Opinions on my pc

Tusky

I bought this pc just over 2 years ago (it was second hand at the time) and it was pretty good but lately it has been struggling with newer games.

I want to upgrade (or should I just save up and buy a new one ?) but dont know which parts to get.

The specs can be found here : http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222142&referrerid=&highlight=

I have a budget of around 400 euro so was thinking about getting a new graphics card and some more ram....and then maybe getting a new processor when I have more moneys. Ideas ?

Anti

To be perfectly honest. 400€ isnt much. But if that is your budget thats cool. Your best bet would be to spend 300€ish on a 8800gts 320mb. And spend the rest on cooling. And maybe start overclocking.

But the best bet would be to try and save up about 1000€ or so and invest in a dual core and dx10 graphics.

Tusky

Well I could push the budget up by another 100 or 200 but I thought I would have got an extra gig of ram + a decent card for 400 ? Maybe times have changed since I last bought a pc! 5-600 it is.

TerrorFirmer

No, you can definitely get a good card and ram for that price, but the problem is you need to really upgrade alot of other things, too. Also since your system is AGP based, it's throwing money into a dead end format really. Would work out better to sell that one for a few hundred and try to get a new machine to together.

But it is fine to still upgrade. If you're still using that 9600XT that is definitely going to limit you in games, so even without changing the processor a new card would work wonders.

http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4HZY&CategorySelectedId=11137&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11137,42220000

That will run any game out there with relative ease, and although your processor needs updating it's not as urgent as the card, I'd reckon you might be best taking the X1950GT and even just another 512mb of ram, cutting your losses there, use it for another year or so and then save the rest for a new machine. It's a good middle ground, I know realistically not everyone wants to just go out and get an entirely new machine.

Tusky

HavoK wrote:

No, you can definitely get a good card and ram for that price, but the problem is you need to really upgrade alot of other things, too. Also since your system is AGP based, it's throwing money into a dead end format really. Would work out better to sell that one for a few hundred and try to get a new machine to together.

But it is fine to still upgrade. If you're still using that 9600XT that is definitely going to limit you in games, so even without changing the processor a new card would work wonders.

http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4HZY&CategorySelectedId=11137&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11137,42220000

That will run any game out there with relative ease, and although your processor needs updating it's not as urgent as the card, I'd reckon you might be best taking the X1950GT and even just another 512mb of ram, cutting your losses there, use it for another year or so and then save the rest for a new machine. It's a good middle ground, I know realistically not everyone wants to just go out and get an entirely new machine.

Thats exactly what I was thinking. Ideally I would splash out on a new system..and I plan to over the next 12 months but I just cant afford it right now. Saving for a mucho expensive gaming pc will start soon!

My current system actually does ok though. Ive been running Half Life 2 at near full settings fine. Runs doom3, Battlefield, Wow & company of heroes fine. Its only since I bought LOTR online that I have noticed nasty slowdown rearing its head.

Thanks for the reccomendation of card. Another question : How much would be current system fetch and how much would I need for a good gaming pc. (something high end but not TOO high end if that makes sense)

TerrorFirmer

Unfortunately in its current build its not worth more then about 200 or 300 max. So dropping that card and some extra ram in there will squeeze at least another few months out of it running games at high settings - and to be fair, I'm sure you weren't looking to max everything out anyway.

For a decent gaming PC, it's very doable with about 800-1000....especially if you're going to be overclocking, these days it's so easy even a young child could do it....seriously

Offalycool

You want the 44 special. I have copied this from Micromart’s site:

The "43 Special".
Time marches on and so have Intel and AS-Rock.
The new motherboard is the £40 AS-Rock4CoreDual-VSTA http://tinyurl.com/2mu4ug
The CPU is the £103 Intel Allendale Core 2 Duo E4300.

On paper the E4300 is inferior to the Conroe C2Ds as it has a slower FSB of 200mhz.
However, luckily for us it runs quite happily at an FSB of 266mhz (and way beyond).
Whilst the AS-Rock boards are terrible overclockers for Conroes, they can of coursemanage an FSB of 266mhz.
If you do the maths, thismeans that an E4300 will run at 2.4ghz which is the same as an E6600

As the name implies, the motherboard will accept Quad Core CPUs, so the future upgrade path is even better.
They can overclock beyond 266mhz, especially with DDR400 (PC3200) ram which most of us have in our old Athlon systems.
Check out the sticky in theOverclockers Forum for Tips and Tweaks - it really is easy.
Most of us have obtained at least the performance of an E6700, which costs £325.

