Major system upgrade

[Fusion]

Now I've got some cash available, I would like to upgrade my pc.

My current pc is:

Lian-Li PC-50 Case
QTechnology Ultra-Quiet ATX PSU 350W
Intel P4 2.8ghz CPU
Abit IC7 Motherboard
2x512mb Crucial PC3200 DDR
WD 75gb Raptor (sata - 10k rpm) and WD 250gb Caviar (sata)
Radeon R9800 Pro 256mb AGP
Audigy 1 Pro with 5.1 speakers
Iiyama Vision Master Pro 454

I would like to get a AMD cpu, 2gb ram, motherboard, psu, graphics card and possibly an x-fi sound card if I haven't broken the bank.

Do you have any suggestions for stuff to go for that will last a couple of years and won't cost the earth?

I'm also fed up of messing around with dodgy copies of windows - should I get xp home or media centre edition?

Cheers

[Fusion]

Update:

I'm thinking about blowing a wad of cash on a Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen LCD. Review here (http://tinyurl.com/jfz9c).
- 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA+) Optimum Resolution
- 16.7 Million Colours
- 1000:1 Contrast Ratio
- 6ms Response Time
- 450 cd/m2 Brightness
- One DVI-D Input w/HDCP Support
- One Analogue Input
- One S-Video Input
- One Composite Input
- One Component Input
- Height adjustable stand (100mm travel)
- VESA mounting compatible / Security slot : Yes (100mm) / Yes
- Integrated powered USB 2.0 hub : 4 downstream / 1 upstream ports
- Integrated powered 9-in-2 Card Reader
- Warranty : 4 year next business day exchange supplied by Manufacturer

To support that kind of resolution I'm assuming I will need to go for a multi-gpu setup. Is the GeForce 7950 GX2 going to be the most cost effective solution? Any suggestions for a motherboard and PSU to pair with it?

[Khammar]

A one legged donkey could push WoW at that resolution.

Please tell me you play more than WoW and want to be able to drive that res? :)

If WoW is all you really care about (I weep for you) then a single high end card should do it. x1900(ati) or 7900(nv) should be sufficient.

(I mean TBH my Radeon 9700pro pushed 1600x1200 in WoW with max settings.)

Personally I have reservations about SLI and/or crossfire. Not enough bang for the buck in most cases as far as I am concened. 7950 is essentially the same story. It's a single card that has two chips . . . suffers from the same issue. 1 + 1 != 2 . . .

If you have more money than sense go for the 7950 or dual x1900 or 7900.

Or if you just wanna see the kick ass card(s) . . . they do look niiiiiice. ;)

I'm sure the guru has his own take on it though . . .

[Fusion]

With my current system I struggle to get decent framerates in busy scenes in WoW (1280x960, max detail, no AA/AF). In between WoW sessions I'm playing games like Quake 4, FEAR and Hitman: Blood Money, and I'm struggling to get good framerates even at 800*600.

All I want to do is buy a system that is going to last me for at least the next 18 months-2 years without needing to fork out for additional upgrades every 6 months.

[Khammar]

7950 may be a good option for you. I'm pretty happy with my 7900GTX (Asus so not overclocked stock) at this point and am running EQ2 in Extreme Quality with a couple of tweaks. (Shadows must die.)

[Fusion]

Any suggestions for a motherboard? A sli board would seem pretty pointless considering the card...

How much juice will I need to look for in a PSU?

[Hovis]

Can't give much advice due to crying and booze but get one of the new Intel CPUs, not the old shite. Anything else is a bonus.

[Fusion]

Which cpu are you refering to in particular?

[Hovis]

Core Duo thingys. I really should know the actual name by now :o

I've not been keeping up with what exactly the best Conroe or whatever it's being called Intel systems are, because frankly if I did that I'd want to buy one. Suffice to say AMD are dead in the water.

[James24]

Intel Core Duo 2, Hovis :P

The 2.66ghz is probably the best fast chip at around £400 it decimates the fx62. Although for £150 less you can get the 2.4ghz which is still fast enough to beat the top end AMD chips. If you have £750 there is a 2.93Ghz version labelled EE

tbh on PSU, you shouldn't look for anything less than 500W. If you are intending on having lots of components go for 600W. Which is easily enough for a power hungry pc with a 7950.

With a 7950 it should be able to play most games at 1920x1200 which AA and AF. It may struggle a bit with oblivion tho.

[Fusion]

Am I right in thinking that a dual core processor won't show much of an improvement over a single core processor in applications that aren't specifically designed to use them?

[Echor]

Am I right in thinking that a dual core processor won't show much of an improvement over a single core processor in applications that aren't specifically designed to use them?In a benchmark scenario no there wouldn't be much difference, but in reality its slightly different. As one core is doing one job the other core is doing another, as computers work in a serial manner rather than parallel that means less interupts to the core doing your fave job, i.e. in a game that can mean fewer interuptions (slowdowns) from for instance TS, Network, Usb etc.

So assuming that you are comparing a dual core whose cores are roughly each equivalent to the single core you are testing, over time things are better than benchmarks show.

Edit: you can get all techy and actually assign certain jobs to a specific core...

[Fusion]

This Sapphire Liquid Cooled Radeon X1900 XTX TOXIC (http://trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=3105) is looking rather tasty. Considering the limitations HDR/AA limitations on the 7950 it might be a better choice for overall video quality.

What sort of motherboard and ram combination would I need for a Core Duo processor?

