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I am running a 1ghz athlon processor on an abit kt 7 raid motherboad with 192 mb ram. It all runs fine but i'd quite like to upgrade so i can enjoy top level performance. Upgrading is definitely the best option as most of my other components are only about a year old (the motherboard and cpu were sold onto me by a friend). I have a new, floppy drive, dvd drive, brand new cd writer, newish 40gb hard disk, 64mb graphics card, audigy sound, and a new case with 300 watt power supply. and will easily be able to find a techie who can help me/do the hard bits!
I don't want to spend silly moneybut could budget about 250 quid to improve my computer.
Obviously i need a new processor and hence a Motherboard as a highend processor would be to much for the old one. Also braced for the cost of new ram as obviouly that is unlikely to be compatible (currently got 168 pin).
Just wondering what people recommend and how you think i can get the best value for my money.
Just looking at new processors on a few websites and the prices don't seem outrageous. Looked at:
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/default2.asp
and thought the athlon xp 2600 looked pretty good value. Any thoughts?
Of far more concern really is the motherboard, as i have a rough idea on processors (rough i admit!), I really haven't got a clue what would be the best motherboard to pick up, I'd really appreciate it if some one could maybe give me a few pointers at the best ways to get the best value for my money and perhaps any products you'd particularly recommend.
Thanks, ashley
I don't want to spend silly moneybut could budget about 250 quid to improve my computer.
Obviously i need a new processor and hence a Motherboard as a highend processor would be to much for the old one. Also braced for the cost of new ram as obviouly that is unlikely to be compatible (currently got 168 pin).
Just wondering what people recommend and how you think i can get the best value for my money.
Just looking at new processors on a few websites and the prices don't seem outrageous. Looked at:
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/default2.asp
and thought the athlon xp 2600 looked pretty good value. Any thoughts?
Of far more concern really is the motherboard, as i have a rough idea on processors (rough i admit!), I really haven't got a clue what would be the best motherboard to pick up, I'd really appreciate it if some one could maybe give me a few pointers at the best ways to get the best value for my money and perhaps any products you'd particularly recommend.
Thanks, ashley
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Ashley wrote:
> adrian wrote:
> What graphics card have you got? As if your going to want to play
> the
> latest games upgrading just your CPU and RAM wont give you tons of
> gaming performance to run the newest games at the top specs.
>
> Ive only got a voodoo 5 at the mo, but i'm gonna upgrade that as well,
> i didn't really want to incorporate that into the post as i wanted
> more info on the other areas.
>
> But now that you've brought it up anything particular you recommend to
> match up with the new suggested spec.
Well if you have a nice XP2500 or XP2600 and say 512mb RAM, which is easy to get on a £250 budget. Then you really do need a top range card. It also depends on whether your really going to want to be Doom 3 at amazing graphics or whether your going to play the odd game of Quake 2. A Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb would be a perfect match if you wanted high end gaming, as it does direct X 9, but at £280-320 there pretty expensive. The Radeon 9700 Pro is also a great card, not as good as the 9800 Pro it still has a mighty kick but is still a good £240-280.
The high end Geforce 4's are pretty cheap and support 8x AGP. The Ti4800 is top of the pile of Geforce 4's and at £160 is a good buy. These new Geforce FX cards arent as good as previous Nvidia cards, its only when your getting to the top card that they are actually any good. The FX5900 Ultra is probably the best card out and with the Radeon 9800 Pro in 2nd place. But the FX5900 is a good £300 or more.
Best thing to do is research on the internet the specs, like memory speed, cpu speed and bandwidth. See what your Voodoo 5 has and then see what sort of specs the new card has. If the specs arent that much of an improvement then its best to look at a better card. Remember like everything else £50 graphic cards will be crap, even if there 128mb. I learnt that a few years ago with my Geforce 2 MX200. A Radeon 9800 Pro or Geforce FX5900 Ultra are £300 for a reason. If your going to want to play the new games in a decent setting then really £150-200 should be your minimum. The Radeon 9500 Pro is actually a very good buy as alot of people have been able to get them up to 9700 Pro speeds. Think the 9500 Pro is being replaced by the 9600 Pro so it may be a hard card to find. But at £150 I think it could be a pretty good card if your looking for performance at a low cost.
> adrian wrote:
> What graphics card have you got? As if your going to want to play
> the
> latest games upgrading just your CPU and RAM wont give you tons of
> gaming performance to run the newest games at the top specs.
>
> Ive only got a voodoo 5 at the mo, but i'm gonna upgrade that as well,
> i didn't really want to incorporate that into the post as i wanted
> more info on the other areas.
>
> But now that you've brought it up anything particular you recommend to
> match up with the new suggested spec.