The "43 Special" is thereforean AS-Rock 4CoreDual-VSTA with an Intel Allendale Core 2 Duo E4300and all your old drives, gfx cards and ram.

£143 to upgrade your old Athlon to an E6600 or beyond?
http://forum.micromart.co.uk/Topic173777-19-1.aspx
You can stick in an E4400 chip and go even higher because of the higher multiplier.

Tusky

HavoK wrote:

Unfortunately in its current build its not worth more then about 200 or 300 max. So dropping that card and some extra ram in there will squeeze at least another few months out of it running games at high settings - and to be fair, I'm sure you weren't looking to max everything out anyway.

For a decent gaming PC, it's very doable with about 800-1000....especially if you're going to be overclocking, these days it's so easy even a young child could do it....seriously

You're joking ? I was sure it would fetch around 600.

Tusky

Im now thinking about simply replacing the motherboard, processor, graphics card & ram. Reccomended parts welcomed!

TerrorFirmer

Tusky wrote:

You're joking ? I was sure it would fetch around 600.

Sorry Tusky, not a chance. For 600 you'd get a machine better then that one brand new with a 20" monitor included...

Here's a list for a decent budget upgrade

8600GT - 129 (I've noticed lately Dabs are miles better then komplett for cards), great card, about 3 times better then the 9600XT, great performance to price ratio
Mobo - 85
Ram - 100
Processor - 135, and can easily be overclocked to the heavens, but even at stock it would be a lot better then your current one

Tusky

HavoK wrote:

Sorry Tusky, not a chance. For 600 you'd get a machine better then that one brand new with a 20" monitor included...

Here's a list for a decent budget upgrade

8600GT - 129 (I've noticed lately Dabs are miles better then komplett for cards), great card, about 3 times better then the 9600XT, great performance to price ratio
Mobo - 85
Ram - 100
Processor - 135, and can easily be overclocked to the heavens, but even at stock it would be a lot better then your current one

Thanks for all the help Havok, appreciated! I wouldnt have a clue what is compatible with what.

BUT - ive decided to increase my budget for the motherboard, processor, ram, graphics card (possibly new psu?) to 800 so I can get myself a slighly nicer setup, any ideas ?

(no bother if you dont feel like looking up parts again, youve done enough!)

On an unrelated note - Friday afternoon, woo!

Offalycool

Had a terrible experience with Dabs.ie recently, had to cancel the order! I am not the only one; there is a thread over on http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055060340
I don’t recommend them.

DirkVoodoo

I think every vendor has problems, dabs have been very good in my dealing, as have komplett and OCUK. I think you just can't take any crap from them if they jerk you around like the above case.

Back to OT, I think that system is unfortunately out of date in terms of socket. DDR2 RAM is so cheap now that upgrading to it means passing out AM2 and going for LGA775.

I'd go with Havok's choice, except swap out the MoBo. If you get a good PSU and motherboard now, you will be able to upgrade for cheap again in a while when quad core goes mainstream. Stick with the 4400, maybe upgrade to an 8800.

From Dabs.ie

Gigabyte DS-3 €112
Core2Duo E4400 €134
2GB Memory - Not up to date, but get some DDR2-800 for about €150
XFX 8800 GTS 320MB €289
Tagan 600W PSU €141

Total Cost: €826 excl. Shipping

There has been a lot of RAM talk on these boards, with people linking to great deals, I just cant remember any off hand, but you can save money on the DDR2, €150 was just a ballpark figure.

Offalycool

Edited the link to the start of the thread posted above. It’s more than just one case, and believe me I kicked up a lot.

