Spec me an upgrade/rebuild - £400ish

wozza2k

wozza2k

wozza2k

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Joined
23 Sep 2008
Posts
2,294
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London
Right i am looking to rebuilding a majority of my computer and am looking for some recommendations, my current build is below and is made from a mix of old and new parts from upgrades here and there. I am looking to spend maybe £400ish, and looking something to be powerful yet quiet, i don't really game on my PC as i use my PS3 primarily for that, but am looking for a rig which will handle 1080p videos. I already have a Windows 7 Professional, so an OS would need to be included in calculations

Case - Lian Li PC-A05B
PSU - Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
Motherboard - Foxxconn 946GZ7MA-8KRS2H
CPU -Pentium D 3.4
RAM - Crucial 2GB Kit CT2KIT12864AA53E
HDD - Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB
HDD2 Seagate ST3750640AS - 750gb
HDD3 Hitachi HDS721616PLA380 - 250GB
Graphics Card - GeForce 7300 LE
Sound Card - Audigy 2 Platinum
Optical Drive - Sony DVD-RW AW-G170A

I was originally looking at an Intel i5 build, but not sure if this will be overkill for my needs?

Thinking out of the current parts i can probably keep the Case, PSU, HDD's and optical drive, so it's really a matter of Mobo, CPU, Ram, GPU and maybe soundcard that i need to replace.

Thanks All!
 
To be honest, if you just want to be able to play 1080p video then buying a modern graphics card like this would sort you out.

Do you have any other uses of your PC that would call for an upgrade? For example, if this is your board then you could buy a Core 2 Quad Q6600 2nd hand for £70-80 and drastically increase your computing power. Also, another 2GB of DDR2 will aid your windows 7 performance quite a bit.
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel (PGS34G1333ELK) £88.99
(£75.74) £88.99
(£75.74)
Asus M4A87TD/USB3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £86.99
(£74.03) £86.99
(£74.03)
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 635 2.90GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £80.99
(£68.93) £80.99
(£68.93)
Point Of View GeForce 9800 GT Green Edition 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £76.99
(£65.52) £76.99
(£65.52)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1156 / 1366) £18.99
(£16.16) £18.99
(£16.16)
Sub Total : £300.38
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £54.23
Total : £364.11

I included a nvidia card, due to better drivers, and hardware acceleration for movies.

a cooler because AMD stock heatsinks are to loud.

motherboard with SATA and USB3.0
 
Didn't realise the Motherboard would support the Q6600 otherwise i would have done that! Good Spot, will have to double check later and confirm, and for some reason the crucial scanner only showed my motherboard as capable of supporting 2GB of ram???
 
wozza2k said:
Didn't realise the Motherboard would support the Q6600 otherwise i would have done that! Good Spot, will have to double check later and confirm, and for some reason the crucial scanner only showed my motherboard as capable of supporting 2GB of ram???
Click to expand...

probably read it wrong, as you have 2gigs installed, or the program is difficult to read.
 
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel (PGS34G1333ELK) £88.99
(£75.74) £88.99
(£75.74)
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £84.99
(£72.33) £84.99
(£72.33)
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 635 2.90GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £80.99
(£68.93) £80.99
(£68.93)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £72.99
(£62.12) £72.99
(£62.12)
Sub Total : £279.12
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £50.51
Total : £339.13
 
It certainly seems to be the same board "946GZ7MA-8KRS2H" and it quite clearly says:
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Quad, Core™2 Extreme, Core™2 Duo, Pentium® D, Pentium® EE, Pentium® 4 and Celeron® D processors, Socket T (LGA775)
Click to expand...

So one would assume that a first generation core 2 quad like the Q6600 would work fine. I wouldn't imagine it will overclock the chip very well - but it should run it.


and for some reason the crucial scanner only showed my motherboard as capable of supporting 2GB of ram???
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about this, but on the foxconn site it does say:
Memory: Dual Channel DDR2 533 / 667 x 2 DIMMs, Max 4GB
Click to expand...

So I would assume 4GB will work. However, what I said earlier was wrong - obviously you can't add 2GB more to make it 4GB since the board only has 2 RAM slots. This means you will have to pay for a 2x2GB kit to get 4GB.
 
wozza2k said:
Just double checked, that is the correct board, i found the ram for £70 (2 x 2Gb set) but i am having problems locating a decent price CPU which is actually compatible with my MB, even some of the Core 2 Duo's on this site is £100+
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, most of the Core 2 CPUs you should be aiming for (like the Q6600 and Q6700) are end-of-life - so are no longer sold new. Therefore, you need to find them second hand (either on the MM or on auction sites). These CPUs are fairly bomb-proof, so if a well respected seller is selling a working Q6600, then I would have confidence that It will do you well.

How reliable is stuff from the member's market?
Click to expand...

In my experience, very reliable. As you have to post at least 250 times and be here for at least 3 months, everyone selling stuff is known by the community has a reputation to uphold. Also, the "trust" system gives you a good idea of the previous activity of sellers.
 
I've found the Q6600 and Q6700 for £85 and £95 respectively from a large 2nd hand retailer, which is supposed to come with 12 months warranty, is this a good deal or should i hold out for the members market?
 
Thats a alright price for a Q6600 you should get that and a nice graphics card ansd the 4GB set you was talking about and youll be flying :)
 
Marine-RX179 said:
I thought you can enter since you are registed back in 2008 (way over 12 months), and have over 100 posts...or is that only for free shipping?
Click to expand...

Thats only for free shipping unfortunately :(

I am still 120 odd post off from being let into the members market.

I am thinking i'll grab the Q6600 for £85 then, i don't think it comes with a fan/heatsink, so anyone want to recommend a decent but quiet one, i was looking at the Noctua one, but at £70 odd i think it maybe overkill!
 
The Freezer Pro is a good budget cooler but if you want to have a decent overclock (particularly in hot weather!) I would splash out a bit more tbh.

Unless you've got some serious air conditioning it'll be quite a few months before you get 14C ambient again. :p (okay maybe in the middle of the night)
 
Think i am going to get the Freezer pro, since i can't really overclock on the mobo i have, it'll do the job nicely.

Shall i just stick with the thermal paste that comes with it or get a different one?
 
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