Upgrade mobo / cpu

Soldato
Joined
21 Jul 2008
Posts
5,070
Guys,

I'm looking for some advice. I recently decided to upgrade my systems RAM, so bought 2x2Gb sticks of Kingston Ram. Unfortunatley, not realising that my current motherboard (DFi Lanparty UT Ultra NF4 or something), is DDR1. Booooooooooo. So I was left with the option of trying to get some money back for my Ram, and getting DDR1, or, dispensing with my 3 yr old Mobo / CPU set up (AMD 64 x2 3800+), and upgrading.

Sooooo, I have a limited budget of £200 and was wondering what the best mobo/cpu combo would be for this budget? (Although, since originally writing this, it has, as always, changed drastically, lol). I spent a lot on my last mobo with a view to overclocking, and in the end, didn't even bother attempting it, lol. So I think the bulk of the budget would probably be best spent on the processor?

Anyway, dunno if I'm best to go for AMD again, or Intel? I have looked around and seen these 2 processors, but its the equivalent, compatible mobo that I would like advice on, unless anyone has seen better deals on cpu's??

CPU 1: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...211-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=&name=Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz Guaranteed to run at 3.30GHZ (1466FSB) - Retail

Probably my favourite, but so long as the system is good, I aint really bothered.

CPU 2: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-226-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=&name=AMD Phenom X4 Quad Core 9950 2.60GHz Black Edition (Socket AM2) - Retail

Of course, I can stretch the budget slightly (to account for VAT or something), but not too much.

What do you guys think?

Edit: Forgot to mention what I would be using it for. I'm basically wanting to turn my system more into a server for my PS£ and 360's, so it will be mainly just surfing the web, hopefully wirelessly transferring files to my consoles, downloading etc... But I do occasionally recode files from avi to mpeg4's, vob's etc... Don't usually play games as my GeForce 6600 LE (256mb) is pretty poor for that, although I may think about upgrading this in the future (near). I don't have a seperate sound card either, but was thinking external to go with my decks and stuff.

I dunno how fast my ram is as i actually got it a while ago, lol.its Kingston KVR533D2N4/2G 2GB PC2 4200 CL4 240 Pin DIMM Ram if thats any use?

My 6600LE is actually PCI (-e??) so should be ok. I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate at the moment, although this has only JUST been installed. I assume that this will utilise the ram I have?

So its just the motherboard I need to sort out then? Any further suggestions? Links would be nice? I am hoping to order today, because its doing my ****, lol. The problem being that I cant find a vista ethernet driver for my current mobo, so its offline just now. And my work laptop wont allow me to download the drivers (that i cant even find) to fix it, so thought I might aswell just update the whole thing, lol.


Cheers

Stewart

I have been recommended this set-up :

Asrock 4Core1333-FullHD ATI RS600, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, µATX, VGA £54.16 Inc VAT link

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 SLACR, Kentsfield Core, Socket 775, 2.40 GHz 1066MHz 8MB Cache, Retail £116.31 Inc VAT link
And : Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 up to 4.4GHz - S775 Dual/Quad Core Ready

But I cant help but think I could probably just sell my current system and get this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-072-OK&groupid=43&catid=1081&subcat=&name="Ultima%20OC%208800GT"%20Intel%20Core%202%20Quad%20Q6600%202.40GHz%20@%20QX6950+%203.30GHz+%20Quad%20Core%20DDR2%20System

Dunno how much I'll get for my current system though?

Thermaltake Tsunami Dream, Thermaltake Pure Power Silent 480w, Thermaltake Golden Orb 2, Dfi Lanparty mobo (939), 3800+ AMD 64 x2, GeForce 6600LE, Pioneer 110D, Asus DVD-Rom, 1 GB Ram, 320 GB Seagate HDD (Will keep my new 1TB HDD). Whats that system worth nowadays? £200 or am I dreaming?

I was thinking about case upgrade aswell, so all in I'm looking at £300 for the simple upgrade, or the system specified above. It all really depends on whats going to be worth it.
 
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