what system should I choose?

[The Runner]

ok I'm upgrading for a number of reasons, but basically I've got a chance to buy either of the following.

p4 3.0ghz prescott cpu-z reads as e0
abit ic7-g

these are 2nd hand from a guy off forums for £150

i'm going to pair it with 2gb of pc3200 ram (yeah I won't be clocking too much!)

or I could get,

dfi lan party ultra-d
3000+ venice

these will cost me £200, however the ram will still be the same.

if i bought that i would need to change my 6800nu to probably a 6600gt

im on a real tight budget cause having no job sucks :(, the p4 the guy put at 3.5ghz on air at just over 1.5v's dunno if thats good or bad really.

I guess the a64 system is better? But when I get a job I can do a real upgrade so would the p4 route be better currently?

Oh my system in sig doesn't exist anymore so disregard it.

thx guys i really need some help :(

edit: ok for the a64 mobo i looked around and saw the asus a8n-sli premium board and the abit fatal1ty sli board, would these be better choice? I must stress im after stability and not xtreme overclocking (im in the wrong forums huh?) :)

[The Runner]

oh for some more info i need a stable board really, if i did clock it wouldnt be too far like the p4 to 3.5-6 and the athlon to 2.3 or so. If that was the case what would be better? And is the 6600gt a major performance drop from the 6800nu?

any recommended brands for the 6600gt?

my psu will be 520w powerstream when i get my rma back.

ill be using a 74gb raptor as main drive +4 other drives, so i'll need at least a 4 sata port board. Good/bad thing for the 939?

[Xyus89]

if you are on a tight budget and you don't have a job shouldn't you just stick with your current system what is quite good???

xyus

[The Runner]

i can't stick with it im afraid.

[moonlightcheese]

i can't stick with it im afraid.
why not? it seems to be a fine system. i agree with Xyus. you should really save that cash and get something you really want later on. i learned my lesson in buying hardware to "get me by for now" a while ago. it cost me one nf2 mobo (which i tossed a month later), DDR400 mem (which i replaced with some new mem), an ATA HD (replaced with SATA) and that's just on my current system. that's a couple hundred USD there. trust me, it's better to wait, save up and get what you really want instead of settling for what you can afford now.

[drunkenmaster]

a ati x800 non pro is 12 pipes like your 6800, you can get a similar 128mb version to the 6600gt for the same costs, or a 256mb version for like £10 more in the uk. the 6600gt is pretty much destroyed by the x800 as they are within same price bracket , one having 12 pipes one having 8 pipes. also the x800gt is coming out very soon and will be a 6600gt eqivilent, based on the x800xl cards, smaller, less power, cooler and we might see some interest pipe unlocking options on it(might not though). but it should be cheaper than the 6600gt.

[The Runner]

To those who are talking about my current system, I really can't keep it and I don't want to disclose the reason as to why. I can afford a decent upgrade re-looking at my finances just nothing stupendous.

I've been looking about, I want to get 2x1gb of ram so I was thinking of purchasing 2x1gb crucial pc3200. Then I was going to get a 74gb raptor as my main hard drive, with 2x200gb maxtor dp10 s-atas as well.

I've been looking at the motherboards, and I'm not after the best clocking one so I am thinking of picking up either the abit an8 ultra or the asus a8n deluxe/premium board.

I'll checkout the x800 non pro cards, how do they perform against my current card? And what are ati's drivers like now?

As for the processor, would it pay me to pickup a 3700+ san diego now or go for a 3000+ venice first and see what it clocks like?

Thx.

[Xyus89]

well for somebody who is out of work that's a dame good pc setup!!!

I would go for the Sandy, nice amount of cache.

xyus

[einCe]

what card do you have now the runner?

[The Runner]

6800nu

[[XC] leviathan18]

forget asus go msi or abit or dfi the 6600gt are nice and the 3000 OC nicely too