Help : Time for an upgrade me thinks!

[Dynasty]

Righty fellow HL2.net'ers

My 21st is less than 2 weeks away and im getting..quite a sizeable amount from a child bond put in place 12 years ago for me.

So, since im currently running on:

AMD AthlonXP 2600+ @ 1.9GHz
1gig DDR Kingston RAM
250GB Seagate 16mb Cache HD
Radeon X850PRO 256mb
ASUS A7N8X-E Mobo
500W PSU

..i think its time i spent some monay on future-proofing my little baby.

NOW. Im willing to spend around ?4-500 (love how the pound sign doesnt work ) on it, and im pretty sure most of my money will go toward a new CPU, Gcard and Mobo.

Any suggestions? I wouldnt mind going DX10 if possible for that kind of money, and will be willing to spend ?250 or so on a new Gcard, ?100-150 on a mobo and ?100 on a CPU...if thats possible.

I know what im doing, but i cant think of the right combination i need. I know quad/dual core is the way to go nowadays, meaning a whole new mobo. Also im kinda sure Nvidia is the way to go nowadays too (reluctant to go Nvidia due to shite driver problems in the past etc), which naturally would mean getting a mobo capable of dual core chips with a PCI-E slot for the card (as most of the best Nvidia cards nowadays are PCI-E slots that ive seen on ebuyer etc)

Not really interested in SLI, bit too much for me really as im still just a Uni student...but hell if its possible for that kind of money, enlighten me!

Any help would be much appreciated!!

 

[comoxer]

Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 - ?235

or if your willing to spend a bit more i would recommend getting a GTX

OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 - ?300

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.33GHz ?112

BFG nForce 680i SLi (Socket 775)- ?155 (I have this mobo, i think its great)

Your going to need some good memory too, 2 gigs DDR2 you can get it pretty cheap.

You could knock ?50 off the mobo and put it towards a better CPU or graphics card.

 

[Ennui]

If you get a new mobo you're going to need new RAM (DDR2), and since that HDD is probably old you need to be sure to get a IDE/PATA compatible mobo (a lot of them are only SATA now, but there are still plenty with support for both serial and parallel ATA).

I would say get a Gigabyte mobo, they have a lot of decent ones around the $100-$150 range and they've always treated me well on a budget. Make sure that it's socket AM2 and supports both PATA/IDE and SATA.

For RAM, Geil is a good choice, 2x1GB for around $100

CPU, I would get an Athlon 64 x2 socket AM2 in as high a number as you can afford after everything else. You could go for a C2D instead but they're a bit more expensive, and AMD is sexier. listen to comoxer about gpu.

 

[Dynasty]

Well the HDD is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 250GB. Quick google search shows pretty much all results saying that its an ATA drive, so i think im fine there. Only got it about 4 months ago. Also because my current Mobo can take SATA drives, im even more sure the HD doesnt need replacing.

Looks like i need new RAM too either way as DDR1 doesnt work with DDR2 slots *sigh*

Heres the possible setup ill be making:

Mobo
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-107-AB

GPU (might save some money by going the 320MB version...or will i be making a mistake?)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-095-LT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=927

CPU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-158-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=

DDR2
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-092-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813

For around ?530 inc shipping, which is fine.

Will it do?

 

[dal1978]

Both IDE/PATA and SATA are types of ATA, so an ATA drive could be either. The easy way to tell the difference is to look at the cable. IDE drives use wide flat 40-pin plugs/cables (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Drive_Electronics) while SATA cables are only 1/3 of the width with a 7-pin plug (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA).

Also don't forget your CD/DVD drive uses IDE or SATA as well, so you will need to make sure that you can connect these as well.

 

[Dynasty]

Hmm looks like im on IDE on both my DVD drive and HD too. Looks like i need to get a whole new different combo? I mean, where can i find a slot 775 mobo with PCI-E, DDR2 and IDE?

Would http://www.cclonline.com/product-in...id=251&manufacturer_id=50&tid=p6nsliplatinum# be looking in the right direction???

 

[Sanada]

If the board you end up getting doesn't have IDE you can always get a PCI IDE controller card. They're quite inexpencieve. Saying that, do normal PCI cards work in PCI express slots? I've never ever thought of to ask before.

 

[Asus]

Saying that, do normal PCI cards work in PCI express slots? I've never ever thought of to ask before.

Nope, they won't work in the other slots. Similar name but completely different specs.

 

[Dynasty]

Well ive eventually gone for the ones ive listed above, and just done the whole '***k it!' attitude and am also getting a Seagate Barracuda 250gb 16cache, basically the same as i have now but SATA for about ?65, and a new DVD drive for ?15 SATA. Hardly breaking the bank going ?80 or so over budget lol.

Too much hassle finding a 2 x IDE slot Board with a PCI-E and 775 socket, most that i found only had 1 slot so i thought id go all out SATA for future proofing.

Thanks for all the advice though guys! Much appreciated.