Cheap upgrade

[andy faith]

Well I've already posted about a new video card but let's just pretend I haven't for now. I wanna upgrade my main PC (I might not actually do it though) I don't need a new case, optical drives, hard drives (well I do but I'll cope) or PSU (again...I'll cope) so I need Mobo, CPU, RAM and a video card. The challenge is... I only have £100 to spend. any suggestions people? (Upgrading my main pc in my sig btw).

 

[daisymtc]

What do you currently got?

 

[andy faith]

main pc in my sig

 

[daisymtc]

You didn't show any sig....

 

[andy faith]

?? I can see it!
it says:
__________________
Main PC: Athlon XP 2400+, 1GB RAM, Geforce4 Ti 4200, Asrock K7S8X mobo, 2x40GB HDD.
Backup PC: Athlon XP 2000+, 512MB RAM, 60GB HDD, Radeon 7500
Main Laptop: Inspiron 6400: Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz, 80GB SATA HDD, 2GB PC2-4200, DVD-RW
Backup laptop: Latitude D410, Pentium M 1.73GHz, 60GB HDD, 1GB RAM, DVD-ROM

 

[daisymtc]

£100 not enough.
CPU say £40-50. e.g. E2140 / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+
Decent MB say. £50
DDR2 RAM 2GB £50
Mid-range GPU £70 unless you are ok with onboard
Also current MB would only allow to hook up to 2 IDE device. will not enough for your 2 HDD + Optical Drive

 

[andy faith]

is it possible to get anything better than what I've got? just like the most basic things

 

[andy faith]

oh and does the mobo not have 2 IDE channels that allow 2 on each?

 

[Calibretto]

The max number of drives you can have with 2 IDE channels is four drives. Two optical drives and two hard drives.

 

[Geoff]

oh and does the mobo not have 2 IDE channels that allow 2 on each?

Each IDE channel can have two devices, but a lot of newer motherboards only have one IDE port.

 

[andy faith]

yeh, I have 4 already. only having 1 would be a slight issue...

 

[Calibretto]

four IDE channels? What motherboard is it?

And you can still get a new mobo that has 2 IDE channels so worry not.

 

[andy faith]

sorry no 2 channels with 4 devices

 

[Geoff]

yeh, I have 4 already. only having 1 would be a slight issue...

Do you mean you have 4 IDE devices? 2 per channel?

 

[Calibretto]

well you should be good then. Just make sure when shopping for a mobo it has 2 IDE channels.

 

[andy faith]

good that you can still do that...so anyone else got any suggestions?

 

[Zangetsu]

Just buy a better processor and a better GPU, it could be that you go over the 100pound or what ever. But, make sure you upgrade your GPU first! Then, upgrade your CPU to a AMD x2 3800+

Zangetsu

 

[andy faith]

but the trouble is, if I upgrade my graphics card I really want a PCI - E card cuz thats the way forward...so I need a new motherboard as mine's AGP. Also if i upgrade the processor I need a new motherboard as they're no longer socket A

 

[andy faith]

bump

 

[daisymtc]

Option 1: Do nothing and save money to get decent PC
Option 2: Upgrade the GPU. e.g. 7600GT