Well if you have a nice XP2500 or XP2600 and say 512mb RAM, which is easy to get on a £250 budget. Then you really do need a top range card. It also depends on whether your really going to want to be Doom 3 at amazing graphics or whether your going to play the odd game of Quake 2. A Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb would be a perfect match if you wanted high end gaming, as it does direct X 9, but at £280-320 there pretty expensive. The Radeon 9700 Pro is also a great card, not as good as the 9800 Pro it still has a mighty kick but is still a good £240-280.
The high end Geforce 4's are pretty cheap and support 8x AGP. The Ti4800 is top of the pile of Geforce 4's and at £160 is a good buy. These new Geforce FX cards arent as good as previous Nvidia cards, its only when your getting to the top card that they are actually any good. The FX5900 Ultra is probably the best card out and with the Radeon 9800 Pro in 2nd place. But the FX5900 is a good £300 or more.
Best thing to do is research on the internet the specs, like memory speed, cpu speed and bandwidth. See what your Voodoo 5 has and then see what sort of specs the new card has. If the specs arent that much of an improvement then its best to look at a better card. Remember like everything else £50 graphic cards will be crap, even if there 128mb. I learnt that a few years ago with my Geforce 2 MX200. A Radeon 9800 Pro or Geforce FX5900 Ultra are £300 for a reason. If your going to want to play the new games in a decent setting then really £150-200 should be your minimum. The Radeon 9500 Pro is actually a very good buy as alot of people have been able to get them up to 9700 Pro speeds. Think the 9500 Pro is being replaced by the 9600 Pro so it may be a hard card to find. But at £150 I think it could be a pretty good card if your looking for performance at a low cost.
Ashley wrote:
> Ok thanks. Overclocking is not a factor for me, as it would scare
> me!
>
> Technically if overclocking is not an factor, there is very little
> technical difference? and am i unlikely to notice the differences as a
> "basic" computer user.
>
> From what i can see (and i might be being taken in by all the tech
> mumbo-jumbo) the Asus seemed to have more ports on it and a few extra
> goodies. Is this correct or would you still recommend the abit as the
> superior board.
Overclocking on the Abit board is not hard. Basically its just selecting a few numbers from the screen. Of course you need to need a little knowledge on what these numbers actually mean, but 30 mins on the internet researching and you would be ok on the subject.
Well the Asus has the extra LAN port but are you going to be using 2 LAN ports at the same time? If you read the review via the URL in my last post you will see what you get with the Abit board in terms of extra leads. The Asus and Abit use the same Nforce chipset so basically the onboard sound is the same and everything else is the same. Both boards are very similar and should actually come with the same sort of leads, best to check some reviews on both boards. The other factor is whether you want 2 LAN ports or not, and also price. As I said in my previous post the difference in price was a good £10 or £15 but now it looks like its only £5 at komplett.co.uk.
With both these boards you wont need to even get a sound card as they have onboard sound which is 1st class. Its the only onboard 5.1 Digital decoder, basically stick in a set of 5.1 speakers via the optical input and get 5.1 sound with out a decoder.
> Ok thanks. Overclocking is not a factor for me, as it would scare
> me!
>
> Technically if overclocking is not an factor, there is very little
> technical difference? and am i unlikely to notice the differences as a
> "basic" computer user.
>
> From what i can see (and i might be being taken in by all the tech
> mumbo-jumbo) the Asus seemed to have more ports on it and a few extra
> goodies. Is this correct or would you still recommend the abit as the
> superior board.
Overclocking on the Abit board is not hard. Basically its just selecting a few numbers from the screen. Of course you need to need a little knowledge on what these numbers actually mean, but 30 mins on the internet researching and you would be ok on the subject.
Well the Asus has the extra LAN port but are you going to be using 2 LAN ports at the same time? If you read the review via the URL in my last post you will see what you get with the Abit board in terms of extra leads. The Asus and Abit use the same Nforce chipset so basically the onboard sound is the same and everything else is the same. Both boards are very similar and should actually come with the same sort of leads, best to check some reviews on both boards. The other factor is whether you want 2 LAN ports or not, and also price. As I said in my previous post the difference in price was a good £10 or £15 but now it looks like its only £5 at komplett.co.uk.
With both these boards you wont need to even get a sound card as they have onboard sound which is 1st class. Its the only onboard 5.1 Digital decoder, basically stick in a set of 5.1 speakers via the optical input and get 5.1 sound with out a decoder.
adrian wrote:
> What graphics card have you got? As if your going to want to play the
> latest games upgrading just your CPU and RAM wont give you tons of
> gaming performance to run the newest games at the top specs.
