5200+ when not overclocked.

Your original spec looks good but I would go for a cheaper non sli motherboard and upgrade the 5200+ to a 6000+. You also get a free game (call of Juarez) with the 6000+.

Will_3rd · 22 Jul 2007 at 13:11

antikewl said:
Thanks for that, Will.

Isn't the E2160 slower than the AMD 5200+ if it's not overclocked?

Probably, but the S775 route is a better upgrade path.

antikewl said:
Secondly, I've got a dual boot of XP 64-bit and 32-bit on my main PC and had all sorts of problems getting anti-virus and software firewalls for it and didn't notice any advantage in using it. I now exclusively use the 32-bit install. Is 64-bit Vista better than 64-bit XP?

Might as well get a 64-bit version as it is the same price and I'm sure 64-bit OS' have improved since you last used them.

antikewl · 22 Jul 2007 at 17:25

Second try...

Ok, how about...?

Antec NSK6500 Super Midi Tower Case – 430W PSU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-067-AN
£58.99 inc VAT

MSI K9N Neo V3 nForce 560 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-071-MS
£46.99 inc VAT

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-192-AM
£108.09 inc VAT

Crucial 2GB (2×1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-084-CR
£52.86 inc VAT

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-037-MS
£64.61 inc VAT

Total £332.44 (down by £50, better spec?)

antikewl · 22 Jul 2007 at 17:52

********. Just found out that the MSI K9N Neo motherboard doesn't support the 6000+... will have to rethink.

<F0rb> · 22 Jul 2007 at 22:02

Can i just ask about clock speeds these days...

Which chips are more efficient, will intel be faster at a lower clock speed these days or still AMD ?

stickroad · 22 Jul 2007 at 22:08

<F0rb> said:
Can i just ask about clock speeds these days...

Which chips are more efficient, will intel be faster at a lower clock speed these days or still AMD ?

Well Intel CPUs do more instructions per clock cycle than AMD.

So for example a Intel E6600 (2.4GHZ) is equviliant to the AMD 6000+ (3GHZ)

So that makes Intel much more efficient.

Will_3rd · 22 Jul 2007 at 22:13

<F0rb> said:
Can i just ask about clock speeds these days...

Raw clock speeds are pretty much irrelevant, all about architecture now

<F0rb> said:
Which chips are more efficient, will intel be faster at a lower clock speed these days or still AMD ?

Intel CPUs are better performing at lower clock speeds compared to similar AMD offerings.

antikewl · 23 Jul 2007 at 11:36

I'm re-thinking my spec with Will's Intel suggestion, above.

Would I see much improvement in performance if I chose an E4300/4400/4500 over the E2160?

Sorry, I'm a bit out of the loop when it comes to modern Intel chips. It's funny how much things change in just a year or so!

stickroad · 23 Jul 2007 at 11:39

If your not going to be overclocking stick with a AMD setup.

stickroad · 23 Jul 2007 at 11:55

Honestly something like this will be more than fine:

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.20GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail
Asrock ALiveSATA2-GLAN (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU

Total : £268.96

antikewl · 23 Jul 2007 at 12:41

Thanks for that, stickroad. I might go for that but kick the processor up a notch. That motherboard also has a couple of IDE slots, so that'll save me getting another controller card as well.

antikewl · 26 Jul 2007 at 22:32

I'm going round in circles with this build. Last time it was so simple, but I just can't seem to make my mind up!

I think the problem comes from not wanting an SLi board, because of the added expense of something I'm never going to use.

Also, the Asus A8N-SLi Deluxe has been very good to me, and I'd love to get another Asus nForce motherboard.

The Asus M2N-E looked ideal, but seems to be unavailble anywhere. Any suggestions?

antikewl · 5 Aug 2007 at 20:51

Thanks to all who helped me spec up my machine. Went for an M2N4-SLi mobo with an X2 6000+ in the end. It's all up and running now and g/f is very happy. Job done.

gumbald · 5 Aug 2007 at 21:02

antikewl said:
I'm just speccing an upgrade for my girlfriend.

She not quite up to standard?

(How did nobody make this joke earlier?)