Some advices for upgrade needed

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benny2008

14 posts

Geek

#23869 10-Jul-2008 14:50

Hi all

I am thinking upgrade my 4-yr-old pc desktop. I plan to keep these stuff:

the case (w/ 350W power supply)
DVD writter
LCD monitor
Keyboard/mouse

So I just need the gut to fill the case. But i have a very low budget ($500~600). I use my pc for quite a bit of gaming (e.g. BF2, Medieval TW2 etc) and work. So I need to buy

CPU: I definitely go 4 AMD but shall I wait untill AM3 on market?
RAM: You think I should wait till DDR3 price goes down a bit? you think 4G is necessary?
Motherboard
Graphic Card: I need lots of advices on graphic card. GDDR3 seems quite expensive still. I am not sure what factors to look at when buy a graphic card
Power supply for graphic card?
Hard drive: what kind of SATA tech worth buying?

Hope some IT pro can help me out a bit. I am not sure if I should upgrade it now or end of this year. My old pc is slow and useless.

Thanks

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
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#146135 10-Jul-2008 15:00

You want to go for gaming, with modern mobo and RAM, and assuming a decent CPU. What about HDDs - how many?

I suspect you should be putting a 500w + PSU in that box of yours.

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#146150 10-Jul-2008 15:16

Minimum 500W PSU recommended for newer systems... you can get away with 350 but not worth the chance.

For $5-600 I think you may find yourself struggling to get a decent system together.,.. I was looking at spending just that on CPU, Mobo and RAM.... (8400 Core 2 Duo, p5k-r motherboard, 2gb DDR2)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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benny2008

14 posts

Geek

#146157 10-Jul-2008 15:25

tonyhughes: You want to go for gaming, with modern mobo and RAM, and assuming a decent CPU. What about HDDs - how many?

I suspect you should be putting a 500w + PSU in that box of yours.

I dont think I can do RAID, so one HDD should be enough 4 me coz I hav an external HDD for backup. My gaming goal is not high though, as long as the system can handle C&C3-level game I am satisfied.

benny2008

14 posts

Geek

#146159 10-Jul-2008 15:28

xpd: Minimum 500W PSU recommended for newer systems... you can get away with 350 but not worth the chance.

For $5-600 I think you may find yourself struggling to get a decent system together.,.. I was looking at spending just that on CPU, Mobo and RAM.... (8400 Core 2 Duo, p5k-r motherboard, 2gb DDR2)

w/ the low budget thats why i go 4 AMD, do you think Qua core Phenom 9500 may go below $200 by end of this year? I am just looking for a basic 512MG graphic card. But what other factors we need to concern before buying a graphic card?

chriswiggins

413 posts

Ultimate Geek

#147345 13-Jul-2008 11:41

Benny2008:

I tried a low budget system a while back and all it got me was upset and a new server LOL

Try saving up or something at get more like $1000 and then you will have a sweet as up-to-date system with a nice graphics card,
plenty of ram and HDD space and a good cpu and mobo

benny2008

14 posts

Geek

#147716 14-Jul-2008 12:46

chrisjunkie: Benny2008:

I tried a low budget system a while back and all it got me was upset and a new server LOL

Try saving up or something at get more like $1000 and then you will have a sweet as up-to-date system with a nice graphics card,
plenty of ram and HDD space and a good cpu and mobo

It could be a good advice though I mainly focus on work rather than enthusiatic gaming. thanks

kobiak

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#147856 14-Jul-2008 18:30

Well, why u should buy latest if you have low budget?!

I've recently upgraded 'coz my MB died :( and that's what I've bought:

1 x ASUS P5GC-MX INTEL 945GC CHIPSET LGA775 MATX MOTHERBOARD NZ$65.74
1 x TRANSCEND 2GB DDR2-800 240-PIN MEMORY NZ$59.00
1 x INTEL PENTIUM E2180 DUAL CORE 2.0GHZ LGA775 CPU RETAIL NZ$97.00
1 x INNO3D GEFORCE 8400GS 256MB GDDR2 PCIE NZ$54.00

+ GST on everything = NZ$309

keeping everything else from last PC... running XP SP3, still playing games like NFS wanted and carbon, fifa 2007, CS and few others. and anyway I'm on 250W Power Unit... which is planned to be upgrade soon.

So the choice is urs. :)

P.S. I know it's not lates but still powerfull and runs evrything I need and runs FAST :)

helping others at evgenyk.nz

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Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

benny2008

14 posts

Geek

#148007 15-Jul-2008 09:22

Yeah I just want to upgrade my pc to a level that's a wee bit over what I need. I may just wait till GDDR3 becomes more popular, then I can grab a cheap PCI xpress GDDR2 with 512MB.