upgrade time.

[Locky]

Hey guys. I'm finally upgrading, it's been about 4-5 years...

This is what i have, for old times sake. I will hack out your eyes with the RAM if you laugh, jk No, really..

CPU: AMD Athlon Thourghbred core 2100+ @ 1.7 gigs, i once overclocked it to a 2700+'s defeault clock speed. Those thourghbred cores were the best for OC. But it hated me for that, and can only run at a 1700+ clock speed now, i'm such a bastard.

RAM: 512 MB, DDR 333.

Mobo: Some random thing, my old one fried when i had sustained a OC CPU running.

VC: AGP, GT 6600, used to have a TI 4200, man that thing kicks arse.

PSU: generic 300 watt.

HDD: 80 gig seegate barracuda, 7200RPM.

Disk drives: DVD-RW

now for what i'm planning to get...all prices in Australian, and include shipping. I envy US, because components are **** cheap.

CPU: AMD Athlon64 X2 4000+ 2.1Ghz Dual-Core Processor, Socket AM2, i may get a slightly faster one, if money permits. I don't like Intel, yes i know thier newests CPU's run faster. They also cost a **** load more, for not really major difference. Besdies it's cheap: $136

RAM: GeIL 2GB DDR2 PC6400 Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB, 800Mhz) with Heat Spreaders. Alot of awesome, 2 gig of 800MHZ ram running in dual channel, and cheap as hell. The cheapest component, and the best. A few months ago this stuff cost 300, but thanks to the 1000mhz stuff it's cost dropped. $217.

MOBO: MSI K9N-NEO-F (AMD A64) nForce 550 AMD-AM2 DDR-II Motherboard with PCI-Ex16, Serial ATA-II, RAID & GBit LAN. I'll probably have to run through mobos more, find some reveiws. $130

VC: Inno3D nVidia GeForce 8600 GT 256MB PCI-Express Video Card with Dual DVI & TV Out, may or may not change it. $173 it's core speed of 540mhz, isn't as good as the GTS version of 675MHZ, but it costs 100 more. But overclocking i guess. besides, i have alot of older games to catch up on. I don't care if i don't have the fastest video card in existence.

PSU: Antec Basiq BP500 500W ATX Power Supply: $110

I'll get a another HDD latter, and everything else is fine.

So that's $766. Pretty nice, me thinks.

Did i miss anything?

PS, i looked at Dual core duo CPU's, and no, just no. I'm not paying an extra 70 dollars for a massive 16 point rise on 3dmark06, CPU benchmark.

[OTZ]

PS, i looked at Dual core duo CPU's, and no, just no. I'm not paying an extra 70 dollars for a massive 16 point rise on 3dmark06, CPU benchmark.

Your decision to discount the C2D is baffling. If you're buying a new PC, you really should be thinking about Intel.

PC 6400 RAM may also be wasted with your CPU choice...but that's just my opinion.

The 8600 series of cards have also been ridiculed for their lack of performance and relative high cost.

I wish I knew more about the availability/cost for PC parts down under - I could make a more informed evaluation of your selections....perhaps you could provide some links to popular online dealers in Australia?

[Locky]

Your decision to discount the C2D is baffling. If you're buying a new PC, you really should be thinking about Intel.

PC 6400 RAM may also be wasted with your CPU choice...but that's just my opinion.

The 8600 series of cards have also been ridiculed for their lack of performance and relative high cost.

I wish I knew more about the availability/cost for PC parts down under - I could make a more informed evaluation of your selections....perhaps you could provide some links to popular online dealers in Australia?

That's were i buy from. http://www.pcmarket.com.au/ It's one of the best places to buy PC stuff in Aus. Unless you can get it whole sale, or at computer fairs. Also the cheapest. We have higher prices then US.

Concerning core 2 duo. I ran through a few sites that ran bench marks. The only worth while performence increase came at the more top of the line CPUs, peopel tend to overlook the fact, the Core 2 duos costs twice as much as the AMD equivelent, for a 25% performence increase.

