Obi

Hello!

I'm hoping to upgrade my computer shortly and I'd like some advice. I'll be using it primarily for gaming but I am on a budget.

PSU Corsair 450W http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131052

Processor E8200, E6750, E4700and E4500. Since there is so little price difference I take it I should go for the E8200 over the E6750? How much performance would I loose if i went for the E4500 (which is £40 cheaper than 8200) or the E4700?

Motherboard, thinking of the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 iP35 or the Asus P5B. It seems that many people like the P35 but if I'm not getting a 45nm part is there any point spending more money on it?

Graphics card Geforce 8800GT http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135258

I havn't been able to find RAM that is much cheaper than Corsair 4GB stuff http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130429 . It seems RAM in the UK isn't quite as cheap as in the US. Is it still worth getting it considering my 32bit OS can't use it all?

I should probably upgrade my 80Gig hard disc too. Western Digital WD1600AAJS 160GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 8MB Cache http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128708 I'm not the kind of person that needs huge amount of storage but I heard newer games need tonnes of space.

I don't really want to spend more than £350.

PSU £41.36
8800GT £134.98
E4700 £89.96
P5B £55.45
2GB RAM £28.33
HDD £30.93

TOTAL 381.01

Where should I be spending more/less money?

Thanks in advance.

Obi

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Obi

PSU: ebuyers own extra value 500W (don't tell anyone )
Motherboard: ASUS A7V8X-X
Memory: DDR 512MB PC2700 (Think it's ebuyers own )
Processor: 1.80 gigahertz AMD Athlon XP 2500+
Graphics: Sapphire Radeon 9800pro
Hard Drive: WDC WD800BB 80Gb
CD drive: SAMSUNG CDRW/DVD SM-352N

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Iamthefallen

If you're on a tight budget, consider a 9600GT rather than the 8800GT. The 8800 is faster, but not amazingly so.

The E8200 is a few percent faster than the E6750, either will be fine, but of the two I'd get the E8200.

And also consider getting only 2gb of RAM until you can get a 64bit OS.

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=DdogG=

#1 never consider only getting 2gig of ram. losing 512 meg to the OS limit is no reason to lose 1.5gig to bad advice. I see so many ppl offering up a "get less since you can't use it all" option. I remember the summer DDR1 nosedived to 7.5c/meg. back then, this was a huge deal. I swallowed up everything I could, and sure enough, that winter it rose back to over 34c/meg.

just get the extra ram. you will use most of it now and all of it later.

#2 your current computer must have been a screamer in 2001. I remember getting a 9700pro 128meg and 1 gig of ram with a 3000+ barton. what a sweet machine. that was the last time I had bragging rights. now I use laptops and am lucky to get 1 gen back on video. (currently using an 8600gt 256meg)

#3 what about a q6600? are they not competitive in price?

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Iamthefallen

Ehr, except that he's paying ~$120 where we're paying ~$60.

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El_Gringo_Grande

If you have nothing against ATI I have been really happy with my 3850.

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=DdogG=

120 is still a good deal for 4 gigs of ram.

but apples to apples: 118.00 there and 114 here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145184

your 67.00 cheap stuff is not a fair comparison.

yes, that stuff will probably be fine, but xms2 is higher quality and you pay for it.

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=Sarc=

I think you could put some extra money in for a higher watt PSU. Something in the 500-550W range would be sufficient. It gives you some room to get a better video card in the future.

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Obi

I have a question, I already have a no-name 500W PSU that I've had zero problems with for the last few years. I know how important PSUs are but since I've had no problems with this one should I bother getting another? If the one I have now was a piece of crap wouldn't I know by now?

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Iamthefallen

You're starting a dangerous discussion...people have stronger feelings on their power supplies than I had for some girlfriends back in the day.

IMHO, and take it for what it's worth as advice from someone who built their computer on a tight budget, check if your existing PSU has enough connectors of the right type to fit your new components. Even though it's a 500W PSU, you need to check how much power it can push on the video card rails. If it looks OK, I would just stay with it, you can always order one later.

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gator skywalker

You need to make sure and check the output on the 12+ rails. Just look on the side of the power supply. I found the Antec True Power Trio 650 here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371001

If you look in the specs section it has +12V1@19A,+12V2@19A,+12V3@19A. If I remember correctly, anything above 18v is good. The one I pointed out is $60 after mail in rebate. I am pretty sure you will not get the rebate in the birthplace of plaid, but your exchange rate should help on the cost.

For CPU, I personally would buy an AMD if you are on a tight budget. I know I am going to get shot for saying this, but in real life they are very close to the Intel's and with a board are a lot less money. You can show me all the synthetic benchwarks you want, but they are in reality pretty close.

Also, go to http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html to compare video cards and cpu's and how they compare in different apps and at different resolutions. Either way you go, you are going to be amazed at how much faster your computer will be.

Long Bow

Some sound advice so far.

I would imagine that your current PSU is not going to cut it in your system unless it is a good quality unit and has enough amps on the 12v+ rail to push your system. The Corsair line of PSU's are very good, the 450 will probably be just enough for your system but it might not hurt to grab something with more watts and amps just to have some headroom.

Currently games are video card limited. Once you start cranking up the resolution (1680x1050 and up) as well as the eye candy the CPU takes a back seat. Most current CPU's will all start to give you roughly the same FPS once the video card is the deciding factor. I only say this so that you don't feel the need to go and buy a $100 more expensive chip and skimp on other areas of your system. AMD makes some good cheap options for sure. If it was my money I would try to stick with a core 2 dual and overclock it as the they seem to OC much higher then the AMD chips can, free performance. But if money is tight the AMD black box editions can be had for as cheap as $100 and get you going.

I would suggest going for a 2x2gb ram route as it's so cheap now and you will be able to use a good chunk of it and retain dual channel. Plus sometimes running 4x1gb can cause issues or require some playing around in your bios.

The 8800GT is hard to beat currently so theres no real reason to not get it. I would cut costs here buy going with a 9600gt or a 3850.

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gator skywalker

I picked up a 9600GT for $115 after rebate.

Go to the following website so you can calculate how much power you need for your system. :

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/powercalc.jsp

Then enjoy!

Bamboo

Since you are on a budget, probably means you want to build a system that lasts a few years.
For that I say go with the Intel e8400.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CP-192-IN
It is really over priced at that link though, since they are hard to find. In the next couple of weeks it will drop a lot, and should be close to 100 pounds (it is just over $200 US dollars now).

They don't have it on the site you were shopping on that I could find, but that CPU even at its stock 3.0mhz is going to last a really long time. And it will fit into the board you listed in your original post. Not only that, but with it being 45nm, it will run cooler and with less power drain.
I am one of the people alluded to above that think a good power supply is very important, but to each his own. You could try yours, but I would only use it for a while till you can upgrade. Why on earth risk a really nice new computer with a cheap PSU that could fry your system to a crisp. You get what you pay for is all I'm saying.

Personally, I would go with the
4 gigs of RAM (prices are expected to rise this summer and fall),
E8400 (will be good for years to come),
9600GT (will last a long time and allow you to afford the e8400)

I would also do what a lot of us here do and keep the 80gig drive for your OS install (unless it is a slow old drive), and use the 2nd one for all your games and extra stuff.

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