Ok guys, i am in a bit of a tricky situation. Let me explain as clearly as possible...

I want to upgrade several component's on my current system, which is now useless and on the verge of complete breakdown. O.k, well i would love to just get a whole new system, but i am not entirely sure about the cost involved.


Motherboard: ASUS A7N8X-LA
Memory (RAM): 256 MB
CPU Info: AMD Athlon XP 2800+
CPU Speed: 2073.5 MHz
Sound card: Realtek AC97 Audio
Video Card: Radeon 9200

As you can see, it's a pretty basic looking setup, which is out-dated. The PC is slow, and takes an age to boot up. I need to take action and finally get the PC i have wanted for a long time. Unfortunately, funds are low, and i will most probably have to think of some scheme to earn some money, probably selling junk or something. Now, more to the point....I will probably be using my computer for..

1)Surfing the Net
2)Downloading lots of worthless junk
3)Playing games once in a while, im no hardcore gamer, but would love to be able to play a new game without experiencing serious lag constantly.
4)Watching the odd D.V.D, and playing lot's of CD's. (Burning C'ds also)
5)Downloading video and music tracks.

So, as you can see i dont need a top of the range gaming rig by any means. But i do want something thats nice and quick and responsive, without slowing down easily,. Something that will stand the test of time when it comes to all the new technology being released. I am trying to find the cheapest way to meet my need's and it isnt easy. I dont know if theres anything i should keep in my current system to save money and then just simply buy the most important upgrades that i need and install them alongside the old components. Well, the sound card i am not too fussed over, the graphics i am not overly worried about, but what do you think? It's all about saving money, but i know that this isnt exactly a cheap thing to do. I have been looking at a few motherboards, in particular...........

Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe (£102.68)

Gigabyte K8 AM2 GA-M51GM-S2G (£49.91)

And, i really like the looks of this processor to go with one of them........

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800 Dual-Core (£97.47)

or the cheaper alternative...........

AMD (Venice) Athlon 64Bit 3200+ (£51.70)

When it comes to the hard disk, and RAM i am stuck. I would like at least 1GB of RAM, and at least 150GB HD. I don't know too much about these components, so i was hoping someone could recommend a couple for me. In the end i would just like to have gathered up all the information on exactly what i need to buy, then i can start saving, and steadily buy each component. Thanks in advance, and sorry for a long post.

Hi PGH...

With options there come consiquences. With consiquences come more options....it's a never ending circle.

The asus a8nsli deluxe is the board that i have an it is exceptionally good...i don't have a problem with it (the chipset fan failed but asus send out a new one and is simple to change, but i swapped it for a 3rd party cooler which again isn't hard to do).

The gigabyte...Am2 is the next gen CPU from amd and neither of the cpu's that you've selected will be supported in it. I do normally recommend going for AM2 as it is going to be cheaper for you to upgrade in the future.

Out of the 2 cpu's that you've selected there, the X2 3800+ is an extremely nice CPU...it's core clock speed is 2000mhz, but can easily be set to 2.5ghz without any stabillity/over heating issues.

With memory, you definatly want at least 1gb, but again - 2gb would be better and be optimal for everything you've listed you wanted to do with this new computer.

hard drive space is cheap...very cheap...so that shouldn't be a problem.

If you need any clarification on anything i've said, or if you need more advice, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks GaRHaR . I was searching around for hard drives and came across a few which were at a reasonable price...I was wondering if you could give your opinion on them.

Western Digital WD2500KS Caviar SE 250GB 7200RPM SATA2/300 16MB Cache - OEM (£50.52)

Seagate ST3250820AS 250GB 7200RPM SATA300 8MB Cache - OEM (£50.79)

Seagate ST3200827AS Barracuda 200GB 7200RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (£50.52)

As you can see, they are all the same sort of price, but what (if any) would you recommend?.. Thanks for the help once again.

No problems.

Both brands are really good...But the WD would be generally faster and I prefer Western Digital's to Seagates. I've had my fair share of both, and for some reason I just prefer WD...not sure why..i've currently got 3wd and 2seagate hard drives...and they're all great.

But definatly the Western Digital out of those 3...it's got more cache = faster seek times = faster loading/windows using.

It looks to me that your existing system is fast enough, except that you don't have enough memory. A simple upgrade to 1GB would boost your speed significantly. Also, remember that software problems can slow down your machine too, so a reformat might help.

Would you recommend 2x 512mb dual channel instead of just a single 1GB module? Im having alot of trouble finding PC2700 modules, as apparently this is the only type my motherboard can take. Or,....Do you suggest i just buy a better M'Board, so i can have better components?