The duo CPU at my level, offered nothing over AMD, except a price haul. I want the X2 4000+, look at the Intel equivelent. The best AMD CPU(5000+) in those particuler bench marks, costs $215 Aus, the E4300 costs $207 dollars...whilst the E6600 costs a nice 347 dollars... for maybe a 5-15% performence increase over the 5000+...



http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...o-e6420_6.html

In all the tests, it remains pretty constant. There for price to performence ratio wins. And i don't care about OC.

The 8600 GT's i saw, seemed pretty cheap...Their not as good as the GTS, but price wise, it seems fine. And from a few sites, apart from core clock speed, and a soem piplines they are pretty much the same card. Although i may look into something else.

[Aristocrat]

Hmmm...what OTZ said.

Also, if you could take your budget upto $1000:

CPU: CPU/Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 2.13GHz 4MB LGA775 Box $229

MoBo: MotherBoard Intel S775 Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 V3.3 $136

Ram: Desktop DDR2 Ram 2GB Kit (2x 1024MB) PC8000 1000MHz GeiL 5-5-5-15 $253

VPU: Video Card PCI-e (nV) 8800GTS 320MB Sparkle (500/800MHz/1600Mhz) $363

PSU: Power Supply Coolermaster eXtreme Power 650W (RP-650-PCAR) $110

Also with this setup, you could get a cheaper CPU and overclock it easier, given that the DS3 is a reputable overclocking board, the ram gives you more room to work with, and the core 2 duos overclock really well.

At the very least don't waste the money on a 8600GT. Anything below a 8800GTS in the 8800 series is utter crap to be honest.

http://www.itestate.com.au is a good starting place for the lowest prices in Australia, and the service is good too.

[OTZ]

Hmmm...what OTZ said.

Also, if you could take your budget upto $1000:

CPU: CPU/Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 2.13GHz 4MB LGA775 Box $229

MoBo: MotherBoard Intel S775 Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 V3.3 $136

Ram: Desktop DDR2 Ram 2GB Kit (2x 1024MB) PC8000 1000MHz GeiL 5-5-5-15 $253

VPU: Video Card PCI-e (nV) 8800GTS 320MB Sparkle (500/800MHz/1600Mhz) $363

PSU: Power Supply Coolermaster eXtreme Power 650W (RP-650-PCAR) $110

Also with this setup, you could get a cheaper CPU and overclock it easier, given that the DS3 is a reputable overclocking board, the ram gives you more room to work with, and the core 2 duos overclock really well.

At the very least don't waste the money on a 8600GT. Anything below a 8800GTS in the 8800 series is utter crap to be honest.

http://www.itestate.com.au is a good starting place for the lowest prices in Australia, and the service is good too.

I'd go cheaper on the RAM as well...you can get a 2GB kit of PC6400 (either Buffalo firestix, or some decent OCZ) for around $100 Canadian, and it'll OC up to 1066 without difficulty. I've got some OCZ System Elite (not the greates for OC'ing) but it'll hit 900mhz easily, giving me an FSB of 450, which isn't too shabby.

[Locky]

Hmmm...what OTZ said.

Also, if you could take your budget upto $1000:

CPU: CPU/Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 2.13GHz 4MB LGA775 Box $229

MoBo: MotherBoard Intel S775 Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 V3.3 $136

Ram: Desktop DDR2 Ram 2GB Kit (2x 1024MB) PC8000 1000MHz GeiL 5-5-5-15 $253

VPU: Video Card PCI-e (nV) 8800GTS 320MB Sparkle (500/800MHz/1600Mhz) $363

PSU: Power Supply Coolermaster eXtreme Power 650W (RP-650-PCAR) $110

Also with this setup, you could get a cheaper CPU and overclock it easier, given that the DS3 is a reputable overclocking board, the ram gives you more room to work with, and the core 2 duos overclock really well.

At the very least don't waste the money on a 8600GT. Anything below a 8800GTS in the 8800 series is utter crap to be honest.

http://www.itestate.com.au is a good starting place for the lowest prices in Australia, and the service is good too.

Thanks, that looks cheaper.