Help!!!!! My PC sucks!

[A Twig]

Ok, currently, AMD Athlon 800Mhz, 20 Gig HD, Riva TNT2 graohics card, some lame creative soundcard which dont work with CS, i get sound for bout 30 secs then have to play in silence!!!

Im looking to upgrade the hard drive (which is buggered atm) and processor and graphics card, ideally for around £200-£250. This is a bit hopeful I know, what can pple recommend??

[suicidal_monkey]

~£80 - XP 2200
~£80 - 80Gb HDD

which is ~£160 leaving you 40-90 for a gfx card.
~£50 is a GF3, GF4MX, radeon 9000
not sure after that...
~£90 is GF3ti500, or 2nd hand 4200/9500pro
~£120-150 is a GF4200 to 9500 pro territory

[A Twig]

Superb, cheers!

[smilodon]

will the mobo go from 800 to 2200 ?

[TeaLeaf]

That was the question I was going to ask - which motherboard you got there lil'tree-type fella?  I suspect the fastest you can go on that board is about 1.3GHz-ish.  You may need to buy a new mobo first, then upgrade the CPU, then the RAM and then worry 'bout the HDD and gfx.

A good mobo will give you pretty darn good sound - then pick up a second hand SL Live 5.1 at some point down the road.

Your GF2 will run CS with few problems.  Again, leave the gfx upgrade until later.

HDDs are for sale regularly - pick one up second hand.....

Spend your money on:

1.  New mobo inc decent onboard sound (c. £80)
2.  New CPU (XP2200 is c.£80)
3.  512MB of decent DDR RAM (512MB of stock PC2700 is c. £50 - it is so cheap it is nto worth getting it 2ndhand)

Then look to pick the rest up at cheaper than retail prices.  For example, I have a spare brand new 60GB Maxtor HDD sitting on a shelf behind me.  I would take offers etc.  There are others on these boards who will also do deals for spare bits of kit etc.  Post your needs (component needs only fella  8O ) and see what peeps come up with......but use your cash to buy the above 3 things new.

TL.  

[smilodon]

I've a AMD 2100 you can have for half price. They go for £80 on Dabs.com and I'll even pay the postage me old matey.

Ohh you know it's a bargin  

[DarkAngel]

http://www.burtoncomputers.co.uk/Very%20good%20site%20cheap%20parts%20for%20pcs%20they%20also%20are%20based%20in%20the%20uk%20and%20have%20a%20friendly%20service%20:)

[DarkAngel]

Sorry youll have to copy and paste cant be arsed with this urc thingy too tired

http://www.burtoncomputers.co.uk/

[Signal]

A few sites you might want to brose to get an idea of some prices...

http://www.coolcasemods.com/
http://www.thecoolingshop.co.uk/tcs/home.asp
http://ukcasemods.com/

...then find it cheaper so as to know your getting a good deal :wink:

[A Twig]

My motherboard details:

Manufacturer:      MSI                            
Model:         MS-6316                        
Version:         N/A
BIOS Vendor:      American Megatrends Inc.        
BIOS Version:      A6316MS V1.0 B7 Time Computer Sy
BIOS Release Date:   03/22/00                        
BIOS Properties:      Plug and Play, Flash
 
So it looks like I will have to upgrade that then! Oh yeah and I only have 128MB RAM, so Ill upgrade that as well. And processor and hard drive are screwed so that is also top of the list. That will probs take a fair wodge out of my £250, so yeah looks like the rest will have to wait.

Oh and Greg, hang onto that processor I may just take you up on that!!!

[TeaLeaf]

OK, your mobo is so old that either the number you gave is wrong or they do not keep records of it any longer  :lol:  Here's what I would do with the £250 squid:

MOBO:
There is a very nice and highly tweakable Epox 8K5A2+ sitting just here.  It offers provides a nice Socket A for your CPU, VIA Apollo KT333 AGPset, USB2.0, RAID (High Point controller), 3x DDR-SDRAM Slots for PC2700, AGP4x, built-in Digital Audio (Realtek 650)
6-channel audio, game and MIDI ports and has a built-in 10/100 Mbps ethernet card.  
BUDGET £64.00

RAM:
A single 512MB stick of PC2700 DDR RAM is currently cheaper than a 512MB stick of PC2100, so get the faster PC2700!!  You will find some very cost effective PC2700 RAM here.  
BUDGET £41.00

CPU:
If Smiley can do you a 'pre-owned' CPU for £40 then that's a reasonable buy - but only if he has not wound the clock frequencies up in the interests of overclocking science  :wink:  A brand new Thoroughbred XP2100+ is currently £76, so buy at half price or lower.  
BUDGET £40.00

GRAPHICS CARD:
£100 will get you a brand new GF4-4200 which if you unlock and overclock (adding a bigger fan and heatsink along the way) will come within a gnat's whisker of GF4-4600 performance.   If you don't want to mess with the overclocking then go for a Radeon based chipset and spend the same bucks.  BUDGET £100.00

HDD:
Well, you can pick these up almost anywhere at decent prices.  So it depends what size you want.  But as I am right tight on your budget cap I will be nice to you and offer you my own brand new Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 60GB HDD (2MB cache 8.7ms seek and 7200rpm) for £30.00 plus a pint of my chosen beer if you ever come to one of the dMw LAN parties     It is still boxed and sealed.  BUDGET £30.00

Like any good reviewer, I have blown your £250.00 budget and then some, but I am sure you'll forgive me the extra £25.00 and I reckon 10% variance on a job is within acceptable tolerances :wink:    

And finally, SOUND CARD:
If you eventually get bored with your onboard sound then a Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! will do your CS real nice and costs just £25.00 - you will find them all over the place, including here.

Hope this helps a wee bit.

TL.  

[A Twig]

absolutely fantastic! Cheers for all the help pple! Ill let you know the results of my spending spree!!!!

OH and for a replacement HD, what to pple think of this?
30Gb Maxtor Plus 8 - ATA-133 (7200rpm, 2MB Cache) 1Yr

And this for my graphics card
http://www.connect3d.com/products/products...eon_9000pro.htm

[A Twig]

This is what I am buying therefore:

Part                     
Epox 8K5A2+ (Socket A) Motherboard (MB-013-EP)       64.63
256Mb PC2700 (PC333) DDR Memory (Major)       22.90
30Gb Maxtor Plus 8 - ATA-133 (7200rpm, 2MB Cache) 1Yr               49.29
Radeon 9000 128MB DDR AGP RP          74.00
Athlon XP 2000+ 1.67GHz SoA             66.50

I can put it through business and get rid of VAT, therefore overall cost is £236.02p
Fantastic eh!

[smite]

If i was you i would take up the offer of the 60Gig that TL is offering if not TL over here mate ill have it
Overclockers are still doing the SB5.1 for £24 or the 4.1 for £12

[A Twig]

I dont need a 60 gig, all I use my PC for is word processing and counter-strike!!!