Upgrade Ahoy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

plasmahal · 5 Apr 2007 at 17:15

Well, I have a limited budget of around £300 and I'm not bang up to date with what's the lateat kit, so i'm seeking some advice please.

My current set up is a s follows:

AMD athlon 64 3500+
1Gb Geil golden dragon DDR 400 (4X256)
Abit AV8 3rd Eye Socket 939
ATI Radeon X1600pro 256mb AGP X8
XP Pro (SP2)

I want to stick with the motherboard at the moment and I know with a bios flash it can accomodate a dual core AMD chip.

Obviously I will try and get the fastest AMD 64X2 dual core chip, also looking at a ATI X1950 pro 512mb.

As for the memory I'm not sure what to do. I take it from my mobo i'm stuck with DDR, but what is the fastest and is it best to go for 2GB now?

any advice welcome.

plasmahal · 5 Apr 2007 at 17:24

Just looked up some prices, a little over budget but it's acheivable.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - £93.99

OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit - £93.99

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (AGP) – Retail - £152.74

Total: 340.72

Also, will i be able to use my actic cooling 64 freezer (i think thats what it called :eek:

) on the dual core AMD ?

furnace · 5 Apr 2007 at 17:31

*snip* ignore

mattyj1085 · 5 Apr 2007 at 19:55

plasmahal said:
Just looked up some prices, a little over budget but it's acheivable.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - £93.99

OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit - £93.99

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (AGP) – Retail - £152.74

Total: 340.72

Also, will i be able to use my actic cooling 64 freezer (i think thats what it called ) on the dual core AMD ?

Thats alright but if spending that much why not go that little bit further and get a core 2 duo setup it has the potential to be a lot faster and a better option then staying with 939 in my opinion
Something like this

nicktay2605 · 5 Apr 2007 at 20:01

Surely new processor would require new mobo as well?

If you can't afford a new mobo I would just go with the Athlon.

peter212693 · 5 Apr 2007 at 20:05

plasmahal said:
Also, will i be able to use my actic cooling 64 freezer (i think thats what it called ) on the dual core AMD ?

In answer to this yes you will. I emailed actic cooling and they said there was no problem I went from a 3000 64 to a 4200 X2 and both cores run at about 40oC under load.

plasmahal · 5 Apr 2007 at 22:18

Always been a bit of a AMD fanboy, but i'm open to options.

Do you thing that chip out performs the AMD one ?

Or is the faster RAM that make the big difference?

Also is that geforce better or equivilent to the ATI X1950pro ?

Thanks for the info on the heatsink too.....

, I only asked that cos' the Newer AMD chips have heat spreaders again.

Margaret · 5 Apr 2007 at 22:35

Conroe slaps AMD silly at this time.

plasmahal · 6 Apr 2007 at 08:32

Looks like the 'Conroe' chips are out of my budget range though as the cheapest is over £182.......

furnace · 6 Apr 2007 at 09:52

TBH...

You're better off saving that £300 until you can afford a bigger upgrade.

Do you think you'll be able to get say, £400 or even £450 eventually?

You will get a much better rig for that kind of money. AMD isn't worthwhile at the moment, either.

Also, cheapest conroe is £119 not £189..? The E6300. Even the E4300 (allendale) is good.

£412.32 would get you this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-126-IN
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-134-SP
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-063-GI
Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-064-GL
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC)

Duke · 6 Apr 2007 at 10:12

Agree with the above. Try and save a bit more & go for a 4300/6300 Conroe. It will be leagues ahead.

plasmahal · 22 May 2007 at 14:03

Ok, so I waited a bit longer and got the following setup:

Gigabyte DS3P R3.3 mobo
C2D E6420
2x1Gb crucial ballistix ddr2 800mhz
Radeon X1950 pro 512mb
Western digital 500Gb SATA HDD
Raidmax sagitta gaming case

I miss my arctic cooling T2 pro case, as the fans are noticeable on the new case.

All went together fine and booted first time.

Can have a little play with some mild overclocks on the stock cooler.

thanks for all the advice.

schumi84 · 22 May 2007 at 14:12

You should get some nice speed out of that setup, even with the stock cooler, let us know how you get on.

plasmahal · 23 May 2007 at 08:13

well I had a tinker last night and got to 400x8 giving me 3.2 ghz overclock. that's on the stock cooler with the fan set to run full speed in the bios. temp wise under normal windows browsing it was constant at 35'. will do some stress testing and benchies.

the memory was left at 400, not sure if it's worth pushing it or not ?

the bios options seem to put a big increment on the memory as there are no dividers as such. you go from x2 in .5 increments so 2.5 is a big jump.

masslac · 23 May 2007 at 08:16

plasmahal said:
Ok, so I waited a bit longer and got the following setup:

Gigabyte DS3P R3.3 mobo
C2D E6420
2x1Gb crucial ballistix ddr2 800mhz
Radeon X1950 pro 512mb
Western digital 500Gb SATA HDD
Raidmax sagitta gaming case

Looking good.

m1st3r m0nk3y · 23 May 2007 at 08:18

If you miss the fans why not install a better set such as Noctuas or Yates? :cool: