Bit of advice please?

Chronic_Noob · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:07

Hi All,

I am new to the forum so please don't bully me to much.

I am pretty useless with hardware but understand the basics... very basic basics..

I'm just looking for a bit of advice on whether I should upgrade my current PC with a current budget of £250, Or alternatively save up to eg: £600 and get a new PC. So any £600 builds would be much appreciated or any advice on upgrades would like-wise be appreciated.

My current heap of... PC (please let me know If you need any other details):

-Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz
-3.5gb Ram
-Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 32-bit
-Radeon X1950 Pro (512mb)
-I believe I still have the factory Dell DM051 motherboard

You probably need much more than this (please just ask and I can open up the tin/take screenshots if need be :/)

Games I would ideally like to play are things like Shogun 2 / Skyrim / Guild Wars 2 / maybe Crysis 2 (not sure if that is pushing it :S)

Thank you for reading this, and helping this sad sad case out.

Chronic

stulid · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:10

Pretty simple,

Save up more and do a complete change. The only things that you maybe able to keep is the case if its any good and takes a ATX size board? I see you have Win7...so thats a good to, is it a OEM or Retail copy? or other

? Its also 32BIT copy, do you have a 64BIT disk also? if not I am sure you can still use the 32BIT key with a downloaded 64BIT version which you can just burn to disk.

shamzzz · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:13

definitely save up and get a new system

SheepBeast · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:17

stulid's questions are all pertinant. i'll add a few of my own:

are you happy with your current monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers?
if yes, what resolution is the monitor?

these are relavant to how the £600 should be spent. no point getting a very high end graphics card if you're running 800x600 lol

Chronic_Noob · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:22

Pretty simple,

Save up more and do a complete change. The only things that you maybe able to keep is the case if its any good and takes a ATX size board? I see you have Win7...so thats a good to, is it a OEM or Retail copy? or other? Its also 32BIT copy, do you have a 64BIT disk also? if not I am sure you can still use the 32BIT key with a downloaded 64BIT version which you can just burn to disk.

Hey Stulid,

After googling what ATX means I belive It can take an ATX size m/board but If we take a look at the Dell DM051 case in all it's glory.. then Im going to get a new case If I build from scratch.

Regarding Win7 I don't wanna come across as a cheap ass.. (but I am) so other :3

But I believe I can set it up as 64BIT.

Chronic_Noob · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:25

stulid's questions are all pertinant. i'll add a few of my own:

are you happy with your current monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers?
if yes, what resolution is the monitor?

these are relavant to how the £600 should be spent. no point getting a very high end graphics card if you're running 800x600 lol

Hi SheepBeast,

I am happy with my current monitor / mouse / keybord etc.

And fair point, I belive the screen is 22inch res set at - 1440 x 900.

stulid · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:27

Can you get a picture of the inside posted up here?

Chronic_Noob · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:28

Give me 5 minutes and I can.... this will be embarrassing / laughable

olivier renault · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:28

careful with these OEM cases, they don't always allow upgrading (mobo and PSU usually).

RJC · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:30

Majority of Dells use proprietary connectors for certain case connections like power on and USB ports and also the actual mount of the motherboard.

King Damager · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:33

You'd be able to get a reasonable second hand rig for that....

New ~500W PSU - £40
New 500GB HDD - £30

Second hand:
Q6600 - £40-£50
Mobo - £30-50
GTX 260 - £40-50
4GB DDR3/2 (depends on Mobo) - £20-30

Wouldn't leave much for a case though, and you'd struggle without having a copy of Windows 7 if yours is OEM....

kd

stulid · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:34

King Damager said:
and you'd struggle without having a copy of Windows 7 if yours is OEM....

Other

Shhhhhhh they could be listening.

Chronic_Noob · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:44

Please don't hit me.

1
2

And If I should start from scratch could I get any suggestions for a £600 build or any links to any already suggested somewhere else on the forum.

stulid · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:50

Yeah, start from scratch,

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
OcUK GeForce GTX 560Ti 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £72.59
(£60.49) £72.59
(£60.49)
OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
(£45.82) £54.98
(£45.82)
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)
Sub Total : £489.59
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £19.10
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £101.74
Total : £610.43

Chronic_Noob · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:51

You'd be able to get a reasonable second hand rig for that....

New ~500W PSU - £40
New 500GB HDD - £30

Second hand:
Q6600 - £40-£50
Mobo - £30-50
GTX 260 - £40-50
4GB DDR3/2 (depends on Mobo) - £20-30

Hey KD,

Thanks for the advice any ideas about what M/Board it would be to get?

Cheers.

Chronic_Noob · 17 Sep 2011 at 21:55

Hey all,

Thanks for all the help everyone hugely appreciated!, I'm getting paid next week so will be going for the build suggested by stulid and using my old PC to anchor my boat. ........*I don't really have a boat

*

honosuseri · 17 Sep 2011 at 22:06

That would be wise fella. I wouldnt advise investing in secind hand kit, certainly not on a dead socket (there are no future CPUs planned to work on said mobo).

The spec will change as the site offers weekly as well as daily offers. So start another thread when you are ready to order and the spec gurus can knock you something up.

Chronic_Noob · 17 Sep 2011 at 22:12

That would be wise fella. I wouldnt advise investing in secind hand kit, certainly not on a dead socket (there are no future CPUs planned to work on said mobo).

The spec will change as the site offers weekly as well as daily offers. So start another thread when you are ready to order and the spec gurus can knock you something up.

Thanks for the advice I will start another thread when I am going to buy the spec

Rik1254 · 17 Sep 2011 at 22:22

stulid said:
Yeah, start from scratch,

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
OcUK GeForce GTX 560Ti 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £169.99
(£141.66) £169.99
(£141.66)
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £72.59
(£60.49) £72.59
(£60.49)
OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98
(£45.82) £54.98
(£45.82)
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.16) £16.99
(£14.16)
Sub Total : £489.59
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £19.10
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £101.74
Total : £610.43

Only thing Id change would be going for a HD 6850/ 6870 instead of the GTX 560 (saving about £30-£50) and putting towards a better mobo, the LE version wouldnt really give much OC headroom with the 2500k.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6850 Cyclone Power Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Deus Ex PC Game £119.99

MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £107.99

OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £54.98

Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - £44.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £29.99

Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99

Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99

Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99

Sub Total : £499.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
Shipping : £19.10
20.00% VAT : £103.80
Total : £622.81

Also included a CPU cooler for some nicer temps.

stulid · 17 Sep 2011 at 22:26

Well a few people including BringtheRain have that board and have easily gone past 4GHz.

Also GTX560ti vs 6850 - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/291?vs=330 - thats some significant performance increases with the GTX560ti.

This is a gaming PC after all, why make it slower?