Upgrade Advice

SeanUK · Dec 31, 2007, 06:24 PM

Hi Guys.
I currently have a crappy 550w PSU, 2GB Generic RAM & an AMD Sempron 3000 CPU & I have around £250 to play with to upgrade my pc. i want to upgrade my crappy PSU, my RAM, Mainboard & my CPU, but I want to keep the Sapphire x1950 card though. Is that possible with that budget? & do u guys have any reccomendations?
Thanks & a happy 2008 to you all.

**temeteus82** · Jan 1, 2008, 01:14 AM

if your gfx card is PCI-E get new mobo, cpu and ram!

swimtech · Jan 1, 2008, 04:30 AM

From the specs at ASRock, it appears his graphics card must be PCI-E, so that looks good.

What's your budget SeanUK? External peripheral needs/desires, including audio and video devices?

cozumel · Jan 1, 2008, 12:14 PM

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (£58.86) - 1 x PCIEx16, 3xPCI, 1xIDE channel, NO RAID, NO FIREWIRE. 1 x serial, 1x parallel ports and 4xUSB 2.0/1.1 on backplate. Like swimtech said, you haven't stated what other devices/components you have and will connect so let us know if this has enough connectivity

CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180 (£55.21) - Probably about the best value you can get right now

RAM: 2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 (4-4-3-5) HK Series Dual Channel kit (£46.53)

PSU: 630W HiperPower HPU-4M630 (£55.21) - Good value and reasonable performance. Has an 8-pin PCIE connector for any future GFX upgrade. Checkout the DriverHeaven review.

All of the above for approx £235 including taxes and shipping.

Edit: btw, what is your current PSU brand/model?

Dyre Straits · Jan 1, 2008, 12:20 PM

If you're going to stay with Windows XP, the X1950 video card is an excellent one. I've enjoyed mine a LOT!

SeanUK · Jan 1, 2008, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cozumel

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (£58.86) - 1 x PCIEx16, 3xPCI, 1xIDE channel, NO RAID, NO FIREWIRE. 1 x serial, 1x parallel ports and 4xUSB 2.0/1.1 on backplate. Like swimtech said, you haven't stated what other devices/components you have and will connect so let us know if this has enough connectivity

CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180 (£55.21) - Probably about the best value you can get right now

RAM: 2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 (4-4-3-5) HK Series Dual Channel kit (£46.53)

PSU: 630W HiperPower HPU-4M630 (£55.21) - Good value and reasonable performance. Has an 8-pin PCIE connector for any future GFX upgrade. Checkout the DriverHeaven review.

All of the above for approx £235 including taxes and shipping.

Edit: btw, what is your current PSU brand/model?

Thanks cozumel, that gave me a good indication of where to go.. My current PSU is a very cheap looking Colors-It that came with the case & to be honest, I am very surprised it even managed to power my x1950 to begin with. & Yes Dyre, i do plan to stay with xp for a year or so & i also have been very happy with my card.
The only other peripherals i use is.. MX518 mouse, 2 Maxtor SATA 250 GB Hard Drives & 1 200GB Seagate IDE Drive & 1 IDE x16 DVD Burner.
Does that mainboard you listed. "Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L" have onboard sound?, & would it support my 2 SATA Drives?
Thanks in advance guys.

smurfdude · Jan 1, 2008, 06:02 PM

I have the Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R and it's fantastic. it does have onboard sound (7.1), plus an IDE connector so you can put in your old hard drive, and it supports up to 8 SATA drives. Rev 2 (the newer ones) also have 8 USB slots at the back, plus room for 4 more if your case supports them

cozumel · Jan 1, 2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanUK

Thanks cozumel, that gave me a good indication of where to go.. My current PSU is a very cheap looking Colors-It that came with the case & to be honest, I am very surprised it even managed to power my x1950 to begin with. & Yes Dyre, i do plan to stay with xp for a year or so & i also have been very happy with my card.
The only other peripherals i use is.. MX518 mouse, 2 Maxtor SATA 250 GB Hard Drives & 1 200GB Seagate IDE Drive & 1 IDE x16 DVD Burner.
Does that mainboard you listed. "Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L" have onboard sound?, & would it support my 2 SATA Drives?
Thanks in advance guys.

Definitely I would get a new PSU as I wouldn't trust the Colors-It (never heard of 'em). A cheap PSU could take all your new components down. Edit: I should add that the PSU I picked has a lot more power than you would actually need (off the top of my head, as a guess-timate you would only need around 350-400W but this allows plenty of headroom for future [power-hungry] upgrades.

