New component options - help plz

[OpenMind]

Hi, i have a reasonable system compared to some, here it is:

Motherboard - Gigabyte 965P-DS3, rev 3.3
Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86Ghz / 2.8GHz oc.
HDD - Western Digital 160GB, 7,200 RPM, 8mb cache.
Graphics - Nvidia 8800GT 512mb.
Memory - 4gb, Geil PC2-6400 Ultra, 800mhz Mem-Speed.
PSU - 550W, Colors-IT, ATX 12v.

I enjoy gaming and there are so many new games coming out that have resourse eating specs it is silly, unless you have a really high end gaming machine. I have been thinking of upgrading, but have a tight budget as usual lol.

My HDD is in need of upgrading, but what Good HDD's can you get for £40 or under? And another of my questions is which good processor could I get for £150 or under? (I concidered the E8400 but not sure it would make a difference) and finally thanks for reading and replying.

 

[floppybootstomp]

A bigger hard drive would be a good idea.

Samsung 320Gb £38.00 plus postage

Also worth checking E-Buyer; Scan; Aria for hard drive deals and take postage and delivery time into account when ordering.

You can get a core 2 duo 2.6Ghz for around £150.00 or a 2.4Ghz Core Duo for about £100.00. It would probably be worth buying a 2.4Ghz CPU to replace yours but whether the improvement is worth £100.00 or not is open to conjecture.

A better option might be the Quad core 6600 which runs at 2.4Ghz and costs about £160.00 but not many games take advantage of quad core architecture.

If you're keen on games look to upgrading the video card rather than the CPU.

You'd be better off buying This video card at £135.00 plus postage rather than a new CPU.

 

[OpenMind]

Thanks floppybootstomp, that was helpful, i didnt know such graphics cards had come down in price that much. I did consider upgrading the graphics but I thought it would be the processor that was lacking in my system. I might grab that samsung HDD though, and I will keep checking for those special offers on other sites.
I havent been online long and there is so much more to learn when connected. Thanks for your input.

 

[OpenMind]

Component Options Continued - more help plz

Here is my exact spec of my Graphics Card below:

# Product Inno3D Geforce 8800
# Chipset Geforce 8800 GT
# Memory 512MB GDDR3
# Core Frequency 600MHz
# Memory Frequency 1800MHz
# RAM DAC 400MHZ
# Interface PCI-Express 2.0
# Memory Bus 256-bit
# Stream Processors 112
# Max. Resolution2560 x 1600
# SLI Ready - Yes
# Output1. Dual-Link DVI
2. HDTV
# HDCP - Yes

Do you think I should just go out and replace it for a better one or Put it in SLI with another 8800gt. Also is it possible to put 2 different Nvidia cards in SLI if SLI is supported? If so how would the graphics be if I got a much better card than the one I have and put them both in SLI?

Soz about all the questions lol, thanks for reading and replying.

 

[Waynos_Face]

Hi,

I would get the E8400 as 3.0ghz Wolfdale is gonna see alot performance than the first Core2Duo, the 8800GT is still a good card,

Remember that the Processor you have now still has resale value of about £40 - £50 so that will buy you hard drive, the next step up from the 8800GT would be a 9800GTX, about 15 - 20% performance increase for a lot more cash.

Get the E8400 or a Q6600 and overclock it to 3.0Ghz.

 

[Newf]

You can get an E8400 and make it work if you flash the beta F14b bios. This will allow you to try and OC it further, but you are using a P965 board and are on a budget. Don't want a new mobo, do you?
At an OC of 2.8, your current cpu approaches a new E8400 at stock speeds for free.
This leaves the video card and hard drive.
Do you need a better hard drive for speed or for capacity?
With £150 to spend, you could upgrade the video card IF your power supply can handle it.
OR, you could get a WD 640 speedy hard drive (either the 6400AAKS or 6401AALS) and save up for a faster video card for later. This depends on why you need a new hard drive.
What's holding you back from a cpu upgrade is the motherboard. The 965 chipset is already at its limits using a 1333 fsb processor, so OC is going to be tough.