Upgrade on the cheap

Clowny666

Clowny666

Clowny666

Associate
Joined
27 Jun 2003
Posts
620
It's time to put my aging XP3200 and 9800XT to bed, I don't have a huge amount of money and was thinking along the lines of:

OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Case - EarthWatts 500W PSU £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA663) £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink £32.99
(£38.76) £32.99
(£38.76)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA (Socket 775) PCI-Express/AGP DDR2 Motherboard £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46)
Sub Total : £297.94
Total : £362.95

Agreed, it's nothing spectacular but I was hoping it would be a decent step up from what I'm using at the moment. I don't really play many games anymore and it would just be used for photography, surfing and general light use.

Any comments from the boys and girls in the know?
 
I went for a midgrade, very similar to yours.

The ASROCK 4CORE VSTA (£40) which does DDR and DDR2, as well as PCI-E and AGP. This allowed me to keep the old DDR and my AGP 9800AIW@Pro. SO if you wanted cheaper, you could do that.

I got the E4300 with the stock cooler, and overclocked to 2.7GHz. Which works out the same price as your E2140 and perhaps needlessly expensive cooler. You could expect 3Ghz with the E4400.

It works out stunningly well even at 1440x900 for DX9 games. It is perfection for XP desktop stuff.

Seeing how cheap the 1950 is though I am now tempted!

In summary, your new box will rock! However you could go even cheaper for your needs.
 
that will work a treat :) also t hat cpu is a monster for overclocking some people have got nearly 100% overclok 3.2 ghz out of it :)

i play all recent games on my 1950pro with high detail levels fine at 1280x1024
 
If you are buying a new video card and DDR2 RAM, please for the love of god don't get an ass-rock motherboard.

Spend that few quid more on something half decent, you won't regret it.
 
Might be worth considering the e2160 just for the extra multiplier since it costs so little more just in case you get a low fsb limit with your set up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom