What processor??

I haven’t been around here for a very long time so out of touch with computers. I want to upgrade my computer so looking for a new motherboard and processor. I'm looking at spending about £200 max for a processor and mother board, what socket and speed am I looking at (roughly a 3800 or 4200). Prefer AMD rather than Intel but would consider one after using a dual core P4.

Really out of touch so any help would be grateful.

Steve

 

It seems everyone and his dog are saying that the latest intel chips are just hands down better than anything from amd.

I guess everyone can't be wrong then?

 

Best bet is something like an E6300 and Asrock dual VSTA board. Supports AGP/PCI-e 8* and DDR1/DDR2. Should allow for a decent incremental upgrade.
Be warned though, with PC2100 you *may* have issues not sure if the board supports ram that slow. Also, performance wise the Asrock boards are a bit slower than full blown Core2 boards especially with DDR1 maybe its worth saving cash and doing a bigger upgrade? Is your machine quick enough for what you need atm?

 

I was thinking of upgrading everything apart from maybe the case, dvd and psu.
Currently I can't even boot my machine as I think the hdd is dead, gives me an error every time I try to boot/format. So I'll be getting new ram, processor, motherboard, gfx, hdd.

Steve

 

Ok sorry, think I miss understood your question assumed you to be upgrading CPU/mobo only.
For 200 quid again E6300 is best bet, something like Abit AB9, Asus P5B vanilla or P5B-E or possibly Gigabyte DS3 would be good mobo choices. Some may put you a touch over 200 quid for CPU + mobo, depends whether/if your planning on overclocking or not.
AB9 won't reach the FSB's the P5B/DS3 will however its a touch cheaper (Looking at ~ 435-440 max without vmods which is ~ 3.1ghz from a 6300) P5B/DS3 should be good for 500 FSB which shouldn't be a problem for an E6300 you'd probably get away with stock cooler there too. All these figures are of course based on you having ram capable of these FSB's due to the lack of downclock memory dividers on the 965 chipset.

 

I'd say just ditch your PC2100. AMD Athlon64 are good if your budget is tight, otherwise get Intel's C2D. Are you happy to tweak and overclock? Anyway my recs are:

Extreme Budget: Sempron 3400+ with 754 nF3 / 6100 mobo and 2x512MB PC3200. nF3 use AGP, 6100 use PCI-E. You can get away with a Sempron 2800+ if you're happy to o/c. It doesn't seem worth going AM2 if you're on such a strict budget, unless you want to maximise longevity.

Budget: Athlon64-X2_4200+ with 939/AM2 mobo and either 2x512MB or 2x1GB (buy PC3200 for 939 or DDR2 for AM2). Most 939 and all AM2 use PCI-E.

Performance: Intel C2D E6400 with P965 mobo and 2x1GB DDR2 RAM (DDR2-533 if not o/c'ing or DDR2-800 if you are). As said Asrock do some C2D ready mobos based on the older, cheaper and almost as fast i865 chipset. These tend to use DDR1-PC3200 and AGP rather than the DDR2 and PCI-E of modern mobos. The PCI-E on the dual AGP+PCI-E mobos tend to use PCI-E x4 instead of x16 which does have a small but present impact.

Common: HD 300-400GB WD, Seagate or Samsung. Graphics with PCI-E; 7900GS or X1900GT although there's lots of other choices. If you're stuck with AGP there's less chocie and some inflated prices, I'd suggest looking for 2nd hand 6800 cards as most GF7 and Rad Xxxxx are crippled in some way (and over-priced too). The AGP X800 are fast too but don't support the full SM3.0 spec which may become important pretty soon.

 

What is your overall budget kill_me_quick? I saw your thread in the graphics forum. Good idea splitting the requirements up but people here are more than happy to suggest complete solutions (it is some times easier )

 

I'm not really too sure, I was looking around £200 for processor and motherboard, upto £150 for Gfx not too sure about prices for ram. That was because I couldn't get my present machine to boot or format but I found out that was due to a dodgy stick of ram (currently on 256mb and its crippled). I'm now thinking of sticking with what ive got and upgrading the ram. 1gb of 3200 or something like that. also ive got a 2500 mobile not a 2000 as it says in my sig.

 

Thats probably the best bet. Your machines ok for 1280 gaming for the moment, ok you're going to have to drop details etc but games should be playable.
Maybe save your cash and go for a full blown update in a few months?

 

Yep that would be my advice as well. With the speed it is moving at the moment (intel now going to 45nm, amd to 65nm, ati's DX10 cards) I would try and disuade anyone from upgrading right this minute. A few months and it should iron out (a little).

 

Thanks guys, so you think 3200 ram anyone got any preferences or know to be good solid ram?

 

Anything of a decent brand is all that's generally advised; Corsair (Value), Crucial, TwinMOS etc. Just don't get carried away as you can really pay silly money for the high-end stuff (with minimal gains). XP-M & 6600GT is a nicely balanced combination, there's relatively little point in upgrading one without the other (and that really begins to add up).

 

Don't forget a power supply for your upgrade. Try the corsair HX 520 or 620. Seasonic S12-EP's are great deals too.

 

Would getting PC 4200 be an advantage over PC 3200 and would my motherboard be able to take it?

 

unless ur OC'ing then just get good branded 3200DDR

 

One last thing before I order some, 2x512mb or 1x 1024mb?? I would go for 2x 512 incase something goes wrong I should have at least 1 stick to fall back on. Or are there advantages for 1 chip? I do have 4 slots if I wanted upgrade to 2gig but I expect Ill be upgrading next christmas.

 

I think I am right in saying you wont see a decrease in performance, indeed if your mobo is dual-channel you'll see an increase plus the fall back idea is a very good one

 

Yeah it is dual channel. The fall back thing comes from the fact that at the moment I'm running on 256mb as my 2nd stick died. was corsair xms as well (only 2700 tho)