What to upgrade?

C

Cursed

Weaksauce
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Feb 1, 2009
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I've got roughly £125 to spend on my PC. There are several things that I want to replace, but £125 is obviously not enough to cover them all. So I'm asking for some advice on what to get. These are my current specs:

4GB 800MHz PNY RAM
Nvidia GeForce 8800GT (Maybe needs replacing)
Dell AM2 Motherboard (Needs replacing)
AMD Athlon 5000+ (Needs replacing)
iCute case (Needs replacing)
Value 650W Power Supply (Probably needs replacing)
1TB HDD
20" Samsung LCD

I have listed the things I want to replace. I don't have enough for a P5Q and Q6700 (£212), so I'll either have to wait for my birthday to get more money, or find a cheaper option. I quite like the CM Scout case (£80), which would leave some money for something else (A PSU?). A Zotac GTX 260 costs £125, but I think my processor would bottleneck it.

So what should I do? Or should I save up and get a new PC all at once?
 
Save up and replace all at once. The reason is because... since you say you don't have enough money to replace the parts you specified, there's no sense doing a partial upgrade on this setup. You replace the video card, you still need to replace psu and upgrade your cpu. You replace the cpu and psu but, your Dell AM2 may not support the newer AMD cpus. By the way, what is main reason for this upgrade? Faster gaming? I'd say among the list that needs replacing, upgrade the PSU first.
 
Better gaming is the main reason. I mostly play GTAIV, and would like to be able to play it on higher settings. As for my Dell motherboard, I have no intention whatsoever of keeping it since I want to delve into overclocking, and I'd rather make the switch to Intel.
 
I concur with HardwareGuru: Save up and replace all at once. A new video card wouldn't be a good idea as you would need to replace the PSU and CPU to make sure that the video card is well powered and covered.
 
I agree with Danny and HG. A bit late on the switch to Intel unless its i7. The current Phenom2 offerings give better bang for the buck with their super low prices.
 
Thanks for the advice. I will save up until I have enough to replace the whole system (It's more exciting that way anyway ;)). The reason I was going to move away from AMD was that Intels have tended to make the better processors recently, but I have always had an AMD since my first build.

So assuming I did go to the Phenom range, do I want an AM2+ or AM3 motherboard, and can you reccomend any budget Phenom X4 processors?
 
The Phenom II from AMD are the only cpus from AMD worth considering. Of course your AMD Athlon X2 5000+ Brisbane core is really slow these days. The first Phenom cpus did not fair to well against Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad cpus. However, AMD Phenom II X3 710, 720BE triple core, X4 920, 940 and 955 Deneb Quad core cpus do very well.If gaming is your main purpose for this upgrade, an AMD Phenom II X3 720BE 2.8ghz triple core will be a great cpu upgrade.
 
Alright, thanks for the suggestions. What is that Phenom II X3 comparable to in the Intel range? and could you recommend a good aftermaket cooler for it, as I want to try overclocking (One reason why my current motherboard needs incinerating :D). The motherboard seems a little pricey compared to the P5Q I was looking at for a C2Q? Anything a bit cheaper that's as good?

I will probably be buying off www.ebuyer.com (If it's okay to mention that here).

Edit - I noticed that a fourth core can be unlocked when the 720 is combined with a ASROCK motherboard. I can get this for £208 off eBuyer. Does anybody know if this "glitch" works on new batches of PII 720BEs?
 
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Cursed said:
Alright, thanks for the suggestions. What is that Phenom II X3 comparable to in the Intel range? and could you recommend a good aftermaket cooler for it, as I want to try overclocking (One reason why my current motherboard needs incinerating :D). The motherboard seems a little pricey compared to the P5Q I was looking at for a C2Q? Anything a bit cheaper that's as good?

I will probably be buying off www.ebuyer.com (If it's okay to mention that here).

Edit - I noticed that a fourth core can be unlocked when the 720 is combined with a ASROCK motherboard. I can get this for £208 off eBuyer. Does anybody know if this "glitch" works on new batches of PII 720BEs?
Click to expand...

Dunno if the 4th core unlock still works with the newer batches of the 720.

I don't see how the UD4P is "pricey" compared to the Asus p5Q Pro since at dabs.com, it's only £94.27 inc vat whereas the P5Q Pro costs £98.08inc vat at ebuyer.com unless you're severely restricted to ebuyer. In that case, the UD4 is cheaper than P5Q Pro:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160854

Price wise here in the U.S, the Phenom II 720 is roughly equal to the E7500. However the performance of the PII 720 is between the E7500 and E8400. pretty close to the E8400's performance IIRC actually.
 
Cursed said:
I wasn't looking at a Pro model. Just the SE/R, since I don't really want anything too high-end.

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Black Edition (Retail)
Asrock A770DE AMD 770 Socket AM2+ Motherboard
How's that, will need a decent Aftermarket cooler to go with that. I know the motherboard isn't anything too speciall, but it allows me to bring it into my budget.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't have recommended the SE/R due to the shit placement of the 24Pin connector.

Dunno anything about that mobo so can't comment on it. But it doesn't look like it can do any more than minor overclocking. Hardly worth the trouble then to get a 3rd party HSF.
 
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