New/Upgrade, advice please.

[Chan]

So old PC died today, suspect motherboard... keeps randomly powering off. But it's been a flawless servant for 2 years so think I'll let it R.I.P.

Therefor, need a new PC, looking to retro-fit what I have where possible.

Looking to keep my Syncmaster 913N that runs @ 1280x1024 however can upgrade if reasonably within budget, Hiper 580W PSU, WD 500gb sata2 HDx2 and obviously standard IDE cd/dvd drives, and my P180 case.

So, need mobo/processor+cooling/graphics/memory. Not really looking to spend more than £500, but alittle flexible. Will be used pretty much only for gaming + DVDs.

Suggestions very much appreciated as I don't have a flying monkey whats good now! AMD/Intell/ATI/Nvidia don't mind.

[scaryjim]

If you're only gaming at 1280x1024 I'd strongly recommend an ATI 4770 or 4830, both can be had in the £70 - £85 price range. The XFX HD4850 XXX is also a very good buy at the minute for £86. I certainly wouldn't bother with anything beyond that - absolutely no point at that res! NVidia's equivalent parts are the 9800GT and GTS250, but I think ATI offer better value for money at the minute.

From there on pretty much any new build would fit your needs, so why not go with the Hexus forum's current favoured suggestion: AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE. The stock cooler with the Phenom IIs is meant to be pretty good. It can be coupled with either an AM2+ mobo and DDR2 RAM, or an AM3 mobo and DDR3 RAM. General opinion sways towards AM2+ / DDR2 being better value, so here I'd go for the Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 and 4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 CL4.

The linked products all together (you can get free shipping at Scan as a hexus forum member, and free supersaver shipping at ebuyer for orders over £50) will set you back about £340. I suggest you pocket the difference

[Chan]

Well, I'm perfectly fine upgrading my TFT to take advantage of higher res options. Was only leaving it out as (from experience) it is pretty much the most expensive item to buy.

[shaithis]

keeps randomly powering off.

Hiper 580W PSU

Seriously, get a decent PSU (Corsair, Seasonic, Enermax, FSP) and try that first. If it still doesn't function with the new PSU, then be thankful you got a new one and won't be risking all your new kit with such a dodgy PSU!

[Chan]

Seriously, get a decent PSU (Corsair, Seasonic, Enermax, FSP) and try that first. If it still doesn't function with the new PSU, then be thankful you got a new one and won't be risking all your new kit with such a dodgy PSU!

Erm, unless something really weird has happened since I built this comp, the Hiper 580 Type-R was one of highest recommended PSUs around back then. But I'll toss in another PSU i have laying around to test anyway.

[shaithis]

The Hipers seemed to have a really bad failure rate.....quite a few were posting here talking about them....I myself had a Type-R 580W die on me, plus a 700W model that would not run a system stable.

Jonny Gurus review leaves a lot to be desired also and he seems to be the man to listen to when it comes to PSUs.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you're only gaming at 1280x1024 I'd strongly recommend an ATI 4770 or 4830, both can be had in the £70 - £85 price range. The XFX HD4850 XXX is also a very good buy at the minute for £86. I certainly wouldn't bother with anything beyond that - absolutely no point at that res! NVidia's equivalent parts are the 9800GT and GTS250, but I think ATI offer better value for money at the minute.

From there on pretty much any new build would fit your needs, so why not go with the Hexus forum's current favoured suggestion: AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE. The stock cooler with the Phenom IIs is meant to be pretty good. It can be coupled with either an AM2+ mobo and DDR2 RAM, or an AM3 mobo and DDR3 RAM. General opinion sways towards AM2+ / DDR2 being better value, so here I'd go for the Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 and 4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 CL4.

The linked products all together (you can get free shipping at Scan as a hexus forum member, and free supersaver shipping at ebuyer for orders over £50) will set you back about £340. I suggest you pocket the difference

I agree with pretty much every suggestion here.

You could also get an AM2+ Phenom II X4 940BE quad core for around £154:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-P...Hz-125W-Retail

You could then get a decent modular PSU like this Enermax 525w modular for around £82:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/525W-...uard-SafeGuard

Unless you are overclocking the Phenom II X4 940 comes a decent stock cooler- it even has copper heatpipes!

You should still be within your budget

[jim]

Erm, unless something really weird has happened since I built this comp, the Hiper 580 Type-R was one of highest recommended PSUs around back then. But I'll toss in another PSU i have laying around to test anyway.

My Hiper 580 Type-R destroyed itself, my motherboard, my processor and my RAM after about 15 months or so, and I am forever coming across other people who had similar situations.

