Hi all, So - to start off - I have built PCs for many a year (386 up). The current setup I have is a HTPC running an 2Gb, X2 4400 and a main rig running a FX60, 4 Gb, 2900XT. The main rig is water cooled except for the RAM. I have decided to jump ship. Not happy running dual core any longer and the money I spent on the 2900XT, I feel 'let down' in the performance. So - decided to swith the processor and ram from the Main Rig in to the HTPC, pass on the 2900XT and renew the innerds of my Main rig this Christmas. Decided to switch over to Quad Core, Intel, single or dual Nvidia graphics. The problem I have is that over the last 12 months the industry has moved on and I have not kept up to date. So - I would like some advice on what you think I should get Mobo, Ram, CPU and Graphics wise. I would ideally like to buy a Mobo that will mean next summer I can upgrade the CPU, Ram and Graphics card to the latest and greatest (I expect to have a few shares available July 08). One of my problems is I am not sure if going with a board that can accept DDR3 is worth it? With the current prices I would probably switch to 2Gb for the next 8 months before I look to upgrade. If I go for DDR2 - I would probably look for 4 Gb. The case I have accepts full sized A or BTX baords. Power supply is a 1.2kw job. All help gratefully received. Price point £500-750 inc vat Thanks Tim
I suppose an Intel Core2Quad Q6600 and nVidia GeForce 8800 GT 512MB are your first steps. But Intel/nVidia are not my area of expertise. Sorry.
ive been uming & areing about something like this which is in your budget http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/basket.jsp
There's no need to upgrade your GFX at the moment, and I doubt you're going to get that much more out of new games if you do upgrade everything. If you have money to burn get a Q6600 and a GF8800 Ultra (or the new 8800GTS), but otherwise its too early to upgrade.
With your budget, £750 wouldn't even get you 4gb of basic DDR3 ram. I spent just a tad over £1,400 on 8gb of DDR3. So the money is on DDR2. The price of DDR2 is so silly now it would be stupid to go DDR3, unless it's a sponser job and someone else is paying.
The price of ddr2 is giveaway these days. The exact same 2gb kit as i have is on ebuyer for just £39.99! That's half what i paid for mine just under 6 months ago, and i thought it was cheap even then!
Thanks for all the above advice. DDR2 for now, 4Gb then. Ill look to get an 8800 Ultra watercooled GFXcard. One of the cheaper Quad Core processors. Thanks again TIm
