Upgrading - help!

[bigvern]

Have reached that point where the whole pc is in need of upgrading. Current spec:

Athlon XP 3000
ATI 9700 Pro graphics card with arctic cooler
1 gig of Geil value DR400 RAM
Gigabte VIA 600 motherboard
x2 30gig Maxtor IDE Drives
300w generic PSU

I thought about going the ASRock route and upgrading a step at a time but also wanted to future proof as much as possible so I can upgrade later in the year.

This is what I have put together:-

Athlon XP 3200 or 3500 (have existing gigabyte cooler)
ASUS A8N-SLI SE
XFX 6800 GS xxx 256mb PCI graphics card
1 gis of Geil values DDR400 RAM (from above)
160 gig Samsung Spinpoint SATA II drive
Not sure what PSU I need or should choose.

I use for games, work etc. Budget of around £400... but this is priced on a "bang per bucks" basis, with the view that I could a better/ additional graphics card or dual core processor later in the year.

Would welcome any comments as I am a bit out of touch!

 

[Explicit]

This is what I have put together:-

Athlon XP 3200 or 3500 (have existing gigabyte cooler)
ASUS A8N-SLI SE
XFX 6800 GS xxx 256mb PCI graphics card
1 gis of Geil values DDR400 RAM (from above)
160 gig Samsung Spinpoint SATA II drive
Not sure what PSU I need or should choose.

Budget of around £400...

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM)
£112.74
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£72.79
OcUK GeForce 6800 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-034-OK)
£129.19
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-047-WD)
£56.34
Tagan TG430-U15 430W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-007-TG)
£55.17

Total inc VAT: £426.23

Bit hard to get everything you want for £400, but the above should be fine. The OcUK Point of View 6800GS can be overclocked, so don't worry about it not being the XXX Extreme.

 

[bigvern]

Thanks for the quick response. If I was to add £100 to the budget would you suggest going for the SLI board that I listed? If so would the PSU be ok. And would it be worth going to the 3500/ better graphics card?

 

[Explicit]

Thanks for the quick response. If I was to add £100 to the budget would you suggest going for the SLI board that I listed? If so would the PSU be ok. And would it be worth going to the 3500/ better graphics card?

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3700BNBOX) (CP-121-AM)
£152.69
Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS)
£82.19
XFX GeForce 6800 GS Extreme XXX Edition 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-056-XF)
£152.69
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-047-WD)
£56.34
Tagan TG430-U15 430W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-007-TG)
£55.17

Total inc VAT: £499.08

That will give you the San Diego processor which has 1MB cache compared to the 512kb cache of the Venice cores. Your XXX card now added, and an SLi motherboard for future upgrades. That power supply is fine for 1 card, but would be weak for an SLi setup. The next model up, 530W, would be better if you want SLi. Whether or not the XXX is worth it depends on whether you will overclock the Value 6800GS. You're basically paying more for it being factory overclocked.

 

[Explicit]

One more:

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3700BNBOX) (CP-121-AM)
£152.69
Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS)
£82.19
OcUK GeForce 6800 GS 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-034-OK)
£129.19
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-047-WD)
£56.34
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)
£70.44

Total inc VAT: £490.85

That's got a more powerful power supply ready for SLi. Use CoolBits or RivaTuner to overclock the Point of View 6800GS, save some money too.

 

[bigvern]

Absolute star. Thanks taking the time to post that. I think paying the extra will help to future proof me a bit so will have to find the cash to order this week.

 

[Explicit]

No worries mate