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Advice on upgrades please

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  • Advice on upgrades please

    Hello.

    First off I have a fairly old system but it still holds up pretty well with todays games, in fact I've never had a problem running any software but I've decided to upgrade a few things, namely the Motherboard, Memory and Graphics card and possibly the Processor if I can't find a decent board.

    My Specs:

    ASUS SK8N NVIDIA nForce3 Pro 150 Mainboard
    AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 Processor
    Nvidia Geforce FX5900 Ultra (256mb) Graphics Card (AGP)
    2 Gig memory but haven't a clue what it is.

    Now I am more than happy to keep the processor and upgrade the board to a PCI Express board and get a new card but are there any available?

    I believe the FX-51 was socket 940 which was changed straight away after for the FX-52 and onwards.

    So I'm looking for suggestions on a new board and Graphics card and whether you think I should keep my current processor or get a new one.

    Ideally I would like to keep to a £300 budget but can go up to £500.

    I'm not looking for the best just a decent enough upgrade.

    Many Thanks for reading and answering.
    Last edited by Marlowe1899; 09-26-2006, 02:18 PM.

  • #2
    Re: Advice on upgrades please

    Can anyone help?

    If there is more information I need to supply please ask.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Advice on upgrades please

      Well, I would suggest doing a full upgrade to a Core 2 Duo setup. There are no performance S940 motherboards that I am aware of and even if there were it makes no sense to upgrade to one as it is a dead platform. It may be hard to do a full upgrade on your budget considering the price premium you guys are forced to pay in England. Check out Overclockers.UK and see what sales they have going on. The Intel E6300 is a smokingly fast CPU for the price and the Gigabyte DS3 is also an excellent mid range motherboard. Some Corsair or Gskill PC2 667 ram (2GB if possible) and maybe a 7900GT/X1900XT would top it off nicely.

      I know it is a tough decision, but to stick to that CPU just isn't gonna do an upgrade justice. Even if you have to go the AMD AM2 route to save a few bucks, you can get a nice dual core setup for a touch less than the Intel and at least have an upgrade path for the next generation AMD CPU's. Either way, Core2Duo or AM2 are the only logical choices right now.
      GIgabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
      AMD FX8120 @ 4GHz
      Patriot 1866MHz EL series 2X4GB DDR3
      Powercolour HD 6970 2GB w/XFX 8800GT 512MB Hybrid PhysX
      Creative X-FI titanium HD w/Technics class A 300W amp and tower speakers
      PC P&C 500W PSU
      2TB Seagate
      Coolermaster 690II w/Corsair H100 tucked under the hood

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Advice on upgrades please

        Thanks Mate, going with your recommendations I came up with this - they are the cheapest versions I found so tell me if they are worth it or not:

        Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-126-IN) - £114.99 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...Core_Duo2.html

        I supplied the link to it as I'm not sure what the difference is between the first 2 on that page. I chose the second one to list as it mentions a heatsink and fan - not sure if the first one does as well.

        Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI) - £91.99

        G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS) - £124.99

        OcUK GeForce 7900 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-037-OK) - £139.99

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Advice on upgrades please

          Looks very good to me and you definitely want the second slightly more expensive CPU as it is retail and comes with the heatsink/fan while the OEM does not. That will be a MAJOR upgrade from what you are running and you will be more than happy with the performance. Good luck!
          GIgabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
          AMD FX8120 @ 4GHz
          Patriot 1866MHz EL series 2X4GB DDR3
          Powercolour HD 6970 2GB w/XFX 8800GT 512MB Hybrid PhysX
          Creative X-FI titanium HD w/Technics class A 300W amp and tower speakers
          PC P&C 500W PSU
          2TB Seagate
          Coolermaster 690II w/Corsair H100 tucked under the hood

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Advice on upgrades please

            Great Thanks Mate.

            May I just ask what PSU should I be looking at for that setup.

            I currently have a 480W one which I assume should be upgraded as well?

