Upgrading an Old PC

CM.

CM.

CM.

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So this Christmas I have been tasked with upgrading my brother's old PC. He wants to reduce the 6 min+ boot up time, general sluggishness and gameplay fps in League of Legends, Counter Strike:GO, TF2 and Minecraft, among a few other games. Nothing too major gaming wise.

Current specs:

Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. M57SLI-S4 (Socket M2) 26 °C
AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core @2.6 GHz
2.00 GB Single-Channel DDR2 @ 373MHz (5-5-5-18)
1024MB AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner) 32 °C
932GB SAMSUNG SAMSUNG HD103SJ (SATA) 39 °C
149GB FUJITSU MAXTOR STM3160815AS (SATA) 39 °C
Some 450W PSU
MS Windows XP Home 32-bit SP3
SyncMaster (1600x900@60Hz)

So I'm an average parts speccer, but I do have some requirements that I want his upgrade to meet.

  • I want to add an SSD, probably a Vertex 4, and install Windows 7 on it, using the other 2 HDDs as storage. The SSD would be limited by the SATA II on the mobo, but it would still be a decent upgrade.
  • Upgrade the RAM - mobo only supports DDR2, so I'm looking at Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel (KHX8500D2K2/4G) It's only 4GB though, which is kinda the minimum now, and only 1066MHz, whereas u can get 1600MHz easily now with DDR3 so...
  • Would it be worth upgrading the mobo to take advantage of DDR3, with some new RAM, SATA 3 for the SSD, and provide more futureproofing for additional upgrades later on? If I did, I should really switch to an Intel board, which would mean upgrading the CPU as well. Not sure if I have the budget to upgrade the CPU at the moment, but logically it's the next step.

Final question: Should I buy parts before or after Christmas? When are the best deals?

Any thoughts welcome.
 
CM. said:
AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core @2.6 GHz
2.00 GB Single-Channel DDR2 @ 373MHz (5-5-5-18)
1024MB AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner) 32 °C
932GB SAMSUNG SAMSUNG HD103SJ (SATA) 39 °C
149GB FUJITSU MAXTOR STM3160815AS (SATA) 39 °C
Some 450W PSU
MS Windows XP Home 32-bit SP3
SyncMaster (1600x900@60Hz)
Click to expand...

You are sadly looking at a full overhaul mate.

I have highlighed some parts that i'd like to know more about, if you can.

The GPU will help understand where the gaming power is, and how good it is.

The PSU needs to be good, no point in risking it. I assume as you don't know the brand name, it hasn't got one.

I'd suggest this as a minimum.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £79.99
1 x Intel Pentium G850 2.90GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £55.99
1 x MSI H61M-P31-G3 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £34.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite Power 500W Power Supply £32.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD38GB1333C9DC) £23.99
Total : £241.45 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
 
Buy parts after christmas, there would probably be some clearing sales and you would also miss out on the ages long postage wait when everyone buys their presents online.

As for the computer, a new intel pentium + Ram and maybe a new PSU if you can find out what the current one is like.
 
Yeah I thought it'd be overhaul time.

The PSU is a COLORSit 450U. It's built into the case. The case is pretty naff tbh. Here's 2 pics: http://i.imgur.com/j7hwm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Sh3vI.jpg

I've put together three builds that I think might be good:

BUILD 1 - Medium Range, bit more pricey

SSD: Vertex 4 £86/Kingston HyperX 3K £80

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-1866 £69

AMD Option
Mobo: MSI 970A-G46 £64
CPU: AMD FX-6300 £100/AMD FX-4300 £90

Intel Option
Mobo: ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 £94
CPU: Intel i5 3570k £170/Intel i5 2500k £160

Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - to overclock both cpus £28
PSU: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ £56

Total: AMD: £393
Intel: £493


BUILD 2 - Cheaper AMD Build

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 £71/My old AMD 955
Mobo: ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX £43

SSD: Crucial M4 £82
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1866/Corsair Vengeance RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit £50

GPU: HIS Radeon HD 7870 2GB £183
PSU: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze £60

Total: £306 without GPU
£235 with my old 955


Special BUILD 3 - AMD A10 5800K (onboard graphics)

CPU: AMD A10 5800k £93
Mobo: ASRock FM2A75M-DGS £52
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1866MHz £50
SSD: Kingston HyperX 3K £80
PSU: Corsair Builder CX 500W V2 80 PLUS Bronze £50
Case: Antec One Midi Case £45

Total: £325 without case
£371 with case


I think the budget is around £300. That's saving the GPU and HDDs.

I'm also looking to upgrade my own PC in the near future. There's an idea that I could donate some of my parts to my brother's build, while upgrading mine. Here's my spec:

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3)

Gfx Card: Palit GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA785GT-UD3H AMD 785G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

RAM: Kingston HyperX 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz (9-9-9-27

Hard Drive: 1x WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache
1x WD Caviar Green 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache

PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Silent SLI Ready

CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro PWM CPU Cooler

Case: Antec 902 Nine Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case


I've been wanting to switch to and intel cpu to improve my work speed with adobe products, and because they run cooler than AMDs (my 955 idles at around 50C and goes to 60C+ under full load with max fan speed).
I could give my motherboard with CPU and cooler to my brother, getting a z77 board with a 3570k and cooler for myself.
 
I've been wanting to switch to and intel cpu to improve my work speed with adobe products, and because they run cooler than AMDs (my 955 idles at around 50C and goes to 60C+ under full load with max fan speed).
I could give my motherboard with CPU and cooler to my brother, getting a z77 board with a 3570k and cooler for myself.
Click to expand...

This would make better sense. Is the ddr3 ram you have quad channel or 2 dual channel sets?
 
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