Help needed with budget upgrade please!

[TimBlanchard]

I have around 250 pounds(around $450) to spend on an upgrade kits with the following requirements:

Gd quality PSU (500+ Watts I guess)
PCI-E motherboard with onboard graphics, but with future support for Direct X 10 GFX cards
At least 1GB RAM (2GB if the budget can support it)
And lastly either an A64 or one of these new dual-core AMDs.

Is it better to get a dual core CPU or to save money and get more RAM with the extra money?

Also a couple of other questions, is it possible using current PCI TV cards to watch one channel whilst recording another?

Also, will any upgrade I do now be fully compatible with Windows MCE2005 and Windows Vista?

Thanks for any advice

 

[Yoad]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103735

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138027

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144326

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103931

-Jo.

 

[Shando]

As you're from the UK, I suggest looking on ebuyer.com and scan.co.uk. They have great prices on most things. But I also would reccommend checking out eBay UK. You could save a lot of cash there

 

[TimBlanchard]

Yeah I know a couple of gd UK sites worth ordering from, but I need to know what components to get.

Such as whether to get a dual core processor or not.

 

[TimBlanchard]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103735

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138027

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144326

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103931

-Jo.

Thanks for the recommendations.

I notice that is a micro ATX board, will that fit fine in an ATX case?

What's the difference between a Micro ATX board and an ATX board, are there any features lacked?

 

[Shando]

Well I'm guessing you want to do a lot of gaming. in which case I would go for a dual core

 

[TimBlanchard]

Yeah, it's going to be used mainly for gaming and photoshop.

 

[j12]

would dual cores be that good for gaming? i thought they were ment for multitasking insted of just being fast. wouldnt an amd single core be better for gaming.

 

[spartan1121]

dual core all the way. I would go with a dual core definately, a 4200 if you can afford it or a 3800. Both are good procesors. theres an antec smartpower 500w for only 69 usd on new egg so look for that one on one of those sites. 2 gb of RAM is probably gonna be almost half your budget, but it's big difference over 1 in gaming. And i haven't seen many motherboars with onboard graphics lately, you may have to look around for that.

 

[TimBlanchard]

Is this a good motherboard/CPU combo?

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/94640/rb/21146843905

http://www.compumusic.com/i163196.htm