I highly recommend getting a replacement PSU, even if it's still working fine.

[jim]

The Hipers seemed to have a really bad failure rate.....quite a few were posting here talking about them....I myself had a Type-R 580W die on me, plus a 700W model that would not run a system stable.

Jonny Gurus review leaves a lot to be desired also and he seems to be the man to listen to when it comes to PSUs.

That review is for the M though, for the Type-R he's a lot more complimentary. Not that I'm going to defend it.

[McPhee]

I play at 1440x900 most of the time (also got a 1080p plasma, but i rarely game on it) which is about the same number of pixels as 1280x1024. The 4850 does a cracking job, so would the 4770 or 4830. The only game i've found the card lacking for is Oblivion, and that's simply down to 512MB VRAM not being enough to run the various appearance enhancing mods (higher draw distance, more foliage, higher res textures etc.). Slightly annoying really as it has nothing to do with the speed of the card, a 1GB 9600GT could manage to run these mods

Erm, unless something really weird has happened since I built this comp, the Hiper 580 Type-R was one of highest recommended PSUs around back then. But I'll toss in another PSU i have laying around to test anyway.

It's not wierd really, at the time it was recommended nobody will have known it was an unreliable paper-weight. The test of time revealed that story.

[Chan]

Thanks for the heads up on the Hiper then, will grab a enermax while I'm at it. Sooo from what scaryjim said, ordering

Gigabyte HD 4770 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card £89.30
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 6MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £119.20
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 AMD 790X Socket AM2+ ATX 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard £91.99
Crucial 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory £37.28

and only enermax ebuyer do is the Enermax Modu82+ 425W Modular PSU - 82+% Efficiency certified, 1x PCI-E, ATXv2.3 £55.55 would that suffice or go with the 525W one from scan for £23 more. Bare in mind not planning to overclock anything.

Comes in at £393 from ebuyer.. only alittle more than the AA charged to recover my car.. story for another time.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks for the heads up on the Hiper then, will grab a enermax while I'm at it. Sooo from what scaryjim said, ordering

Gigabyte HD 4770 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card £89.30
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 6MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £119.20
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 AMD 790X Socket AM2+ ATX 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard £91.99
Crucial 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory £37.28

and only enermax ebuyer do is the Enermax Modu82+ 425W Modular PSU - 82+% Efficiency certified, 1x PCI-E, ATXv2.3 £55.55 would that suffice or go with the 525W one from scan for £23 more. Bare in mind not planning to overclock anything.

Comes in at £393 from ebuyer.. only alittle more than the AA charged to recover my car.. story for another time.

You are eligible for free postage from Scan BTW as you have over 20 posts.

The Phenom II X3 720 is also around £115 at Scan.

The HD4850 is faster than the HD4770. The HD4770 is in between the speed of the HD4830 and HD4850 and the latter has simply more shading power available(800 stream processors for the HD4850 versus 640 stream processors for the HD4770 and HD4830).

The HD4850 is also on Scan Today Only for around £80 until midday tommorrow:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

The card also has a custom dual slot cooler and is pre-overclocked.

There is also a 500w modular Silverstone Strider for around £50:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

http://www.silverstonetek.com/produc...F-230&area=usa

[geezerone]

Just to throw my opinion in:
Intel Q6700 for £138 and Arctic Freezer 7 Pro heatsink/fan for £18 to cool it!
4GB Corsair XMS2 RAM for £37 typically (very often this price)
Gigabyte iP43 Motherboard for £69
Sapphire ATI 4830 for £81 (incl. shipping)

The prices for the Scan products are very often cheaper over weekend (Fri-Mon morning).

This totals £340 ish or less incl. delivery. PSU will be extra if you want to buy a new one that is.

[Chan]

The HD4850 is also on Scan Today Only for around £80 until midday tommorrow:
There is also a 500w modular Silverstone Strider for around £50:

Thanks, guess my list has changed! Will go with those from scan today then.

[kakahara]

So old PC died today, suspect motherboard... keeps randomly powering off.


Hiper 580W PSU

I've had 2 different Hiper Type R PSUs fail on me. The second was the newer modular style one.
Both powered up fine but I kept getting random BSODs, shutdowns and freezes.

I assumed Hiper were a really good brand because of the price I paid but no.
I replaced it with a Corsair HX620 which is a really good modular unit and the best thing is it has a 5yr warranty which is great.

I have a feeling I would need a higher wattage PSU before the Corsair gives me any trouble. Would definately recommend one!

[JordanWillis]

As for graphics, I'd recommend either a 9800GT or GTX/GTX+. That card will serve you well in any game maxed out.