Upgrading, any advice gratefully recieved

BrownBob

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Sep 16, 2008
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18,510
Hi everyone
I recieved an unexpected bonus recently so have decided to upgrade my pc as its starting to show its age.
My current pc :

mb - asus a8n32sli deluxe,
CPU - fx55 san diego
Ram - 2gb ddr1 corsair platinum,
coolermaster watercooling (cpu only)
XFX alpha dog 512 8800gt

i have a budget of around £350 and because i am using it for work purposes also i can claim the vat back so i am working on the non vat prices.

I thought i would concentrate on the mb, cpu and ram for now and maybe sli my gpu or upgrade it later when i have some more cash
I use the pc for gaming (tho rarley the latest) and cad + all the usual, but i would also like to future proof as much as poss.

I have come across these:-

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+i7/Intel+Core+i7+920+D0+Stepping+%28SLBEJ%29+2.66Ghz+%28Nehalem%29+%28Socket+LGA1366%29+Processor+-+Retail+?productId=35938

http://www.micomonline.co.uk/products.asp?partno=90-MIBD80-G0EAY00Z&go

but they do not leave much budget for ram, although i maybe able to squeeze a bit more, but i will also have to get a cpu waterblock which may not help things.

If anyone knows of better for less or thinks i am looking at completley the wrong stuff please advise - also what ram would you recommend?

Thanks in advance
 

nayfrench

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Mar 15, 2010
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18,510
Those are great choices, but the main thing on here is stating your budget. You will get great help if you can state what your budget is.
 

BrownBob

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Sep 16, 2008
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Hi - thanks for the quick reply, i basically have £350 but maybe able to squeeze some extra if nesassary - i'm not too bothered about a waterblock as i could get one on ebay so should be able to get a bargain with some luck. I will hopefully be able to recoupe some cash from selling my old gear but will need a fully working system first.
 

nayfrench

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Mar 15, 2010
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Im not even sure how much that is in US dollars, lol. For the same amount you will spend on the cpu, you can downgrade to an i5 and get 2gb of ddr3 for the same price. And be "future ready" and capable of upgrading to latest chip at any time. Check out this page and this site, I use them quite a bit for computer parts. Well, Im editing this because my link didnt work let me try it again. www.tigerdirect.com look at i5 750 for $199.99 and Kingston HyperX DDR3 ram for $79.99
 

BrownBob

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Sep 16, 2008
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Thanks i will check them out, If i bought the original items i would have around £70 left for ram which is around a $100.
I was planning to go for the i5 but when i saw the i7 for not alot more i was tempted to upgrade., however if an i7 is out of my reach i will consider the drop to an i5 - its all about the ram i guess
 

nayfrench

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Mar 15, 2010
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i didnt check out your mobo, but the more ram the better. You are looking at a board with 24gb max and leaving yourself enough money for 2gb max. Either save for more ram and get the i7 now or get the i5 with plans of getting i7 later and more ram. If you got the i5 it is a different socket so you would need another mobo and everything, if you plan to build this computer without needs for upgrading too soon, then get the cpu and board you are looking at and either find a great deal or save a few more bucks.
 

Apotheosis1

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May 5, 2010
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Simple way to find out the exchange rate for pounds sterling is to use x-rates.com ( http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html ). Just thought I'd point that out for any USers looking to pass on advice.

As to the OP, I think the i5s are future-proofed enough, and your items don't leave much room for RAM. DDR3 is pretty pricey, and I don't think £40 is going to get you very far. ;)
I would recommend looking at an i5 so you have some room for the DDR3. Unless you're really attached to the motherboard, since you'd need to downgrade that too for an i5.
It might be helpful to know what type of things you do with your computer. As you have a single core, DDR1 machine, I can't imagine that anything will be as comparably slow. :)


Here's what I might recommend to get everything into 350 pounds:
http://www.micomonline.co.uk/products.asp?partno=GA-H55M-S2H
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/l+?productId=39238
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR3/+?productId=37540

That comes to 326.87, so it leaves you a tiny bit to search eBay for a water cooler. You probably won't need to water cooler immediately, at least until you've grown into the i5, so that's hopefully not as big a deal.

maybe this for RAM:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR3/+?productId=34514

Since RAM is very easy to upgrade later on, it's my favorite item to skimp on if I need something else, and to be fair, 2GBs of DDR3 RAM is generally more than fine for average computing.

My favorite brands for RAM are OCZ and GSkill, they've both been very reliable and cheap for me in the past. But I'm from the US, so no guarantees on availabilty/comparability for the UK. :p
 

BrownBob

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Sep 16, 2008
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many thanks - looks like i have some thinking to do, i have found some reasonable quality 12800 4gb ram kits close to my price range and i was thinking that if i really felt the need i could double them at a later date (although they would not be matched) I will take a closer look at the ram tonight when i get home and will post any that i find, to see what you think. I will also take a closer look at the i5's i was originally tempted by the asus boards with xfi on board, maybe i could afford one for the i5? i will do some searching.
How much better is the i7 to the i5? I heard it had amazing oc capabilities.
thanks again for the advice