Upgrading my pc

plonk

Hi all need some help. Ive got about €700 euro to do up my pc. Its a dell 8200 about 4 years old and at this stage really slow. Ive got a list done out but im wondering if i can get better value for my money
Processor:Intel Pentium 4 630 3.0GHz Socket LGA775, 2MB, EM64T, BOXED w/fan
Mb:MSI 945P NEO-F, I945P, Socket-775, ATX S-ATAII, GbLAN, DDR2, PCI-Ex16
Ram:Corsair Value S. PC5300 DDR2 1024MB Kit w/two matched Value Select 512MB
Hard drive:Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 250GB SATA2 8MB 7200RPM NCQ
Graphics:Sapphire Radeon X550 Advantage 256MB DDR ,PCI-Express, Tv-Out/DVI-I, "Low Profile
Dvd-rw:NEC DVD±RW burner, ND-3550A, 16x, Dual, Black OEM
So would you change anything thanks

Cuddlesworth

First thing I would say is that Dell cases only take Dell mobos.And PSU's.

Dman_15

Go for AMD. They give better performance in games and are cheaper, plus the motherboards are cheaper.

With the money you save try getting an ati x800 or geforce 6600.

gline

Dman_15 wrote:

Go for AMD. They give better performance in games and are cheaper, plus the motherboards are cheaper.

With the money you save try getting an ati x800 or geforce 6600.

amen bro...:D
ditch the intel and ddr2 and get cheaper amd and ram and better mobo

plonk

thank you for your help but i am after finding another 200 to spend on it im so confused coz there are so many different options. And now i have to buy a new case and psu. My parents spent about 2000 on this computer from dell and the piece of crap of a mobo they give you is crazy. Help please

Dman_15

case & powersupply

http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=311799&cks=PRL

Everyone who has one of these raves about them.

gline

Dman_15 wrote:

case & powersupply

http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=311799&cks=PRL

Everyone who has one of these raves about them.

the case is OK and depending on what you are putting in the rig that psu maybe not enough juice

plonk

thank you now can you tell me anything about this http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=302996&s=sc
i dont want to spend any more on a graphics card so is this the best for below 180

masteroftherealm

Yup Im one of them ravers ^^^

plonk

ok so thats psu case and graphics covered now ive about 530 left on processor mobo ram and hd

Dman_15

Go the extra tenner on the Graphics

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=311656&cks=PRL

MOBO:
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=312583&cks=PRL

CPU:
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307202&cks=PRL

RAM:
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=118737&cks=PRL

Go for the maxtor HD:
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=316372&cks=PRL

plonk

Ok im more of an intel man never really got into athlons and that hd is sata2 does the motherboard support it so this was what i was thinking

Cpuwww.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307538&cks=PRL

Mobohttp://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=311326&s=sc

Ramhttp://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=308934&s=sc

so which intel or athlon and

astec123

Can I suggest selling the Dell and getting a new system all together, these days upgrading, especially Dells and what not is pretty pointless as a new system with both the money you have to spend and money from the Dell will give you a nice new AMD64 with loads of features and comparatively it will be of the same specs as upgrading the dell if not better. There will always be someone after an older PC.

Plus you get a warranty for all of it, and a nice clean new box. As you say you have 900 already. Not sure what the PC would be worth in Ireland but you are talking about 1200 quid or so on a new PC. That will get you a mid range system.

A

plonk

Well my pc has 2.66 p4 512 rd ram 2*256 64mb graphics crappy mobo a cd/rw so how much is that worth i want to keep my hd

plonk

Ya ive finally made up my mind thanks for your help im going with

MSI 945P NEO-F, I945P, Socket-775, ATXS-ATAII, GbLAN, DDR2, PCI-Ex16

Intel Pentium 4 640 3.2GHz SocketLGA775, 2MB, EM64T, BOXED w/fan

Corsair Value S. PC5300 DDR2 1024MBKit w/two matched Value Select 512MB

In-Win X711B Full Tower ATX BlackCase w/430W PSU, Lcd Panel, USB 2.0

NEC DVD±RW burner, ND-3550A, 16x,Dual, Black OEM

Samsung Pleomax 8x DVD-R 4,7GB 50-packCake Box printable

PowerColor Radeon X800GT 256MB GDDR3,PCI-Express, Dual-DVI-I, Tv-Out, Retail

Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB SATA216MB 7200RPM NCQ

935 incl delivery

Dman_15

Why Intel? AMD are way better for self build.
I'm not sure about In-Win cases. Dunno about their PSU's, maybe someone can shed a bit more light on this.

