What to do with my system

[Switch 82]

I dont know what to do with my pc. I'm currently running

amd 64 3200 @ 2.10ghz (just oc'd using the bios)
asus av8 mobo
1gb GeIL ram
ati 9800 pro
coolermaster 650w psu
vista home premium
plus the usual dvd etc...

i'm planning on changing the psu no matter what as this one is too loud for me! but i want to get the best out of my pc for as little cost as possible!

i use it with dreamweaver / photoshop running together and its seems ok but a little slow. but when my gf plays on the sims2 it slows down quite a bit.

what do you think is my best course of action? can i get away with just upgrading the ram or will i have to start from scratch to get any benefits?

cheers guys

 

[Indigo Gorilla]

How much do you have to spend?

Ram is quite cheap these days with 2GB of DDR2 availible for just over £30. That would mean having a DDR2 compatible motherboard and CPU though but again these can be had quite cheap now.

If your not playing games on it then you can ignore the graphics card really and anything else. Just upgrade your CPU, Ram and Motherboard (if needed).

The ram would definitely help I imagine.

 

[mattyfez]

If your using DDR1 and AGP then your in the same boat as me, looking at a new build.

An extra 1Gb of ram will speed things up a bit, but DDR1 is expensive in comparison to DDR2, in short dont get to exited, you should be looking at a whole new platform to see real gains.

 

[Switch 82]

i thought so.

am i being stupid thinking i can get a half decent system for £250-ish?
it'd be case of new mobo, cpu, gfx card & ram.

any recommendations??

 

[Quixote]

I'd get a dual core 3800+, an extra gig of RAM & a X1950 Pro Graphics card. That would be a value, balanced upgrade that would give a good boost in most areas.

 

[MMc2K3]

i thought so.

am i being stupid thinking i can get a half decent system for £250-ish?
it'd be case of new mobo, cpu, gfx card & ram.

any recommendations??

Seem's like an obvious answer, but you get what you pay for.

I'd be looking at spending at least twice that to get a "half decent" system, but that's from the perspective of a gamer.

From my experience it's always better to spend a little more to get what you really want than to compromise and be disappointed, only to replace them 6 months later.

 

[eyetrip]

am i being stupid thinking i can get a half decent system for £250-ish?

Actually, you can get a half decent spec for that, as long as that does not include PSU.


Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Intel P31 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £24.99
(£29.36) £24.99
(£29.36)
PowerColor ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £87.99
(£103.39) £87.99
(£103.39)
Sub Total : £209.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £38.19
Total : £256.40