Upgrading on a budget.

Drake5

Drake5

Drake5

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12 Dec 2005
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I have a very tight budget (130ish) and I want to upgrade my system. I don't game so it'd be just for general performance increases. Would it be worth it?

Current specs:
E6750 2.66Ghz
4GB DDR2
5450 1GB
750GB HDD
Generic 400W PSU

With the 5450, when I'm watching a movie and doing other stuff on my PC, I do notice some graphical slowdowns here and there which can get pretty annoying.

I have 2 options...

First one being, I can get a used i3/mobo/8GB DDR3 for about £130 or I can get a used GFX Card and a PSU to power it as the one I've got now would be useless.

Which option do you guys think would be more beneficial? Obviously the 2nd option would cost me much less than the 1st.

Cheers
 
New PSU and an SSD.

Under budget and will be most useful.

Graphical slowdowns whatever that means should not be happening on a core 2 system with 4GB of memory.
 
Buchanan0204 said:
New PSU and an SSD.

Under budget and will be most useful.

Graphical slowdowns whatever that means should not be happening on a core 2 system with 4GB of memory.
Click to expand...

If I'm playing a 1080p movie for example I will notice some choppiness even when browsing through web pages.

I do have 2 monitors connected though, a 24" 1920x1080 and a 19" 1440x900.

Cheers
 
I recommend using PotPlayer to play 1080p movies as it provides all the codecs which you might be missing using other media players, also make sure you update all your drivers to the latest version

The only thing you should upgrade is your PSU
 
So I'm thinking,

PSU
Gfx Card
SSD

I would like a bit of a more powerful graphics card for some TF2. Would a 4850 be decent enough?
 
Tom_D said:
So I'm thinking,

PSU
Gfx Card
SSD

I would like a bit of a more powerful graphics card for some TF2. Would a 4850 be decent enough?
Click to expand...

Click onto anandtech bench and compare graphics cards, drop down lists available.

Or google for some benchmarks. I don't play those games so haven't a clue personally. The 4850 is pretty old though.

If you do add a beefy GPU you will definitely need the new PSU. Members market should have some good graphics cards going.
 
Ok guys, I got an SSD for cheap. 64GB Crucial M4 from the MM. Can't complain!

So all's I need to do is plug it in and away I go?
 
Buchanan0204 said:
Indeed. Do you know how to deal with a normal HDD?

A fresh install of windows is highly recommended although not necessary.
Click to expand...

Yeah I do mate. :)

I will just do a fresh install of Win 7 to the new SSD.

I doubt my current case has any mounts for an SSD, is their anything I can do about this?

Also just to confirm the SSD will be fine in a Sata 2 port? But will I get the full performance from it in Sata 2?

This is what my mobo details say:
3 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATAII0, SATAII1, SATAII2) supporting up to 3 SATA 3Gb/s devices
1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port on the back panel supporting up to 1 SATA 3Gb/s device
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 0+1
1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices

Does this mean my mobo is Sata 3?

Cheers
 
Last edited:
Tom_D said:
Yeah I do mate. :)

I will just do a fresh install of Win 7 to the new SSD.

I doubt my current case has any mounts for an SSD, is their anything I can do about this?

Also just to confirm the SSD will be fine in a Sata 2 port? But will I get the full performance from it in Sata 2?

Cheers

Cheers
Click to expand...

Ssd's don't suffer from vibrations and are shock proof... So just leave it dangling or sitting in something, they weigh nothing anyway. Elastic band it to the case, anything, improvise.

Orrrr, buy an ssd mount adapter for a few quid. The above will tide you over however until you get round to it.

Full performance, theoretically no as it's not sata 3. Did I notice any difference between sata2 and sata3, NOPE! Will you?... I doubt it!

If you want you could buy a sata3 raid card for a PCI slot. This will give you full speed.

Fresh installs the right way to go.
 
Buchanan0204 said:
Ssd's don't suffer from vibrations and are shock proof... So just leave it dangling or sitting in something, they weigh nothing anyway. Elastic band it to the case, anything, improvise.

Orrrr, buy an ssd mount adapter for a few quid. The above will tide you over however until you get round to it.

Full performance, theoretically no as it's not sata 3. Did I notice any difference between sata2 and sata3, NOPE! Will you?... I doubt it!

If you want you could buy a sata3 raid card for a PCI slot. This will give you full speed.

Fresh installs the right way to go.
Click to expand...

Cheers mate, really appreciate your help!

If you see my edit above though I have copied it from my mobo page and I'm not sure if it means I've got Sata 3? Bit confused.

Many thanks!
 
Cheers! Now I understand. :)

So with an SSD I will just notice all around performance in terms of loading times, opening applications and things like that? I don't game so I'm not expecting anything in that department. :)

Thanks
 
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