Upgrade/New Spec Advice please

Associate
Joined
18 Dec 2004
Posts
12
Hi,

I'd like to upgrade my ageing Socket A system (xp3200, Abit NF7 m/b, 1mb Dual Channel Geil Ram, Creative Soundblaster 5.1, Tagan TG480-U01 PSU, Powercolour X800 GTO G/C, Coolermaster Cavalier 3 case)

I'm happy with the case, PSU and IDE DVD R/W, so I just need a new motherboard, CPU, memory, graphics card, and hard drive.

My circumstances have changed such that I no longer need a decent graphics card. It just needs to very occasionally play a few old games (Oblivion, Age of Empires 3, COD 2) when my 5 year old nephew visits and "wants to play on the 'puter". Average performance is fine. Other than that it's just a typical home PC for DVD's, music, etc.

Ideally I'd like to spend a maximum of £250 but the lower the price can go the better. The requirements are that there are still sockets on the m/b for an IDE DVD R/W and floppy drive and also that the graphics card can hook up to a VGA monitor.

I've not built a PC for 2 years so am a bit out of touch with products. I always used AMD chips with Abit motherboards, so any advice would be most helpful.

Also will the onboard sound that seems to come as standard provide a better quality audio than my creative 5.1?

I have put a shopping basket together for any comments.

Feedback much appreciated,

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Sapphire X1650 XT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £49.99(£58.74)
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-4200C4 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA53E) £47.99(£56.39)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2.20GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £43.99
(£51.69)
Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £28.99
(£34.06)
Abit AN52 nForce 520 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £39.99
(£46.99)
Sub Total : £210.95
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £38.48
Total : £258.38


NoviceBoy.
 
hi,

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC) £49.99 (£58.74)

Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA (Socket 775) PCI-Express/AGP DDR2 Motherboard £36.99 (£43.46)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £47.99 (£56.39)

Sub Total : £134.97
Shipping : £8.25
VAT : £25.06
Total : £168.28

can still use you're old gfx card if its ok for what you need.
 
mp260767 has given you a decent option there for Core2Duo and it is probably as cheap as you will get. If your soundcard is an original Soundblaster then onboard should certainly be on a par but if it is an Audigy 2 or above then it might not be quite so clear cut. :)
 
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