Upgrade Or New PC?

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Smellypenguin

Smellypenguin

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Hey guys,

So iv had my rig for around 4 years now, not upgraded since I bought it or anything always been good. Definatly outdated now so I'm considering getting a whole new rig, but then I thought about upgrading. Not sure if its worth it. I attach an Everest report with some specs on, will consider upgrading or a new PC. Please leave advice too :)

Thanks Dan.

-Edit- Noticing there's no ram on there, I have 2 512 sticks.
Budget for upgrade 200-300 Budget for New PC 700ish
 

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you have almost the same rig as i did, but i decided to build a new one, because upgrading would be a waste of money. I kept mine as a 2nd pc for my son, but i had a radeon 9800 pro.

Go new mate and keep your old one as a 2nd.
 
Yeah, to upgrade that enough to bring it up to today's standards, you'd pretty much need to buy all new parts, essentially a new computer. So just get (or preferably build) a whole new computer.
 
That would depend on the country you live in. If in the USA, Newegg.com is a good place to do business with. I've also used ZipZoomFly.com.
 
i think you could simply upgrade the processor and the video card and be fairly up to date. it doesn't take a million dollars to bring something up to date. if your motherboard can support a dual core athlon 64, then i would get an amd 5000+, and also find the radeon 3850. that would set you straight and keep your computer chugging along nicely.

and off to the side, if you can afford it, get some extra ram for maybe another 30 dollars.

i know you're UK, but you can pretty much get the idea. it's not very expensive to bring yourself up to date like these other guys are suggesting. mailpup has the right idea.

there's a key subtlety here that we may have missed. there's a big difference between being brought up to date, and bringing a computer up to date and having it be top of the line.

you don't need top of the line equipment it sounds like. just has to get the job done.
 
oh wow...that's the motherboard you have?

that was actually not as decent as i was expecting...forgot about how much things have changed. well it turns out, you're right, you can't get a dual core in that thing. it looks like a new motherboard would be in order after all. that motherboard doesn't even have a pci-express 16x slot which you will need in order to be relatively up to date.

the good news is that getting a decent amd board and processor doesn't take an awful lot of cash.

$120 for amd athlon 64 x2 5200+, roughly $85 for an amd motherboard that supports ddr2 800 ram and a dual core and has a pci-e 16x slot, maybe $50 for 2 gigs of new ddr2 800 ram, and about another $180 for the radeon 3850 i mentioned.

it's about $450 in the end. not sure how much in pounds, but it's not very much over budget for fixing it up at all in comparison to buying a whole new one.

and over time you can just add in more new stuff part by part whenever you have the time and cash. the main things that needed replacing immediately were the motherboard and the processor. once those are upgraded, everything else follows easily and quickly.

and that should keep you up to date for a long while. if the motherboard is good enough and supports even the most recent processors and stuff, then you won't even have to touch the motherboard for about 5 years or more depending. just add other stuff in it when they get too old.
 
Your mobo is Socket A which is pretty old (I have it too ;) haha) and you have pretty much the best CPU that you can get for Socket A (you have 2800+, it goes up to 3200+ and there's not much difference between them). You could upgrade your graphics card quite a bit, but it probably wouldn't be worth it on that system, so I would recommend going with a new PC.

Ebuyer is a good UK shop that I use all the time, they have lots of components and you could build a decent modern system for about £500-600, and that includes an AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2GB RAM and an nVidia 8 series card (not a low end one, either).
 
I would suggest getting more RAM than that, and not "value RAM". I would get this, it costs more, but it would be worth it:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/118298

The graphics card looks good, so I'd stick with that one.

Most of the mobos on ebuyer are mATX, which means that they are smaller than normal boards, like your current one. If you want a full ATX size board, you have to look out for them as theres only a few on there.

Here's the AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ on ebuyer:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135662

This would probably be a good PSU for this system:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114933

If your current HDD isn't SATA, they have quite a selection on there, and I would recommend Western Digital :)


Yea used to be top of the line 4-5 years ago haha :p
Click to expand...
Yeah mate, same here :D Unfortunately I don't have the cash to upgrade yet :(
 
My current PSU outdated or underpowered?

Well i was considering buying the Tsunami case, or something along those lines. Will that suit both mATX and full size ATX?

Yeaa, Havent upgraded anything in the PC till now :p only really decided to save up some dosh and do it, Thought id need it around now.

--Edit-- Yea my hard drive is PATA atm, So would something like http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128708 Be about right?

P.S. I lol'd at the deal.. Real bargain.
 
Well, I don't know the specs of your current PSU but if your system is 4-5 years old then chances are it won't be up to powering an 8600GT, but I won't know for sure unless you post your current PSU's specs. There will be a sticker on the side of your PSU with a chart on it telling you the total wattage and the amperage ratings for each rail. What we're interested in is the wattage and the amperage of the 12V rail.

If you could take a pic of your PSU's spec sticker, we can take a look and it will save you the hassle of writing it all down and typing it out ;) It should be on the left hand side (from facing the front of your case), so if you take the cover off, then you should be able to see it. You should be ok leaving the PC turned on whilst doing this so long as you don't stick your hand in, but you can turn the PC off if you want to :)

Edit: Most cases will take an mATX case, but ATX mobos have more PCI slots and the parts are usually more spread out and have a bit more room. If your case will take an mATX mobo then it's just preference as to what size mobo you get, really, or if you need the extra PCI slots. ATX boards typically have 5 and mATX 1 or 2.
 
Apparently the people at the shop were i got my rig built *Cough*Central Media in teeside*Cough* fit these upside down :>

Camera is not in this house atm =/ Never have a camera when you need it!

The sticker says 15/16 amps depending on which I have (Nope it doesnt bloody tell you!)

Read above post for hard drive :>
 
Smellypenguin said:
Never have a camera when you need it!
Click to expand...
Haha, so true :p

That's a good price for a 160GB drive, ebuyer usually have good prices for hard drives. Usually most of their stock is reasonably priced :)

Smellypenguin said:
The sticker says 15/16 amps depending on which I have
Click to expand...
Typical :rolleyes: if it doesn't tell you for your specific model then it's probably a cheap generic PSU, did you see the manufacturer's name?
 
Nah no manufacturer there, Probably is cheap one, we didnt order it with the pc (Any special type that is) **Yes i have the spec reciept from 4-5 years ago**

But more to the point, guessing that wont power it?
 
Here's my recommended configuration:
Q6600, ASUS P5N32-SLI Deluxe & Corsair XMS2 2GB DDR2 800MHz bundle - £351.32 inc vat
Asus 8800GT 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTVOut PCI-E Graphics Card - £174.99 inc VAT
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM - £62.27 inc VAT
Corsair VX 550W PSU - £54.99 inc VAT
Samsung Lightscribe SATA 20xDVD+/-R/RW/RAM Retail with Black, Beige and Silver Bezels + Nero Burning Rom - £21.56 inc vat

Grand Total = £666.05 including VAT. All products are of excellent quality and will work together perfectly. Good luck and let us know how it goes. :)
 
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