Upgrading PC - Best Bang for Buck? Help Please

Zoomclub

Hi - Wanted to ask for some advice on upgrading a desktop PC on a budget - My basic aim is to get as fast a basic system as possible for around about £100 layout - using parts of the system I've already got as explained below!
Don't want to shell out any more £'s on desktop, as am planning to buy reasonable laptop in next year or so - not needed now.

Am currently running an antique system with mega-cheap components:-
ABIT BM6 Motherboard
Celeron 433 MHz CPU
512 Mb SDRAM
MAG XJ530 Monitor
SiS 6215 Graphics card
C-Media CMI8738/C3DX Audio card
Voyager 210 Router (Via USB)
HP 9100 CDRW
2 x IDE Drives.
Win 2K 5.00.2195 SP4

Would ideally like -
1)To keep main IDE Drive - only 8GB, & obviously not that fast but Ok for now.

2)Definitely keep MAG monitor - big & dated, but don't think there's any need to change it?

2)Stay with Win2K, as I've found it pretty stable, and am not bothered about going to XP/Vista yet - Unless there's a real good reason!

3)Get a MBD with onboard graphics - Ok for "home use" - web browsing, Office 2000 etc - no gaming, or high end requirements. Maybe ideally board would have a PCI Express slot - which I believe I'd need for future upgrading of the graphics system.
Similarly would be Ok with onboard Sound - Only used for MP3 / CD listening etc - or even re-using the C-Media card I've got, if there's enough PCI slots on new MBD.

4)Onboard LAN - Have looked at the specs for a couple of cheapish boards & appears this is prob' standard now - Not sure? Just would mean I could use Ethernet connection on router, free up USB slot if req'd, and possibly get a slightly faster B/B connection.

Seen a couple of bundles for around £50 - Would be happy to go with an AMD board & Semperon CPU if there's room for later CPU and RAM upgrades - Am guessing that in addition to the MBD & CPU I'm going to need to buy:-

- New PSU - read somewhere new boards need extra connection for the CPU?

- New, DDR or DDR2 RAM - believe new boards don't support SDRAM - I've no real idea of prices for this. from what I've seen I might be able to go to a board that'll support up to 4GB - if so, then am guessing that if 2 x RAM slots is standard I'd be best buying a 2 GB module (leaving room for later upgrade).

- New case?? - Not sure at all about form factor for the MBD - read that most new Mbd's are ATX - which as far as I'm aware is the size my current board and case are. Confusing thing is the 3 or 4 budget boards/bundles I've looked at so far have all been MicroATX - also , not sure if my case would accomdate a MicroATX - or is this nonsense 'cos of different size of PSU etc?!? - I need HELP!

Ok, head starting to ache - Any advice welcome (& you can stop laughing at Noah's PC now )

Cheers

Pete

U've_been_framed

You'll be lucky to upgrade for £100 unless you go searching for 2nd hand equipment. A cheap AMD processor and motherboard will probably take up most of £100. Intel set ups cost more. Then you will need DDR2 ram. The good news is that ram is cheap - you can get 1Gb for £15. Then you will probably find that the motherboard only has one (if any) IDE socket meaning that you can only attach 2 items to it.

A possible alternative to this is to check out www.speedie.co.uk who sell base units from £45 upwards. Find out what exactly is included. You may be able to add some of your equipment.
I have never used Speedie so cannot comment on their service.

Lorian

Sometimes upgrading a PC is "throwing good money after bad". I'd save my money a little longer and keep an eye on grabit after Christmas for some bargains.

isofa

You'd need to spend a significant amount, when you could be a cheap new tower only from Dell (ring them to get systems without monitors) for a couple of hundred. Or a second hand tower from eBay for even less.

If I was going to upgrade it these would be the things I'd do:

1. Motherboard and processor (I'm sure Pentium 4 chips are at a bargain price now, 2 and 3Ghz are pretty quick under Win 2000).

2. 1Gb of RAM at least (eBay or Crucial for that).

3. Large new HD.

4. Cheap 128Mb Graphics card, should be able to get an ATI for £30 to £40 new, or much cheaper from eBay.

5. Work out it'll cost to much, so replace the tower with a new one

banger9365

i have to agree that a ton is not enough for that you need right now,i would wait a bit longer and do some saving put if you have to have before xmas try this
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=17827&category_id=491&manufacturer_id=0&tid=mbb0011
and a nice new case to put it in
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=9165&category_id=52&manufacturer_id=0&tid=cas-493

total @£95
put thats using the other stuff you have (hard drives,cd writers ect)so will it be faster yes put not that you will go wow more like is that it, will it be stable, no idea ,it's like the other poster said it could be "throwing good money after bad" or jumping out of frying pan into fire, personaly i would wait a save some more and there mite be some good sales after the 25th!

spakkker

Hi , you can usually self-build cheaper than buy retail -I think you can just about do it.
- ASROCK SKT-775 CONROE1333-D667 R1 S/V/L M-ATX -£33
- e2140 -£43
- 1gb mem £15
- psu -£10
Total = £100 - you could maybe o/c this processor as well! New m/boards have a 4-pin connecter , not present on older boards. Micro atx will fit in an atx box. You prob. won't notice the diff. between 1 and 2gb of ram. But I can't resist a smile at your 8gb h/drive and would only say it's hard to find an 40gb h/d for sale! A 160gb h/d is just over 30 quid.

Blacksheep1979

ditch everything you have apart from the monitor and buy a second hand pc loads of things like this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IBM-NETVISTA-P4-8305-42G-2-4GHz-PC-512MB-40GB-CD-XP_W0QQitemZ290185046162QQihZ019QQcategoryZ179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

available for only £70.

U've_been_framed

Spakker said:

ASROCK SKT-775 CONROE1333-D667 R1 S/V/L M-ATX -£33
- e2140 -£43
- 1gb mem £15
- psu -£10
Total = £100

Asrock are usually excellent value for money but I don't know the ins and outs of this motherboard. Does it have onboard graphics? Does it have more than one IDE port? If the answer to either of these questions is no - that means more expenditure. But I think that is inevitable anyway.

isofa

It's very hard to self build today cheaper than a large manufacturer (like Del)l can build a system for. They have massive buying power, and huge economies of scale when purchasing components. It's so cut-throat today that many many PC manufacturers have gone out of business. People self-build today to get the specific high-powered components, not to save money.