AMD Phenom™ Bundle Review

Is your PC a bit lame and tired? Does it lack in the speed it had when you first bought it?

Are you using Windows XP or Windows 7, but feel it is time to get a new PC, but you can’t afford thehigh prices?

Why not upgrade your case with a bundle that takes care of processor, memory and other essentials, whilst offering some state of the art technology to improve your experiences... all for less than £140!

Before you read on, changing motherboards over need not be a daunting task. Common sense and reading the instructions will allow a successful upgrade without drama, and Maplins staff are very knowledgeable and are happy to advise if unsure of something.

This package contains a triple core AMD Phenom X3 8250 processor, with heatsink and performance fan, two gigabytes of DDR2 memory and a Foxconn A74ML-K motherboard which has HD as standard, with HDMI, DVI and VGA outputs. It also has 5.1 High Definition audio, which gives movies, games and music extra sparkle and punch. A gigabit LAN takes care of the fastest network and/or broadband speeds, and connection of hard drives are SATA II with RAID or IDE feeding two Ultra DMA133, taking whatever drives you had pre-upgrade. Expansion is by PCI-E X16, PCI Express X1 and two PCI slots which will cater for older must-have cards, though in fairness most is covered by the motherboard.

Four USB ports complete the picture.

So, is it worth it?

YES! At such a price, you have built a virtually new machine (if your case is really scruffy, why not upgrade that too?) with a fast multi core processor, HDMI out for your big HD TV, 5.1 audio, a fast network connection and two gig of memory. If you really have twenty thumbs for digits and cannot fathom the work involved, maybe a PC friend could help, though take your time and you could surprise yourself!

Specs:
• PC upgrade kit with CPU, Board, Graphics and Memory
• AMD® Phenom X3 Triple Core 8250 Processor
• 2GB DDR2 Memory
• AMD Rage 5450 512MB Graphics card
• Foxconn A74ML-K motherboard with performance cooling fan
• AMD® 740G + SB700 chipset
• ATI Avivo™ HD Video and Display Platform
• ATI Stream acceleration technology
• 80 stream processing units
• Full DirectX® 11 support
• HDMI, DVI, VGA output
• ShaderModel 5.0
• 5.1 High Definition Audio
• Gigabit LAN for fast networking and broadband
• Expansion slots: 1 x PCI-E X16, 1 x PCI Express X1, 2 x PCI slots
• Integrated SATA II with RAID 0, 1, 10
• 1x IDE port for 2 x Ultra DMA133 devices, 4 x USB 2.0 ports