Will this upgrade be with it?

Title should read 'Worth It'


Just moved house and wife wants a laptop so my intended new PC has to wait awhile. Is it worthwhile, for approx £250 - £300, upgrading my current PC to last another 12 to 18 months?

Just had a mini rebuild into a new case with a new power supply and graphics card.

Current PC Spec:

Pentium 4 3.4GHz
1GB 3.39GHz RAM
GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB (New)
Operating System: Windows XP
New Case
New Power Supply



Proposed PC Spec

Will rebuild utilising the following existing components:

Case
Power supply (500W)
HHD’s
GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB graphic card
Operating System: Windows XP


New Components:

Motherboard
4GB DDR2 800MHz DIMM RAM
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 2.0GHz


Many thanks in advance for your input

you may as well add a 64 bit OS in there if you're planning on using 4 gigs of ram.

as far as building/parts..it all lies in your pocketbook.

as flubber mentioned, if you're sticking with windows xp, no point in getting 4 gb of ram since it won't see it.

if your wallet's holding you back, i would wait a little bit longer.

Don't get the 8800 GTS 320MB, the newer versions (G92 revision w/512MB) is much better.

you really have to think price vs performance....

unless your planning on playing crysis or ut3 on max... you really don't need it... stick with the cheaper alternative and save your money for other killer gear.... like a razor mouse or a g15 keyboard

Not to mention she already HAS the GTS 320, since it's under the 'existing components' category.

It looks good, now you need to decide on a mobo, a cheapo one will do. And yeah, it will last you 12-18 months, the MTBF on a CPU is 10 years. If you're gonna get a Razer mouse, you gotta get a Razer keyboard to match

EDIT: Here found a mobo for you, I know you're euro but you can use this as a reference.

no need to get a mouse and keyboard if you don't have a good pc...

I would really consider thinking about getting an e4600 vs. an e4400. There's a difference of 400mhz per core and 2mb more of L2 cache (in some places you can find the 46 cheaper than the 44 as well).

In all honesty, I'd wait for upgrades. It will just be a few months until newer products are out that will make you regret not saving that £2-300. I'd say put that money aside until your ready for a whole new system.

If you're building a mid-range machine for keeps, I'd say forget about the Allendale line in general and go Conroe with the E6600, E8400 Wolfdale (rare/newer, runs cooler), or futureproof with the Q6600 Kentsfield (low end quad core, OCs to 3GHz easily with the G0 stepping).