Cheap upgrade

[Danni]

Hi all

I need to upgrade my computer. I play World of Warcraft, and though my graphics is fine for it (GeForce 8500 GT) my CPU (AMD Athlon 64 3500+) is now showing it's age.

I want to replace my cpu, motherboard and ram. I have a budget of £200 for the lot (I'll be getting a better graphics card and PSU later). Any suggestions? I was thinking of going Core 2 Duo, but if AMD's dual core offerings are better for the price I don't mind going with them.

 

[Mul.]

Any chance you'd be able to tell us what power supply unit you have at the moment and whether your case is Micro ATX or ATX? Also, any ideas what Socket your CPU uses as you may not even need a motherboard or RAM swap if it's Socket AM2!

 

[Danni]

Can't remember what PSU it is, and I'm not lugging it out at the moment- it was suitable for a Core 2 Duo at the time I bought it(I checked). My CPU is socket 939, and the ram is DDR 1, so I need a replacement of both, really.

The case is ATX, with a ton of room in it. Bought it especially because it was big

 

[Ham]

£200 will get you a nice upgrade these days.

I'd look at somthing along the lines of a E5200, P5Q-E/DFI DK P45 Tr2S Plus and 4GB DDR2 PC6400 by which ever manufacture you like best (Crucial ftw )

That'll add up to about £150-60, so put the extra £50ish towards either a higher cpu or a better GPU when that upgrade comes.

Nice to see you posting again btw.

 

[Diablo]

+1 on the P45 and ram. That extra bit of cash could be spent on a decent CPU cooler to clock the nuts of the e5200, or on a slightly higher end CPU.

Also good choice on the 939...I have that board as well!

 

[Mul.]

I wouldn't turn down taking the AMD route either as performance wise they're about par with most of the Intel line up, up to the Q9550/Q9650, but you also get the advantage of being on a socket platform that is so far due to outlive LGA775.

P45/E5200/DDR2 and 790GX/X2 7750 Black/DDR2 are both very good propositions, although the first one swings it by a country mile if you are an overclocker

 

[Danni]

Ooh, there's a thought- do I overclock it? I was thinking of maybe not, and trying to get some quieter cooling on it. My current machine is overclocked, but is noisy with air cooling.

For upgrading the gpu when I get the money: what do you recommend? I only play World of Warcraft, but have dual monitors (which doesn't help my framerate). I'm also on Linux, and at the moment NVidia has better support.

You guys are great, you know that, right?

 

[Ham]

For upgrading the gpu when I get the money: what do you recommend? I only play World of Warcraft, but have dual monitors (which doesn't help my framerate). I'm also on Linux, and at the moment NVidia has better support.

Dual monitors and wow isn't a hassle for any card these days. My 8800GT ran a 24" and a 22" while playing WoW and playing videos (hardware accelerated) at the same time.

Now your best of with a 4850 or the 4770 for priceerformance.

And 'Should I overclock?' don't ask silly questions! Core2s can be highly clocked and still remain cool and thus quiet. Especially comapered to 939, however epic that socket was .

 

[Danni]

I guess I'll be overclocking then

How much should I look to spend on a decentish graphics card? I need to work out how long I'd need to save for. It's taken me a few months to get the money for the cpu/motherboard/ram together.

 

[Ham]

As it stands you wouldn't have to spend much over £100 to get a good GPU. Say £55 would get you a decent supply that would power it all too.

Examples being the Powercolour 4850 and the Silverpower 500w/Corsair 450 VX on ebuyer.

 

[Danni]

Thank you for all your help. I'll be getting the items on Tuesday, and will probably post on here when I get it sorted

 

[Danni]

Okay, currently attempting to buy this stuff.

Big question: where's a cheap place for them all? Is Ebuyer still cheap? (And are the still a bit unreliable?) If I can't get them at Ebuyer, what other decent online shops are there? I've only bought local over the last couple of years, so I've lost track

 

[Mul.]

Other than eBuyer, there's Scan, Novatech, Aria, Misco and Overclockers UK. OcUK seems to have a bad rep round here but I've found them to be very well priced and their customer service over the last 18 months to be top notch.

 

[anonemus]

Hi! I'm an E5200 user and I just would like to say this is really an excellent processor with good value! I'm also saving to buy an HD4770 soon. These two items give excellent value to PC users.

 

[Danni]

Thank you again. Currently looking at the DFI JR P45-T2RS for motherboard- any good or is there better for the price point (around £115)?

 

[Mul.]

I've personally owned the DFI P45 Jr board for about six months and think it's a brilliant board. However, do you actually need a Micro ATX board as such?

 

[Danni]

Not really. Am I right in thinking that any DFI Lan Party is a decent buy?

 

[Mul.]

It is yeah. I'm just not sure that it'll be necessary to have to drop that sort of money on a motherboard to go with a Pentium Dual Core E5200. A £55 Gigabyte P31 DS3L should be able to max out an E5200 and it won't really perform worse. That is, unless you'll miss the lack of onboard RAID or Firewire on the motherboard, in which case the Gigabyte isn't your best bet.

 

[Freak]

Your best bet is to use google products.

It comes up trumps all the time.

 

[Diablo]

I might be tempted to go for a nice upmarket motherboard (rather than the p31) such as a p43 or p45. An asus or gigabyte p45 should only set you back about £90 especially if you don't need an mATX. The DFI will be pretty good I guess, but you may want to go full size just for the sake of future upgradeability and extra working space.

OcUK have got a bad reputation, but I have dealt with them (I just drive to the store normally) and they seem OK.

Scan is pretty decent, as are microdirect (they are normally pretty good with RMAing stuff), aria (although they don't carry much high end stuff). Yoyotech are a bit more expensive, but tend to be pretty decent.