Time for an upgrade

[Guest]

I have around £200 and i am looking to upgrade. i need to upgrade my mobo as well (from skt a) in order to do anything. as i already have a 6600gt 256mb agp card i would rather a agp / pci-e combo board. I have been recommended an asrock dual 939 (around £40) and a amd 64 3700+ (san diego for £150 about) would these be up to modern gaming (fear etc.) or should i go intel? i have been told amd by others and intel by others too! i have a 400w psu, 1gb of ram. Please tell me if this mobo is decent and wich cpu should i be looking at (if 3700+ isnt as gd as ive heard)

[debs3759]

When you're on a tight budget, the whole Intel/AMD goes out the window, IMO. AMD is the way to go if you want the most power for your moeny and you are on a budget.

If you have access to a Maplin store they are often among thebest for a budget upgrade kit, as they do a lot of discounted upgrade packages to get people through the door Sometimes you will see boards and processors cheaper than in Micro Mart, and often (although not always) they have deals across the range for both Intel and AMD systems.

I'll leave the discussion about what's best to those that know (or think they know <G>) most about it - I never have the latest system so can't comment on that, my Sempron 2600+ plods along fine for the moment so I haven't needed to check out the latest hardware

[Guest]

ok thanks...ill be looking forward to the "pros"

[FDIV]

I think your approach is resonable. Getting a combo board with pci-e and agp and holding on to your 6600 should save you some cash. I don't know much about asrock but you have limited options looking for that combo. I don't even think asus makes a combo board so you probably don't have a choice. In any case I think its worth the risk buying an off brand board to have pci-e upgradability in the future. The cpu your looking at is not what you need though. It's not that it is not fast enough to run your games, it is simply that when building a pc today you should build a dual core. More and more apps take advantage of the dual core and it is worth the price. Save up a few more pennies and buy the athlon 64 x2 3800, it is worth it. Also a word to the wise, make sure your ram will work with amd's on chip memory controler. Some ram, especially when the two dimms are not identical will not. Amd's memory controler is faster then intels (which uses the fsb not the cpu) but it can be a little picky. As for AMD vs Intel, this is like a fight with an unarmed opponent. AMD leads in price and performance. The only thing intel can do is advertize. Good Luck, Here is a pic of my rig to make you drool.

[FDIV]

oops, heres the pic

[Guest]

well heres the x-2 dual core processors off my fav component site.
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=17729276561&action=c2hvd3N1YmNhdGVnb3J5X3BhZ2U=&subcat_uid=1443

so u recommend amd not pentium d. hah i knew i was right!
which x-2 would it be worth buying? i dont understand the cache and stuff. all i get is the GHZ and pin. whihc of these would u buy if on a budget...maybe i can get my parents to buy the mobo and spend around £200 on a decent x-2 wotcha think?