What would do you recomend

[Elrond]

atm I have the following:

AMD semperon 3100
asus k8n (agp)
OCZ PC3200 1gb of RAM
2 X 75GB Maxtor hard drives
ATI radeon x700 128mb graphics card (agp)

I want to be able to run windows Vista along with virtually all games out now and going those going to be released for the next year.

I have been told by a IT technician I know that I could get away with only replacing the processor, motherboard and grahics card,

my budget is £500 (including windows vista - I am planing to upgrade my computer next month)

I have looked at www.overclockers.co.uk and have noticed that intel core duo processors are more expensive than AMD 64 x2 but the core duo processors have 2mb Cache compared with 512k what difference will this make?

I would like a few suggestions for what I should get when I upgrade my computer.

thanks

Narses

[SPARTAN VI]

You'll need a DirectX 10 compliant video card in order to run Vista. Right now, your only two options are the 8800GTS and GTX. ATi's R600 is due later this quarter (crossing fingers).

Not sure if I can work with 500 pounds, being American and all. I can convert (today's rate is 1.8999), but even then I'd only be showing you components for American prices and in USD currency... i.e. no help to you.

[Maical]

You'll need a DirectX 10 compliant video card in order to run Vista.

vista will work with directx 9.0c as well
the compatibility issue is the other way around
directx 10.0 works only with vista

ur cheapest solution would be gettin an AM2 socket based cpu
amd x2 3600+ windsor
ati 1950pro video card
and a compatible mainboard, ussually the am2 socket ones have a good value for money

the "high-end" solution would be gettin a core 2 duo e6300

[Elrond]

So how big is the performance difference between a core duo and a x2?

[Maical]

core 2 duo first of all
well, like i said, an amd x2 3600+ (2000mhz) , overclocked at 2,6ghz will run as a stock core 2 duo e6300 (1,86ghz)
on the other hand, the core 2 duo e6300 is able to hit 3-3,2 ghz with the stock cooler on the right motherbord
at 3,2 ghz the core 2 duo e6300 runs like a core 2 duo x6800

[SPARTAN VI]

vista will work with directx 9.0c as well
the compatibility issue is the other way around
directx 10.0 works only with vista

ur cheapest solution would be gettin an AM2 socket based cpu
amd x2 3600+ windsor
ati 1950pro video card
and a compatible mainboard, ussually the am2 socket ones have a good value for money

the "high-end" solution would be gettin a core 2 duo e6300

D'oh.

And I should have known this having read about DirectX 9.0L. Duh...

[Freddie]

atm I have the following:

AMD semperon 3100
asus k8n (agp)
OCZ PC3200 1gb of RAM
2 X 75GB Maxtor hard drives
ATI radeon x700 128mb graphics card (agp)

I want to be able to run windows Vista along with virtually all games out now and going those going to be released for the next year.

I have been told by a IT technician I know that I could get away with only replacing the processor, motherboard and grahics card,

my budget is £500 (including windows vista - I am planing to upgrade my computer next month)

I have looked at www.overclockers.co.uk and have noticed that intel core duo processors are more expensive than AMD 64 x2 but the core duo processors have 2mb Cache compared with 512k what difference will this make?

I would like a few suggestions for what I should get when I upgrade my computer.

thanks

Narses

Given that Windows Vista is going to set you back best part of a ton that on leaves £400. A Core 2 Duo E6300 is another £120, £90 for a budget LGA775 motherboard, which only leaves £290 for a graphics card, optical drives, case, Ram, PSU and hard disks.

For what you want you need at least £600 for a decent setup and that will have to use your free copy of Windows XP until you have enough cash to buy a Vista license separately.

Internet forum thread create do not maketh bargin miracles happen.

[Maical]

i think he;s planning on re-using his current ram/optical drives,etc

I could get away with only replacing the processor, motherboard and grahics card,

[Freddie]

i think he;s planning on re-using his current ram/optical drives,etc

My friend is in a similar position with his system, the best CPU he can get is the Athlon 3200 XP, which was a fantastic CPU in its day but now frankly just isn’t up to it anymore.

This guy is like my mate and he needs a whole new computer, he could potentials save his optical drives, floppy drive, the case and maybe his PSU (judging by the age of the computer this isn’t a good idea) and that’s about it.

[Maical]

hdd's, ram too if its still competitive (after all, that bloody product generally has lifetime warranty, it should be re-used and clocked around the clock)

[SweetDreamz]

Where do you purchase your computer parts in the UK/Europe? If you have a website or something, that'll help since I don't know the prices that well over there as oppose to Canada/USA.

Based on that website you provided, here's one:

Intel Core2Duo E6300...............................................106
Abit AW9D..............................................................108
Corsair 1GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x512MB).......... 80
BFG 7900GS............................................................104
Corsair HX520...........................................................60

About 458 pounds final minus shipping costs.

If you like ATI, go ATI. They'll both run games fine. With the budget you have and based on the prices at the website provided, you can't afford a dx10 card anyways...that'll eat up over half of your budget already. With Intel, it's leaps and bounds faster than AMD right now.

If you want to to reuse your ram, you're only viable option is going with AMD's S939...not much of an upgrade path for the future.

[Maical]

If you want to to reuse your ram, you're only viable option is going with AMD's S939...not much of an upgrade path for the future.

or still socket 775 but with pentium 4...
i just noticed that all socket 775 MB's wich ddr ram dont support core 2 duo

[Lee1026]

Wait until you actually have things that you want to run but can't to upgrade. It is cheaper that way.

[SweetDreamz]

Going with S775 P4 wouldn't be viable.

However, there is one C2D board that supports DDR ram...it's pretty bad though.