Hello all

since my resent pc problems i have decided with my next pay cheque to upgrade my pc mainly better psu more ram and new better graphics card.

Im pretty sure ill get a corsair TX650W power suply and ill upgrade from 1 gb of ram to either 1.5 or 2gb of ram

But im just wondering what is a good card to get now all i know is i have a agp slot aka the brown one. I really dont know where to start with these im looking at spending around 80 to 100 pound ive currently got a Nvidia Geforce 6200 turbo cache 256mb.

To keep me busy between now and payday ive spent a little and ive used a holesaw to cut two holes for a pair of 80 mm fans ive never done anything like this before what do you think....




Ive also ordered a fan controller so i can moniter the tempreture of equipment and ajust the speed of the fans.

I owe alot to LFS its awsome if i hadnt started playing it my life would be boring and i wouldnt get to do stuff like this to my pc.

A

Why are you buying a very good 650w PSU when (by the sounds of things) your PC is fairly slow?

well a good friend of mine said the first thing to upgrade is your PSU as then you have the power to run more powerful graphics cards etc. and my pc aint slow. Now im running lfs i have firefox open im on msn and im listening to music on youtube and i still have a frame rate of 80 ish.

A

What are your PC's specs then?

Unless your looking at upgrading to a PCI-e system a 650w PSU is mega-uber-overkill.

I reccomend something like an 8800gt. http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608791

Quote from Luke.S :

I reccomend something like an 8800gt. http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608791

Good luck getting that in an AGP slot...

Well i want a good relaiable PSU i hae read good thigns about corsair so i wa slooking though and i can get a 650watt for a few quid more than a 450 or 500 so surly a moer powerfull psu will run cooler as it will run the system in its sleep.

A

Quote from Jakg :

Good luck getting that in an AGP slot...

Ive got a hammer

A

Quote from Ashley Williams :

Ive got a hammer

A

I've seen a "conversion" done with a hacksaw before...

Needless to say it didn't work and his PCI-e 7800GTX (back when they were £400) was totally ruined...

haha what a plank.

A

Any advice on a good card?

A

If you can find out what socket your processor is, It might do you some good to buy a new motherboard with PCI-e support. AGP cards are "Going out of style" and are (atleast here in the US) becoming unrealistically pricey.

Besides getting a decent motherboard will ensure a good platform for future upgrades as well. Good luck in your computer making.

Bryan

If im going to buy a new mother board i might as well buy a case and build a whole new pc can anyone recomend me a good motherboard?

A

Surprised no one's asked this yet, but, who the f**k is Ben ?

Anyway, i'd suggest what everyone else has said, upgrade your motherboard first. Something that can take PCIe and at least a dual core CPU

This would be a good start http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Asrock-M ... p;_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318
It takes PCIe and AGP cards (at the same time, although there is a problem with heat esp on the AGP card), single, dual and even quad core CPU, DDR and DDR2 memory (but not at the same time) and IDE and SATA.

It's not the greatest motherboard in the world, but if you want to upgrade bit by bit it's not bad. Quite cheap too, £40ish brand new.

But if you insist on only getting an AGP card then this is the best place to start looking http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/_ ... rdsQ5fTWQQ_flnZ1QQ_ssovZ1
But it's eBay, so who knows what you're really gonna get ?

Hello again

Ive been lookign though and talking with my friend mal (thanks mal your the best) and he has exsplained alot to me about processors and motherboard compatability. Im curretly looking at a Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 Socket 775 (2.66ghz) FSB1333 6mb cache from ebuyer for 106 pound

Now im just looking though the mother boards. I knwo the basics aboutpower supplys and hard drives etc but ill elt you know how i get on.

A

Your PC says "HP" on the side, which means that anything you buy will need a new PSU. As your PC is AGP, any decent graphics card you can buy will be rediculously expensive, so it's a good idea to move to PCI-e, which means you'll probably also need a new CPU and RAM.

Basically, your looking at a whole new PC.

Hi Jakg

Been looking with mal late into the early hours and i am going to make a new pc over the next few months I would just gocrazy and buy it all this month but i have started putting some of my wadges away saving for a a car.

So currently im looking at the following to go into a new case

Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140949

Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139967

Hard drive
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141471

PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135514

Case - this is ok im not 100% fussy but the really nice ones are going into the hundreds.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayI ... e=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=006


Then im back to graphics card I havent looked at those yet but and suggestions welcome.

Then for ram im either looking at 4 or 8 gb

A

8 GB is overkill.

What RAM will you be getting?

I'd get this mobo - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140061 - if your on a budget as it's better and cheaper.

Depending on how long you were going to be keeping the PC I might try to get a Q6600 over the E8200 - but it depends on what you'll be using the PC for etc.

This Case + PSU bundle is pretty decent, too.

I would stay away from Maxtor drives - look for a Seagate 7200.10/7200.11 drive or a WD AAKS drive.

Also - what graphics card will you be using?

Im not sure about graphics card but im looking at a good one looking at spending around 120 to 160 pound.this is meant to be a gaming pc so i want the best i can but on a reasonable price again i dont see the point in buying cheap stuff if im doing it i want to buy quality and do it properly.

A

Have you got a link to the q6600

A

How about something like this for a graphics card

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135102

A

Quote from Ashley Williams :

How about something like this for a graphics card

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135102

A

That's good but you can get a 512 MB 8800GT for less than £100...

The Q6600 - search any decent PC retailers for "Intel Q6600" and it'll pop up - retail should be around £120.

Hi Jakg

Ive made a list of everyhting

Processor
Intel core 2 quad core q6600 2.4 Ghz 1066 MHz 8MB Socket LGA775 OEM CPU £124.42

Motherboard
GigaByte GA - IP35 - Socket 775 ^ channel audio ATX Motherboard
£51.08

Graphics Card
BFC OC Nvidia Ge Force 8800GT 512mb
£109.00

CD drive
LG GSA - HSS 20xDVD RW/DL/RAM IDE Black Bare Drive - OEM £14.99

Operating system
Microsoft Windows XP Home edition - SP3 Licence and media - IPC - OEM - CD
£53.68

RAM

Kingston 2GB Value RAM DDR2 PC5300 667 Mhz - Dual Channel Kit
£29.00 x2

PSU
Corsair TX650W SLI x Crossfire Ready PowerSupply
£58.00

Hard drive
Sea Gate ST 3250620A 250GB Hard Drive 7200RPM 16mb Cache- OEM £38.67

Total:£533 pound including case.

What do you reacon pleasnty powerful enough to run lfs

A

That's more than enough for LFS, but the PSU is a little overkill - and i'd recomend at 4850 over the 8800GT.

Also - why that mobo? why not the gigabyte P31-ds3l?