Upgrading a PC

iCraig · World Chat Champion Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Karma :

Hello All,

I'm in the market for upgrading my PC, but not in the orthodox way as I don't have alot of money. Plus I've not built a PC since 2004, so I am abit out of sorts!

I'll be buying used bits off eBay, and whacking them together (before people start telling me its not good doing that as I may get dud parts, is I am aware of this and willing to keep costs down by paying £20 for CPU etc and it not working is a risk I'll have to take.)

My current spec'd PC is as follows:
AMD Athlon XP3000+ (Yes its goddamn slow)
1Gb DDR400
Asus A7N8X Mobo
160Gb HDD
Geforce FX5200 256Mb AGP 8x Graphics card.

Now I want to upgrade to an Intel dual core, I am either thinking a Pentium D 820, a Pentium Dual-Core 1.8GHz E2160 or a Core 2 Duo E4400. Now which is the fastest out of those in terms of usability, I'll be using older games. One of which has minimum requirements of a 1.7GHz CPU (its from 2006) and this is where I get confused as the Dual-Core and C2D are only 1.8GHz, will it run these games ok??

I've already selected a motherboard with is an ASrock 775Dual-VSTA, which allows me to 'upgrade' it in increments as it supports both PCIe and AGP aswell as DDR and DDRII.

In addition I am confused with all these new fangled (well new to me) graphics cards. When I left the PC world the fastest and greatest cards were ATi Radeon 9700/9800 Pros and Geforce FX5950s! Now I am looking at a used PCIe card and don't have a clue which to go for.
Like above I am mainly running older games and would like to watch iPlayer in HD, most of which run alright on the FX5200 at lower resolutions/frame rates etc. I want to be able to run them at full speed. So was looking at ATi X700Pros and HD2400s.

Can anyone help me with this? I understand most of the above kit I am mention is from 2007/2008 but will be fast enough for me I think.

Cheers

Craig

chris-red · Have you considered a TDM? Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Karma :

Just buying something else, it will probably end up cheaper, what you have there is slower than the PC I had approximately 7 years ago. Laughing

You could pick something up for £3-400 that would be much better than that

Second hand but...

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-Nvidia-8800GT-Custom-Gaming-PC-/130392031617?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item1e5bf88181

New

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Phenom-II-X4-955-Quad-Core-Gaming-PC-Computer-3-2-GHz-/130333076765?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item1e5874ed1d
____________________
Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

colin1 · Captain Safety Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Karma :

I think he wants to spend £30 or less to upgrade a bit, rather than £300 to get a new system.

Not everyone wants a current spec PC.
____________________
colin1 is officially faster than god

iCraig · World Chat Champion Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Karma :

Rowey · World Chat Champion Joined: 07 Oct 2007 Karma :

The Core 2 Duo's are great over clockers I would recomend them over the other two. If your board supports overclocking you'll have a real gem there.

Also get 2gb RAM.

For graphics aim for a budget ATI 4000 series or better 5000 series. They aren't more than £30 on ebay.
____________________
ZX6R C6F.
Never argue with an idiot. They'll only bring you down to their level, and beat you with experience.