plz give suggestions for a 20k upgrade??

my friend is goin to upgrade his cpu in the 1st week of nov
he is a big amd fan & luvs to play games plz give suggestions accordin to his budget
budget around 20k

cpu- 11k-12k
mobo- 5k-6k (must have a fire wire port)
ram- 3-4k

he already owns a x1800

plz give amd & intel setups & also the prices
what will be the performance diff. btw the 2 setups
plz write abt it

& what is the performance & price diff btw ddr-400 ,ddr2 533,ddr2 667& ddr2 800

for 11-12k u can get the core 2 duo chip
512 mb ram

D

Intel setup

Core 2 Duo E6300 Rs. 9000
2 GB DDR2 667 RAM Rs. 10000 (DDR2 800 is ridiculously expensive and out of your budget)
MSI 965 mobo Rs. 6500
Asus P5LD2-VMSE Rs. 4700 (if you can't afford/find the above mobo)

AMD setup

Athlon64 X2 3800+ socket AM2 Rs. 8700
or
Athlon64 X2 3600+ socket AM2 Rs. 6900
2 GB DDR2 667 RAM Rs. 10000
Asus/MSI mobo based on nForce550 chipset Rs. 7000
Asus M2NPV-MX Rs. 4700 (if you can't afford/find the above mobo)

I know this exceeds your budget but you can't corners anywhere. I've already chosen the slowest C2D/Athlon processor. RAM has to be atleast 1 GB, preferably 2 GB. Mobo has to be atleast 965/nForce550 based.

A

I am assuming his primary aim is gaming. Which 1800 does he have, GTO, GTO2, XL, XT? All this makes one hell of a difference.

Best alternative:
X2 3600
MSI K8N F
2 X 1GB DDR2 533 RAM

Alternative:
C2D E 6400 + MSI Neo F 965 + 2GB
beyong budget.

my friend has a x1800 XL
&
@drvarunmehta

plz suggest stuff within the budget

D

If you want to stick to the budget than forget about Core 2 Duo.

Athlon64 X2 3600+ socket AM2 Rs. 6900
2 GB DDR2 667 RAM Rs. 10000
Asus M2N-MX or MSI K9NGM Rs. 4300

Totals. 21,200

You can't go any lower than this. I've chosen the slowest dual core processor, a really cheap mobo based on the Geforce 6100 chipset and 2 GB DDR2 RAM. If you still find it expensive the downgrade to 1 GB but I wouldn't recommend it.
I find it hard to digest that someone who would buy a X1800 would skimp on other parts.

A

M2N is crap. Get a mobo that lets you go to atleast 2.6GHz

D

I already recommended the nForce5 which will OC nicely series but the OP says I have to stick to the budget. What other choice is there within his budget?

he didnt buy the x1800 his uncle gifted it to him on his b'day
so he has a skimpy budget for other stuff
and accordin to you'll ram is more important than a fast processor for gamin??

the problem is that he has to do some database editin or video conversion
i dont know what??? but he says he needs the best processor that is why he has a low budget for ram & high budget for the processor

D

Both of them need to be equally matched. If one is great and the other poor it will create a bottleneck.

If you want a good processor and don't mind taking 1 GB RAM then get,
Core 2 Duo E6300 Rs. 9000
1 GB DDR2 667 RAM Rs. 5000
MSI 965 mobo Rs. 6500
Total Rs. 20,500

Add 1 GB RAM more when you can afford it.

drvarunmehta said:
Both of them need to be equally matched. If one is great and the other poor it will create a bottleneck.

If you want a good processor and don't mind taking 1 GB RAM then get,
Core 2 Duo E6300 Rs. 9000
1 GB DDR2 667 RAM Rs. 5000
MSI 965 mobo Rs. 6500
Total Rs. 20,500

Add 1 GB RAM more when you can afford it.

thanx for the help varun
most probably i'll go with this setup
will check out the next digit issue for the best mobo
& do u know the price of e6400& e6600??

D

E6400 Rs. 12,200
E6600 Rs. 17,800

goin with the E6300
thanx for the help

A

GPU is the most important for todays games. X1800XL is only a mainstream card, that is a different thing all together.