Upgrading Time !!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

which version of windows do you have? windows 8 upgarde offers are about to appear - with huge rumours it`ll be around £25 to upgrade, which would good value for you

Perhaps,the OP should try the Release Preview before they splurge their money on it.

[Macman]

Thanks for your advice guys!

I'll keep you posted on where I go from here.

[Willzzz]

Sadly I don't think the upgrade offer applies to people building their own PC.

[HalloweenJack]

the £14.99 is the upgrade offer - it would seem the upgarde offer for everyone else would be £25>£30... and you can get rid of metro interface as well

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

the £14.99 is the upgrade offer - it would seem the upgarde offer for everyone else would be £25>£30... and you can get rid of metro interface as well

Can you?? With the Release Preview you could not remove Metro.

[Macman]

Latest 'possible' purchase:



Comments?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You already have a pair of 1GB DIMMs,so I would add another 4GB to make it 6GB which should be more than enough for your puposes AFAIK.

You really need to look at the PSU,otherwise it will a recipe for utter disaster. From what I gather it is a LITEON 300W PSU:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...odTypeId=12454

Just open up your PC and have a look. Also check how long it is,so we can get a better impression of what PSUs will fit.

I would probably get one of the following PSUs:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-...n-atx-v231-psu

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-...12v-fan-atx-v2

They are somewhat shorter than normal(140MM).

This PSU is modular but is longer:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...12v-quiet-fan-

Also measure how much space your case has for a graphics card,ie,located where your PCI-E slot is and measure the distance from the backplate to the HDD cage. Also,the GTX550TI is not good value for money.

There is a picture of your case on the HP website:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...roduct=3542411

There is a video on the webpage which is useful for you to watch.

Here is another picture:

http://www.tech-forums.net/pc/f77/wo...n-ever-245276/





An easy card to fit should be the following:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-s...ink-dvi-i-hdmi

This card is faster but much longer:

http://www.cclonline.com/product/802...-Card/VGA0597/

Your case is quite cramped so it might run a bit hot and also the dual slot cooler may clash with your cabling.

[Macman]

Back to the drawing board!

Thanks Cat; will take this on board! I'll get it opened up soon and get the pics etc

[ONEK]

As for your cramped case, you could be old fashioned and get an Antec 300, you could pick up the case for £40, which would aid cooling if you decided to get a few new fans in the future.
I'm assuming you're still wanting that NVIDIA GTX 550Ti, though with the budget you're on it might be worth going for the ATI graphics card route.
It looks about the same price for a 550Ti but did a small amount of searching and found http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=GX-163-MS this is probably a bit faster and doesn't cost more either.
With a graphics card this powerful you will need a new PSU. The stock ones that come with pre-built computers will not provide enough power.
The CPU isn't bad, and I do recommend you do that ram upgrade and get windows 7 64bit and even a SSD if you can push that all into your budget.

[Macman]

Just to clarify; Memory - RAM

My BIOS indicates:

2048mb / PC2-5300 - so I'd be better going for this one?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb(2...d-cas-5-5-5-15

As you had indicated:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-(...edcas-5-5-5-18

Or am I able to use 4GB DDR2 PC2-6400 ??

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Is it 2X1GB sticks??

Edit!!

Both RAM sets should work:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...41&dlc=en#N127

[Biscuit]

Just to clarify; Memory - RAM

My BIOS indicates:

2048mb / PC2-5300 - so I'd be better going for this one?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb(2...d-cas-5-5-5-15

As you had indicated:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-(...edcas-5-5-5-18

Or am I able to use 4GB DDR2 PC2-6400 ??

6400 will just run at 5300 speeds if the motherboard cannot support the higher ones. The same is true if you mix different speed sticks on the same motherboard, they will all revert to the lowest common denominator

[Macman]

Is it 2X1GB sticks??

Edit!!

Both RAM sets should work:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...41&dlc=en#N127

Yeah it is 2 x 1gb Kingston memory sticks. The reason I had asked, a friend told me that I could only have 1 specific type of memory sticks;

1gb + 1gb Kingston + 2gb Corsair + 2gb Corsair = 6gb

Would not happen due to Kingston & Corsair being different makes? Or was he talking nonsense?

Appreciate your help on this btw !!

Regards

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

In theory they should be fine.

The RAM is cheaper on Ebuyer:

http://www.ebuyer.com/142387-crucial...2kit25664aa667

http://www.ebuyer.com/142403-crucial...2kit25664aa800

You also cashback from Top Cashback and Quidco.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would get his PSU too:

http://www.ebuyer.com/264381-xfx-450...u-p1-450s-u2b9

It is compact and uses a ball bearing fan.

There is also this PSU too:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...12v-quiet-fan-

It is modular which should help reduce the cable mess in your case although it uses a sleeve bearing fan.

Edit!!

I was thinking about the GPU too.

An HD6850 1GB would be the best value for money IMHO:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...685x-zcfc.html

http://www.cclonline.com/product/802...-Card/VGA0597/

However,since your case is a tad cramped,I suggested an HD7750.

Then I realised the HD7770 has dropped in price. It is a bit slower than an HD6850 1GB,but consumes less power and runs cooler:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-g...-graphics-card

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-m...x-dvi-1-x-hdmi

The first card is pre-overclocked and trades blows with the HD6850 1GB while consuming less power. It also uses a shorter PCB.

You have an 8500GT in your current system,and the Gigabyte HD7770 appears to be around an inch longer.





You might need to do a bit of cable management!!

[Macman]

The card can support dual monitors?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-m...x-dvi-1-x-hdmi

I'm assuming I have to buy a splitter?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/newli...nitors)-dv-188

Regards