I have an Athlon-based PC (1.7gHz) that I have added bits and pieces to over the last 3 years. I recently made a poster for one of the girls at work (a big b*stard of an image, 11k x 8k for printing at A0 size). I may be doing more of these in the future. Anyway I have memory and performance gripes now (I got out of memory errors even though I have 2gb of RAM and some of the filters were very slow in execution on this CPU). Sooooo I am considering an upgrade. I can't get just a CPU and I can't put any RAM on this mobo, so I am thinking of a new mobo or an entirely new PC.
I went to the computer fair this morning and checked out some prices. In terms of a new PC I can get the following set-up for £515:
AMD Athlon 64 bit (3500)
1 GB RAM
200 GB HD
256 MB GeForce AGP
DVD ReWriter Dual Layer
Firewire, 10/100 network, USB2 front and rear, keyboard mouse, speakers. Windows is installed on the machine already.
That's with a 3 year warranty RTB and the first year incudes parts and labour.
I might be able to knock him down on price if he doesn't give me the DVD, mouse, keyboard and speakers. If so I can probably get this PC for about £470 because I am a returning customer too.
Anyway, in terms of not spending that much, there is the option of only getting a mobo and CPU. A dude there is selling a GA-K8NS-Pro with CPU (3000) and fan for £150.
But reviews of that mobo are mixed. And I'll probably have to buy Winblows XP if I just change mobos.
What to do?
If I go the mobo route are there any mobos to recommend, any to avoid?
