Spec me a machine bitches

[Hehulk]

I've not bought new hard drives in a good 2 years, and back when I did I didn't have any SATA slots, so I had to go with IDE. When I do eventually get another it'll be SATA.

And yes, AMD, sorry, but Fanboi

[HereComesPete]

Shame really, the best new amd cores are out the start of next year, so you can get a phenom now, but if you wait, you'll get a better phenom, which will still be shitter than core 2 duo, but better than the phenoms that have been released.

Also, the phenoms are all over the k8 architecture of the older 64+ x2's, so if you need amd, I say phenom phenom phenom or you'll lose out massively on monies and power.

They are having to price the same as intel, or no-one (except you) would buy them, so you'll get a phenom for close to x2 price as well. But you should still get c2d.

Also remember am2+ if you get a phenom (which you should) because normal am2 boards can't cope properly with the quad core powah!!1

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Ah ha! Missed that

Thanks Berk

EDIT: Right, what I'm about to order

CPU
Motherboard
Graphics (Specs look better than the X1950 Pro for only a few pennies more)
RAM

Plus Berks find, comes to £291 with P&P, which I'm not too upset about

Dunno when that edit appeared.

But the ATI HD cards are horrible, the x1900 (IIRC) is actually better, and less power hungry.

Shame really, the best new amd cores are out the start of next year, so you can get a phenom now, but if you wait, you'll get a better phenom, which will still be shitter than core 2 duo, but better than the phenoms that have been released.

Also, the phenoms are all over the k8 architecture of the older 64+ x2's, so if you need amd, I say phenom phenom phenom or you'll lose out massively on monies and power.

They are having to price the same as intel, or no-one (except you) would buy them, so you'll get a phenom for close to x2 price as well. But you should still get c2d.

Also remember am2+ if you get a phenom (which you should) because normal am2 boards can't cope properly with the quad core powah!!1

all of that. hard.

[HereComesPete]

Hehulk, you wanted help, I really don't want to sound like a twat but you've ignored the help and your buying old tech at well over the odds because of it. An am2+ board, a phenom and a 8800gt would cost you a few pounds more, and would last you a lot longer and be a lot better. But it's up to you.

[Lee]

Graphics (Specs look better than the X1950 Pro for only a few pennies more)

Get an ATI HD 3850, it'll be far better than that for not much more money.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Hehulk, you wanted help, I really don't want to sound like a Danny Baker but you've ignored the help and your buying old tech at well over the odds because of it. An am2+ board, a phenom and a 8800gt would cost you a few pounds more, and would last you a lot longer and be a lot better. But it's up to you.

Again,

However, I've learned that some people like to ask for advice, then ignore it and buy crap. I consider this natural selection for hardware.

I wish hehulk the best of luck with his june upgrade.

[HereComesPete]

Get this 8800gt from overclockers if you want a great card at bugger all money.

[deject]

Get an ATI HD 3850, it'll be far better than that for not much more money.

this

or

Get this 8800gt from overclockers if you want a great card at bugger all money.

this.

stay far far far away from 2600's. they're beyond shit. imagine your wallet is being invited over to the Neverland Ranch by a geriatric Michael Jackson. The Radeon HD 3850 is an order of magnitude faster than a 2600XT.

[Hehulk]

Ignore 2600s, fair enough, although that 8800 is way way beyond my budget (It was the fisr thing I looked at )

[Dr. kitteny berk]

For super-low budget, I'd look for a 7900GT or an X19*0Pro/XT

Bit more and i'd take a 3870 or 8800GT.

Also, i'd give the asrock mobo a skip, they're not awful, but i'm sure you can do a lot better for a bit more.

[amblin]

.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

/eyeing up a quad core and dual 8800s blog
*slaps self for looking at another £700 of hardware*

skip SLI. always. it's just crap.

on a sidenote, the new 8800GTSes will be out in about 2 weeks, from what i've heard, they're likely to be G92/65nm a'la 8800GT, but faster. (potentially fast enough to make the 8800GTX look bad)

[amblin]

.

[Hehulk]

I think (And Berk will be here in a sec to correct me) but the 5-10% increase you get in FPS, in some games, just doesn't really make sence when your spending twice as much. It's improvement, but shit improvement over what you'd expect.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

I think (And Berk will be here in a sec to correct me) but the 5-10% increase you get in FPS, in some games, just doesn't really make sence when your spending twice as much. It's improvement, but shit improvement over what you'd expect.

I think it works out at about 40%-ish. (best case)

In theory, more cards doing less work is great. but the drivers are a real problem. because they're shit. not to mention, you can't multimon in SLI. which is bollocks.

if you have money to burn, you're better off buying one fast card and spending the rest on a better CPU and more rams.

[amblin]

.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

best bet if you *Really* need performance and multimon is buying a fast graphics card, like an 8800GT or GTX, then a lump of crap to feed your second screen

[Chickenz]

If you have money to burn, you're better off buying one fast card and spending the rest on a better CPU and more rams.

That's what I did with my last upgrade.

[HereComesPete]

You are special chicken, burning your money when you could have used it to buy stuff.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

I feel I have to say this, if only so I feel better.

Hehulk.

Buy:
CPU:Chicken's 6300, or my 6600 (~£30 or 75)
Mobo:Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (~£65)
Memory:GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Or OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 (~£40)
GPU:7900GT or X19x0 (~£80)

It'll come to £215-260 and won't be a bad purchase.