Any computer upgrade tips/advice?

[Darn]

Yay, I finally have enough extra cash lying around to consider upgrading my obsolete gaming rig. I have no interest in spending any more than I have to, so something "decent enough" will do. My budget is about 400 euros; however I only need :

• -a new motherboard, and a processor to go with it

• -a new video card

• -a hard drive

• -a power source

• -and sufficient memory

So I do not need a new case, OS, etc. Now buying/choosing memory, the HD and the power source is not really an issue... I think... But the other stuff... I have no clue what's actually good (for this budget) these days, and what is just cheap. So... Any advice?

[Darth Wong]

A new motherboard, CPU, video card, HD, power supply, and memory? It seems that it would be easier for you to just get a new case built by the vendor, since that list seems to encompass everything inside the case.

[Darn]

Ah- yes, that's the point, I intend to use my old case, windows license, DVD drive etc. to cut down on costs, and assemble the computer by myself. (I have done this before, I'm just waaay behind on hardware news...) though come to think of it, I guess it's not really an "upgrade"but a new rig at this point...

[Darth Wong]

Yes, but even if you can do it, it's still easier to let the vendor do it. Just buy a vendor-built case with no optical drive or Windows license. You don't have to worry about taking back a component if it turns out to be defective, or accidentally snapping off a capacitor from the MB while you're putting it together. Just fire it up, look inside to make sure everything is connected satisfactorily, and if anything is wrong with the box at all, take it back and let them figure it out.

[Darn]

Ok, but even if I do that- though unless vendor assembly is really cheap, I doubt it- I still need some advice on what's what these days. Cheaper DDR2, or is DDR3 worth the price? Dual-core or quad? AMD or Intel? I'd also rather cut costs on memory (I can always buy more later) to get the best motherboard/processor/video card combo I can get. Whatever that is.

Hmm. Quick googleresearch puts power+memory+HD at around ~100-150 € (in Finland), so that would leave me with about 250-300 € for the rest. (Cheap case would add around 30-50€, it seems). What does this get me? So much new stuff...

[phongn]

€400 ~= US$600 at today's exchange rate. See Tech Report's system guide for some suggestions: at this point you can get a Radeon 5750 instead of the 4750 that guide suggests and maybe a bigger hard drive since you don't need an optical drive.

[Dralan]

If you are going for price/preformance over fastest thing out there I would go for an AMD processor since they are quite abit cheaper than Intels newer processors.

Something like this AMD Athlon II X4 630 AM3 will probably cost you around 80-85euro and is a quite good processor for the money. 4 cores 2.8ghz and can easily be overclocked if that is of interest.

As for motherboard, that depends upon what sort of processor you want. If you go for an AMD like the one I posted or one even faster I would go for an MSI motherboard. You can get quite a few MSI motherboards for 50-80 euros. Lately MSI have been ripping ASUS and Gigabyte mainboards apart in the reviews so they have really delivered some kick ass boards this last year.

MSI 790XT-G45 would set you back about 55 euros but is quite a good board. It has a nice layout, 2 pci express 16 ports. It supports crossfire if you use ATI graphics card.

As for memory you will be better off with DDR2 considering your budget. DDR3 gives more bang but you will not be able to utilize most of that bang when you buy a budget rig. If we go with the Motherboard that I suggested earlier you can use DDR2-1066 mHz ram but even that might be abit over budget depending on how much you want to spend. the 800 mHz ram is more than sufficient in most cases and there are quite a few good 2gb memory kits for around 30-35 euros so it will not break the bank. if you plan to use a 32bit OS 4 gb is more than enough but for 64 bit os go for 8gb if you can afford it. It is well worth the extra money. And Windows 7 really do put that extra ram into good use.

The best bang for the buck gfx cards at the moment is the ATI 5750 and the 5770. the 5750 goes for around 100euros and the 5770 costs around 120 euro. If you want to know more detailed about how good they are go to hardocp or guru3d and look at the reviews. You will however get one very nice gfx card no matter witch of them you choose.

As for hard drive you can get a nice and fast 1 terrabyte drive for around 60 euros if you go for Samsungs Spinpoint F1 drive. I've never had any problems with samsung drive's so I would advice going for that on a budget.

If we go with what I have suggested over we don't really need a too large power supply but its no point going for just what you need and not consider future upgrades. Corsair VX 550W PSU will set you back around 70 Euro and should provide you with enough power to expand later if you need.

Unfortunatly my advice goes a little above your budget but not by too much. Check your local pc shops to see what they want for the stuff. You might be lucky and get it for cheaper than the prices I've set as a median price for them. If they all are at that price you can always cut down on either processor or video card but I would not advice going much down if you want it as a gaming rig.

[phongn]

Tech Report just updated their guide and it's a good list of things.