Computer Upgrade(s)

[H-kon]

How about a post about something that is not mentioned in the forum description? 

There has been a whole bunch of great games being released these past few months. My own PC is still decent, but Jette's pc is in serious need of an upgrade as no gaming except for very old titles can be played on it. I hear "Crysis" eats every gfx card thats out there.
I bought Unreal Tournament 3 yesterday and i would love for Jette to be able to play as well, but as you can see below, it wont even run:

Current system:

Athlon XP 2500
Radeon 8500
1,5GB DDR 400

My budget is kind of low, so what would you recommend?

I am planning to move her to a dual core Core 2 Duo and stick at least 2gb of memory in there, perhaps more since it's very cheap these days. The graphics card is what i am unsure about.

So what do you say?

[themystic]

You can either get my ASUS mobo (which you gave me), my AMD X2 3800+, my Radeon x1650 256 and 1.5GB ram (which you also gave me 1GB worth of).

The hardware above will make a decent computer which will play games at an almost acceptable speed.
Or, throw your wallet in some random store and run out with all the hardware you manage to carry with you.  ;D

[Elf]

If you haven't already got themystic's old system then unless you can get something really cheap, nothing less than a 2ghz duel core is a waste of money. A 8600GT video should play Crysis at medium settings.

[H-kon]

Hi Elf

Nope, i think Mystic sold his bits to someone else so i am still thinking about an upgrade.

I am thinking of a Core 2 Duoe E6xxx something. I am a bit unsure on the graphics card. I hear the ATI Radeon 3850 is a good card as well on the cheap. My own 7800GT is starting to show it's age too so i might spring for a double upgrade here since i am already going to spend the money.

4GB memory is minimum (she's going 64-bit) for any computer that i am building since the RAM is almost free these days.

I don't see any AMD options either. They are likely to become bankrupt by next summer by the look of things.

[Elf]

A Core 2 Duo E6x5x would be a good choice. When choosing a motherboard chose one with a Intel chipset as they work best with core 2 duo's. I have a Core 2 Duo E6550 cpu which I am happy with.

This may help you choose a graphics card. http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/12/03/best_graphics_card/

[H-kon]

A Core 2 Duo E6x5x would be a good choice. When choosing a motherboard chose one with a Intel chipset as they work best with core 2 duo's. I have a Core 2 Duo E6550 cpu which I am happy with.

This may help you choose a graphics card. http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/12/03/best_graphics_card/

Thanks for the link.

It looks like the 3850/3870 or the 8800GT is the way to go according to the link. I am also considering an Intel based board as well, but i wonder if a P35 based board is worth it over a P31 board.

[themystic]

I'd say it's worth it. The P31 is a low-end chipset not intended for gaming. Most P31 boards don't support the higher ranges FSB etc.

[Elf]

I think a P35 chipset is better. As themystic said most P31 chipsets don't support the 1333mhz fsb that a modern core 2 duo can do. My Asus board has a P35 chipset and can support duel and quad core cpus.

[H-kon]

I think a P35 chipset is better. As themystic said most P31 chipsets don't support the 1333mhz fsb that a modern core 2 duo can do. My Asus board has a P35 chipset and can support duel and quad core cpus.

Thanks A P35 chipset it is then Intel just launched another 16 CPU's a few days ago and it looks like i might spring for one of those. I am going to order this weekend and i will detail the list here for you all to critique

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[H-kon]

Finally, the last bits have been ordered. I went for the integrated solution with an Intel GMA X3100:

Gigabyte GA-Q35M-S2, Q35

Then an E6400 2,13Ghz, coupled with 2x 2048 800Mhz memory. The memory and the CPU should be in my hands by the end of the week since they were out of stock on the memory.

I plan on installing Vista on it. A mini review should be up shortly after

[H-kon]

Today i am doing the builds. But, the package arrived pretty banged up, breaking both stock fans that comes with the retail versions. I bought the E8400 and an E2180 for my fileserver/spare BOINC machine.

I'll let you know more as soon as i get one of them up today.

Jette's build seems to be running great. I am adding 2gigs of ram to it today for a total of 4. The computer runs Vista just great.

[Elf]

Remind me not to use the freight company you used as your stuff arrived partly broken.

Have fun building it.

[H-kon]

I have been at it all day, but i need a PSU and a Socket 775 fan which was broken during transport to complete the build.

The freight company that i used is the Norwegian postal service hehe. Nah, i think someone put a 100 lbs thing on my package.

I haven't heard from the store i bought it from either so i hope i don't have to buy a new fan.

[Elf]

Not much chance me using the Norwegian postal service as I live in Aussie hehe.

I usually take my time building my own system and setting it up, takes most of the day.

I assume you have already contacted the store about your broken CPU fans?

[H-kon]

Yup, but their support system sucks to be honest. No staff during weekends so i need to call them tomorrow and let them know that it's starting to get quite urgent. Both fans are actually broken on the CPU's that i bought. One has a whole fin missing which i didn't notice until i heard the loud unbalanced sound it made when i tried to use it hehe.

So two computers are down at the moment and my smoothwall refuse to get an IP from my ISP. sigh. Looks to be another day inside even though the weather is fantastic.

Or maybe i should just wait and go out and enjoy the rare weather here