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Thread: Upgrade advice

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    Upgrade advice

    Hi,

    I have quite an old set-up -

    CPU: AMD Athlon (Thunderbird) 1.4GHz,
    Cooler: Zalman Flower cooler,
    Mobo: Asus A7V133,
    RAM: 512MB
    HDD: 80Gb Seagate IDE,
    Optical: Pioneer DVR-112,
    PSU: Corsair HX620,
    Case: Coolermaster Aluminium Midi tower Case,
    GPU: Asus V7100GPU (nVidia)

    Wanted to get an extra hard disk as a back-up and realsied mst as SATA these days ( not supportd by my Mobo). So if I got this would have to get a SATA PCI controller card as well.
    Main use of the computer is MS office applications, games my daughter plays (she's 6) and surfing. Must be very quiet or near silent

    Was thinking of just upgrading the whole shebang to something like:

    CPU: E8700
    Cooler: Need something very quiet so perhaps XigmatekHDT-S1283 Mobo: don't know
    Mobo: any suggestions??
    Memomry: 4Gbof OCZ ro simialr
    GPU: ob- board?
    Sound: on board
    Network: 10/100/1000 automatic /on board
    PSU: Keep the Corsair HX650
    Cas: keep the Coolermaster aluminium jobbie
    HDD: Wats the flavour of the month - seems to be Samsumng F! ( 1 terabyte or neer enough)


    Any idea of optical drive, and what CPU/Mobo to get? Don't want to spend a hugh amount as am currently unemployed. ANy help on part suggested abouve gratefully received.
    Last edited by kmac; 04-04-2009 at 09:24 AM.

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    • Sputnik's system
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    Re: Upgrade advice

    CPU: AMD Phenom II 720be is Awsome for £120
    Cooler: anything you like
    Mobo: Asus 780G (EM version) ~£60-70 or 790GX (J&W or Foxconn) board upto £100
    Memomry: 4Gb OCZ ~ £35
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    Sound: on board
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    PSU: Keep the Coolermaster HX650
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    HDD: Samsung F1 or F2 / WD green ?

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    An AMD 7750+ paired with a 780G motherboard would do the trick and only set you back ~£100 for the pair. All you'd need to complete the system then is 4GB RAM (sub-£35) and a HDD (do you really need 1TB? It's quite a jump from 80GB)

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    • Aelred89's system
      • Motherboard:
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    Re: Upgrade advice

    For the stuff you want to use the PC a cheaper CPU would be more suitable and you could spend the saved money on a gpu.

    CPU: Intel E7400 - ~£100
    Mobo: Asus P5QL/ Gigabyte GA-EP43-S3L - ~£65
    RAM: Corsair 4GB Kit 800MHz - ~£35
    HDD: Samsung F1 1TB - ~£80
    GPU: ATI 4830 - ~£75

    So you'd be looking at around £350 for the upgrade. Obviously if your planning to overclock you'll need a better CPU cooler, perhaps the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro at around £20 and possibly a P45 based motherboard which cost upwards of £100.

    Hope this helps,

    Aelred89

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    This is the processor I would get:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-A...B-Cache-Retail

    If you want something more powerful the following would be good:

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159069

    TBH the X2 7750+ will be a huge upgrade over what you have now.

    Now what motherboard you will get depends on the games being played!!

    If they are nothing too demanding then a 780G based motherboard will do the job:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/JandW...RAID-uATX-HDCP

    It also has dedicated RAM for the integrated graphics card. It should be much faster than what you actually have at present!!

    If more demanding games are being played then the following HD4670 will do the job:

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150851...roduct_reviews

    It has a low noise cooler:

    http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P...D_4670/25.html

    The XFX HD4830 is much faster for £75 but also much nosier!

    This is the motherboard I would go for if you buy a graphics card:

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152777

    4gb of 800mhz DDR2 is recommended and should cost between £30 to £40 depending on what you get.

    One of the 640gb Samsung F1 drives will do the job nicely:

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158688

    Most motherboards come with one IDE connector so I would re-use your existing DVD re-writer drive if it is working still!!

    Remember Scan does free postage for Hexus members with 20+ useful posts and also check the Scan Today Only web page for special offers each day(apart from the weekends when they run for two days). Also Ebyer does free postage for orders over £49.99 and Novatech also does free postage!

    So basically the builds are:

    Build one

    J&W 780G motherboard ~£55
    4gb 800mhz DDR2 ~£40
    X2 7750+ ~ £55
    Samsung 640gb hard drive ~£50


    Total ~ £200 excluding aftermarket cooler

    Build two

    Asus 7025 motherboard ~£40
    4gb 800mhz DDR2 ~£40
    X2 7750+ ~ £55
    PowerColor HD4670 ~£63
    Samsung 640gb hard drive ~£50


    Total ~ £248 excluding aftermarket cooler

    Another big expense comes if you do NOT have a copy of an OS like Windows to hand. This will cost another at least £65 for a copy of Vista Basic. Vista Home Premium and XP Home are more expensive!

