New system (60%ish) upgrade

leroy24 · 26 May 2006 at 14:29

Please could you advise my mate as to whether or not these are the bits to buy. He has a budget of £500 for the 4 components. He's using a 550w Qtec triple fan thing. Hes got all the HDDs and optical drives etc etc.

Its primarily a games machine

Here are the bits hes priced up:

Intel Pentiumﾮ 4 D 940 Dual core 2x3.2GHz 800FSB LGA775 2x2MB cache Retail inc.Fan £174.49
Gigabyte GA-8I945PG, i945P FSB1066 s775, DDR2, PCI-E, SATA, Gbit LAN, 8ch. Audio, ATX £63.21
2x Geilﾮ Value DDR2 1GB PC4300 533MHz (4-4-4-12) with Aluminium Heat spreader £117.48 for both
Asus Extreme 7600GT 256MB DDR3, PCI-E, Dual DVI, HDTV Out, Retail £136.77
***ADDED***
ThermalTake TR2 470W Black Silent +ATX 12V 2.0 PSU, 20pin +4pin SATA ready £34.43
***/ADDED***

prices include VAT

He is currently running:

Intel 3.2 Prescott
Asus P4S800 mobo
2x 512 Corsair Value Ram
Gainward nVidia GeForce 6600 - 256MB - AGP

Is it a worthwhile upgrade for the price, and if so, or if not, is there something else within the budget that would be more worthwhile for him to consider?

TVM

split · 26 May 2006 at 14:35

I'm just wondering how much the 'He's using a 550w Qtec triple fan thing' can take.
You really do need to add the cost of a half decent PSU, and re-evaluate what you have to spend.

leroy24 · 26 May 2006 at 14:43

He says he'll cough up £30 or so bucks for a new PSU too:

Tagan 330W whisper quiet 20dB TG330-U01 +dual fan ATX/BTX £34.06 Inc VAT

or

ThermalTake TR2 470W Black Silent +ATX 12V 2.0 PSU, 20pin +4pin SATA ready £34.43 inc VAT

something like those?

Adding those to the list, what thoughts are there now?

split · 26 May 2006 at 14:49

See what you need say here. <slow to load

jr_123 · 26 May 2006 at 14:56

the 900 series dual core are nice chips

ive got the 950 @ 4.2Ghz on stock air and it flies

leroy24 · 26 May 2006 at 14:57

Ok so i need 370w

ThermalTake TR2 470W Black Silent +ATX 12V 2.0 PSU, 20pin +4pin SATA ready £34.43 inc VAT

There we go, add that and away we go

any more thoughts??

Is it worth my while and cash??

TVM

Explicit · 26 May 2006 at 15:18

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£202.04
Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-002-AK)
£43.42
OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-OK)
£117.44
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-061-PC)
£123.32
Enermax EG465AX-VE(G)(FMA) 460W ATX2.1 Power Supply (CA-004-EN) **this week only**
£35.19

Total inc VAT: £521.41

I'd much rather leave the current Intel chips alone and stick to AMD until Conroe is out.

leroy24 · 26 May 2006 at 15:24

Hmm. Well ok. Thanks.

I do have a fear of ATI cards, all the ones I have used and seen break within a week. Albeit cheap ones, but ATI none the less.

And your recommending AMD then over the Intel.

How does that rig better the rig I detailed above? Im still yet to actually get any feedback on the Rig specified at *** start of *** thread

How does it better it?

Explicit · 26 May 2006 at 15:34

The current Intel dual cores are not that great to be honest. AMD currently have the best performing CPUs which is why so many people have got them. Remember, it's not about clock speed, it's about performance.

split · 26 May 2006 at 15:41

if this is mainly a games machine Explicit is spot on.

Explicit · 26 May 2006 at 15:56

^ Cheers mate

m3csl2004 · 26 May 2006 at 16:04

CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM) 1
£184.95 £184.95
MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL) 1
£109.95 £109.95
CA-009-HP Hiper HPU-4M580 Type R 580W ATX2.2 PSU - Black (CA-009-HP) 1
£44.95 £44.95
MB-071-MS MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-071-MS) 1
£49.95 £49.95
GX-061-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-061-PC) 1
£104.95 £104.95
Subtotal £494.75
VAT £86.59
Total £581.34

if he fancies splashing out

leroy24 · 26 May 2006 at 16:41

hmm interesting indeed.

Ok cool.

How about this rig m3csl2004 has built up here?

is it £50 more worthwhile than Explicits build?

Im just trying to get some various avenues for him to look at, and maybe even my self in a upgrade i hope to make soon.

m3csl2004 · 26 May 2006 at 16:48

it will certainly last a bit longer upgrade wise

tbh explicit's spec is fine, but id rather ditch the asrock and get a decent board

split · 26 May 2006 at 16:58

m3csl2004 said:
it will certainly last a bit longer upgrade wise

tbh explicit's spec is fine, but id rather ditch the asrock and get a decent board

I take your point, but has anyone tried the MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 yet?

Think a few of us are sticking with the devil we do know

Explicit · 26 May 2006 at 17:00

leroy24 said:
is it £50 more worthwhile than Explicits build?

With £50 extra, you can upgrade whatever you like on my spec. E.g. Get an even better graphics card than the GTO, get a different mobo or even some low latency RAM.

But you may want to consider M3's AM2 spec as it will be more 'upgradeable' in the future

ACESHIGH · 27 May 2006 at 05:51

m3csl2004 said:
CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM) 1
£184.95 £184.95
MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL) 1
£109.95 £109.95
CA-009-HP Hiper HPU-4M580 Type R 580W ATX2.2 PSU - Black (CA-009-HP) 1
£44.95 £44.95
MB-071-MS MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-071-MS) 1
£49.95 £49.95
GX-061-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-061-PC) 1
£104.95 £104.95
Subtotal £494.75
VAT £86.59
Total £581.34

if he fancies splashing out

if you can cover the cost, this looks very good.