[irishdude]

Usually when I'm getting ready to buy a new machine I check what they use here to build there top end machine,
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/MHGSBG/article.php/3595906

And from the info here i get an idea which motherboard and why and which cpu and gfx card and memory,

Been using this way of getting ready to build a machine for years now, and so far its been good to me ...

[Fusion]

Thanks, unfortunately its a couple of months out of date...

I really need some advice here, I know nothing about PCI express and i've not had much luck searching google for reviews so far.

[James24]

that toxic card is overpriced considering you can get an x1900xt £260. Not worth paying £140 more for 50mhz core.

That is a stonking deal for such a fast card. the 7950 does give a lot better performance tho, at least 40%. since if you think about it is 2x500mhz (1ghz) x24pipes = 1ghz g71. I know it doesn't work like that in theory but you get a good idea of the performance compared to a standard 7900gtx/x1900xtx. The performance of the 2 cards is so similar - considering the drastically different architecture yet same clock speed (650mhz, 625 for the xt)

Also if you are really concerned about AA+HDR get the x1900.

[Fusion]

Gah. So much conflicting information and I was hoping to have had the stuff ordered and delivered by now.

At the moment I still have no idea what graphics, motherboard, cpu, psu or ram to buy :(

[Hovis]

Right then, let's try to sort out this pickle.

For sorting the graphics card you'll have to tell me what you want to spend and what your favourite games are and whether you have a TFT or CRT monitor. With this information I can tell you for sure what the best card is.

As for the rest I'll MSN some of the gringos in the office and get the up to date Elite List from work which has the current best stuff on it.

For a start though I'd say the Intel 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo is looking amazing, there's an Asus motherboard called the something or other Deluxe (shouldn't be hard to find as Asus won't have that many mobos out yet for that chip) which is meant to be good too.

RAM, in all honesty, is something I've never considered worth giving a shit about. Quantity beats quality every time, but naturally there are limits and you don't want to get the absolute bottom of the range. Don't give it too much thought, be willing to cut costs here, and basically just make sure you get at least 2x 1 gig DIMMS. I'd be tempted to get more personally since it's a new system and Vista allows much more RAM to be used (because it uses fuckloads of it).

PSUs are not my speciality either, but I know a man who knows them inside out and I'll give him a prod on Monday. I'd say though that if you spend a fair bit and get something at least 550Watts you should be able to take that with you into your next systems.

[Fusion]

Thanks Hovis.

I'm currently using a 19" Iiyama VM Pro 454 which can supports 1600x1200@85s (it can go higher but text becomes stupidly small). In the near future I am planning on replacing it with a 24" widescreen TFT Dell (see my second post in this thread). When I am not playing WoW, I'm usually playing fairly graphically intensive games like Quake4, Hitman: Blood Money and FEAR. I'm not too fussed about anti-aliasing (although I welcome it if my comp can handle it) but I get the impression that HDR lighting effects are going to become increasingly common in games which effectively rules out SLi options.

I would prefer to have a quieter system if at all possible :)

My budget is £800 ish, I'm looking to get something that will last me the next 18months - 2 years if possible.

[Hovis]

Same sort of monitor as me. The bottom line on graphics cards is you need ATI for the image quality on CRT. A good X1800 will sort you out for all modern games, no worries. A medium or good X1900 will sort you out too, not to mention future proof you for a while. Get an accelerothingy custom cooler for the X1900 if you get one though, they're noisy be default.

A Core 2 Duo will sort you out CPU wise for the foreseeable future. And I mean two, maybe three years at that. Fact is with most games likely in future to be console ports you just need to make sure you've got a chunk more than an Xbox 360 under the hood and you're fine, Core 2 Duo will give you that.

[Fusion]

Ok, I'm looking at getting:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - £214.95

Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (http://tinyurl.com/o4kak) - £134.95

HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (http://tinyurl.com/emkcy) - £229.95

I was considering a basic pair of 1gb DDR2 sticks from Crucial, what speed should I be looking for?

Any recomendations for a PSU?

Should I consider getting a motherboard with the 975X chipset instead?

All prices are from www.overclockers.co.uk and are ex VAT, suggestions for alternative suppliers are also welcome :)

[Hovis]

Sounds like a winner. If you're planning to go to Vista soon you might want more than 2 gig of RAM though, just so you know it's all matched up when you fit it.

[Hovis]

As for the PSU, I'd drop by the www.CustomPC.co.uk forums and ask there, you'll get some help from the randoms even if you don't buy the mag :D

[Fusion]

Thanks mate :)

[Fusion]

Update:

I ordered the following and have just set the lot up.

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000KS SATA-II 16MB Cache
HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS4 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre 2005 Edition
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 Keyboard
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music

I kept the Lian-Li case and my original Raptor and Caviar drives.

Thoughts so far:

My current case is not really big enough (I will try and get some pictures posted later) and the 4 case fans that come with it are too noisy. The fan in the blowhole is blocking access to 2 of the sockets in my PSU.

The Tagan PSU is excellent, I love the detachable cables, of the fixed cables I seem to have an extra P4 4pin power cable that I don't have a slot for. The additional power cables (I now have 4 going into the motherboard) were a little confusing to install at first. I am still not sure if I should have a 5th cable going into the molex slot on the motherboard for additional power to the GPU (surely the direct cable from the PSU is sufficient?)

Motherboard and Processor: The motherboard didn't not come with a driver floppy for the sata controller. It was lucky that I remembered it was necesary to create one from the CD. After much farting around trying to find a floppy drive and spare disk I eventually got Windows installing.

A general tip for anyone else setting up a Core Duo 2 system - don't enable the auto CPU fan control and the cpu fan fail alarm at the same time. Your PC will beep at you a lot :)