This is pretty sweet from Hardwareversand.de

Laufwerk 1.44 MB,3.5" schwarz
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 4,99 € 1

Apluscase Qubic 3010 schwarz ohne Netzteil
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 29,99 € 1

ATX-Netzt.BE Quiet! Straight Power 600 Watt / BQT E5
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 81,50 € 1

2048MB DDR2 Corsair TwinX XMS2 CL 5, PC6400/800
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
Delivery date unknown 102,66 € 1

Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 Box 2048Kb, LGA775, 64bit
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 123,34 € 1

XFX GeForce 8800GTS 500M, 320MB DDR3, PCI-Express
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
Delivery date unknown 244,62 € 1

Samsung SH-S182M Lightscribe bulk schwarz
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 35,14 € 1

Samsung HD321KJ 320GB Serial ATA-II, 7200 UPM, 16MB
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 65,71 € 1

ASUS P5N-E SLI, Sockel 775 nForce 650SLI, ATX
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 97,20 € 1

Sum: 785,15 € 1)

Tusky

This is what I was thinking about aswell..thoughts?

http://www.komplett.ie/k/shoplist.aspx?mode=receive&si=464149&su=4A7BF7DE-2645-4353-858D-1305D9211499

Thanks for all suggestions, its going to be a pain deciding what to go for!

TerrorFirmer

Don't bother with the 6600. Just get a 4400 and overclock it - it's painfully easy with the c2d processors. Save money, and put it towards something else. Now that is pretty much unbeatable, what Offalycool posted there....I would definitely go for that, without a question. Komplett won't be able to match it

Tusky

Offalycool wrote:

Edited the link to the start of the thread posted above. It’s more than just one case, and believe me I kicked up a lot.

This is pretty sweet from Hardwareversand.de

Laufwerk 1.44 MB,3.5" schwarz
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 4,99 € 1

Apluscase Qubic 3010 schwarz ohne Netzteil
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 29,99 € 1

ATX-Netzt.BE Quiet! Straight Power 600 Watt / BQT E5
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 81,50 € 1

2048MB DDR2 Corsair TwinX XMS2 CL 5, PC6400/800
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
Delivery date unknown 102,66 € 1

Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 Box 2048Kb, LGA775, 64bit
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 123,34 € 1

XFX GeForce 8800GTS 500M, 320MB DDR3, PCI-Express
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
Delivery date unknown 244,62 € 1

Samsung SH-S182M Lightscribe bulk schwarz
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 35,14 € 1

Samsung HD321KJ 320GB Serial ATA-II, 7200 UPM, 16MB
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 65,71 € 1

ASUS P5N-E SLI, Sockel 775 nForce 650SLI, ATX
The price includes VAT and excludes shipping costs and logistic costs
ready for dispatch 97,20 € 1

Sum: 785,15 € 1)

Is that a perbuilt pc or did you just pick the parts seperately ? Looks like a v.nice price though. Did you post a link to it ?

Offalycool

It’s not pre built but they will for a tenor. I advise not to go pre built because it comes all that way in the back of a van, not good for GPU and heat sinks etc. the link to the site is http://www2.hardwareversand.de/7VlfZJc73-wqwF/1/home.jsp?lid=2

There is a computer configure option to make things easy, just deselect the prebuilt option at the end. You have to pay with bank transfer so you are looking a week for the money to clear and another for delivery. I am personally to poor at the mo to buy anything and have never used their service but there are good reports on Boards about them. Postage is another 20 euro and there is a logistic cost of about 8 euro on top of that. I think this setup is my dream machine and is what I would go for if I had the money.+ u don’t have to destroy a perfectly good machine for parts.

Tusky

Offalycool wrote:

It’s not pre built but they will for a tenor. I advise not to go pre built because it comes all that way in the back of a van, not good for GPU and heat sinks etc. the link to the site is http://www2.hardwareversand.de/7VlfZJc73-wqwF/1/home.jsp?lid=2

There is a computer configure option to make things easy, just deselect the prebuilt option at the end. You have to pay with bank transfer so you are looking a week for the money to clear and another for delivery. I am personally to poor at the mo to buy anything and have never used their service but there are good reports on Boards about them. Postage is another 20 euro and there is a logistic cost of about 8 euro on top of that. I think this setup is my dream machine and is what I would go for if I had the money.+ u don’t have to destroy a perfectly good machine for parts.

ok, think I'll go for this one then. I think I'll get it prebuilt...wouldnt trust myself to put it together. Is that a pretty decent machine then ? Will it play newer games on reasonably high settings ? I only ask because it seems to be quite cheap.

