Cheap Upgrades?

[firefly]

I was intending to spec an entire new pc but impending tax bills etc mean I want to stretch out the life of my ageing existing rig.

It's pretty useless;

athlon 1.33

geforce 3

m/b asus a7a266

512 mb ram ddr 266 (crucial)

120 gig 7200rpm HD 8mb cache

soundblaster live

300w psu

win me

dvd drive and cdrw etc.

mitsubishi d pro 730 monitor

I'm going to get a sony g520 21" crt monitor - highly specced and cheap, it has switchable inputs so I'll be able to run my pc and a mac (for music recording) through it. It will also do my next system nicely and is probably as good a monitor as I'll ever need.

My mobo will ostensibly take up to an athlon xp 2600 (fsb 266) but they're difficult to come by.

I can get a Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ cheap (£20 new) tho' this will only take up to an athlon xp 3000 (barton fsb 333) - but it does add 8x agp and usb 2 - my current mobo has only 4x agp and usb1.

Worth getting or not? Is it worth getting one with pci express and higher cpu support?

Where's a good place for cheap older cpu's?

I need a decent graphics card. It's probably pointless putting one in my existing rig.

Any good budget recommendations?

geforce 6600gt or 6800?

Or ati?

I've seen 9800's going for £40 - would I immediately regret not paying extra for a more modern card like the x800 pro or x850xt?

I want to play new games.

I'll keep my hd which is good - things like a new psu can carry over to my next system.

The other stuff is interim - maybe not the mobo if I spec it right.

Any suggestions will be gratefully received. Thanks.

 

[Ham]

It all depends on your budget imo.

Tbh i think you'd be best off with total new innards (Mobo, CPU, Ram and graphics card) if you want games.

My recomendations would be a AMD 64 3200 (venice if you can strech to it, but 754s are quite cheap for CPUs now). The XP range has all but passed as a gaming upgrade now, its not worth the money. XP 3200s still sell for £90 whereas the venice is like £110. even a venice 3000 would be better at around £80

Motherboard wise i recomend ASRock for cheap. Say £40.

I just found this one, couldnt belive the price!

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=96986

Ram either Kingston or corsair value. £30 Give or take 5.

And graphics card wise Im in the know of somone who is selling a VERY capable AGP 6800 cheap if your interested.

Add: Also you may need a PSU. Look for hipers for cheap.

 

[dave87]

If you want a cheap upgrade that has all of the modern bits socket 754 is probably your best bet - you could put together a half decent spec pc for very little, and it would overclock like hell.

However working with what you have already - there is very little performance increase from going agp 4x->8x, but usb2 is very handy - see if you can pick up a nf7-s v2. That will allow you to use anything up to a 3200+ or alternatively, its the best clocking nforce 2 board, so get a sempron and overclock it like hell.

a 6600 would be a good upgrade, though as you said, your current rig wouldn't make the best of it. I think you'd have to get the most modern card you can afford, then when you upgrade (if you go to 939) get the ASRock Dual SATA - it has both AGP and PCI-e slots, so you can use your new graphics card when you upgrade. (save some $$$)

To work out what the best increase would be I would really need to know how much you were willing to spend though

Hope this helps a bit

Dave

 

[llwyd]

Heres the 6800's review

It wasnt used for very long atall im asking for £80 including RM special delivery and for another £10 ill thro in the Zalman VF-700 CU and ramsinks

 

[FarFarAway]

Which is a pretty nice deal all in all

 

[Ham]

In relpy to daves post, 754 is what i call the sempy socket. its fine really, but nothing much on the 90nm 939 range. For example look at the overclocks the venices reach on stock cooling. And the 754 athlons are particly the same price as the 939s. And IMO the standard 6600 is terrible, a mate of mine has one (sorry if you ment the GT, but you didn't write that...)

The ASRock 939Dual-SATAII is a wonder board, i should know. ONLY thing it may lack is some extra Vcore control.

 

[dave87]

6600 is cack indeed. I'm jus lazy

 

[firefly]

Thanks so far folks.

I'm thinking from your replies that socket 939 is the way to go.

That will give me upgrade potential for when I spec my proper new pc and the cpu's don't seem to cost more than socket 754.

That's an awesomely cheap mobo that ham linked to - tho' the asrock ones are £40 and under and I presume they're better specced?

Ebuyer didn't have an asrock 939 dual sata - how much do these cost roughly?

Might be worth spending an extra few quid on one and carrying it over to my next system.

Ebuyer have an asrock 939s56-m for under £40 - any good?

Is there much performance difference between a venice 3200 and 3000?

Anyone have an old 939 athlon they want to sell?

I'm starting to think along the lines of an asrock 939 mobo with, say a venice 3000+; then I can upgrade to a higher cpu later.

As for budget, I hadn't really considered.

For stuff that I can keep and base my next system on I'm prepared to pay more - for stuff that I'll throw away in a year, as little as possible.

So say £200, well under that for stuff that I'm going to get rid of, and over for stuff that I can base a new system on.

Knowing me I'll end up spending far more than I intended.

Maybe you could give me a couple of options Dave? - the ultra budget and the basis for a new rig?

I'll let you know about the 6800 when I've decided what I'm doing - is the 6600gt better?

Please keep 'em coming folks - this is very helpful.

 

[Ham]

I paid about £55 (inc delivey) for my 939Dual-SATA2 before xmas, so your probably looking at £40-50 now. The AGP and PCI-E both work flawlessly on this board and its a good idea to have both slots.

I think you should get a 3200 personaly due to it having a *10 multiplyer, meaning its a very good base to overclock from. The 3000 has *9. At stock there isn't THAT much difference. But eveyone knows stock is lame lol. If it clocks well you wont need a higher cpu. (Enless you want dual core)

As for the graphics card llwyds 6800 unlocks and overclocks to suppass the 6800GT. So it beats the hell out of a 6600GT... And go have a look at the prices for 6800GTs.

All this stuff can be carried on to a new system.

 

[FarFarAway]

The 6800 unlocked is far superior than a 6600GT....I mean FAR superior

 

[dave87]

The 6800 unlocked is far superior than a 6600GT....I mean FAR superior

Is indeed - Which is partially why I've got one

 

[firefly]

forgot to mention the soundcard is a bit long in the tooth - any recs?

Anyone used an M -audio audiophile for gaming?

 

[FarFarAway]

There not really for gaming mate. Eguy knows some good ones but I'm happy with my SB Audigy 2 ZS

Creative X-Fi are pretty good for gaming too

 

[FragTek]

Say no to Creative X-Fi... Junktastic!

Auzentech X-Plosion 7.1 DTS Connect :worship: Or an X-Mystique if u wanna save a bit more money... still mad :worship: :worship: :worship:

 

[NickS]

Why not just get a good o'le SB Live 24 Bit 7.1 card

Nick