PC upgrade Time

[kanonfodda]

Hi guys

A friend of mine is planning on upgrading his PC, adn has asked me what he should buy. I'm not a noob when it comes to hardware etc, but thought Iwould get some real advice from people who know what they are talking about.

so, here is the plan

New mobo, cpu and memory + new GFX card.

Will probably be looking around the £300 mark.

GFX make is not an issue, neither is CPU make

What would people suggest? Links would be preferable

Many thanks in advance

 

[TdC]

sounds like a job for captain shuttle sff for teh win!!
you can have them with both major CPU flavours, and some already contain a gfx chip/sound chip. they also weigh in around the price range you indicated.

 

[old.user4556]

Hi guys

A friend of mine is planning on upgrading his PC, adn has asked me what he should buy. I'm not a noob when it comes to hardware etc, but thought Iwould get some real advice from people who know what they are talking about.

so, here is the plan

New mobo, cpu and memory + new GFX card.

Will probably be looking around the £300 mark.

GFX make is not an issue, neither is CPU make

What would people suggest? Links would be preferable

Many thanks in advance

Hmm - what will he be wanting to do with it? Latest games etc? What's the current spec so I can make an informed decision on a decent upgrade path (mem, mobo, current cpu, current games played).

£300 isn't a lot for a mem / mobo / gfx / cpu upgrade.

I'm thinking tho:

Abit NF7-S v2.0 nForce2 (integrated lan / firewire / SATA / soundstorm) - £67

Connect3D ATI Radeon 9600XT 128MB - £110

AMD Athlon "Barton" XP2500+ 333FSB - £53 (there is a good chance this'll overclock to 3200+ by bumping the FSB speed up from 166 MHz to 200 MHz, so a good bang per buck)

(only £70 left for memory at this point, so 1 GB is out of the question)

Corsair 512MB DDR XMS3200LLPT TwinX (2x256MB) - £106 (PC3200 to allow the 2500+ to overclock to 3200+). I have the 1 GB version of this and it's utterly fantastic ram imo.

£336 inc vat all in. It'd be a cracking little system and handle everything you throw at it. I'd strongly advise 1 GB ram however.

All from http://www.overclockers.co.uk (I feel the 'they suck' flames coming) who aren't the cheapest out there so have a look around at other places. Try http://www.komplett.co.uk

Cheers

G

 

[kanonfodda]

thanks guys

Been chatting to the guy, got him up to £500

Required:

CPU
MoBo
Mem
GFX
Sound card
HDD
case.

Like the idea of the shuttle, I will buy myself one, one day (for LANs of course )

 

[old.user4556]

In addition to the above spec:

Western Digital Caviar 120GB Special Edition 8MB Cache Serial ATA - £70

Soundcard - Already covered by the soundstorm on the nForce2 (believe me, it's fantastic with its hardware encoding dolby digital - no other soundcard has this feature).

That weighs in at £406 inc vat - so that leaves £94 for a case. Best let your mate pick one he likes because my case recommendations will all come in at over £100

G

 

[kanonfodda]

My thanks for that matey

I look forward to giving him the bill

 

[MrBlack]

Have a look here:

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/kc.asp?bn=10293

pre-selected CPU/Mobo/Ram/Cooler bundles

Komplett bundles are quite tasty for the money. The basic 2500+ one gives you £130 to spend on graphics, so you can go for the non-ultra 5900, which is only a shade over that. Unlike a lot of bundle type things, non of the hardware is shoddy, either.

Downside.. getting one that's in stock.

 

[Gengi]

Hello People,
I too am on the upgrade path, looking to build a whole system and bequeath the one I last built to my son. I have no loyalties to any brands and would look to be spending in the region of a £1000 - £1200.
The machine will be predominantly for playing games, future upgradability would be a plus, but having read Xav's articles over at the technation website, I will probably be shit out of luck in that deaprtment as the newish processors (Athlon 64 and Prescotts) are due to change forms soonish (I am a relative novice at this so I may have misread the articles).
I was going to wait till Tech-nation's A-list came out and pick my bits from there, but I will have to start buying the bits soon or the money will disappear
Thanks for your time

Later

 

[old.user4556]

Hello there,

What's the spec of the old machine? (to give an idea of what parts).

G

 

[Gengi]

Hello there,

What's the spec of the old machine? (to give an idea of what parts).

