I've got a bit of cash on me, and I was browsing around ebuyer, and got a kick in the nuts realising how cheap the Dual Core, motherboards and graphics cards are today!

Here is the specifications I have on me at the moment.

Athlon 3500+ 64 Bit (2.2ghz)
PC3200 2GB Ram 1 x GB
AGP X8 6800GT Nvidia 256MB
Socket 939 Motherboard

And here is what caught my attention.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/106578 - Graphics card

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114773 - Motherboard AM2

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/125203 - AM2 Dual Core Processor.

Just under 200 quid for the 3 of them, I got other standard components that are neccessary *sound card, RAM, Fans etc, 500w PSU.*

What do you guys think? Seems a good idea for me to order this week, but I wanted your opinions, because you have more experience than me, in knowledge and understanding.

You'll need new ram, AM2 is DDR2.

I'd spend more on the graphics card as well. But that all depends on the £.

Quote from garph :

You'll need new ram, AM2 is DDR2.

I'd spend more on the graphics card as well. But that all depends on the £.

Any suggestions where I can get the RAM and Graphics card?

*graphics card doesn't bother me, its something to keep me occupied, since I'm just playing LFS at the moment*

To add to the RAM comment - Have you considered Intel? £65 for a CPU gets you a nice E2180...

You've linked to the CPU twice, but not to the mobo, btw...

AMD bundles are cheaper than the Intel ones, seems to be better if you go with a 5600 cpu instead of a 6000 as well.

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/kl.aspx?bn=10300

You could just use the bundles as a guide and price up other bits. Lower spec CPU and stuff like that.

Quote from Jakg :

You've linked to the CPU twice, but not to the mobo, btw...

Nope, click again.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/ ... duct.php?prodid=MY-072-OC is the memory i'd get, i'd also want to spend a little more on the mobo if at all possible - but then i'd consider going for the E2180, as it will be faster...

Quote from garph :

AMD bundles are cheaper than the Intel ones, seems to be better if you go with a 5600 cpu instead of a 6000 as well.

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/kl.aspx?bn=10300

You could just use the bundles as a guide and price up other bits. Lower spec CPU and stuff like that.


Nope, click again.

That has certainly caught my eye.

What Graphics card would you recommend? I was going for something standard, because literally I'm putting my budget as 250 quid. (hence the graphics card link on the first post)

If you're just going to be playing LFS that one you looked at will be fine, you can always upgrade later. And with one of those bundles or something close, you'll have a good solid base.

Sounds good.

I'll have a go at LFS tonight, and take it from there. I don't want to jump into the upgrades too soon. As I can remember, LFS has been running solidly on my PC ever since I got it. *90fps on straights, 40fps on race to T1*

But I will be taking this into consideration for the upcoming months .

Are you running any AA though?

personally I would look at the Intel Dual Core. The tests show them to be superior and now the quad core is out, the Dual's are a lot cheaper.

Sad to say really as I love AMD, but well.....

Just to follow on from StableX's post, and to add to the confusion, Intels' "Dual Core" and "Core2Duo" are a different set of processors. The Core2Duo are the better ones, but if you can afford it the Core2 Quad's (Extreme's) are the best CPU's out there atm.

Quote from Mazz4200 :

Just to follow on from StableX's post, and to add to the confusion, Intels' "Dual Core" and "Core2Duo" are a different set of processors. The Core2Duo are the better ones, but if you can afford it the Core2 Quad's are the best CPU's out there atm.

Dual core is only a type of processors, which have 2 cores.
The name is core 2, which then splits into duo and quad.
AMD also has Dual Cores, there even was a dual core based on pentium 4 architecture.

No no, but it does get confusing. Intel make a CPU range called "Pentium Dual Core" processors and the "Core 2 Duo", (as well as the extreme range of these processors).

I very nearly bought a Pentium Dual Core CPU recently thinking it was a Core2Duo

Basically the Dual Core CPU's are the E2140-80's and the Core2Duo's are the E4300-6850's, it's all very very confusing but they are different CPU's http://www.intel.com/products/ ... duo+body_processornumbers

E21x0 are all based on the Core 2 architecture.

Huh, did'nt know that.

But the E4300+ have large L2 Cache and from the E6300 upwards they have higher FSB

Why cant these companies just make it simple to understand ? i.e give them a codename where the higher the number the better the CPU, no questions asked, it would make life so much easier.