    In that case this Dell for £279 is very good value:

    http://configure.euro.dell.com/dells...=D045002&s=dhs

    Specs:


    Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core E5200 processor (2.5GHz, 800MHz, 2MB cache)
    Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with Service Pack 1, 32-bit - English
    1 Year Limited Warranty - Collect & Return
    Microsoft® Works 9.0 / English - (Does not include Microsoft® Word)
    2048MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
    Display Not Included
    320GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
    Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator 3100
    DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)
    Dell™ Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
    Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Optical Mouse - Black
    Accessories
    No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English
    Integrated 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio
    No Speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
    19-in-1 Media Card Reader
    No Modem
    Services & Software
    No Accidental Damage Support
    DataSafe Online Backup 2GB 1 year
    Also Includes
    Resource DVD - (Diagnostics & Drivers)
    English Documentation with UK/Irish Power Cord
    D045002
    Inspiron Desktop Order Uk
    1Yr Limited Warranty - Collect & Return
    Dell Internet Order
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 04-04-2009 at 02:51 AM.

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    HI guys, thanks for all the useful input. I already have a copy of XP SP2 which I am planning on using. The reason I am looking to upgrade is that I want a backup solution - additional hard drive. The backup is just for family photos (hundreds). Currently I burn them onto CD but as the collection grows its a hassle to burn them incrementally. So I thought a hard disk which just backs-up the entire data partition of my drive would be good.

    I am not really having any performance issues with the rest of the PC as it is. I have made it silent with one of those Zalman flower type coolers and a Noctua case fan (only noise now is the hard disk). I don't want to upgrade and end up with a noisy computer.

    Think I might be beter off just buying a SATA PCI controller card and a new SATA hard drive. BUT, Scan used to have the SATA controller for about £12 giving two internal SATA ports. They don't do this anymore and the cheapest SATA controller I can find is a Belkin at closer to £30. Or perhaps I should just buy a PATA drive and connect to an exisiting IDE port? Any thpughts on this?

    Normally I would be happy to spend the £200 or so quid to upgrade but I was made redundant just before Xmas 2008 so I have to be a bit more careful with the dosh.

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    Do NOT store all your pictures on a hard drive as this is just a recipe for disaster. If the hard drive fails then you lose all of the pictures. I would do backups on good quality DVDs and a hard drive.
    When it comes to the DVD brand Verbatim and TDK and quite good as long as they are the ones made in Taiwan or Japan as the quality seems more consistent according to many people. Also burn the DVDs at a lower speed and verify them!!

    Novatech do a few PCI SATA cards for under £20 delivered:

    http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/d...A%20PCI&d=

    Ebuyer does one for under £20 delivered too:

    http://www.ebuyer.com/search?sort=pr...imit=10&page=1

    You could always go for a PATA disk instead!!

    If you are going for a 1tb drive then the following would be a good one if you want low noise and power:

    http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=989360

    It is supposed to be quite a quiet drive:

    http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums...ic.php?t=48745

    Here is a review:

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...t,2026-11.html
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 05-04-2009 at 02:15 AM.

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    sounds like he wants to back up - i.e. have data on 2 separate drives.

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    Thanks again CAT

    Just one other thing, do OEM SATA drives come with a SATA connector or does one have to buy these separately?

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    Quote Originally Posted by kmac View Post
    Thanks again CAT

    Just one other thing, do OEM SATA drives come with a SATA connector or does one have to buy these separately?
    You will need to buy a SATA cable separately.

    The Samsung disks I have bought from Scan were not OEM ones even though they did not come in full retail packaging!! They did not have a SATA cable included though.Why is this important?? It means that you have a full warranty with Samsung for a few years(39 months IIRC) as opposed to 12 months with OEM drives.

    I would check with Scan about the EcoGreen F1 DT whether it is OEM or not though as it is not stated in the description.

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    You will need to buy a SATA cable separately.

    The Samsung disks I have bought from Scan were not OEM ones even though they did not come in full retail packaging!! They did not have a SATA cable included though.Why is this important?? It means that you have a full warranty with Samsung for a few years(39 months IIRC) as opposed to 12 months with OEM drives.

    I would check with Scan about the EcoGreen F1 DT whether it is OEM or not though as it is not stated in the description.
    CAT the only reason it is important is so that I order the STA cable separately if it is not included. Don't want to end up with a new drive and no way of connecting it!

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    Quote Originally Posted by kmac View Post
    CAT the only reason it is important is so that I order the STA cable separately if it is not included. Don't want to end up with a new drive and no way of connecting it!
    I said that you need to get a separate cable as in my experience none are usually included with the hard drive.

    Also do not get an OEM hard drive as the warranties are far shorter!! This is why I would check with Scan first as the previous Samsung drives I bought from them were full retail drives without any packaging!!
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 05-04-2009 at 02:58 AM.

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    I told you need to get a separate cable as in my experience none are usually included with the hard drive.

    Also do not get an OEM hard drive as the warranties are far shorter!! This is why I would check with Scan first as the previous Samsung drives I bought from them were full retail drives without any packaging!!
    They probably still are non OEM drives but in OEM packaging. What does the warranty information on the product page say?

    As for sata cables your motherboard that you buy comes with 1 or 2 at least. Check the spec page to be sure.

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    Quote Originally Posted by moogle View Post
    They probably still are non OEM drives but in OEM packaging. What does the warranty information on the product page say?

    As for sata cables your motherboard that you buy comes with 1 or 2 at least. Check the spec page to be sure.
    Some of the drives on Scan are OEM whereas the EcoGreen one does not have any warranty info on the webpage. It is better to clarify this with Scan methinks!!

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    Re: Upgrade advice

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    Some of the drives on Scan are OEM whereas the EcoGreen one does not have any warranty info on the webpage. It is better to clarify this with Scan methinks!!
    I'm guessing they don't know either because when I asked about mine I was told it was OEM but when checking the serial on the samsung warranty site it had 3 years on it. I'm guessing whoever told me had just read off their product page

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