Your Intel costs €235
An Athlon 3700 costs €2 less and will outperform it in every respect:
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=309484&cks=PRL

The Intel Motherboard costs €119
The equivalent MSI AMD board costs €13 less
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=312220&cks=PRL

DDR 2 costs €119
DDR for AMD platform costs €30 less
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=118737&cks=PRL

Thats a €45 saving, With that you can get a better case that wont sound like a 747 at takeoff

conzy

Why Intel? AMD are way better for self build.
I'm not sure about In-Win cases. Dunno about their PSU's, maybe someone can shed a bit more light on this.

Your Intel costs €235
An Athlon 3700 costs €2 less and will outperform it in every respect:
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=309484&cks=PRL

The Intel Motherboard costs €119
The equivalent MSI AMD board costs €13 less
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=312220&cks=PRL

DDR 2 costs €119
DDR for AMD platform costs €30 less
http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=118737&cks=PRL

Thats a €45 saving, With that you can get a better case that wont sound like a 747 at takeoff

Amen, AMD are the best proceesers at the minute for price and performance

DemonOfTheFall

Just looked at the link for the Sonata II. Why won't its PSU work with the Epox board ?!?

conzy

Because the newer Intel and AMD boards use the ATX 2.2 standard that needs a 24pin atx connector, the antec sonata 2 case only has a 20pin...........

TerrorFirmer

Make sure you do not go for the x550. Great card....if you plan playing your old collection.

plonk

No went with the PowerColor Radeon X800GT 256MB GDDR3,PCI-Express, Dual-DVI-I, Tv-Out, Retail and changed my case to a antec slk got the last one sweet

conzy

Yup a x550 would struggle with pac-man:p the best budget PCI-Express card is probably a 6600gt or a x800gt

Dman_15

plonk wrote:

No went with the PowerColor Radeon X800GT 256MB GDDR3,PCI-Express, Dual-DVI-I, Tv-Out, Retail and changed my case to a antec slk got the last one sweet

Did you go AMD then?

plonk

plonk wrote:

Ya ive finally made up my mind thanks for your help im going with

MSI 945P NEO-F, I945P, Socket-775, ATXS-ATAII, GbLAN, DDR2, PCI-Ex16

Intel Pentium 4 640 3.2GHz SocketLGA775, 2MB, EM64T, BOXED w/fan

Corsair Value S. PC5300 DDR2 1024MBKit w/two matched Value Select 512MB

antec slk tower ATX BlackCase w/430W PSU, , USB 2.0

NEC DVD±RW burner, ND-3550A, 16x,Dual, Black OEM

Samsung Pleomax 8x DVD-R 4,7GB 50-packCake Box printable

PowerColor Radeon X800GT 256MB GDDR3,PCI-Express, Dual-DVI-I, Tv-Out, Retail

Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB SATA216MB 7200RPM NCQ

935 incl delivery

No this is what i went with

conzy

Not bad but you should have listened and not got a Intel P4, unless you OC it it will run like a dog

plonk

Now i must play the waiting game hopefully an post will be quick

plonk

plonk wrote:

Ya ive finally made up my mind thanks for your help im going with

MSI 945Platnium, I945P, Socket-775, ATXS-ATAII(Raid), GbLAN, DDR2, PCI-Ex16

Intel Pentium 4 640 3.2GHz SocketLGA775, 2MB, EM64T, BOXED w/fan

Corsair Value S. PC5300 DDR2 1024MBKit w/two matched Value Select 512MB

antec slk midi tower BlackCase w/350W PSU, USB 2.0

NEC DVD±RW burner, ND-3550A, 16x,Dual, Black OEM

Samsung Pleomax 8x DVD-R 4,7GB 50-packCake Box printable

PowerColor Radeon X800GT 256MB GDDR3,PCI-Express, Dual-DVI-I, Tv-Out, Retail

Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250GB SATA216MB 7200RPM NCQ

Just got it today cant wait to set it up

Madong

plonk wrote:

