uber cheap upgrade spec((200 quid)

233 · 12 Feb 2006 at 15:29

well current is

Athlon Xp 2500@ 2.4 ghz
1 gig mixed ram(2xpc3200 sticks)
awesome Ti4200 agp card (x8 agp beast)

plenty of hd's and opticals etc and an ok power supply

what i need in a budget of 200 quid is mobo graphics cpu and ram LOL

already got a mobo lined up asrock dual agp/pcie S939 beast for 40 quid elsewhere so the full budget is for the rest. was thinking of keeping my Ti4200 and getting an opteron 144 and a gig of ram dont mind secondhand goodies or spending a bit more if required.

thoughts pls

DizzyEgg · 12 Feb 2006 at 15:45

Well the opteron 144 sounds lie ka good idea, heard nothin but good nes from them. If your into overclocking I would prob get the Opteron. The problem is, you may not be able to clock the opteron that well on that board, but that is the onyl board that offers PCI-e and AGP, so I would save a little more and get a ASUS A8N or something and a cheap PCI-e graphics card.

Does that memory run dual channel?

233 · 12 Feb 2006 at 16:27

nope mem runs single channel only would that pose a problem

233 · 12 Feb 2006 at 18:44

anyone?

BigDom · 12 Feb 2006 at 18:59

Depends if your overclocking or not, 1.8Ghz is quite slow comparitavly so if your not overclocking the 3700+SD might be a better buy. Heck if you are overclocking I'd probably still go for for the SD as IMO it is better value. Especially as your on a tight budget. Personally though Mmmm as you are on a budget and yoru graphics is weak I would go for :-

GX-053-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X800 GTO 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-053-PC)
£69.95 £69.95
CP-118-AM AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM)
£104.95 £104.95
Subtotal £174.90
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.25
VAT £32.06
Total £215.21

Just over budget but much more balanced end result.

Xplo · 12 Feb 2006 at 19:12

thank does not include a mobo though

by the looks of it mate you do not have enough money to make it a worthwhile upgrade, the only way you will get a decent speed increase would be upgrade the gfx card, going from a [email protected] to an opteron at say 2.7/2.8 will not give you a decent enough increase in games to justify 200 quid, unless you get a new gfx card. I would get a 6800le or 6800 try to unlock pipes if not you still have a decent card if so then great and overall wait until you have more cash. trying to buy pc parts on a budget like that is a waste of money, just get a new gfx card and wait until you can afford to make it worthwhile

BigDom · 12 Feb 2006 at 19:17

He said he had the mobo lined up

233 · 12 Feb 2006 at 19:20

got a mobo lined up and graphics wont matter just now

ram and cpu only pls now

Raikiri · 12 Feb 2006 at 19:46

3700+ and 2gb of the Gskill PC4000

Over budget but well worth it

GAMEfreak · 12 Feb 2006 at 20:28

i agree, that ram is damn nice for the price, i got a pair of em last month. i gonna get a 3700+ soon too ^^

BigDom · 12 Feb 2006 at 20:32

I'm not overly impressed with the G.Skill, just run Geil Value works well enough. (got one PC with 1gig G.Skill and another with 2gig Geil).

DizzyEgg · 12 Feb 2006 at 22:52

Well, if your gonna overclock and the mobo you got lined up can overclock well then get the opteron.

If your not gonna overclock then get the 3700 SD.

Thats what I would do.

For RAM, if your not overclocking get the geil, if you are get the g.skill.

BigDom · 12 Feb 2006 at 22:57

DizzyEgg said:
Well, if your gonna overclock and the mobo you got lined up can overclock well then get the opteron.

If your not gonna overclock then get the 3700 SD.

Thats what I would do.

For RAM, if your not overclocking get the geil, if you are get the g.skill.

Actually the Geild OC's well, not sure how well compared to the G.Skill but personally in my experience Geil is just as good.

trojan698 · 12 Feb 2006 at 23:35

The 3700+ oc's well anyway and has an 11x multi compared to 9x for the opty. Go with the 3700+

DizzyEgg · 12 Feb 2006 at 23:55

Ahh, i thougth as they were value ram that they wouldnt clock that well but I must be wrong.

The 3700 is still a great chip but if I was an overclocker I would certainly choose the Opteron.

Raikiri · 13 Feb 2006 at 00:20

DizzyEgg said:
Ahh, i thougth as they were value ram that they wouldnt clock that well but I must be wrong.

The 3700 is still a great chip but if I was an overclocker I would certainly choose the Opteron.

Same price, same cache and clock to similar levels although current 144s are a little hit and miss compared to when they first came out.

Most 3700's of late are doing 2.8-2.9 on air without issue

DizzyEgg · 13 Feb 2006 at 12:13

a friend of mine has a early 144 running @ 3.2Ghz on air, thats the only reason i would choose an opteron, but if the 3700 clock that well then go for the 3700 m8.