Well, I've got my student loan coming soon and I think it's about time something got changed in my system. My 6600 never really cut it for the games I wanted to play, but it did the job. I've budgeted for £200 (inc tax and postage) in total.
I've been looking at the 8600 series Nvidia cards, mostly because I run Vista, and all that DX10 stuff. I'll admit I'm a bit of an Nvidia fanboi, mostly due to real life experience with ATI (none of that stuff in here though...). My cpu can stay the same, can't exactly afford a new one now can I? Everything else in my computer is quite satisfactory, it's just the graphics card that is lacking.
Unfortunately, because of my aims of having an eight series geforce, that means a new motherboard with PCI-E x16 on it. Which of course leads to having new ram, unless you can find a mobo that will take DDR800 with PCI-E.
Then of course, with this power requirement increase, a new PSU. I've got a 450W in now, but it's aging, and it probably should be replaced to make sure. Last time one died on me it took out a 160 quid motherboard and the two CPU's in it...
I've been looking on Ebuyer.com (I'm in the UK, so remember this on pointing things out on the web) and I've made this shortlist:
2 x Crucial 512MB DDR2 PC2-5300/667MHz CL5 1.8V Unbuffered 240 Pin £25.78
1 x ABIT IL9 Pro - Motherboard - i945P - LGA775 Socket - UDMA100, Serial ATA-300 - Gigabit Ethernet - High Definition Audio (8-channel) ATX £42.59
1 x Sparkle 8600GT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV Dual DVI-I PCI-E £69.80
1 x Extra Value 500W Gold ATX Silent PSU with PFC and 12cm fan - 20+4pin with 1x SATA £15.31
Carriage £8.99
Subtotal £162.47
VAT £28.46
Order Total £190.93
I know it's budget stuff, but I'm a student, and I am in a relationship, and she wants a frickin' 700 quid laptop... God help her if she gets a mac.
Anyway, looking through that (and ebuyer) are there any changes you guys would make? I can make that shipping £4.99 instead of £8.99, so that's an extra four pounds on top of the tenner spare. Can you see anything to improve on, considering my strained budget?
I've been looking at the 8600 series Nvidia cards, mostly because I run Vista, and all that DX10 stuff. I'll admit I'm a bit of an Nvidia fanboi, mostly due to real life experience with ATI (none of that stuff in here though...). My cpu can stay the same, can't exactly afford a new one now can I? Everything else in my computer is quite satisfactory, it's just the graphics card that is lacking.
Unfortunately, because of my aims of having an eight series geforce, that means a new motherboard with PCI-E x16 on it. Which of course leads to having new ram, unless you can find a mobo that will take DDR800 with PCI-E.
Then of course, with this power requirement increase, a new PSU. I've got a 450W in now, but it's aging, and it probably should be replaced to make sure. Last time one died on me it took out a 160 quid motherboard and the two CPU's in it...
I've been looking on Ebuyer.com (I'm in the UK, so remember this on pointing things out on the web) and I've made this shortlist:
2 x Crucial 512MB DDR2 PC2-5300/667MHz CL5 1.8V Unbuffered 240 Pin £25.78
1 x ABIT IL9 Pro - Motherboard - i945P - LGA775 Socket - UDMA100, Serial ATA-300 - Gigabit Ethernet - High Definition Audio (8-channel) ATX £42.59
1 x Sparkle 8600GT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV Dual DVI-I PCI-E £69.80
1 x Extra Value 500W Gold ATX Silent PSU with PFC and 12cm fan - 20+4pin with 1x SATA £15.31
Carriage £8.99
Subtotal £162.47
VAT £28.46
Order Total £190.93
I know it's budget stuff, but I'm a student, and I am in a relationship, and she wants a frickin' 700 quid laptop... God help her if she gets a mac.
Anyway, looking through that (and ebuyer) are there any changes you guys would make? I can make that shipping £4.99 instead of £8.99, so that's an extra four pounds on top of the tenner spare. Can you see anything to improve on, considering my strained budget?
