Hey all.

help reaver with advice time again.

So I had to upgrade my GPU for TW2, got a 5770 to tide me over a bit.

The bottleneck is now my CPU, dual core AMD 7850 @ 3.02 (foctory OC'd methinks cant remember)

I also still use DDR2 HyperX RAM (32 bit os so only need 4GB)

im looking for a new processor (quad perhaps hex)
MOBO to fit new processor (AM3 i think)
and good quality RAM to go with.

I want this to last me a couple of years (2-3years i know ill need a new GPU before then)
What would you guys/girls advise.

Budget wise id like to be below £400 but if its the difference between mediocre and good I may stretch it a bit.

P.S: I seem to have better luck with AMD's than Intel. (Ive had 4 intels over the years and not 1 lasted more than 6 months, AMD on the otherhand only got replaced as an upgrade.)

You might want to consider an OS upgrade too. I don't know about Vista, but XP only supports 3.25 GB. That's not really enough to be future proofed. But then that's not something you need to consider doing right away.

For motherboard I recently had a lot of hassle trying to get one that suited my needs and wasn't buggered up in some way or another. Went with the ASUS M4A87TD in the end.

Another bonus was that it has a core unlocker. You see, to save expense AMD simply produce quad core processors then lock down one of the cores so they can sell it at a lower price bracket without reducing the price of the quad cores.

That means you can spend less on a 3 core processor, unlock it and wind up with a quad core. I tried it myself and it works a treat. That said I haven't tried it with my new X6 yet. I'm a bit apprehensive about that.

For RAM I tend to stick with Corsair because on a bang for buck basis they're pretty hard to beat.

I think Vista supports 3.4 GB im not certain, im gonna stick with Vista and jump to Windows 8 or whatever they are going to call it.

Sneaky gits.... Ive taken a not of that MOBO. thank you.

Ive never used Corsair before, since I have been able to self build I always went for Kingston due to them having a good rep at the time, dunno if it still is.

Kingston's value RAM is good if you want to cheaply chuck a lot of RAM in there. Just don't expect it to be the fastest RAM out there. So for gaming I don't know if it's really the best option. You really want something a bit more balanced between speed and capacity.

Generally for gaming fast 4GB is going to get better results than 8GB of value RAM.

Also note that if you use RAM of different speeds then all of it will run at the speed of the slowest. So using Kingston's value RAM will mean you're either stuck with buying more value RAM when you want to upgrade again, or you have to replace it all.

I avoid the cheapest of them,


Im liking what i see about the AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1100T Black Edition 3.30GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail (non OC'd)

Woo, yeah, that's certainly not the cheapest of them. I spent about £30 on mine.

If found in the past that you get what you pay for, I dont see the point in paying 200 for ram but I try to stay mid level

If you can wait honestly wait awhile according to AMD their new chips release next month and the new socket comes with them (AM3+)

Ok I know you said you wanted AMD but let me throw another option on the table.

Asrock Z68 EXTREME4 Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard £141.29
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/267313?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz Processor £159.00
http://www.cclonline.com/product/44975/BX80623I52500K/CPUs/Intel-Core-i5-2500K-3-30GHZ-Processor/CPU1109/

Corsair Vengeance 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz Memory Module CL9 1.5V £36.27
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/262579?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products

Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan Socket £65.45
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/195165

The heat sink will be subject to room in your case but you can find other decent ones that will fit if this does not. This one however is by far one of the best air cooled heatsinks on the market at the moment. It even beats out a h60 liquid cooling system in the benchmarks.

The total of all this is £402.01

This is damn impressive kit for that sort of money. The i5-2500k has an unlocked mulitplier so you can easily overclock it to 4.5ghz per core on air alone.

The motherboard has alot of cool features to help you overclock and alot of protection against voltage damage. It also comes with usb3.0 and sata3 ports.

The ram is nice and dead cheap. If you did upgrade to a 64bit system it would only cost you £36 to upgrade to a nice 8gb and take advantage of the dual channel. If your not going to upgrade anytime soon you could even go for 2x2gb sticks.

I think you'll be hard pressed to get better kit for around £400.

I'd almost rather use ME. The 64bit version of XP was a cut and shut job on Server 2003, if I remember rightly. Definitely another entry in Microsoft's Hall of Shame. To a degree. But usually the more you pay the less improvement you see per pound spent. It's usually best to stick to the upper middle ground of what's available. Otherwise by the time you actually tax your hardware it's already half the price you paid for it. I'd rather do more regular cheaper upgrades.

No way that would fit, I have case


Edit:

What I was considering, used same site for ease.

AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1100T Black Edition 3.30GHz

Memory two of eventually

MOBO & additional CPU cooler TBD

It wasn't too bad, but there's no reason to be using it now (yes, I used it for a while before Vista arrived). The main fallacy was that hardware manufacturers didn't really get around to support 64-bit Windows until shortly after Vista arrived, as well as some software refusing to install due to it reporting the same version as Server 2003 (5.2 rather than XP's 5.1) and said software not supporting server systems. Neither of those are really Microsoft's fault - but yes, if my memory doesn't fail me and the source I got the information from was correct, it was built specifically for a few large customers, and was never intended to be used by home users.

Well that certainly explains a lot. It certainly didn't <i>seem</i> like an OS designed for the mass market. But then nor did ME. :P

Are you using your computer for work/ video editing(that sort of thing) or is it just a gaming pc?