Mobo, gfx, memory for 300 quid

I'm looking to upgrade my PC with a new mobo, gfx card and memory. I have 300 notes to spend. Recommendations please. I'm not very well up on current tech. ATX or micro ATX.

[EDIT]
I'm thinking along the lines of this gfx card for 100 quid. Tom's Hardware reckons it is best bang per buck for just under 100 quid: Sapphire ATI X1950XT 256MB GDDR3 VIVO dual DVI PCI-E Graphics Card

what kind of processor are we talking?
AMD -> out of luck

Intel 478: try to get one of the few mATX still featuring this socket.


1. 2GB RAM
2. Mobo with PCIe x16 slot and 2 / 4 DDR2 RAM Banks
3. GF 8400 - 8600 GTS depending on your remaining money
The lower end HD2300-2600 GPU (NOT THE HD2000!!) are an option as well.
All of those have HD video decoders and feature DX10 / unified shaders

Memory is cheap at the moment, probably around 50€ for 2GB.
Motherboards can be cheap too, although I would probably go for Asus on my next upgrade again, between 40€ and 120€.
I would not save money on the graphics card though when you can get a really good card for a little more money, at the moment I would probably go for nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS, which costs around 250€ ( http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35618 ).

Addition to the EDIT: Don't waste money on a pre DX10 card.
Might be that they have the best power per buck ratio, but they are actually outdated right now and you will regret it when you have to replace it in 12 months at latest. (or to stop playing half of the games due to missing DX10 / DX9 Extended support)

Thanks, chaps.

Right Lumooja has sold me on the 8800GTS... this was also a fave on a recent Tom's hardware review, but it is probably going to push my total cost a bit over budget. Oh well....

Dreamora... I'm with you on the mobo specs. Def going with 2GB DDR2 ram. I have an Athlon64 in my current system, but I may plump for a brand spanking Core2 DUO setup.

The choice of motherboards out there is bewildering, and even after some research I feel I have no clue. How hard is slotting a CPU into a mobo? I'm toying with going for a pre-built bundle deal.

Can anyone comment on the quality/value for money of this one?

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MBB-C2D642

The actually installation of the CPU chip is almost idiot proof. Just drop the CPU on the MB (check of course the orientation), and turn the tightening lever. I usually check where the MB pins hit the CPU contacts, and re-insert the CPU so that all pins hit the CPU contacts as close as possible to the center of each contact (so no pins are on the edges, and possibly have a chance to move and get no contact). There's like 0.1mm playroom to move the CPU chip towards each corner, so I move it to the best corner and then turn the tightener lever again.

The current Intel CPU fan is very easy to plug in on the MB. It has 4 black plastic screws on each corner, which you leave in "up" (and max counter clock-wise rotated) position and just push them with your fingers trough the MB holes. Then you use a flat screwdriver and turn the plastic screws 90 degrees clock-wise (like any screws to lock). After you have turned them 90 deg, they should be really tight, you can test their firmness by pulling the CPU fan up with some force, the rig should not lift an millimeter from the MB.

See also this nice graphical presentation from Intel:
http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/eng/299985.htm

What OS are you planning to run? DX10 or not only makes a difference if you plan to run Vista, since MS has no intentions of releasing DX10 for XP at this point in time.

Thanks for the info RE CPU insertion. I'm going to be running XP, but I may want to go Vista in future (well what I mean is I may be forced to go Vista!) I'm sure some bright spark will come up with a way to use DX10 on XP...

xlsior: OpenGL will some day support unified shaders as well :-)

Beside that, you forget about the extended DX9 version that was mentioned to come and that is an "intermediate version" to DX10 on vista in some ways

Well thanks for the help, folks. I eventually went for the Novatech bundle and the 8800gts. Running sweet as a nut. All this because I seemingly fragged the onboard sound on my previous system when moving it to a new case. I could probably have got away with just buying a soundblaster, but this is a much better system. No upgrades for at least 4 yrs.

Dreamora: good points.

I priced up a mb/gfx/cpu/ram combo including 8800GTS the other day. I wouldn't want to go much below that because the price/performance ratio on anything cheaper is really bad.

From memory: -

AMD X2 5200 Energy Efficient (65W and 2Mb cache) £81
Corsair 4-4-4-12 2GB RAM £85
Abit KN9-S £47
Cheapest 8800GTS £175 if you shop around

I make that £388. You can get it down to £350 if you drop to 1GB RAM.