Time for an upgrade and need advice

TacT

System will not be doing anything highly intensive apart from some gaming if I'm bored.
It has been a long time, I'm out of the loop for at least 7 years now but I may get an urge to play some recent games.

My current build:

AMD 3500+ winchester core
1GB mushkin 3200 ddr (2-2-10-2)
G.ward 6800GT w/nv 5 silencer.
MSI K8N Neo2 platinum.
Creative Audigy 2ZS.
WD 80GB HDD
SG Barracuda 60GB HDD
Teac 300GB external HDD
Corsair 400W psu (recently acquired due to my antec biting the dust)
Plextor DVD-R
MSI CDRW
XP Pro OEM

I'm looking at a budget of €500 min and €800 max.
sites I may order off are www.materiel.net and www.ldlc.com given location but that can be changed if they will deliver to France.
Do your worst or best if you can please? Thanks

marco_polo

Do you need monitor and OS? If not then what sort of resolution is your existing monitor?

On first impression I think that only thing I could see you keeping is the PSU, and maybe the sound card.

EDIT: I see XP is an OEM version so you will need a new OS.

Greyfoot

Stick with amd as you are on tight budget, get an am3 mobo with a 955 chip plus 2x2gb ram and a half decent video card(watch out for tdp as your psu might not be up to the job if you go mad)and you are(more or less) good to go.

uberpixie

Disclaimer: very long time since I have spec'ed a build so take this as a rough guide for a price of a build, I'm sure you can pick a cheaper gfx card or motherboard

mobo: Asus Crosshair 4
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Carte_mere_socket_AM3/56940-Crosshair_IV_Formula.html

ram: 4 gig (2x2) Gskill ripjaws
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/PC_de_bureau2/51173-Kit_Extreme3_2_x_2_Go_PC12800_Ripjaws_CAS_9.html

cpu: athlon x3 445
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Processeurs_socket_AM3/57617-Athlon_II_X3_445.html

case: antec 300
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Boitiers/39143-Three_Hundred.html

gfx: radeon 5770
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Cartes_graphiques/54064-Radeon_HD_5770_1Go_OC_Edition.html

harddrive: samsung spinpoint F3 32mb 1tb
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Disques_durs_internes_SATA/51481-Spinpoint_F3_S_ATA_1000_Go_32_Mo.html

dvd: cheapest generic samsung sata drive
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Graveurs_DVD/54497-SH_D163C_OEM_noir.html

total €651.84

you still need an OS, i recommend buying a nice legal copy of win7.

PSU you should get away with the new one you have.

You could trim the cpu down from a tri core to a dual, trim the gfx card back and go for a much cheaper motherboard (mobo is good for overclocking though if that is your thing, you can get much cheaper boards.....)

Solitaire

A budget rig with a >€200 mobo?! :eek:

Greyfoot

Solitaire wrote: »

A budget rig with a >€200 mobo?! :eek:

Bit overkill with a 445

uberpixie

Greyfoot wrote: »

Bit overkill with a 445

Well the CPU is the first thing you chuck in a budget build (followed by the gfx card).
Motherboard not so much.....:D

I would usually try get the best board I can and then lob in a better processor when they much cheaper and then clock the nuts off it.

Buy yeah you can easily lob off €100 on the build a get a much cheaper mobo and save the money or put it to getting a Nvidia 460 or a quad core cpu etc...

I do tend to go overkill on the motherboards when I don't need to :-)

TacT

Scrap the budget, I went nuts. It has been too long and I wanted juicy goodness.

http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Boitiers/47524-Gladiator_600.html
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Cartes_graphiques/59334-GV_N460D5_768I_B_GeForce_GTX_460_.html
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Alimentations/39208-Silent_Pro_M_600W.html
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/SSD/58997-Phoenix_Pro_120_Go_S_ATA_II.html
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Kits_de_mise_a_jour/58431-Medi_Kit.html
http://www.materiel.net/ctl/OS/50823-Windows_7_Edition_Familiale_Premium_MAJ_.html

sound card and 1TB hdd to be added later, suggestions are welcome, already have this hdd in mind given the price -- http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Disques_durs_internes_SATA/55194-Spinpoint_F3_Ecogreen_S_ATA_1000_Go_32_Mo.html and no idea for the sound yet.

thanks for the replies, any comments on the build appreciated.

total cost is €1168,85 and pick up from the local depot.

Already have a Samsung syncmaster 226BW as the monitor and have a logitech MX518 mouse which will do the job for now along with my trusty PERL ps2 keyboard.

Will my creative audigy 2 ZS be of any use for this system? Better off with on-board? I'm keeping my cdrw and dvd player for now also.

It has been so long, can't wait to get this puppy up and runnin

uberpixie

http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Disques_durs_internes_SATA/51481-Spinpoint_F3_S_ATA_1000_Go_32_Mo.html

For a storage harddrive that I would be installing games on as well: I would go with the standard F3 spinpoint, faster over the ecogreen. Game installs are getting bigger all the time so when you start playing a few games you might find 120GB on the SSD a wee bit tight for space.

Ecogreen is perfect if you will only be using if for file storage though.

Sound: see how you get on with the onboard, if it annoys you, lob in the creative. If the creative annoys you....

lob in an Asus Xonar: http://www.materiel.net/ctl/Cartes_son1/50376-Xonar_DS.html?promocode=9309 (€54)

Last but not least: http://www.gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=913
Tweaking guide for ssds from the gskill forum.

Ideally you keep as much temp data off the SSD as possible to retain it's performance -> move the pagefile, and point all temp folders to a magnetic drive and NEVER defrag an SSD as this will muck it up.

TacT

thanks uberpixie, duly noted.