G

I have two currently sharing my internet connection through a router. An out of the box Dell P4 2 gig, 512 RDram, 64 meg T1500 graphics and a creative soundcard OS winxp, that's the wifes and will be left alone. The one I built, I stuck in an old Gateway box, it has an Athlon 1800+, 512 meg ram, on a Soltek Motherboard SLDRV2 I think, at work can't remember, same gfx and a soundblaster PCI 128 soundcard, this is what I wish to change. I basically want a whole new comp, case, innards and monitor so my son can have the built one.
Hope this helps,

Later

 

[Yaka]

*edited* soz didnt read the above replys

 

[old.user4556]

If you're going to buy a PC from scratch, personally I wouldn't buy seperate bits and I'd recommend you buy a complete system. The best way to do this would be to configure one online, perhaps from Mesh Computers.

http://www.meshcomputers.com/updated/essential_64_1.htm

That is Mesh's own online configurator. I've managed to configure a PC to the following spec just outside of your budget:

Case: MESH ATX MidiTower +360W PSU with tool free access
Operating System: Upgrade to Microsoft® Windows® XP Pro Edition at £50
Motherboard Features: ASUS K8V Deluxe Athlon 64 Mainboard - 800FSB, Dual LAN, IEEE 1394, SATA
Processor: Upgrade to AMD Athlon 64 3400+ at £150
Memory: Upgrade to 1024Mb PC3200 DDR (400MHz) at £100
Hard Drives: 160GB Serial ATA (150Mb/s) Ultra Fast Hard Drive
Video Card: Upgrade to 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro at £170
Monitor 1: 19'' CRT Mitsubishi DPRO 930 - 108Khz, .24mm, NF, TCO99 (Analogue) at £249
Optical Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive (40x CD-ROM)
Sound: Onboard Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Modem: 56kbps V92 Modem, featuring data and fax.
Keyboard & Mouse: Logitech Internet Keyboard & Optical Mouse (Black)
Warranty: 3 Years - Parts & Labour - Back-to-Base Warranty (Mainland UK only - Terms Apply)
Delivery: Insured Del within Mainland UK (+ £39) at £39
Price Excluding VAT: £ 1257

Price Including VAT + DEL: £ 1476.98


You're right to be concerned about upgrading, as the motherboard in this spec (although good) does not have PCI express which is only a couple of months away. The next GPUs (also due in around April i believe) from nvidia and ATi (NV40 and R420 respectively) will be considerably quicker than today's 9800 Pro (R350), but they will come in PCI Express and AGP flavours for us with AGP slots on our motherboards. CPU wise, the 3400+ has a fair bit of poke in it and I *expect* that motherboard will support faster CPUs when they come out. Judging from a rumoured third party CPU roadmap, the 3700+ is aimed somewhere around Q4 this year although i'm not 100% sure on the pin configuration for the new chips and they might not be compatbile with today's A64 motherboards (Xavier?).

There are a few more technologies pencilled in for this year including DDR2, PCI Express and the BTX standard. If you continue to wait for the 'next best upgrade', you'll be waiting forever!

G

 

[Clown]

If you continue to wait for the 'next best upgrade', you'll be waiting forever!

This is why I hate computers and upgrading them. There's always something else with better spec and cheaper cost than what you have

 

[Gengi]

Thanks Big G,
I will take a look at the Mesh site and see what system goodness they have, but alas I will not be able to buy one unless I wait 3 or 4 months.
The Budget spans time, I was intending to buy a couple of bits a month over the next 3 or 4 months Still if I wait prices on the graphics card may well come down, with the new GPU's being released, and the other prices may well come down too. Ahh the quandry, build a system over time or save and buy a prebuilt

Later

 

[MrBlack]

This is why I hate computers and upgrading them. There's always something else with better spec and cheaper cost than what you have

The trick is not to plan what you want in advance and then wait 2 months before buying it.

Decide when you're going to buy it and how much you'll spend, then spec it up on that day. The trick is hitting the price/performance sweet-spot. Avoiding the _fastest_ cpus/video cards; buying your RAM separately (most system builders have a hefty mark-up); not letting certain expensive brands and clever marketing sway your judgment too much and not killing yourself if something you recently bought is superseded or reduced.

Moore's law holds that performance of computing power for a given price point doubles every 18 months. Your hardware will be depreciate to nothing in around 3 years. Comes with owning a PC

 

[Clown]

But in two months something else will be there... better and cheaper.

 

[old.user4556]

Just noticed this on Anandtech, showing the roadmap for the socket 754 (the Asus K8V is socket 754 featured on that Mesh system i pointed out) which will take up to a 3700+ Athlon 64 which is due in April.

Looking further ahead to this time next year, A64 4000+ and 4200+ will be socket 939.

G