PC upgrade advice?

[cotterik]

Hey guys, ive been advised to pop in to ask for help on what hardware i should choose for my upcoming pc upgrade. So far I've come up with this list:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0GHz Socket AM2 1MB, BOXED w/fan

Graphics: Sapphire Radeon X1800XT 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express,ViVo,Dual-DVI-I,Lite-Retail

Mobo: EPoX EP-MF4-Ultra, nForce4 Ultra, DDR2, Socket-AM2, GbLAN, PCI-Ex16

Memory: Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 1024MB CL5 Kit w/two matched CM2X512A-6400 Dimm's

For those of you who are experienced. Is it worth paying an extra £100 for the X2 dual core processor? and investing in the DDR2 Memory with the AM2 socket? Any other comments? I also realy need help in choosing the right PSU too :o

Thanks for the help

[bootup05]

The CPU you have chosen there is AM2 and Dual core, I assume the £100 more one would Be a 4200 or 4400?

As for PSU, Good makes are, Liberty Enermax, Tagan, Nexux, Akasa, Hyper, Seasonic. Just make sure you get something that isn't cheap and has more than 18A on the 12V rails(s) and prefferable more than 500W.

[intenso]

Hi there

there was an article which included benchmarks of the AM2 socket in the latest 'Custom Pc' magazine, which basically argued that in the current state of the market, it is both cost effective and performance-biased towards the OLD socket, 939 with DDR is faster AND cheaper, because AMD64s benefit from low latency RAM timings more than the greater bandwidth.

That said, it is probably more future proof to go for the AM2, but personally I wouldnt be willing to pay for the premium.

Go for any PSU rated above 400W from kustompcs, but don't skimp out on this component as it is very important.

Nick

[Lomax]

What's your total budget and do you have a preference for AMD or Intel, Nvidia or ATI?

[cotterik]

my budget..around £500

The price for the above products comes to 530 on komplett.co.uk

I'm looking for AMD and Ati products so it took some research to arrive at these choices. I went for AM2 to future-proof my pc, and the ddr2 6400 seems to be a great choice of memory although some people are saying the 64 benefits from lower latency or something? does that mean i'm better going for the 3200?

Also, I've chosen the 3800+ X2 over the base 3800+ because ive been told that the dual core processor is a good investment. Although..I'm still in the haze about it all.

[re-enter]

Hey all look's fine, DDR instead of DDR2 currently have lower latency's, so there isn't much you can do about it except if you really want the timing's you can overclock them and tighten the timing's.

But as this forum is for a shop you sohuld remove the competitior advert!

[cotterik]

I only used it to find out what the price range is :o

[jacobzcoool]

It is still not allowed...

does that mean i'm better going for the 3200?
3800s are available for S939, you don't need to get a 3200 if you go 939 (especially as 939 is slightly cheaper)

[cotterik]

Yeah but the whole point of me getting the AM2 chipset and the dual core processor is to future-proof my pc. Is it true that im best looking at 500w psu's?

[jacobzcoool]

Yep. But not a cheapo rubbishy £19.99 PSU, as it WILL fail and take your hardware with it
also, cheap PSUs output nowhere near their maximum rating, most '600W' cheap PSUs output <300W, so if you ahev a decent graphics card then it will not be getting enough power and will not work properly

[DarkEntity]

Yeah but the whole point of me getting the AM2 chipset and the dual core processor is to future-proof my pc. Is it true that im best looking at 500w psu's?

I think the point is, like any PC it will only work as well as the weakest part, so if you skimp on the PSU (probably one of the most important components) you could well end up damaging if not destroying other components in your machine. The quality of the power is very important for all modern PC's especially when running the new kit which doesnt like fluctuations in power.

[cotterik]

Hey. i did some hard research, and came up with the ' XION Powersupply ATX 500W Retail SLI, LxWxH mm(163x150x85) Blue LED, 20+4 pin ' PSU. What do you guys think? costs around £60

[bootup05]

That thing Looks alright(ish) but Again, Iv'e never heard of the make, and Cannot find any Amp descriptions in the Specifications, You're probably best off going with a bit of a better make, listed up further in this thread, just to be on the safe side, cos you are playing with quite an expensive bit of kit, which you don't really want to take any chances with high quality gear ;)

[cotterik]

well the TAGAN PSU i was looking at was the ' Tagan 2force 480W, Dual Fan, 4xSATA, ATX/EPS, SLI, 20/24pin ATX12V 2.01/ EPS12V ' would you advise that instead? its the same price

[Archaon]

Tagan makes great PSUs.

[cotterik]

so do you reckon I'm best going with that targon psu that i mentioned or the one earlier?

[jacobzcoool]

Go for the Tagan, not the unknown make one

[Fireblade]

Any PSU from the likes of PC Power & Cooling (which all cost a small fortune!), Tagan, Seasonic, Enermax, Antec, Hiper... are all suitable for use in high-end systems ;)

Whatever make/model you decide to go for... I'd recommend it be a modular PSU. They make system builds a lot easier/quicker... and they help keep the case interior more clutter-free... which of course has the added benefit of helping improve air circulation through the case... and inevitably helps keep overall temperatures down a bit too :cool:

[cotterik]

ahh right. ok! that means ive got the whole thing sorted :) thanks so much for your help. Hope i wasnt being a pest. Realy friendly guys here I'll be sure to pop back for a chat.

Thanks again

Rik

[cotterik]

I was told that Dual-cores are good, but unless you're getting the better X2 models like the X2 4200+, it's just stuck right there with the performance of single core CPUs. 3700+ has a much better cost/performance ratio than X2 3800+, plus the San Diego core of the 3700+ makes overclocking a whole lot easier. and that 'Just because AM2's newer doesn't mean it's more future-proof than S939, S939 has too much unused potential.'

but without AM2 i cant have ddr2 ram.

the 3700+ is £145 cheaper than the X2 4200+ so im wondering if its worth the extra money or not