Upgrade Qs & Opinions.

Fothsn

Fothsn

Fothsn

Soldato
Joined
2 Nov 2006
Posts
3,997
Location
Leeds, West Yorks.
Hey everyone, being my first post its only right I ask for help :D

I need some opinions/advice on which upgrades will improve my gaming and overall speed of my computer,

My specs:-

Main board : MSI-945GM2 (7210)
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 630 @ 3000 MHz
Physical Memory: 1024 MB (2 x 512 4300Mhz DDR2-SDRAM )
Video Card: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon X800GTO Series (PCI-E)
Hard Disk: HDS728080PLA380 (82 GB)
Hard Disk: WDC (160 GB)
Hard Disk: Maxtor (160 GB)
DVD-Rom Drive: HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4522B
DVD-Rom Drive: LITE-ON DVDRW SHM-165P6S
Monitor Type: HW191D - 19' Widescreen
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.01.2600 SP2

(If you need any more info just let me know)


My main board dosent allow overclocking therefore my P4 is at stock speed, I've got my X800GTO clocked @ 427/545,


I have a budget of around £200-250 for the upgrades. (Of course ill be purchasing of OCUK :p )


Thanks. (Id appreciate all the recommendation's given)
 
For general performance improvement you'll be looking at a new mobo and conroe combo. This should be around the £250 level (keeping the GPU and RAM).

For game improvement get a newer PCI-e GPU (perhaps an 256MB 1900XT - ~ £150); there's little point in going for a top of the range GPU at the moment as DirectX 10 cards are due out shortly.

Need to improve both? I would suggest the new GPU and perhaps a new "conroe ready" mobo (which should be able to OC your Pentium.. and a new cooler). The next upgrade would then be to get a Conroe
 
Welcome to the forums, I might suggest something like this as it will allow you to upgrade to Conroe easily later on but you can also overclock your current CPU easily as well. I don't know what PSU you have so it might or might not stand up to the overclocking.

MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
£89.99 £89.99
GX-042-OK OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-042-OK)
£97.99 £97.99
Subtotal £187.98
VAT £32.90
Total £220.88
 
wow thanks for the very quick replys guys :D

The motherboard upgrade sounds ideal plus its conroe compatible, I've heard the P4 630 can easily overclock to 4.0Ghz on air? Ive used clockgen and got it to 3.8Ghz but it causes my PCIE bus to rise to 120 and nocks my GPU out. So the motherboard is a definite upgrade.

Would I see noticeable difference between the 7900GS & X800GTO?


My PSU is an 530W HiperPower Type-R, so that should be more than up to the job of overclocking.


Thanks so far guys. :)
 
The graphics card is a lot faster and would offer a nice upgrade, I don't have any figures to hand but if you have a quick check on either Anandtech or Tom's Hardware for GPU comparisons then that should help you out. :)
 
Or why not get a DS3 with Sapphire X1950Pro!! It's a much better performer than the 7900GS for only £30 more!!

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
£89.99

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-134-SP)
£114.99

Subtotal £204.98
Shipping £8.25
VAT £37.32
Total £250.55

Fits your budget perfectly
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom