$300 dual core system.

[The Null]

hello

its upgrade time, and i want a new CPU, but that requires a new motherboard, and new RAM. currently I'm in need of a decent upgrade, but my budget is only $300. I'm mainly gonna use the system to play games at a small resolution, 1024x768, and would like to be able to play Medal of Honor airborne maxed.

i also live here in Australia, so Newegg is kinda out.

currently my new system will be:
ABIT IL9-PRO Intel 945P $99
INTEL DUAL-CORE E2140 1.6Ghz $89
4x 512meg DDR2-667 (PC5300) $29 each ($116 total)

the rest of the parts will come from my current system.

any suggestions?

 

[speculative]

If your motherboard will support DDR-800, you can get Crucial Ballistix with the rebate on either Newegg or ZipZoomFly for the same price or less as the ram you posted, 2x1GB sticks at 4-4-4-12. If that motherboard supports it, that is a much better deal. Even if you have to "underclock" the ram, it would be worth more if you re-sell it later when upgrading due to the size and speed.

 

[The Null]

If your motherboard will support DDR-800, you can get Crucial Ballistix with the rebate on either Newegg or ZipZoomFly for the same price or less as the ram you posted

i live in Australia, if i'm gonna buy from newegg its gonna cost a bit more for shipping.

 

[engiNURD]

How about re-using your old RAM since you have 2GB of it?

$99 - Intel Dual-Core E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz 1MB
$77 - AsRock 4CoreDual-VSTA LGA 775 VIA PT880 Ultra

AT did some reviews on that board:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3024

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2810
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2813
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2814

Summary: The board is a good, budget stopgap solution for people who want to get more life out of their DDR and/or AGP stuff. DDR400 is still fine for today's applications, and only high end NVIDIA graphics cards will be affected by the 4x speed of the 16x sized pci-e slot, but not by much (PCI-E Scaling Review).

Pair it with an E2160 or E4400 and OC either one to around 3Ghz (on stock cooling and voltage), and you'll be all set!

Then, when you get more cash, upgrade to some better RAM and new Mobo!