Upgrading wife's PC

Soldato
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Hello :)

I'm upgrading my wife's Dell XPS 7100 PC, with the pc came an AMD Phenom11 Black Edition quad core CPU @2.80MHz i want to still use that CPU and an Asus M5A97 PRO Motherboard and also the Ram that came with the Dell PC , the Ram is the Samsung 8Gig 4x2Gigs DDR3 ram @1066 stock ram , Can I use those ? , I'm pretty sure I can ...but just would like someone who knows a great deal more than I do to tell me if it's ok to use them ?

thanx :)
 
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should be able to use them fine, only thing you might need is a new case to put the stuff in as i think the dell cases/mobo's used to be specific fits, rather than for normal size mobo's etc.

not sure if thats still the case.
 
should be able to use them fine, only thing you might need is a new case to put the stuff in as i think the dell cases/mobo's used to be specific fits, rather than for normal size mobo's etc.

not sure if thats still the case.

Yeah their cases are pretty small and come with hardly any cooling at all....I told her to never buy another dell lol

And gonna be doing some online shopping @OcUK today :)
 
you included a processor there, thought you were using the one out of the dell ?

what is your wife planning to use it for, and what sort of graphics card, as the psu might be overspec'd if its just going to be used to browse the net etc.

to start with have a look around for a case, something like the BitFenix Merc.

psu wise unless your putting in a high end gaming card a 450-500w psu will be fine.
 
Ok the CPU is for my brother's system( he doesnt have a credit card lol ) , shes just gonna be using it for facebook and general internet stuff...youtube and alike, ..and the graphics card she has is an ATI 5450 1024MB( half height ).
 
You can use the RAM but it's a bit on the slow side. Good news is you have the black edition so to overclock you can adjust the multiplier, you won't be overclocking that RAM by much....I assume this is why you want to change the mobo?

I would probably sell the machine off but if you want to reuse the (sata) HDD and DVD drive that would make sense.
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £59.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £40.99
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £23.99
Total : £181.06 (includes shipping : £11.75).




Cheaper mobo, you won't want to upgrade to bulldozer, so I would spend less on the mobo. Not really a socket worth investing in if I'm honest, you could go cheaper still but you would lose the Sata III ports :(

The case is a great buy at £40. 4 120mm fans, digital temp display with a fan controller and cable management. It's usually retails at around £50. Added a good budget cooler to help overclock and a decent branded PSU at a reasonable price.

If you could tell us what the PC is used for and what budget and upgrades you had in mind, we could advise you better :)
 
Ok the CPU is for my brother's system( he doesnt have a credit card lol ) , shes just gonna be using it for facebook and general internet stuff...youtube and alike, ..and the graphics card she has is an ATI 5450 1024MB( half height ).

Why doesn't your bro buy the phenom off your mrs and you look at a llano system for her

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A6-3500 2.40GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor £56.99
1 x MSI A75MA-P35 AMD A75 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Motherboard £42.59
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £40.99
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £23.99
Total : £220.64 (includes shipping : £11.75).



or

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Pentium G840 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £55.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £40.99
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £23.99
Total : £225.05 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Did her GPU come with the full height bracket too?
 
OK thank you....I'll get her to take a look at your suggestions :)..and yes we have a full size bracket :)



lol I have a Bulldozer CPU( i wanted the phenom but OcUK were out of stock ) :( lol
 
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Intel rules the roost fella. Bullodzer lost to sandybridge by being slower, hotter and not power efficent and we now have Ivybridge from intel.

I would favour my last spec, as that mobo gives you USB3 and Sata3 for very little expense. It will also take the intel pentium G/SB i3/i5/i7 and the latest Ivbybridge CPUs too. The llano system is good but a limited mobo socket. It's onboard gfx is better than intel but seeing as you have a 5450 GPU I'd go intel.

Hope this helps :)
 
You can use the RAM but it's a bit on the slow side. Good news is you have the black edition so to overclock you can adjust the multiplier, you won't be overclocking that RAM by much....I assume this is why you want to change the mobo?

I would probably sell the machine off but if you want to reuse the (sata) HDD and DVD drive that would make sense.
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £59.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £40.99
1 x Akasa AK-CC4007EP01 Nero 3 CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £23.99
Total : £181.06 (includes shipping : £11.75).




Cheaper mobo, you won't want to upgrade to bulldozer, so I would spend less on the mobo. Not really a socket worth investing in if I'm honest, you could go cheaper still but you would lose the Sata III ports :(

The case is a great buy at £40. 4 120mm fans, digital temp display with a fan controller and cable management. It's usually retails at around £50. Added a good budget cooler to help overclock and a decent branded PSU at a reasonable price.

If you could tell us what the PC is used for and what budget and upgrades you had in mind, we could advise you better :)



She went for this bundle :)
 
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