Upgrade Advice/Spec Please.

yshaikh01

yshaikh01

yshaikh01

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Joined
13 Aug 2004
Posts
70
Hi

Currently I have the following system

AMD Athlon XP 2400+
ASRock K7VM4+
512MB DDR333
ATI Radeon 128MB 9600SE AGP
Pioneer DVDRW Drive

I would like to upgrade my system. I play games know and then NFS:MW, NFS:Carbon TDU. Got a 360 gamepad also. I would like a decent graphics card which could play games at a reasonable rate. I have a maximum spend of £200.

I will keep my HD, DVDRW drive and case. Not sure if I could get a HTPC setup with this money or not. Also not sure whether to upgrade this setup with Memory & Graphics or just change the Motherboard , CPU, Memory and Graphics card.
Also not sure whether to go AMD or Intel. Mainly an AMD supporter but not sure nowadays how they compare with the Intel Core 2 Duo.

Cheers
Much Appreciated.
 
You could upgrade memory and graphics, to something like an X800, but I think it would be a waste since AGP cards are ridiculously expensive nowadays. You could go all out and get a new CPU and mobo but that would require new graphics and RAM as well. I don't think you have the budget for that.
overclockersukyourbaskeyg6.png

You probably need a new PSU for this kit since it's ATX 2.0. That puts it way overbudget.

Your current rig would make an excellent HTPC for non-HD content if you're interested.
 
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Advice

What about the following setup?
Cube Case - 650W PSU
MSI P4M900M2-L Socket 775 P4M900
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz Socket 775 800MHz FSB L2 1MB Cache Retail Box Processor
Corsair 1GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-12) Heat Spreader
Innovision 3D 8500GT 512MB DDR2 DVI PCI-E Graphics Card OR
Nvidia GeForce 7600GT 256MB 590MHz DDR3 DUAL DVI PCI-E Graphics Card

All for £200.
Also is the E1260/E1280 Dual Core different to Core 2 Duo processors?As the description on overclockers say its a Core 2 Duo but the Intel website says its a Pentium Dual Core...
 
yshaikh01 said:
What about the following setup?
Cube Case - 650W PSU
MSI P4M900M2-L Socket 775 P4M900
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz Socket 775 800MHz FSB L2 1MB Cache Retail Box Processor
Corsair 1GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-12) Heat Spreader
Innovision 3D 8500GT 512MB DDR2 DVI PCI-E Graphics Card OR
Nvidia GeForce 7600GT 256MB 590MHz DDR3 DUAL DVI PCI-E Graphics Card

All for £200.
Also is the E1260/E1280 Dual Core different to Core 2 Duo processors?As the description on overclockers say its a Core 2 Duo but the Intel website says its a Pentium Dual Core...
Click to expand...
They're based on Conroe but are just labeled as Pentium. Which cube case is that?
 
This would be much better bang for the buck:
overclockersukyourbaskeaq5.gif

This graphics card is loads better than the ones you have in your prospective spec, yshaikh01.
yshaikh01 said:
Does that mean they are Core 2 Duo or not.
Also will it be better than an AMD Athlon 64 X2 as these are Dual Core aswell.
Click to expand...
They are identical to Core 2 Duos. They changed the name for marketing reasons unclear to me. At stock they're a tiny bit better, clock-for-clock. The Intels overclock better but at this price range that isn't much of a concern.
You'd be very happy with the X2 I have in my above spec.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
This would be much better bang for the buck:
overclockersukyourbaskeaq5.gif

This graphics card is loads better than the ones you have in your prospective spec, yshaikh01.They are identical to Core 2 Duos. They changed the name for marketing reasons unclear to me. At stock they're a tiny bit better, clock-for-clock. The Intels overclock better but at this price range that isn't much of a concern.
You'd be very happy with the X2 I have in my above spec.
Click to expand...

I managed to get a spec identical to yours for about £190. This machine will be able to handle the games I mentioned in original post? Also will it be able to handle newer games? Also I am limited by the fact my 17" TFT can only do a max of 1280x1024.

Thanks for the spec gave me a great direction for my upgrade.
 
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