Upgrade advice- Opty 170/X2 4200/mobo etc

CGrieves · 3 Jun 2006 at 21:08

My brother in law has offered me decent cash for my current AGP solution: A64 3200+, X850XTPE etc, and a mate has just given me a PCI-E 7800GT Extreme (seriously!), so now seems a good time to upgrade the rest. I'm not interested in waiting for Conroe, particularly since they will likely be in short supply and expensive. I'm really after a solid value upgrade, not bleeding edge. I used to overclock to the max but must admit I've kind of lost touch with what's hot and what's not these days....

Given that they seem to be highly rated, I'm probably going to go for a DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR EXPERT, unless anyone thinks otherwise.

I'm stuck between an Opteron UL170 or an X2 4200+. I do play games but I'm willing to sacrifice the odd frame-per-second if the Opteron will boost general PC usage noticeably.

I will definitely overclock- are the current Optys from OCUK likely to be a decent stepping?

I already have 2x1Gb of Kingston ValueRAM. I am overclocking at the moment, but am held back by my current mobo, so I'm not sure how far the RAM will go. I'll suck it and see and upgrade that RAM later if necessary.

Also, if it will increase my chances of a good clock, I'll happily go for a better cooler.

Any sage words of advice from the Wizards would be appreciated, Cheers!

EDIT: My case is a Silentium T1 with a 350W nominal Seasonic. Will that be OK?- It will just be the CPU, mobo, graphics card and two SATA drives as RAID-1.

CGrieves · 4 Jun 2006 at 00:09

Ah OK, thanks for the advice. I'm not keen on changing the case as the Silentium is so quiet. So I may get the bits and go for a mild overclock.

Any opinions on the Opteron UL170 versus the X2 4200+?

CGrieves · 4 Jun 2006 at 14:32

All good info, thanks.

Any recommendation on a good air cooler?

Also does the 16X PCI-E thing really make a difference, or is it just like AGP 2X 4X etc, i.e. virtually unnoticeable in the real-world?

CGrieves · 5 Jun 2006 at 09:51

Splendid, I think I have all the information I need. Ordering shall commence forthwith

Gentleman, Ithankyou.

CGrieves · 5 Jun 2006 at 12:22

Thanks guys, all ordered. I went for an Antec Sonata II (450W) and a Freezer 64 for the moment, with an Opti 170 and the DFI Expert, plus a few extra fans.

It actually makes things easier getting a new case as I can sell my current PC as a whole to my brother in law rather than transplanting the bits into his. New build ahoy!

Cheers!