Help me!

[c_dfeedback]

I need to admit now that I am a bit of a noob, so please explain everything in morons terms for me.

Basiclly I have a fairly dated system (P4 2.4 ghz, 1 gig of RAM, Geforce 6200, Maxtor 80 gig) and desperatly need to upgrade. I'm sure you get this all the time, but where the **** do I start? I mean, from all sides I get people giving me 'Crossfire' this and 'Dual Core' that and I really have no idea what I want or need. I have been told that I need to wait until Vista comes out and brings with it a new wave of techonology, etc, but with the rumour mill at full spin over when they will actually get their act together and finish it, it could be any time.

When I first started considering an upgrade, I was thinking along the lines of getting a good quality power supply, a new PCI-Express motherboard and a nice graphics card. I intended (in the short-term at least) to carry over my RAM and drives. I mentioned this plan to a number of people just over a month ago and I got shot down in flames with claims of 'That's nowhere near good enough', etc. Some people even said I should be waiting until 2007!

I am massively confused and incoherent, please help me if you can! Should I shell out now or wait for this omnipresent 'new technology'?

 

[john3]

k heres the things you need to tell us.

1) what are you using the computer for
2) what is ur budget

then we can help you.

 

[c_dfeedback]

k heres the things you need to tell us.

1) what are you using the computer for
2) what is ur budget

then we can help you.

Ok, well I am generally intending my PC for gaming, and I hadn't really considered a budget, since I am only intending to replace a few parts......straight off the bat i'd say £300. The only issue is that I am unemployed, and as such cannot afford that kind of expenditure in one go, which is why it would be excellent if there was motherboard with an AGP slot as well as a PCI Express so that I could use my 6200 until I could afford a new card. Wishful thinking, I suspect.

 

[Mentali$T]

Well if your getting a socket 939 cpu then this board has an agp and pci-e slot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081

 

[c_dfeedback]

Well if your getting a socket 939 cpu then this board has an agp and pci-e slot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081

Sorry to be so ignorant, but what are the advantages and disadvantages of socket 939 compared to 754 or whatever the other is?

Some people have told me I should get 939, others 754. I am still unsure as to what the difference is.

Also, would having the two different slots affect performance in the long-term? Should I think about getting a fully PCI-Express board?

 

[Trifid]

Your first priority is to get a job.

The problem is, you are sacrifising using older components with your modern PC, so you are wasting money on a board like above.

You can salvage the ram and the hdd if you want. It would be best to check the speed of the ram with CPU-Z.

A AMD 64 3000 will be £100 straight off. You can get motherbopards for £50 that have a intergrated 6100 until you can afford money on a decent gaming card.

For £60 you can get a Hiper type R 580w PSU, that is good, but not for your budget. I would reccomend a Antec Piano case that comes with a 450w smartpower PSU.

 

[c_dfeedback]

Your first priority is to get a job.

The problem is, you are sacrifising using older components with your modern PC, so you are wasting money on a board like above.

You can salvage the ram and the hdd if you want. It would be best to check the speed of the ram with CPU-Z.

A AMD 64 3000 will be £100 straight off. You can get motherbopards for £50 that have a intergrated 6100 until you can afford money on a decent gaming card.

For £60 you can get a Hiper type R 580w PSU, that is good, but not for your budget. I would reccomend a Antec Piano case that comes with a 450w smartpower PSU.

I am working on the job thing.

But you are very much verifiying my fears there. I am concerned that if I spend money I really can't afford to spend now, I still won't get the full out of my new system if I drag over the old components. I've got a gig of decent RAM that I am happy to bring over, and my hard drive and DVD, but the graphics card is going be a problem. I want an ATI this time, but I am looking at serious bucks for a decent card (I would think), bucks I simply don't have. It used to be so simple.......

The processor and mobo prices you suggest seem reasonable. I will have a quick look on Ebuyer and Overclockers and see if I can get good prices.

 

[aliasaid]

......straight off the bat i'd say £300. The only issue is that I am unemployed, and as such cannot afford that kind of expenditure in one go

so you don't even have 300 pounds to spend? how much are you really planning on spending?


the 2 options you could go is, as someone already suggested, get a mobo with integrated video, use that for a while till you make enough money for a good video card.

the other option would be that as rock mobo with both agp and pci-express.. you lose maybe 5% in performance over a native pci-express mobo. use your 6200 for a while till you get enough money for a better card...

if you don't think you're gonna get a job anytime soon then i don't really see the point in upgrading now.. maybe just wait a bit..

btw what type of ram exactly do you have? run cpu-z or something and tell us...

 

[c_dfeedback]

so you don't even have 300 pounds to spend? how much are you really planning on spending?


the 2 options you could go is, as someone already suggested, get a mobo with integrated video, use that for a while till you make enough money for a good video card.

the other option would be that as rock mobo with both agp and pci-express.. you lose maybe 5% in performance over a native pci-express mobo. use your 6200 for a while till you get enough money for a better card...

if you don't think you're gonna get a job anytime soon then i don't really see the point in upgrading now.. maybe just wait a bit..

btw what type of ram exactly do you have? run cpu-z or something and tell us...

I have checked out that mobo with the PCI Express and the AGP, and I think that's what I need I was also going to get a AMD (Venice) Athlon 64Bit 3000 to accompany it. With that and a power supply, I should be set. Then when I get the money i'll pick up a graphics card.

Does that seem alright to you?

 

[c_dfeedback]

Also, this is a screen dump of my RAM specs. Is that good or bad? When I got it, it was just above average.