Thanks for your help!

Offalycool

It will hum nicely at stock but is will kick arse when overclocked, but it will need some simple tweaks in the BIOS. Like the 44 special I mentioned earlier there’s not much to it. If you follow the link on that post to the Micromart forum u will get good guides to the settings u need to change. I still think u should get help building it at home, if a part is dodgy you have the packaging to RMA it (sure it wouldn’t be a problem, but makes life easy).

On the other side, I wouldn’t rush into anything. Have a look at the reviews on the hardware around the net, and remember its early days for this next gen kit, the performance has yet to justify everybody upgrading. I wouldn’t rule out the 44 special just yet, it’s a really cheap and effective upgrade if u wish to wait. Anyhow good luck and keep us posted. Your very welcome

Edit: It’s not uncommon to go from the stock speed of 2 GHz to 3 GHz, and beyond just by knocking back the Ram to the next level down, and upping the FSB till you hit a wall. You can buy a better cooler like the Arctic freezer 7 to keep things chill. At 3 GHz your looking at the performance of a 500 Euro chip. The 44 special should go to 2.9/3 GHz also.

Sniipe

^^ watching with interest. I'm in the exact same boat as Tusky, everything is almost identical, cept I've an x800pro. And I don't have a huge amount to spend

TerrorFirmer

Tusky wrote:

ok, think I'll go for this one then. I think I'll get it prebuilt...wouldnt trust myself to put it together. Is that a pretty decent machine then ? Will it play newer games on reasonably high settings ? I only ask because it seems to be quite cheap.

Thanks for your help!

It will run anything on high settings. I have an e6400, its 2.13Ghz at stock (overclocked now but it wasn't back then), and I had no problem running Company of Heroes, Battlefield 2, Fear combat, whatever, running at max settings at high res....and that was with a worse card then what you're looking at there! Even without overclocking, it'd eat any games. With overclocking though it'll really fly....don't worry about it being good enough

It will run rings around your current system. Olympic sized rings...

DirkVoodoo

I dont know about that PSU or the case.

Offalycool

I was so busy editing my post I didn’t see everybody passing me out! The case gets good reviews on Komplett, the PSU should handle the job (its Nvidia SLI certified).

Tusky

Wonder why they only accept bank transfers. A little odd. Is the site well known Offaly ? Thanks for all the help, much appreciated. Gonna order the pc next week. If I get them to build it for me and it brakes in transit, will they repair it ?

Offalycool

I dont know why they wont take CC, but Lidl and Aldi dont either so I guess Germans dont use CC. Here is a search on on Hardwareversand.de on Boards.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/searchbt.php?search=hardwareversand&order=0&user=&scope=4&cat=1&frm=-1

You get a 2 year warranty on all parts. Good Luck

Offalycool

deleated

Offalycool

deleated

Tusky

Delivery date unknown :

ASUS P5N-E SLI, Sockel 775 nForce 650SLI, ATX
2048MB DDR2 Corsair TwinX XMS2 CL 5, PC6400/800
Apluscase Qubic 3010 schwarz ohne Netzteil

Any idea what I should get instead of the above ?

Offalycool

I would wait for the board, should not be too long. It’s an extremely good board, with many advanced options that just aren’t on others, such as the ability to lock the Ram, excreta. Makes over clocking just the chip a doddle. The…

Gigabyte GA-965G-DS3, Intel G965, ATX, PCI-Ex
Article No. HV1125IUDE ready for dispatch from 2007-05-24 101,13 €

Coolermaster Centurion5 Schw. CAC-T05-UW ohne Netzteil
Article No. HV203FA8DE ready for dispatch 44,37 €

2048MB-Kit OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Gold GX XTC Dual Channel, CL5
Article No. HV20OZ88DE ready for dispatch from 2007-05-22 99,87 €

Might do everything you want but it’s a little more expensive + you lose SLI, and it’s not as all-round brilliant.