Ive only got a voodoo 5 at the mo, but i'm gonna upgrade that as well, i didn't really want to incorporate that into the post as i wanted more info on the other areas.
But now that you've brought it up anything particular you recommend to match up with the new suggested spec.
> What graphics card have you got? As if your going to want to play the
> latest games upgrading just your CPU and RAM wont give you tons of
> gaming performance to run the newest games at the top specs.
Ive only got a voodoo 5 at the mo, but i'm gonna upgrade that as well, i didn't really want to incorporate that into the post as i wanted more info on the other areas.
But now that you've brought it up anything particular you recommend to match up with the new suggested spec.
Ok thanks. Overclocking is not a factor for me, as it would scare me!
Technically if overclocking is not an factor, there is very little technical difference? and am i unlikely to notice the differences as a "basic" computer user.
From what i can see (and i might be being taken in by all the tech mumbo-jumbo) the Asus seemed to have more ports on it and a few extra goodies. Is this correct or would you still recommend the abit as the superior board. I appreciate its go to be me who makes the decision but i'd just make sure im understanding everything and not getting carried away by unnecessary or over exaggerated features. thanks
Technically if overclocking is not an factor, there is very little technical difference? and am i unlikely to notice the differences as a "basic" computer user.
From what i can see (and i might be being taken in by all the tech mumbo-jumbo) the Asus seemed to have more ports on it and a few extra goodies. Is this correct or would you still recommend the abit as the superior board. I appreciate its go to be me who makes the decision but i'd just make sure im understanding everything and not getting carried away by unnecessary or over exaggerated features. thanks
What graphics card have you got? As if your going to want to play the latest games upgrading just your CPU and RAM wont give you tons of gaming performance to run the newest games at the top specs.
Ashley wrote:
> ok, i have read it over, sorry for being a bit of a novice but what
> advantages does that motherboard have over say the one i selected?
None. The Abit NF7-S and A7N8X Deluxe are probably the 2 best Nforce boards on the market. The A7N8X Deluxe has 2 onboard LANs while the Abit NF7-S has just 1. This is the only difference between them and of course the price which was about £15 but at komplett.co.uk its only about £4 or £5. Looked at komplett.co.uk and they seem to have cheap prices. I ordered my NF7-S from them and got it within 2 days, could have even been the next day and I ordered at 8-9pm. The NF7-S is a very good board. The onboard sound is amazing and even rivals the Audigy 2 http://www.hwguru.com/ (SPACE) view_review.asp?reviewid=55 as shown in this review.
I would truly recommend the Abit NF7-S as it is a very good board, but so is the A7N8X Deluxe and at only a few £'s in price between them it will be hard to chose.
The XP2500 would be a good choice as its suppose to be a very good overclocker. The Abit NF7-S board can overclock really easy as it has all the options in the bios.
Just do a bit of reading up on both boards and decide on which one sounds best to you.
> ok, i have read it over, sorry for being a bit of a novice but what
> advantages does that motherboard have over say the one i selected?
None. The Abit NF7-S and A7N8X Deluxe are probably the 2 best Nforce boards on the market. The A7N8X Deluxe has 2 onboard LANs while the Abit NF7-S has just 1. This is the only difference between them and of course the price which was about £15 but at komplett.co.uk its only about £4 or £5. Looked at komplett.co.uk and they seem to have cheap prices. I ordered my NF7-S from them and got it within 2 days, could have even been the next day and I ordered at 8-9pm. The NF7-S is a very good board. The onboard sound is amazing and even rivals the Audigy 2 http://www.hwguru.com/ (SPACE) view_review.asp?reviewid=55 as shown in this review.
I would truly recommend the Abit NF7-S as it is a very good board, but so is the A7N8X Deluxe and at only a few £'s in price between them it will be hard to chose.
The XP2500 would be a good choice as its suppose to be a very good overclocker. The Abit NF7-S board can overclock really easy as it has all the options in the bios.
Just do a bit of reading up on both boards and decide on which one sounds best to you.
ok, i have read it over, sorry for being a bit of a novice but what advantages does that motherboard have over say the one i selected?
Two things you shouldn't buy from Ebuyer are motherboards and memory. I would recommend the ABIT NF7-S and a Barton XP2500 from overclockers.co.uk, although there's room to move on both. You may also need a heatsink/fan, I'll let you choose one yourself!
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ Online_Catalogue_AMD_CPUs_51.html
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Abit.html
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Abit.html
actually the poxed version with hetsink and fan is probably the better choice!
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html? action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=43755
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html? action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=43755
Maybe this processor? AMD ATHLON XP2600+ 333MHz FSB - Thoroughbred - OEM ?
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html? action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=43756
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html? action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=43756
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