got 5-600 GBP to spend on partial upgrade need advice

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hugekebab
Posts: 110
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2004 6:25 pm

got 5-600 GBP to spend on partial upgrade need advice

Post by hugekebab » Fri Dec 30, 2005 4:29 am

IM IN THE UK SO THIS IS POUNDS STERLING, AND NO I CANT BUY OFF NEWEGG LOL.


i need a mobo, psu, gfx card and cpu/cooler. I DONT NEED RAM.

i like silent/low noise parts.

dual core would be nice but i will consider single.

whats the best set up i can get for 5-600 pouinds sterling in the uk? im behind on the latest best gfx cards developments and motherboards.

I use the system for gaming, media, web browsing and stuff. ive already got two gig pc3200 sticks of ram ready to go in so just need the above parts.

i have a nexus ne4090 psu currently, maybe this is ok?

psu wise im not sure if theres anything thats modular and extremely quiet but if there is lemme know.

man i used to be well up on all these things 10 months ago, but since i started work its a nono lol. :lol:

Big Pimp Daddy
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 11:26 am
Location: Sunny Swansea

Post by Big Pimp Daddy » Fri Dec 30, 2005 5:10 am

Just thought I would post my 2 cents, here goes;

Mobo: Abit AN8 Ultra
Has passive heat-piped chipset, and most features you could wish for. £80

GFX Card: Nvidia 7800GT
Nice compromise between price and performance, and fairly low-power (easy to cool). I would assume it would need an aftermarket cooler like the vf700 or a passive one to make it acceptably quiet, but lots of people have said that the stock cooler is acceptable or better. £235

CPU:AMD X2 3800
Dual core, low power (compared to desktop Pentiums), high enough clock speed compared to single cores especially if you overclock a bit. You might be better off with a similar spec Opteron, though finding one could be a different matter. £230

Cooler:Scythe Ninja
Big, widely spaced fins, might get away with running it passive (with nearby case-fan), what more could you want? £30

Total = £575

I'm not familiar with your PSU, but if it works, you may as well re-use it, if it's loud enough that you can hear it over your new system, then either do a fan-swap or upgrade at that time.
I got all the prices from ebuyer, so you can probably shave a few quid off by shopping around. If you aren't that fussed about dual-core, you could get a faster single-core and use the money you save to get a slightly better graphics card, but you risk straying away from the price/performace sweet-spot.
Good luck and don't forget to put pics in the gallery when you're done.

hugekebab
Posts: 110
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2004 6:25 pm

Post by hugekebab » Fri Dec 30, 2005 5:35 am

thanks for the comprehensive reply.

cpl of problems:

7800gt: im not prepared to invalidate a warranty on such an expensive bit of kit, and ive heard 'hairdryer' comparisons for their stock coolers.

is the leadtek extreme 7800gt supposed to be quiet (i will pay an extra 40 pounds for tht)

im not really an overclocker (never done it before) and im a bit concerned that the 3800 performance wont be good enough in games to get decent frames with all the settings at max + aa on 1600 x 1200/ argh but then again it seems madness to go with single core.

basically i dont want to do an upgrade and have any problems running any game at any setting. if i cant have this then i dunno if it'd be worth upgrading.


its never simple is it?

lol

hugekebab
Posts: 110
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2004 6:25 pm

Post by hugekebab » Fri Dec 30, 2005 5:40 am

i foudn that leadtek card:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=304431

seems a better option than the bfg no? i actually have heard specific descriptions of the bfg 7800gt being like a hairdryer.

anyone know if this card is reasonably quiet?

heres the spec i put together:

Abit AN8 SLi NF4 S939 PCI-E 2GHz HT DualDDR400 SATA 3G Raid NV GBit Lan USB2/1394 £75.10 £88.24

56MB Leadtek WinFast 7800GT Extreme (450MHz) MyVIVO DDR3 PCI-E £212.49 £249.68

430w Tagan EasyCon - TG430-U15 - 2Force Silent Modular PSU £46.49 £54.63

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+ S939 512K (2.0) Retail inc Heat Sink Fan & 3 Years Warranty £195.38 £229.57



Net Total £529.46

Carriage £10.00

V.A.T. £94.41

TOTAL £633.87

McBanjo
Posts: 671
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 1:40 pm
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Post by McBanjo » Fri Dec 30, 2005 7:13 am

Evga allows you to change the cooler and yet keep the warrenty. Not sure they are avaliable in UK. They are a pain to find in Sweden atleast

Otherwise does Asus have a passiv 7800GT

Big Pimp Daddy
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 11:26 am
Location: Sunny Swansea

Post by Big Pimp Daddy » Sat Dec 31, 2005 4:37 am

There's a passive Asus 7800GT and a Gigabyte 7800GT with a vf700 pre-installed, but I have no idea how easy it will be to get hold of either of these in the UK. The eVGA one would be the best bet as you can then choose exactly which cooler you want and not void the warranty by installing it. If no UK shops hold them, try international sellers on eBay, or there are some shops in the States that will post to UK, but you'll most likely get raped for postage costs and import taxes.

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