Tusky

Offalycool wrote:

I would wait for the board, should not be too long. It’s an extremely good board, with many advanced options that just aren’t on others, such as the ability to lock the Ram, excreta. Makes over clocking just the chip a doddle. The…

Gigabyte GA-965G-DS3, Intel G965, ATX, PCI-Ex
Article No. HV1125IUDE ready for dispatch from 2007-05-24 101,13 €

Coolermaster Centurion5 Schw. CAC-T05-UW ohne Netzteil
Article No. HV203FA8DE ready for dispatch 44,37 €

2048MB-Kit OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Gold GX XTC Dual Channel, CL5
Article No. HV20OZ88DE ready for dispatch from 2007-05-22 99,87 €

Might do everything you want but it’s a little more expensive + you lose SLI, and it’s not as all-round brilliant.

dya think I should just wait for the parts to come in then ?

Side note : they charge for windows activation and for software install! Hmm

Offalycool

Only if u want it installed, its not uncommon

The parts ar popular for a reason, I would wait.

Tusky

Pc ordered and paid for, now we play the waiting game.

Offalycool

Hope your happy with it. If not you can return it within two weeks. dead jealous.

Tusky

Offalycool wrote:

Hope your happy with it. If not you can return it within two weeks. dead jealous.

I can get a refund if im not happy with it ? heh.

Even though im a filthy pirate I bought a copy of windos xp and paid for installation and building of the pc. Total price was just over 900 including postage and everything else. If I want to overclock, will I need more fans or is what I have ok ?

Offalycool

This is copied of the site.


“VII. Return guarantee

The customer has a return guarantee by German legal requirements (§ 356 BGB). The customer can send us the articles back without any reasons in the space of two weeks. The period starts when the customer receive the products and this information in written form. Only if you ordered bulky goods, you can use your return guarantee by request (for example by mail, fax or email) hwv hardwareversand.de GmbH to pick up the articles. The address for the return and the request is: hardwareversand.de GmbH, Gewerbepark Möhnesee, Daimlerweg 4, 59519 Möhnesee. To comply with the term it is necessary to send the articles back just in the term of two weeks. The reconsignment take place on our account and risk.

Furthermore hwv hardwareversand.de GmbH gives you a return guarantee for two more weeks. In this space of time you have to send back the products in original wrapping, complete and unused. We will refund you the current market price excluding shipping costs.

When the return is effective, the received benefits inclusive using advantages must be given back. If the article is in a worse condition than at the time of delivery, hwv hardwareversand.de GmbH has the right to demand compensation. This does not apply for the check of the good as it would be possible in a store. The customer can avoid the demand for compensation by not using the product like the owner and refrain everything which can reduce the value of the article.

The return guarantee does not apply for unsealed software, for newspapers, magazines and for goods, which were composed to a customers specifications or composed definitely for the personal requirements of a customer.”



If u want to beat the crap out of the rig over clocking it you can buy a cheap fan and heat sink. U simply screw the fan onto the north bridge, and stick the heat sink with the pad that comes with it so the Southbridge, that’s it. Not really necessary unless u are a stats freak, but no harm anyway.

Link to the fan: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=171616

Edit: dont do this till ur sure u want it

There is a review of the board here http://techgage.com/article/asus_p5n-e_sli/ , In it he says the north bridge gets hot (has heat sink), but the southbridge is fine (no heat sink).

Tusky

PC arrived yesterday, woo! Will set it up tonight after I have backup all my files and report back on its performance. Took a long long time to arrive from time of order.

Offalycool

Glad to hear it.. What kind of condition did it arrive in? How was it packaged?

Tusky

Offalycool wrote:

Glad to hear it.. What kind of condition did it arrive in? How was it packaged?

Packed very well. One massive cardboard box with everything in it surrounded by foam. Seems to be in perfect condition, set up now but haven't tried any games on it apart from Morrowind which ran perfectly.

Tusky

Hey, so Ive tried the pc out with a few different games and they all ran perfectly with all settings maxed out on high resolution.

Stalker
Never Winter Nights 2
Company Of Heroes
Oblivion
Medieval Total War 2

Thanks guys! Will over clock the processor soon.

Timans

Pictures please!

Offalycool

Timans wrote:

Pictures please!

Second that.. Give us a look if it’s not too much trouble.