Time to upgrade my PC... HELP!!!!

Post by **Buster** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 12:27 pm

Currently -

AMD Athalon 2500 XP ( 1.83Ghz )
1 Gb DDR3200 ( i think, maybe lesser spec! )
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 Mb

This set up is about 2 years old now so it`s time for me to upgarde it. The problem is i have no idea whats the best kit available at a good price ( i.e. CHEAP )

I`ve had a quick look on eBuyer this morning and think i`m probably looking at about £200 for new Mobo, 1Gb Ram and a new CPU. If i need to upgrade the GFX card as well then that budget may need to be reallocated in preference order, or increased but i`d rather stay under £200 really.

I`ll probbaly order the extra RAM as soon as i can confirm what i have fited now, pretty sure it`s 2 generic 512Mb sticks of DDR 3200 and i know there is room for 2 more of the same. This is a short term fix i know butit may serve for a while if i need to save up for other stuff.

What i need to know for now is -

Is the extra RAM the best short term bet?

Whats my best upgrade options for the CPU/Mobo and GFX cards?

Are AMD still the way to go?

Is 64 Bit the new black?

Are duel core`s worth it?

Will i need a new O/S with any of these upgrades?

Does ATI stick kick GeForce`s arse?

Lego · Post by **Lego** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:59 pm

well my brother has duel core. it rocks.
I'm told a single raptor hd outperforms most raid 0s. tomshardware.com told me this. If your game requires much loading, I would upgrade the hd.
ram is fine.

but hmm. you cant even afford a duel core!

your pc is fine atm imo. wait for the duel core to come down. its worth it

Post by **Buster** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:27 am

Currently looking into upgrading the GFX card to a nVidia 7800GT i think it was, not sure.

Zim Zum · Post by **Zim Zum** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 7:12 am

How cheap can you find one of those for? Id like one too but they still seem bloody expensive.

Villa · Post by **Villa** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 11:26 am

It shocks me how expensive a top-end graphics card can be these days.
Costs even more than a low-end complete PC system from Dell...
Crazy.

Post by **Buster** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 4:13 pm

@ Zim - Saw one in a magazine yesterday for about 170 quid, i`ll go research it now and post a link with more details later on.

Post by **Benn** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:46 pm

Don't buy memory, it's you won't notice much difference between 2gb and 1gb really.

Not sure where Lego got RAID0 from, but it's shite for games pcs anyway

Best bet is a new gfx card, and wait a few months as cpu prices drop. GFX card upgrade from the 9800 would easily be your best bang per buck.

Post by **Buster** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:48 pm

@ Zim again - http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=605357

Seems to be a decent card, slightly more than i said before though as i can`t seem to find that one again!

Nixon · Post by **Nixon** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:05 pm

Could have swore I posted a reply in this thread for buster, oh well.

Anyhow, if your interested in selling your old graphics card when you upgrade, lemme know. One of my old PC's could do with a graphics card

Angus · Post by **Angus** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:47 pm

I was going to upgrade my PC, but the hassle and costput me off, instead im getting this lovely new pc, located here

saving my pennys now :/

Zim Zum · Post by **Zim Zum** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 7:01 pm

Buster wrote:@ Zim again - http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=605357

Seems to be a decent card, slightly more than i said before though as i can`t seem to find that one again!

Cheers for link.

That's the cheapest ive seen one for but still more than im willing to spend right now. Think I'll wait til the 8000 series and buy a 7800 then.

Ive bought that dirt cheap 19" widescreen Acer monitor that's been selling really cheap on Amazon recently. Have to admit it's spunkalicious and widescreen will always be best for application whores, but there is a significant performance drop on the desktop since using the higher resolution. So anyway that's why I want another graphics card.

Post by **Buster** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 7:17 pm

Any forcast on when the 8000 series will come out? Would cetainly make sense to wait if it`s gonna be soon as the 7800 price will drop significantly.

Zim Zum · Post by **Zim Zum** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:29 pm

No idea but Nvidia churn them out pretty quickly, I would think this summer, maybe later in the year to coincide with Windows Vista.

Post by **Buster** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:51 pm

@ Zim once again! - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ ... eries.html

Lowest price`s yet.

Bah, i lie, i hadn`t noticed it was Ex-Vat, that sux monkey peen!

Lego · Post by **Lego** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 6:02 am

I thought raid0 let you load games faster. link me please