            Again Many Thanks

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Advice on upgrades please

              If your 480w PSU is a quality brand, it should work fine. If you are using a low-end or no name power supply, then look at some of the performance oriented models. Corsair, OCZ, Antec and Thermaltake all make very good power supplies should you need (or want) to upgrade. I would recommend at least a 550w and preferably higher if you can afford it.
              Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill
              My Toys

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Advice on upgrades please

                Thanks Mate.

                I seriously doubt it's a quality brand as it's just the one that came with the tower.

                I would absolutely love not to have to replace it as I'm well over my budget already but if I do then this will probably be it.

                Antec TruePower 2.0 550W PSU (CA-028-AN) - £79.89

                or

                OCZ GameXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply (CA-018-OC) - £82.24
                Last edited by Marlowe1899; 10-01-2006, 02:44 PM.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Advice on upgrades please

                  THe OCZ is hte superior PSU and would be the better choice in my book, especially for the small price difference.
                  GIgabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
                  AMD FX8120 @ 4GHz
                  Patriot 1866MHz EL series 2X4GB DDR3
                  Powercolour HD 6970 2GB w/XFX 8800GT 512MB Hybrid PhysX
                  Creative X-FI titanium HD w/Technics class A 300W amp and tower speakers
                  PC P&C 500W PSU
                  2TB Seagate
                  Coolermaster 690II w/Corsair H100 tucked under the hood

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Advice on upgrades please

                    Right almost ready to go.

                    These have been ordered:

                    Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...me=GA-965P-DS3
                    Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
                    Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) - http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=79
                    MSI GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx...&InMerch=1&v=3
                    G.Skill 2GB DDR2 GA PC2-5400 (2x1GB) CAS3 Dual Channel Kit
                    OCZ GameXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply - http://www.ocztechnology.com/product...m_power_supply

                    Now I was wondering if some of you pro's could just give me a hand to get myself ready as I will be without internet access once I start.

                    I will be starting completely fresh (Obviously) so Hard Drives are formatted and a complete gut and reinstall.

                    First off what do I need on a floppy disc for when I start? I have 2 hard drives so I know I need to have the raid tools ready but do I need anything else, Bios upgrades, drivers e.t.c

                    Second do I need to set the bios up to work with the new components or will it work fine out of the box with no tweaking?

                    If I need to set it up does anyone know what I need to change?

                    Basically I know I'm asking a lot I just dont want to get started and realise I needed to know something after I have reformatted.

                    Really all I need is for it to be stable and running so I can get back online and then I can start fine tuning - so anything I absolutely must have and know I need explaining.

                    Many Many Thanks.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Advice on upgrades please

                      Something I'm beginning to read about is a incompatibility problem between some fast memory - especially GSkill and the DS3.

                      Apparently the F2 Bios fixed a lot of these issues but Gskill in particular remained a problem.

                      I haven't read anything that suggests subsequent Bios updates have fixed this, so anyone know anything more about this?

                      Cheers Lads.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Advice on upgrades please

                        Items will be with me first thing in the morning and I want to get started as soon as possible (It's like Christmas)

                        So if anyone knows of the conflict between the board and memory or can help me with any of the other questions I have it would be very much appreciated.

                        Thank You.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Advice on upgrades please

                          I know alot of people running G Skill on a DS3 and if anything OCZ is the ram that gives problems. In fact, I had to dump a 2GB OCZ kit I got and keep my 1GB Gskill kit because the OCZ was randomly unstable at any speeds.
                          GIgabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
                          AMD FX8120 @ 4GHz
                          Patriot 1866MHz EL series 2X4GB DDR3
                          Powercolour HD 6970 2GB w/XFX 8800GT 512MB Hybrid PhysX
                          Creative X-FI titanium HD w/Technics class A 300W amp and tower speakers
                          PC P&C 500W PSU
                          2TB Seagate
                          Coolermaster 690II w/Corsair H100 tucked under the hood

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Advice on upgrades please

                            Fair enough thanks.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Advice on upgrades please

                              Have just fired up my new build this evening:

                              E6600
                              Gigabyte DS4
                              2GB Corsair PC8500C5

                              Will get everything set up and then run some benchmarks before I start playing. I want a good idea as to normal performance levels before I start jacking with the internal speeds.
                              Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill
                              My Toys

                              Comment

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