cheap dual core pc good idea or not?

hello,
my current home pc has a 3200 amd socket 754 processer 1gb of ram
ati 9800 all in wonder graphics
creative sound card
i found out in this thread i made at hexus http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?p=991744#post991744
that i could build a pc for around £300 with a 3800 dual core processer which is nearly two 3200's and i use 3200 atm.
my pc feels a bit old sometimes also i want a better test pc.
i was thinking of using it to test more secuirity software and also test linux on it.
plus if i mess it up i can have a fun afternoon reinstalling windows
the around £300 includes windows xp home OEM
do you think that sounds like a good idea?
i would have to get a weekend job to pay for it but it should be worth it
lodore

 

Hello,
Sounds good to me...
Mrk

 

btw i got the fun afternoon reinstalling windows xp idea from you
i wouldnt reallly install to much on it and even if i did with dual core it wouldnt take long to reinstall anyways.
is it true that windows xp sp2 reconnizes sata drives without having to press f5 to install 3dparty driver?
i think its normally f5
lodore

 

Personally, if I were going to go dual core without going for a Core 2 Duo, I'd go for an AMD X2. I actually have both and for general purposes (internet and such) the speed difference is rather negligible, but you would probably get more for your buck with the X2.

I've not had to do anything special.

 

also i was just reading this
http://tomshardware.co.uk/2007/02/03/processor_price_performance_02_02_07/
it says that amd x2 prices are going down due to them losing the battle against intel.
I like intel core duo but for the extra money its not worth it.
also i was wondering if it would be worth paying a bit more for the motherboard for upgrading later?
what what you think you would look for in a mobo to pay extra for for upgrading later?
lodore

 

If you like to save a few bucks, consider the X2 3600+
If you are going to mess (err, test ) with Linux, WMware, etc, don´t get less than 1 GB of RAM
Also, get a NVIDIA VGA (better drivers for Unix/Linux)

 

the price of the 3800 was £63 now its £53 today
so as in that article from tom's hardware the prices keep dropping
lodore

 

ok this is the spec so far
LN17190 Sharkoon Rebel 9 Value Edition ATX £37.59
LN8299 380W Tagan TG380-U01 £37
LN15975 AMD AM2 Athlon 64 3800+ £63.44
LN16745 Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 £5.86
LN10405 1Gb (2X512Mb) Corsair Value £55.21
LN11545 120 Gb Western Digital WD1200JS £35.11
LN17060 LiteOn 16x DVD+/-RW/RAM SATA £23.72
LN16583 Logitech Deluxe 250 Keyboard Black PS2 £6.45
LN16642 Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2b OEM £55.61
LN15981 Abit NF-M2 nView £58
all from www.scan.co.uk
price so far £374
ive got some questions thou
1. i only play two games on my pc runescape online game and the sims2 can the 6150 nvidia gpu on the mobo play the sims 2 at a good enough resolution comparible to my ati all in wonder 9800 pro?
2. how is on board sound these days? i listen to music alot and if im going to put the pc in my room i will hook it up to my hifi and want some quite good sound.
3. I still need a cheap wireless nic card to go with it.
4. what could i change to get a seprate gpu if the sims 2 isnt playable on the 6150 gpu or seprate sound card if the gpu is ok but the on board sound is rubbish.
if the gpu is ok to play the sims 2 and the on board sound isnt to bad i can save up buy that system and then get a better gpu or sound card later on.
lodore

 

-The 6150 GPU has way less performance than a 9800 Pro. Get a 7600 GT.
-The onboard sound is OK (Realtek HDA/Azalia). If you are going to hook the PC to the HiFi receiver, use S/PDIF.

 

how much can you get 7600 for?
i changed the £58 abit mobo for a £41 gigabyte one so i can get a 7600 gpu.
the only thing i miss from the £58 abit mobo is the fanless design
ok current spec total so far £350
antec SLK3000B £30 from ebuyer
LN8299 380W Tagan TG380-U01 £30
LN15975 AMD AM2 Athlon 64 3800+ £63.44
LN16745 Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 £5.86
LN10405 1Gb (2X512Mb) Corsair Value £55.21
LN11545 120 Gb Western Digital WD1200JS £35.11
LN17060 LiteOn 16x DVD+/-RW/RAM SATA £23.72
LN16583 Logitech Deluxe 250 Keyboard Black PS2 £6.45
LN16642 Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2b OEM £55.61
LN16062 Gigabyte GA M61PM-S2 £41
lodore

 

Hello,
You can save more by buying a cheap, normal keyboard.
Mrk

 

Why not get it all from ebuyer: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/116052/rb/25104485491

 

The 7600 GT should not cost more than $125. The 7600 GS cost less than that, but it´s slower.

 

ok i just need to convert that to uk pounds.
ok about £63
but i cant get it for less than £80...
@spikeyB the thing is that way its cheaper but it means i dont have the fun of building it.
it does tell me that you cant beat the big companies thou. for my £350 im only getting windows xp home with that you get media centre edition for £309 total.
i dont know what mobo it has thou.

lodore

 

ok i cant belive what i just read....
intel vs amd


i just configered to pc's at mesh to do a comparsion.
basically same specs aka 7600gt graphics card,1gb of ram etc etc.
amd fx62 based pc £1000.11
intel 6400 core duo based pc £700
yes you guessed it the intel pc woops the amd pc that is £300 more
i choose the fx-62 because intel beats the amd 5000 hands down so i thought i would see how much it would be for a fx-62 based pc.
intel really have done it the centrino for the desktop!
less power usage but max performance and cheap!
lodore

 

Although it is beaten, the FX-62 is a high-end chip. Back in the time, the Pentium 4 EE kept its $1,000 price yet it was beaten by mid-range offering from AMD.

 

ok so they just had a change around?
whats the cheapest core duo 2 pc i can get?
lodore

 

Much better idea:
Buy BootIt NG (U$ 35). Create a partition with BING and put a copy of your OS on it and make an image of this partition. Use this partition for testing security software.

* You keep £ 283 in the purse to have some fun in the pub
* You can sleep the entire weekend if you wish because you don't need a weekend job. (or in your case: spent some time at Wilders)

 

hmm the problem is this pc is unstable and i need to at least to some new ram for it to make it not unstable.
also this pc can feel slow at times and a cheap pc might be the ticket.
also then being my own pc i can install a fresh windows xp home on it install only the software i want and dual boot linux
lodore

 

from www.scan.co.uk, the core 2 duo e4300 costs £109.94 (inc. vat) and the slightly superior e6300 costs £116.01 (inc. vat).

 

wait for how long.......
lodore

 

ok i editted my post.

 

ok then.
because if i can get a core duo 2 for a bit more than the amd 3800 based system and get more peformance its worth it in the long run since later when better dual core and quad core comes down in price i can stick one of those in the mobo.
ok my main pc that is normally unstable is working perfectly tonight and is seems quite fast.
i might still get a pc for testing out linux and secuirity programs in windows xp home thou.
i will run the memtest86 on my pc and if it comes out with memory errors i will pay some money towards the £54 for 1gb ram stick for this pc so its always stable.
then i should be able to do a image with ATI and shouldnt have my pc randomly go slow.

lodore