Budget is 'as little as possible' so a couple of hundred quid at most really.
The way things are right now, I'll probably be looking at an incremental upgrade.
ie. OS + RAM then a CPU at a later date as one possible combination.
However Costs are as follows:
W7 Home Premium 64bit
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=1555&subcat=
£79.99 inc VAT
RAM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MY-190-CS
£53.99 inc VAT
I'd prefer this as it is matched to what I have already iirc it was recommended as being a good match for my mobo and cpu at the time - twin2x2048-6400C4. I forget the latency timings.
or
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=8&subcat=813
£29.99 inc VAT
There's other RAM that's much cheaper here too
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/produc...id=8&subid=813
CPU
Some interesting choices you recommend...
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=6&subcat=1943
£94.99 inc VAT
or
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 850 "95W Edition" 3.30GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=6&subcat=1943
£85.99 inc VAT
This retailer (I've used them before and am comfortable with their reliability) doesn't have a 955 @ 95w, so it looks like the 850 @ 95w is the option here.
QUESTION - how can I see what wattage my cpu is currently? Presumably less wattage means less heat and less chance of damaging the mobo.
QUESTION - my current mobo spec shows os support for Vista/XP/2000. Surely W7 will not break it? lol.
I also recently got a discount voucher for 5% off next order until 12 september... so I might have to use it
So ram + os is about £140 inc delivery (or less using a different RAM brand/amount). Which is not too bad, add to that a processor a short way down the line and we could be in business.