Upgrading

C

Conman

New member
Hi,

Sorry for not having been on in such a long time. The reason is because I have been in France for the last 8 months living with a French family and going to a French school.

Anyway moving on to why I'm here, I'm looking into upgrading my processor and my motherboard. Currently I've got a 1.8GHz Intel® Core™2 Duo E6320 and my motherboard is just some standard Intel one.

Would there be a noticeable difference if I were to upgrade with a budget of around £400?

P.S. Would getting a better motherboard and using that to overclock the processor I have be any good?

Thanks for any help and/or advice.
 
£400 is a fair budget dude, let us know exactly what you have matey and we can work out what needs replacing the most with the £400
 
3GB of Kingston RAM

Windows XP Pro (Will be getting Windows 7 when it comes out)

1.8GHz Intel® Core™2 Duo E6320

All I know about about my motherboard is that it's an Intel and that it is useless at overclocking (I reckon it's the weakest link in the system)

9600GT PNY.

Anything else you would like to know?
 
I game a bit about 5-8 hours a week it varies depending on schoolwork and other things.

My PSW is 450W by Antec
 
for £400-

520w corsair psu - £80

E8400 cpu - £104

Ati 4770 - £80

Asus P5Q ip45 - £100

Corsair DDR3 1333mhz - £35
 
name='tinytomlogan' said:
for £400-

520w corsair psu - £80

E8400 cpu - £104

Ati 4770 - £80

Asus P5Q ip45 - £100

Corsair DDR3 1333mhz - £35
Click to expand...

P5Q is DDR2, but you can still get 4GB of decent DDR2 for £40ish

E8400 is £140 now too :(
 
Just a couple of questions:

Is a PSW upgrade important?

How Many sticks of Ram?

Where did you find an E8400 for £104

Is it possible to run a Nvidia graphics card with an Ati? (I'm guessing no)

Thanks again :)
 
regarding the PSU check the connections and amps.

If your upgrading to newer GPU's etc the existing PSU may not have all the required connections.

Also think about future proofing.

Voltage wise google search PSU calculator.. this will give you an idea of the loads your system will draw.

E8400 is a cracking CPU, i have one too. Price does seem to fluctuate though, usually after good reviews from the likes of CPC etc.

Overclocks like crazy and steady as a rock if paired with decent RAM/PSU and MOBO.
 
The idea was to replace what you have dude, then you can sell the old stuff.

Really is no point running sli matey at that price point, better off getting something like what I have suggested.

And I would say a PSU upgrade would be a wise choice yes matey.
 
It's a good price though I'd be worried that the package would be caught at customs and you'd have to pay some form of fee for it to be released and given to you? Could be wrong.

If your Antec 450W PSU is the ATX 2.0 split 12V variant and I'd imagine that it is if it was included with your E6320 system (I'd check), I think it'll be more than sufficient. Antec PSU's are generally quite good. The sort of upgrades we have in mind for you at this budget shouldn't raise power consumptions that much over what you have right now.

What sort of RAM is it? I gather it is DDR2 but is it DDR2-533, 667 or 800? If you're not sure, you could find out for us by downloading CPU-Z from here

http://www.cpuid.com/

and posting a screenshot of the memory tab.

Also, is your case ATX or Micro ATX?

Also what games exactly do you play and at what screen resolution? Depending on what you play, I dare say that you could get away with simply upgrading the CPU and Motherboard alone. Perhaps drop a CPU cooler in and overclock it, give the 9600GT a mild overclock and actually what you have is a rather potent system with a considerable amount of money saved. Of course if the RAM is DDR2-667 or less then you should look into a different set of RAM and if you play the latest hits at high resolution then perhaps a new graphics card too.

With £400 assuming your PSU is what I said above

Core 2 Duo E8400 £137

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Inte...30-GHz-1333MHz-6MB-Cache-9x-Multiplier-Retail

Gigabyte EP45 UD3R £105

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Giga...20x16-DDR2-1066-667-800-SATA-II-SATA-RAID-ATX

Arctic Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler £18

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Arct...z-S775-Dual-Quad-Core-Ready-The-Favourite-One!

Total - £260

Add RAM if needed

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-...800)-240-Pins-Non-ECC-Unbuffered-CAS-5-5-5-18 +£40

Total after RAM - £300
 
Look at this thread:

http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=27723

This setup will kick anyone else's suggestions!

basket.jpg


Take off the things you don't need, i.e., case , dvd-rom etc..

Ed
 
I've got some very good news but also some slightly bad news,

Very Good News:

I was talking to my Dad tonight and he told me that he has some friends who work on the big Intel site in Ireland and that for the same price as an E8400 he can get me a top of the line quad-core :D When he told me this it was like Christmas all over again!

Slightly Bad News:

I feel like I have wasted a bit of your time as regards with looking for a processor but I still will be getting the recommended Gigabyte motherboard and upgrading my RAM. I might also get a new PSU but I'll have to see.

P.S. You guys on the forums have to be some of the most helpful guys when it comes to looking for help/advice on computers. You really stick out from all the other sites and it's for that reason that I want to try and help you back because it would be rude to just take and not contribute. Any suggestions on how I can help?
 
Be active and post in topics where you can add anything :)

Would love to have contacts like that btw, getting a quad at such a price :yumyum: Make sure it's 775 though, not skt1366 :p
 
I agree, it'd be fantastic to have such contacts. You're very lucky indeed.

I also have to say that this forum is probably the most trouble free and helpful one I've seen. There's many around but a lot of them are full of argumentative people and general arrogance. I'll certainly be sticking around here.
 
We do have an awseom crowd here, all with different experiences and specialities.

3 years ago I didnt have a PC, and without OC3D who knows what Id be upto now :p
 
name='monkey7' said:
Be active and post in topics where you can add anything :)

Would love to have contacts like that btw, getting a quad at such a price :yumyum: Make sure it's 775 though, not skt1366 :p
Click to expand...

Yeah I'll check that out, although if I can get an i7 for around £150 I'm screwed because then I'll want/have to upgrade everything.
 
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