Upgrading my PC - advice?

[nicecupoftea]

Hi folks,

Got a 5 year old PC that's OK for most stuff, but slow at video editing and I want to be able to play GT Legends on it

Currently it's:

1GHz Athlon in a MSI motherboard capable of taking a 1.2MHz Athlon max
768MB
GeForce2 MX400 (32MB)
Then the various other standard bits (network/sound/dvd/usb2/200GB+ storage)

So, looking at an upgrade that's going to make a difference but not interested in going mental speed-wise. I'm thinking new cpu/mobo/gfx card and a gig of memory, can decant all the old stuff into my 2nd PC (currently a PIII 800).

Price wise, I'm hoping to do it all for a hundred quid or so.

I've had a look on ebay and it looks reasonably easy to find a 1.8-2GHz CPU/mobo bundle with a GeForce 6600 or something will this be worthwhile doing? If it's not going to make a huge improvement then I won't bother... How much will it cost me to get nearer 3GHz?

Cheers all!

[thepassenger]

nicecupoftea said:

Price wise, I'm hoping to do it all for a hundred quid or so.

£100? Your either an insane genious capable of haggling the likes of which man was not meant to see... or a wee bit optimistic.

1.8 - 2Ghz with the 6600 graphics card would be I belive more than enough to play GTR/GTL... would also speed up the video editing side of things
Considering you seem to do a lot of video editing it might be worth investigating a dual processor (or considering the budget dual core) system as they'll dramatically improve throughput. Also, make sure what is on offer is not a VIA Eden or VIA C3 processor, they're very good beasties for low power, low noise solutions... but not for grunty stuff.

The only downside of going for a more moddern motherboard/processor is that you'll also need to buy RAM for it, the type will depend on the mobo but will either be DDR or DDR2... again worth factoring this in to your budget.

[nicecupoftea]

Ah, fair enough

Just looking for a bit of a speed boost, don't do huge amounts of video editing - I think main differences will come from more memory and faster video.

Prices don't look to unrealistic going by ebay - there's a P4 3GHz with a Gigabyte mobo and .5 gig of memory currently at 51 quid. Add on a memory card and it shouldn't be too much over budget...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl

Then there;s an Athlon 2400+ & Asrock mobo & 512MB for 41 quid at the mo...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl

[road2ruin]

£51 you say. Hmmmmm, oh of course its ebay the nations friend. I had a look and yes if it goes for £51 it will be a bargain but its already £59 as the postage has to be added, but still £59 is a bargain too. I wouldnt be surprised if by the end of the auction it is nearer £120.00 for the lot and on top of that you always have the problem of making it work when it gets to you. I am sure it will be working when they send it! Need to be aware also if you are upgrading a very old machine with a much newer M/board and processor that the other components you have in the machine are compatible ie hard drive connections, power supply connections & rating. A P4 3ghz and new board plus g/card will be a hungry beast compared to your old 1ghz athlon.

I think your money would be better spent just uprading your G/card and memory. This will give you enough power for the games. Video editing will still be a chore but then unless you want to fork out £1k for a whole new machine then it probably always will be.

[annodomini2]

You don't need £1k, but £200-250 may get you a reasonable machine.

E.g. From Ebuyer:
Athlon64 3200 + Cooler, With Foxconn motherboard (bundle deal)
2x 512mb PC3200 DDR333
Geforce 6600 256mb, PCI-e Graphics card

Total: £246.77 including VAT and delivery.

[NiceCupOfTea]

I've been told I might be able to put a faster processor in my motherboard which might offer a short term solution.

It's an MSI MS-6330

www.baber.com/baber/411/ms_6330.htm

Any idea whether I can overclock my processor or just drop a 1.4GHz Athlon in (the max for the board) and overclock that using Fuzzy Logic or something?

If I can get something running reliably at 1.4-1.5GHz, Get a 6600GT video card and a gig of memory I figure that might do me until I can afford to spend more on a new motherboard

[NiceCupOfTea]

Hm, found a 1.4GHz Athlon on fleabay so I think that might be my first port of call. Anybody think I might be able to overclock it to anything useful?

[NiceCupOfTea]

Bit confused now.

Found my exact motherboard (MSI MS-6330 KT7 Turbo Limited Edition) on the MSI site, and there's a page saying what processors will work:

www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_cpu_support_detail.php?UID=25&kind=1

So a normal Thunderbird Athlon 1.4GHz will work fine, but it's also saying a Palomino XP1800 will work as well.

Anybody any idea if this is so? My BIOS is v3.5 and I think the most recent version is 3.6 - will flashing the BIOS mean I upset my install of Windows or anything?

ETA: Done a bit of research and it seems the 3.5 to 3.6 update was all about support for the XP 2400+ and XP 2600+ in the Turbo2 board, NOT the Turbo LE board (like mine is).

So hopefully an XP1800 (Palomino NOT Thoroughbred) will work in mine and be a little faster than a Thunderbird 1400 MHz Athlon.

Does this make sense to anybody because it's all stuff I have gleaned from the web in the last hour - if I am talking bobbins please let me know and save me splashing money out on a useless CPU!

Edited by NiceCupOfTea on Tuesday 22 August 16:07

[annodomini2]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Bit confused now.

Found my exact motherboard (MSI MS-6330 KT7 Turbo Limited Edition) on the MSI site, and there's a page saying what processors will work:

www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_cpu_support_detail.php?UID=25&kind=1

So a normal Thunderbird Athlon 1.4GHz will work fine, but it's also saying a Palomino XP1800 will work as well.

Anybody any idea if this is so? My BIOS is v3.5 and I think the most recent version is 3.6 - will flashing the BIOS mean I upset my install of Windows or anything?

Upgrading the BIOS shouldn't upset windows, however follow their instructions carefully as you may screw up the motherboard if you get the upgrade wrong.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Thanks - don't think I'll have to update the BIOS looking at MSI's website.