I'm looking to upgrade my current system, so I receive the parts at around Xmas time:

Current System:

AMD Athlon 750Mhz
256mb PC100
Gigabyte GIXE
AOpen TNT 2 Model 64 (32mb)
20gig hd
250W PSU

These are the parts that I want to replace, I want to keep the case, cd drives, sound card, etc.

What do you suggest for UNDER £500?

So far, I was thinking of the following (all prices inc VAT):
- I've searched dabs.com, scan.co.uk, ebuyer.com, crucial.com:

AMD *Retail* Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67 GHz) with AMD H/S/F 3 Yrs Warranty - £93.06 (Scan.co.uk)

512Mb PC2700 DDR Memory (Major) - £108.10 (Scan.co.uk)

DabsValue GeForce 4 Ti4600 - £176.25 / OR PNY GeForce 4 Ti4200 64MB DDR AGP RP VO DVI - £105.75 (dabs.com)

As for mobo, hdd, and PSU could you recommened anything?

MOBO: PC2700, USB2
HDD: 80 Gig - as fast as I can get - ATA133, 8mb cache?
PSU: more than enough power, cheap, quiet.

What do you think? Should I go with a P4 instead? Should I wait for the XP 2400+, 2600+, 2800+ ?

As for the Hard Drive, what about Western Digital's Caviar Special Edition 80Gb, 8mb cache, 7,200rpm drive.. I've got one and its brill..
Its had a lot of good reviews, and others on here have the same, and say the same. I got mine for about £100 , but that was 2 - 3 months ago, it could of come down in price...

Have a butchers...
http://www.wdc.com/products/products.asp?DriveID=32

I myself want to upgrade at Xmas, and i also have a spec like yours except mines a Pentium 750, so i'll be intrested to see what others reccomend for the MOBO etc...

yeah, its still around £100, at least on scan.co.uk
that was the drive I was looking at before...it looks good (if only was a little cheaper )

I as well have the same HDD. Except it's 120GB :evil: It's gravy, perfectly fast, 3yr warranty, quiet, reliable! The most susceptible to failure component in a computer is the HDD, you really need a reliable one...ahh!

I would reccomend to you the A7V333. Very nice system board, everything you've ever wanted...ahh!

If you want to save even more money on your video card get an 8500...ahh!

$773 is an adequate amount of money to upgrade CPU/sysbo/RAM/HDD/GFX...ahh!

PSU: I'd say a 350-400W Antec or Enermax would suit you, especially for the Ti4600...ahh!

As for the Radeon 8500..no way. Its annihilated by the ti4200, plus it has driver issues.

A7V333? - ABIT? - EDIT - OK, by Asus - scan.co.uk - £81.89

Thanks.

What about the CPU? Should I go with a faster one? A P4?


EDIT: As concerns the PSU..will it support a second fan at the front of the case?

- and do I want 350 or 430W (Enermax)? - £49.84, £68.83
- or a 380W (Antec) - £61.09

-I'd say the 380W Antec.

-If you want ABiT than get the KX7333 or the AT7-Max. Check out both, and whichever you want...

-Your PSU will support alot more fans than that. My 400W is running with 5

Ok, so:

Motherboard: Asus A7V-333 viaKT333 + USB2 + ATA133 Scan.co.uk £81.89

Hard Disk: 80Gb Western Digital (WD800JB) ATA-100 (7200rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.5ms) Quiet Drive Technology 3Yr dabs.com £96.34

CPU: AMD *Retail Box* Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67 GHz) with AMD Heat Sink Fan Scan.co.uk £93.06

PSU: 380W Antec (Dual Fan) dabs.com £61.09

Memory: 512mb PC2700 DDR (major brand) Scan.co.uk £105

Graphics Card: DabsValue GeForce 4 Ti4600 Dabs.com £188.00


Total: £625.38


That's way over £500. Can anyone help me to bring it down?

ATA100? The A7V333 is ATA133.

Lose the Ti4600 if you want to go down in price. I say that because it's the most expensive component you have.

I know its ATA 100, but I figure the 8mb cache will outweigh the ATA133...I can't find a 8mb cache drive with ATA133.

I could go with a:

PNY GeForce 4 Ti4200 64MB DDR AGP RP VO DVI - £105.75 (dabs.com)

instead of the Ti4600. Do you think that the ti4600 is worth the extra £70?

Nope.. check out the web for info regarding overclocking of Ti4200... most can give 4400 performance and some in well cooled systems can give Ti4600 performance.

I recently put two Seagate Barracuda IV 40gb 7200rpm ATA100 drives in a RAID 0 configuration. Do you think this would be a faster configuration than one single WD 8mb Cache drive?
I really just wanted to play with the Raid controller that came on my motherboard but was wondering what were peoples thoughts on this. And I would go for the Ti4200 and just try to over clock a little. If your looking at £170 for a Ti4600, your only another £60 away from the price for a Crucial 9700 pro!!! Its really not worth it for the Ti4600... In fact I'll sell you my Asus v8200 Geforce 3 for £100 and upgrade to the 9700 pro myself! (j/k)

On second check, my 8MB WD isn't ATA133 either...
And yes, it definitely outweighs 133.

As Arris said, no. Definitely no.

OK, that's it I think:

Motherboard: Asus A7V-333 viaKT333 + USB2 + ATA133 - Scan.co.uk - £81.89

Hard Disk: 80Gb Western Digital (WD800JB) ATA-100 (7200rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.5ms) Quiet Drive Technology 3Yr - dabs.com - £96.34

CPU: AMD *Retail Box* Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67 GHz) with AMD Heat Sink Fan - Scan.co.uk - £93.06

PSU: 380W Antec (Dual Fan) - dabs.com - £61.09

Memory: 512mb PC2700 DDR (major brand) - Scan.co.uk - £105

Graphics Card - AOpen/DabsValue/PNY GeForce 4 Ti4200 64MB DDR AGP RP VO DVI - Dabs.com - £105.75 (depending on stock on Dabs)

Total: £543.13 (Plus delivery)

Close enough to £500 I think.
Thanks. If I do change anything it'll be the processor, to a faster Athlon, but I doubt I will, because I'll probably be ordering it at the end of November.

EDIT: Having said that, I've noticed that the 2400+ has just become available in stock on scan.co.uk..and the 2200+ has just become available with AMD heat sink and fan, for £50 more.
It might come down a bit in the next month, so I might consider it.

Sounds good! You may want to wait for some other people's opinions though.