Your IDE DVD burner may slow down Seagate IDE as they would have to go on the same channel as master and slave although I don't know how much you would notice. You could pick up a new SATA OEM Dual Layer DVD burner for about another £15 if you wanted...

The DS3L has 8 channel HD on-board sound and would support upto four SATA 3.0 devices. I also forgot to say earlier that it will accept C2D, Quad, Quad core extreme and the penryns should you want to upgrade at any point.

**kris23** · Jan 1, 2008, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smurfdude

I have the Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R and it's fantastic. it does have onboard sound (7.1), plus an IDE connector so you can put in your old hard drive, and it supports up to 8 SATA drives. Rev 2 (the newer ones) also have 8 USB slots at the back, plus room for 4 more if your case supports them

you're welcome

SeanUK · Jan 3, 2008, 02:31 PM

Thanks for all the reply's guys. I was quite surprised to read that u guys reccomended an intel CPU, as i have been an AMD user for like the past 9 years.
I am just about to order all the things that cozumel listed for me. The only thing i ask before i do is... Will that Motherboard definately be compatible with my x1950. When i bought my Asrock board, I was promised it was PCIE x16 compatible.. but the CPU-INFO Application reports it as PCIE x8.
Thnx guys

**temeteus82** · Jan 3, 2008, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanUK

The only thing i ask before i do is... Will that Motherboard definately be compatible with my x1950. When i bought my Asrock board, I was promised it was PCIE x16 compatible.. but the CPU-INFO Application reports it as PCIE x8.
Thnx guys

Yes it is. I have mobo based on same chipset and my X1950 Pro works just fine. in x16 mode. The Asrock boards are notorious for that they might not utilize all lanes in PCI-E ...

Dec 31, 2007, 06:24 PM	#1
SeanUK DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Posts: 32 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Upgrade Advice Hi Guys. I currently have a crappy 550w PSU, 2GB Generic RAM & an AMD Sempron 3000 CPU & I have around £250 to play with to upgrade my pc. i want to upgrade my crappy PSU, my RAM, Mainboard & my CPU, but I want to keep the Sapphire x1950 card though. Is that possible with that budget? & do u guys have any reccomendations? Thanks & a happy 2008 to you all. __________________

Jan 1, 2008, 04:30 AM	#3
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 124 System Specs	From the specs at ASRock, it appears his graphics card must be PCI-E, so that looks good. What's your budget SeanUK? External peripheral needs/desires, including audio and video devices? __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

Jan 1, 2008, 12:14 PM	#4
cozumel I'm dangerous but cute... Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Under the waves... Posts: 3,577 Rep Power: 60 System Specs	Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (£58.86) - 1 x PCIEx16, 3xPCI, 1xIDE channel, NO RAID, NO FIREWIRE. 1 x serial, 1x parallel ports and 4xUSB 2.0/1.1 on backplate. Like swimtech said, you haven't stated what other devices/components you have and will connect so let us know if this has enough connectivity CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180 (£55.21) - Probably about the best value you can get right now RAM: 2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 (4-4-3-5) HK Series Dual Channel kit (£46.53) PSU: 630W HiperPower HPU-4M630 (£55.21) - Good value and reasonable performance. Has an 8-pin PCIE connector for any future GFX upgrade. Checkout the DriverHeaven review. All of the above for approx £235 including taxes and shipping. Edit: btw, what is your current PSU brand/model? __________________ Don't worry about money - Be a beach bum! Scuba Rocks Last edited by cozumel; Jan 1, 2008 at 12:25 PM.

Jan 1, 2008, 06:02 PM	#7
smurfdude DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 79 Rep Power: 0	I have the Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R and it's fantastic. it does have onboard sound (7.1), plus an IDE connector so you can put in your old hard drive, and it supports up to 8 SATA drives. Rev 2 (the newer ones) also have 8 USB slots at the back, plus room for 4 more if your case supports them Last edited by smurfdude; Jan 1, 2008 at 06:42 PM.

Jan 3, 2008, 02:31 PM	Thread Starter #10
SeanUK DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Posts: 32 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Thanks for all the reply's guys. I was quite surprised to read that u guys reccomended an intel CPU, as i have been an AMD user for like the past 9 years. I am just about to order all the things that cozumel listed for me. The only thing i ask before i do is... Will that Motherboard definately be compatible with my x1950. When i bought my Asrock board, I was promised it was PCIE x16 compatible.. but the CPU-INFO Application reports it as PCIE x8. Thnx guys __________________