help needed with upgrading pc...

jonnyc747 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-17-2006, 03:47 PM

hi all,

i have decided to hold off on the mac for a while and instead i am going to upgrade my PC.

I need something that will be future proof and will cope with HD editing when that arrives.

I currently have a socket 754 AMD XP3000+... i was thinkin of going for the X2 AMD 3800.. I think the dual core is essential now.

Anyone recommend me a processor, mobo, RAM and PCI-E gfx card?

Also Iv heard alot about these new conroe chips from Intel... are they better than AMD??

Budget is around £600 for the upgrade.

Cheers
Jonny

Mark W · #2 (**permalink**) 07-17-2006, 06:27 PM

Sounds good to me. I wouldnt worry about the latest thing too much. Improvements in processor performance are quite small at the moment despite what the chip makers might say. Just get the fastest chip you can afford, a board that can take lots of sata drives, and get at least 2 drives, one system and one for video.

carylee · #3 (**permalink**) 07-24-2006, 10:59 PM

AMD is planning on discontinuing the socket 939 for the new AM2 setup..so prices for 939 boards and processors are dropping accordingly. I just upgrade my system from a xp2500 with ABIT NF7-S to my current setup. The best part the board is really good overall and inexpensive. You have the option to use your current AGP video card and memory and also be able to add PCI-E card also to run up to 4 monitors. There is no PCI-X but for about 65USD..who cares. In addition there is no firewire so you will need to get a pci card for that and the IDE configuration is odd but with a little patience it runs solid. Also you can run 2 SATA and 1 SATA2 on this board. See sig.