Upgrade suggestions

Migroo

Migroo

Migroo

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Joined
29 Dec 2006
Posts
21
Hi guys.

I currently have:
Athlon XP 2400+
Gigabyte GA-7DXR
512mb RAM (PC2100 - DDR266)
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro (AGP)

Motherboard is at it's limit and is also has a few dodgy capacitors.. its time to upgrade.

I'm pretty set on going with a dual-core setup.

I don't want to spend ££££ in order to have the latest. I'm not that bothered.

Few questions for you:

1) Do I go Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD X2?
Cheapest C2D is £110.44 (the E6300) and the cheapest X2 is £92.81 (the 3800+). Apart from this, what to look for? What are the advantages of each?

2) What are the important features to have on a mobo these days? I'm not interested in having SLI video cards... what else?

3) I have a 20-pin power supply. Can I re-use this? I've heard mixed opinions. Some say you can use it with a 24-pin motherboard, others say no. Opinions?

Cheers
Chris :)
 
intel core 2 duo is a must the e6300 is in a diferent league to the x2 3800 and only a lilttle extram you pretty much going to need a new everything. how much you wanna spend ideally ??

400-500-600?????
 
C2D is many times faster than an X2 so C2D is the obvious choice [they also use less power and overclock like crazy]

No real important features for a motherboard as such. If you plan to overclock you would want the board to have good array of overclocking options. Crossfire/SLi support if you need it. Also the number and placement of PCI/PCI-E slots too [it is possible the one and only PCI x1 slot to be covered by a graphics card sat in a PCI-E slot - not common tho so dont worry]

20-pin PSU I am not sure about... I think a C2D system will cry but I am not certain.

SiriusB
 
Welcome to the forums, you will need to pretty much upgrade everything there so it probably makes sense to buy a new PSU at the same time, you can however get adapters for older PSUs though if it is decent enough to re-use. :)
 
Hi guys.

Thanks for the very quick replies!

I may OC if the system begs me to :D

Spend? Not much, ideally. £400 is all I'd like to spend at the moment (on CPU, motherboard, RAM, graphics card). If I can fit another HDD in there that would be good too (as I have 40GB total right now).

Thanks, I'll go with a C2D then, definately. Definately not interested in SLi or Crossfire (is that just ATI's SLI?)

Current PSU is an Enermax 460w jobbie, it's a nice one (hence not REALLY wanting to upgrade as it adds ~£75). Semi-pro - that's great as I'm assuming my current PSU is man enough!! :D
 
Migroo said:
Current PSU is an Enermax 460w jobbie, it's a nice one (hence not REALLY wanting to upgrade as it adds ~£75). Semi-pro - that's great as I'm assuming my current PSU is man enough!! :D
Click to expand...

In that case I'd search out an adapter :)
 
Enermax are great PSUs so it may be worth getting an adapter as semi pro suggests.

And you WILL overclock that C2D... they dont beg.. they demand it! :p

SiriusB

PS: The avatar looks good semi-pro :)
 
gumbald said:
In that case I'd search out an adapter :)
Click to expand...

Will this do it? :)
Link to eBay removed (Migroo)


Sirius - Understood. I'm assuming that the current OC techniques are still FSB based? If that is the case do I just get high-speed-spec RAM and then bump the FSB up?
 
Last edited:
thefishdude said:
noep you need the other way 20pin to 24pin
Click to expand...

My mistake!

Gumbald! Ah, great. I'll admit I hadn't even looked! I can get it along with the rest of the kit once I've decided. :D

Thanks :D
 
Yes OC is still FSB based... with C2D I think the RAM speed isn't quite as important - not 100% sure on that as I have yet to come across a really good OCing guide for C2Ds.

Only know how to clock AMD 64 :p

SiriusB
 
Migroo said:
Hi guys.

Thanks for the very quick replies!

I may OC if the system begs me to :D

Spend? Not much, ideally. £400 is all I'd like to spend at the moment (on CPU, motherboard, RAM, graphics card). If I can fit another HDD in there that would be good too (as I have 40GB total right now).

Thanks, I'll go with a C2D then, definately. Definately not interested in SLi or Crossfire (is that just ATI's SLI?)

Current PSU is an Enermax 460w jobbie, it's a nice one (hence not REALLY wanting to upgrade as it adds ~£75). Semi-pro - that's great as I'm assuming my current PSU is man enough!! :D
Click to expand...

Just keep your old PC and get an Xbox360.
 
I will do Gumbald!
Fishdude, I've removed them! :) And thanks for the RAM info. I'll stick to 6400 as I don't really want to go into extreme OC territory. This system wants to be fairly quiet and also reliable :D
Sirius - thanks.

How about:
C2D E6300
With this motherboard:
Abit AB9
Or this one:
Gigabyte DS3
With this RAM:
OCZ 1GB PC2-6400

Any thoughts on the motherboards?

I'll deal with graphics cards later! ;)
 
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