Upgrade on the cheap or go the whole hog?

[CSGAS]

Want to upgrade my CPU (AMD X2 3800) and motherboard (ASUS A8N5X) but am undecided about whether to upgrade my RAM (GEIL 2Gb (4X512) DDR400 PC 3200) as well. I would rather not spend the money but if the memory would be hugely bottle neck the system (or just isn't compatible) then what the heck.

Thinking of:
- Gigabyte GA-EP41-UD3L Intel G41 (Socket 775) DDR2 Motherboard £56.99
- Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.93GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £93.99
- Using current RAM
- Already have 775 cooler (Akasa Blue Aurora)

Price: £150

BUT: Would the current RAM bottleneck/not be compatible?

What would you recommend for around ~£200 (or just over)?

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Redmint]

That's DDR(1) RAM so it won't work in a DDR2 motherboard, gimme a sec and I'll find a nice cheap upgrade for you.

OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600LV4GK) £92.99
(£79.14) £92.99
(£79.14)
AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 440 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £62.99
(£53.61) £62.99
(£53.61)
Asus M4A78LT-M LE AMD 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £51.99
(£44.25) £51.99
(£44.25)
Sub Total : £177.00
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £32.64
Total : £219.14

£208 with free shipping.

 

[CSGAS]

Ideally I would like to use a 775 processor as I have a brand new 775 cooler just lying around! Or would I be shooting my self in the foot in terms of performance?

Hows the comparable performance of this slightly cheaper RAM?:

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel

 

[ashlaqueen]

That's DDR(1) RAM so it won't work in a DDR2 motherboard, gimme a sec and I'll find a nice cheap upgrade for you.

OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600LV4GK) £92.99
(£79.14) £92.99
(£79.14)
AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 440 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £62.99
(£53.61) £62.99
(£53.61)
Asus M4A78LT-M LE AMD 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £51.99
(£44.25) £51.99
(£44.25)
Sub Total : £177.00
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £32.64
Total : £219.14

£208 with free shipping.

This looks pretty good to me too.

 

[Redmint]

Ideally I would like to use a 775 processor as I have a brand new 775 cooler just lying around! Or would I be shooting my self in the foot in terms of performance?

Hows the comparable performance of this slightly cheaper RAM?:

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel

You'll be shooting yourself in the foot, going with AMD means you can afford a DDR3 system with much better upgrade potential. 775 is considered 'old tech' now, I would only really suggest buying 2nd hand 775 stuff at this point if you're on a really tight budget. You can always sell the cooler and pick up a better one for the AM3 system for £20-30.

edit - in gaming and general use you can't see a huge difference between 1066MHz DDR2 and 1600MHz DDR3, however you need to make sure the RAM you buy matches what the motherboard is compatible with. The 775 motherboard in your first post is DDR2, the one I suggested is DDR3.

 

[CSGAS]

Looks like thats a microATX board, no?

If so which other board around the same price would you recommend? (with on board sound! - don't have a sound card...)

 

[Redmint]

There's this one: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-244-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481 which seems to be the cheapest full ATX board on OCuk atm.

If you want a board with the new 800 chipset there's this one http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-408-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1782 that's currently out of stock or this one http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-283-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1782

The 800 series boards come with SATA 3 and USB 3 and *might* be compatible with the next generation of AMD chips (bulldozer) however I don't think this has been confirmed yet.

 

[CSGAS]

Would that microATX board fit in my full ATX case? Does the reduced size come with a reduced performance?

 

[Redmint]

The majority of full atx cases have the stand offs for micro ATX boards, you might have to move a few of them around though. Which case is it?

As for reduced performance - it's a fairly basic board so I wouldn't expect wonders when it comes to overclocking etc but for running that CPU it should be fine.

 

[CSGAS]

Hows this look then?

OCZ Gold Low Voltage 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600LV4GK) £92.99

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 MA770 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £72.99

AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 440 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £62.99

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1156 / 1366) £18.99

Sub Total : £211.03
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £38.59
Total : £259.12

So £250. Bit more than I want to spend but hey.

 

[Redmint]

This motherboard http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2009/09/17/msi-770-c45-motherboard-review/1 is a bit cheaper and also full ATX however OCuk don't seem to have them any more.