Upgrade/New Build Help

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Joined
3 Jul 2005
Posts
119
Location
UK
Hi - sorry for yet another upgrade thread but I've not kept up on hardware much since my last PC build a few years ago. Got some great advice from here last time, and my pc has been fine, but it's getting old :)

I'm considering upgrading/rebuilding my system, and have some of the parts in mind but others I have no idea about.
This system is for - Photoshop/Illustrator CS3, general web stuff, some older games like Company of Heroes, Stalker, Orange Box, EVE Online, Oblivion and possibly newer ones in DX10 (not aiming for maxed out Crysis etc though).
Not confident with overclocking so doubt I will just yet.

Considering getting:
Antec 300 Case
PSU *
Mobo *
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200/E8400
4GB Ram *
GeForce 8800 GT/GTS 512MB
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

* = no idea

Already have 3x Samsung Spinpoint SATA HDD, DVDRW, Samsung 2232BW 22" and USB Mouse/KB/Headphones I plan to keep for the new system.

So can anyone help advise me on the remaining parts? And additional questions:
- Are all those parts so far compatible with each other, and the peripherals I already have? (the HDDs are SATA 1, not 2 I think)
- I would like Photoshop to run nicely, but I'm guessing a Quad Core CPU is not exactly necessary at current, right? Not looking for the best here, just decent!
- With XP > Vista 64, if I use 1 formatted HDD for the OS/apps, would my data (images/music/videos) on the other two drives be recognised fine?

I'm basically looking around and not prepped to buy so budget is not set - maybe £350-450? Also, if I sold my current base unit how much do you think I could ask for - is £100 too much?

Current base unit:
Antec SLK3700-BQE
Enermax Noisetaker 420W [EG425AX-VE]
LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
GeIL 1GB [2x512MB] PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5
PowerColor Radeon x800XL 256MB
LG DVD-RW
Windows XP Home

Thanks for any help
 
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Asus P5K Pro Intel P35

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2

Corsair HX 520W

£225.51 inc vat + p&p

Although with this + what you have spec'd, its gonna be way over budget.

How about this:


spec.jpg
 
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Hmm this is what I managed to come up with:

92600917id2.jpg


If you're not planning on overclocking then replace the Q6600 with E8400 (or even something smaller to bring the budget down).

As for your system then if the Win Xp is legal which I presume it is, then £100 shouldn't be an unreasonable amount of money to ask for.
 
Awesome, thanks for the help both of you.

Think I underestimated the cost slightly! But if I can sell my old system and save a bit more it should be fine. The Win XP is legal yeah, OEM version so I presume it's tied to the motherboard? Might get a cheap HDD to throw in, or use one of my current ones.

Will probably go for:

- C2D E8200/E8400 - is the performance difference between them significant here?
- An Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-E DDR2 mobo
- OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 - looks great for the price
- 8800 GT 512MB
- Maybe the cheaper PSU - 500W should be enough power right?

Think I'll shop around and see if I can bring the price down a bit.
Thanks again guys.
 
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