Just got it today cant wait to set it up

how'd it go?

plonk

I cant set it up one of my mates will do it for me at the weekend. Dont have the balls to do it myself. Was just checking if the mobo would fit yesterday. But ill let u know when its up and running

ezdmanx

Ive a Dimension 8200 too, and it takes Rambus memory, not DDR?, just said id mention it.

plonk

Got it setup and its brilliant. Playing fear no bother .Very happy with it.

tyRion

I'm planing on building a AMD system, like plonks

Just a few AMD Qs,

Are X2s worth the money? AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.2GHz 2MB This looks sweet but i'm not sure i could justifey spending over half a grand on one chip

An addition i would like is a terestial TV tuner card, if it could do Scart Video in that'd be really cool

I have an old Gateway2000 (Pre ATX) Which i have moded to fit an ATX mobo and it works quite well. I kinda did a half upgrade a while ago but the only thing worth keeping from that is my sound setup.

I'm looking at spending up to about E1,500, but the less the better

Heres a list of what i need

• 939 Mobo
• 939 CPU
• 1Gb Ram
• PSU
• Graphics card [less than E200]
• HDD [200Gb is loads] maybe two in RAID1 though i hear you loose preformance
• DVD Burner

plonk

What are you using the pc for

tyRion

I'm not a mad gamer, so I don't really need a top notch GPU, but i do play the odd game so I would like the PC to stand up to the likes of HL2 & Far-Cry

I would like to do a bit of Video Editing, I have old Camcorder tapes I want to stick on DVD, so VIVO would be nice. I'd also like to make it a PVR, but not very heavy, most of the shows would be ripped to DivX and stuck on DVDs

I do a good bit of stuff with PhotoShop so I take it alot of ram would be nice and A dual core chip would probably be sweet for multi tasking.

How does Cache size on a Chip make a difference

gline

tyRion wrote:

I'm not a mad gamer, so I don't really need a top notch GPU, but i do play the odd game so I would like the PC to stand up to the likes of HL2 & Far-Cry

I would like to do a bit of Video Editing, I have old Camcorder tapes I want to stick on DVD, so VIVO would be nice. I'd also like to make it a PVR, but not very heavy, most of the shows would be ripped to DivX and stuck on DVDs

I do a good bit of stuff with PhotoShop so I take it alot of ram would be nice and A dual core chip would probably be sweet for multi tasking.

How does Cache size on a Chip make a difference

a 6800gt would prob be good enough for what you need, dont know if you can get vivo though. I'd say 2gig ram would be what u'd need and a dualcore for a bit of futureproofing (also i think u can configure photoshop to use 2 cores ?)

tyRion

gline :: cheers

Ok, this is how its looking so far

Graphics Card

• Gainward GeForce 6600GT 256MB GDDR3
• PowerColor Radeon X800GTO 256MB GDDR3
• Club3D Radeon X1600XT 256MB GDDR3

CPU

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+

I need advice on HDD, Mobo, RAM, DVD burner, Fan and PSU. I've done a bit of looking but I havent been keeping up with Tech specs latley (I used read PC Extreme, I had a subscription, but they went bust)

When getting 2Gigs of RAM is it better to get 4x512Meg sticks or 2x1Gig sticks?

DemonOfTheFall

2x1 sticks definitely. AMD doesnt like having 4 sticks of ram.

conzy

2x1 sticks definitely. AMD doesnt like having 4 sticks of ram

Yup the command rate drops to 2T instead of 1T, which is very bad news for a AMD setup

I got a leadtek 7800gt for around €300 on OcUk its a great card, comes with VIVO and lots of software, might be a bit out of your price range since your not looking for a gaming PC

plonk

As you can see above i got the powercolour radeon for 182 and its brilliant for the money. Fear runs fine on it and havent overclocked it yet

tyRion

RAM :: How does this look?

Games shall only be played the odd time so i dont need mad gaming specs, plus i'l like to keep it all with Komplett for reasons of VAT,

Is there much of a difference between the three cards? ATI or nvidia? Which works better under Linux?

Which Zalman Fan?

DemonOfTheFall

nVidia for linux.

That's a good price for decent corsair ram.

tyRion

How does this look?

tyRion

Order place'd! I added a few bits and it came to E1,558 in the end, ex VAT