Upgrade advice please!

Jotun

Jotun

Jotun

Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2005
Posts
3,606
Location
Liverpool
Hi guys, I've been running my current rig for just over 3 years now:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2)
4GB DDR2
Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply
BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3
MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

I'm looking at spending £600 on an upgrade. Is it worth keeping any of these parts or should I just start from scratch? I've also got 4 sata HDDs & a DVD rewriter which I'm keeping.


I believe the AMD Phenom II should be compatible, my motherboard socket is AM2 and according to wikipedia AM3 processors are compatible. I was also considering the Intel i5/i7 route, something like the following:

spec.png


Can anyone see any issues with the above? Would I see any difference going for 6gig of ram instead of 8? I need 6 at a minimum though.

I expect my current PSU (430W) might struggle so I may need a replacement? Any advice would be appreciated as I've not kept up with what's gone on over the last few years!

Thanks :)
 
Seasonic make good PSUs, but that system would really be pushing it's 430W. I suggest looking for a new PSU, this would be my first suggestion.

As for your spec; you will need DDR3 RAM, DDR2 doesn't work with a P55 board. This is the RAM i'd recommend. This will obviously push the cost up if you go for 8GB.

I would also suggest spending a little on an aftermarket CPU cooler. It isn;t required, but it will keep your CPU running cooler, it will run quieter than the stock one and will allow you to do some overclocking in the future. This is a respectably performing cooler that won't break the bank, I would also recommend this (when it gets back in stock).

I had a look at the CPU compatability of your motherboard here. Unfortunately, it won't support any Phenom 2 Processors.
 
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4890 Vapor-X 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £150.64 (£130.99)
Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - OEM + Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Game £142.98 (£124.33)
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard £86.99 (£75.64)
G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM) £72.99 (£63.47)
Be Quiet! Straight Power 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant Power Supply £66.99 (£58.25)
Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black (No PSU) £34.99 (£30.43)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM2+ / 775 / 1156 / 1366) £19.99 (£17.38)
Sub Total : £500.49
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £76.84
Total : £589.08
 
Bump! Would like to order this tonight really, just want to be sure I'm not doing anything foolish :p
 
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