Nvidia are really bad for doing this too, drives me nuts when for e.g a 7900** is way better than a 8600**

E4300's "large" 2 MB of Cache versus the E2180's 1 MB of cache means little - a 3 GHz E2160 vs a 3 GHz E6600 showed 5% difference, and the E6600 had 4x the cache!

The E6300 has a higher FSB (1066 versus 800) and the E6x50 chips have even higher (1333 MHz), although tbh FSB is an over-rated number when with a bit of fettling you can run this stably...

(For lazy people, that's a shot of 1720 FSB, and i'm sure if i dropped the multi the thing would hit 2000)

The 8600GTS will actually beat a 7900GS and keep up with a 7900GT, and an overclocked 8600GT will walk all over a 7900GTX.

Quote from Jakg :

with a bit of fettling you can run this stably...

So you're running 4 cores at over 3GHz each. So basically, you've got a 12GHz CPU........

Quote from Jakg :

(For lazy people, that's a shot of 1720 FSB, and i'm sure if i dropped the multi the thing would hit 2000)

And with a bit more tweaking and the wind blowing in the right direction, you can make it even quicker. Basically, you're building a time machine

Quote from Jakg :

The 8600GTS will actually beat a 7900GS and keep up with a 7900GT, and an overclocked 8600GT will walk all over a 7900GTX.

Now i'm even more confused than before....listen if i just give you my bank account details will you go buy me a new GFX card j/k, seriously, that was a joke

I was pointing out the FSB actually, as tbh that overclock isn't impressive considering there are guys getting 3.4 on B3 Q6600's, and 3.6 GHz out of a G0.

Ye just wait 'till Penryn, so far the first one a "1337z0r overclockz0r" has got his hands on ended up at 5.6 GHz and setting brand new SuperPi/3DMark WR's.

Wait, i think that post was a little too geeky.

If your in the market for a GFX card and are looking at the 8600GTS - assess if you need DX10 - if so, the 2900 Pro is a GREAT card, over double the speed, and only £60 more, if you don't you can pick up a 7900GS for under £70 with equal performance in DX9.

Quote from Jakg :

I was pointing out the FSB actually, as tbh that overclock isn't impressive considering there are guys getting 3.4 on B3 Q6600's, and 3.6 GHz out of a G0.

Wow, makes your rig seem a bit limp wristed

Quote from Jakg :

Ye just wait 'till Penryn, so far the first one a "1337z0r overclockz0r" has got his hands on ended up at 5.6 GHz and setting brand new SuperPi/3DMark WR's.

The name means nothing to me, but thats just silly numbers, and does he have any friends ?

Quote from Jakg :

Wait, i think that post was a little too geeky.

Perhaps, but no-one ever comes in here, so your secret's safe

Quote from Jakg :

If your in the market for a GFX card and are looking at the 8600GTS - assess if you need DX10 - if so, the 2900 Pro is a GREAT card, over double the speed, and only £60 more, if you don't you can pick up a 7900GS for under £70 with equal performance in DX9.

Maybe in the future, but not right now, unless i can find a sleeping gem on eBay. I need to get a new PSU sorted first and that'll drain up the last of my budget. The most challenging thing i throw at my PC atm is FSX, but by the time it goes DX10 maybe FS11 (eleven) will be on the horizon, dunno, not heard too much about MS's plans for the series ?

Super Pi - The WR sits at 8 seconds to calculate a million digits of Pi - my old AMD3700 at stock took 37 seconds, and that WR was set using just ONE core.

Penryn = New Intel Quad's running on 45 nm (In Short - Less Heat, and so they can go for bigger clock speeds, ie 3.33 GHz stock for the top one).

In answer to your question Jakg, yes, 8x AA, the highest setting.

It's something I'm happy to put up with for now, I was saying to garph earlier that I'll wait until November, and start doing my orders.

I'm not really looking for perfection on the upgrades, just the parts that will get along with others.

Quote from Jakg :

Super Pi - The WR sits at 8 seconds to calculate a million digits of Pi - my old AMD3700 at stock took 37 seconds, and that WR was set using just ONE core.

Took me 1.28.812

Quote from ajp71 :

Took me 1.28.812

Damn that's slow!