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 :)
 
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
 
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
 
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! ;)
 
Thanks guys. I'll go with the Gigabyte then. I don't like scrimping on mobo's for the sake of £20.

The HIS won't work for me! I've still got an old (but very nice) CRT monitor so I need a VGA connection :eek: :D

Otherwise that lineup looks great, thanks fishdude.
 
Ah, OK. Thats perfect then!

Just got to find the money now. :rolleyes:

Didn't really want to spend this much, but going on the rating that everything it getting, it would be silly to scrimp on a few bits. Need to see if I can pinch a SATA HDD from Dad :D
 
Yes I realise I could do with more RAM. I'm comfortable enough with that, and adding more at a later date is OK with me :)

The cooler looks good, especially for the money.

At a later date I'll also replace some of the fans in my case with some quiet ones. Note to self: Must find some Arctic Silver if I have any lying around.
 
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Am I losing anything by going for the OCUK branded RAM?

It saves me £11, has the same speed and CAS timings as the OCZ stuff..?
 
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