budget/midrange build help

lordm11

lordm11

lordm11

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Joined
9 Apr 2012
Posts
6
Hi guys wondered if I could pick the your brains, currently I own a Compaq Presario 5027 with the following specs;

Motherboard - 945GCT-HM (Livermore)
Processor - PentiumD 925
Memory - 2 GB
Video graphics - Geforce 8600 GTS
Hard drive 1x SATA 160 GB 1 X SATA 80GB
CD/DVD disc drive -SuperMulti 16X DVD(+/-)R/RW 12X RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe SATA drive
Memory Card Reader -15-in-1 multimedia card reader
Computer Case -Mid-size ATX
Power Supply - 300W

This setup is starting to show its age now and I was thinking about scavenging some of the components over into a new build (specifically the VGA, HDD + DVDR, USB etc and possibly even the case itself)

Generally I don't use my PC for gaming so am looking for a setup that can handle more everyday tasks such as video playback, downloading and unpacking large files etc, but still have the potential to upgrade should I choose. I'm looking of spending in the region of 250-300 any advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Rob
 
If your HDDs and optical drive are SATA then yes there shouldn't be any problem carrying them over to any new build. If, however, they are SATA you may need to buy new ones as most new motherboards don't support IDE these days.

Do you need a copy of Windows 7 as well?

How about the following.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £78.60
1 x Intel Pentium G620 2.60GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £46.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £34.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £29.99
Total : £235.56 (includes shipping : £12.50).



The motherboard is on a Today Only offer but a similar budget Z77 board will only cost you around £85-90, so not much more. It'll offer a decent upgrade path to Sandy Bridge i5/i7's and even Ivy Bridge (Intel's next refresh of CPU due in the next few weeks).

8GB of RAM as it's so cheap at the minute. As for reusing the case, I would get the Bitfenix one for only £29.99 it's a bargain and it'll make the system feel fresh and new!:p

edit

Also you can use on integrated gpu on the processor so don't really need to reuse your NVIDIA GeForce 8600.
 
thanks for the info there shadow, that build looks good to me and is on budget, currently have Vista Premium, but if I go to 8GB ram I would need a 64bit version of windows, correct?
 
Well the chances are the power supply in your current system will be a cheapish unbranded generic one from Compaq. As your system is getting on a bit now it may also not have the right connectors, for example only a 20-pin rather than 24-pin and 4-pin instead of an 8-pin EPS connector. Yes there are extensions/adapters that are available but I would recommend getting a branded quality power supply.

Have a read of this thread on why it's important to get a good PSU.
 
Here's my AMD alternative...

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus F1A75-M PRO AMD A75 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £71.99
1 x AMD Llano A6-3500 2.40GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor £56.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £29.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
Total : £245.04 (includes shipping : £11.75).

PSU is out of stock, but it's built on a great Seasonic platform compared to the CX430. (the original CX400 was great and built by Seasonic, but cost too much to produce)
 
sorry, another quick question - you mentioned i would not need to transfer my GPU as the new mobo has a built in GPU, I know my GPU is quite old now, but would there be no performance difference if I did use it?
 
lordm11 said:
sorry, another quick question - you mentioned i would not need to transfer my GPU as the new mobo has a built in GPU, I know my GPU is quite old now, but would there be no performance difference if I did use it?
Click to expand...

Give the IGP a try, and if you want more performance, plug in your 8600 GTS. I'd imagine the IGP would be around, or slightly slower than your 8600 GTS but don't quote me on that. :p

If you want more GPU power, go for the AMD build.
 
As Vinni3 says it kind of depends on what you want to use the system for? The Intel HD2000 IGP is perfectly fine for everyday tasks, browsing, office work etc plus it'll consume less power and produced less heat than the 8600 being installed. If you play a lot of movies on your system then this is where the IGP's from Intel can struggle. Most media (videos/films) are recorded and stored at 23.976fps but the best the Intel HD2000 will do is play them back at 24fps. This basically means that every 40 seconds or so you will get a frame being repeated (which appears at a minor stutter). Many people can't see it and it doesn't bother them tbh. This is where AMD's IGPs are generally better. Llano actually offers a lot more grunt on the GPU side (enough for playing games at low settings and resolutions) but you lose the upgrade path in the future. For a general home use system I would personally lean towards the Intel (largely for the better upgrade path) and use your existing Geforce 8600 if you encounter stuttering playback on movies.
 
cheers guys, more food for thought there... the CPU i currently have is a

3.00 gigahertz Intel Pentium D
16 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded

I understand that the clock speed alone is not the deciding factor in a CPU's performance, but I did notice that the speed on the suggested Intel CPU is 2.60Ghz which is a drop. :confused:
 
shadow_boxer said:
As Vinni3 says it kind of depends on what you want to use the system for? The Intel HD2000 IGP is perfectly fine for everyday tasks, browsing, office work etc plus it'll consume less power and produced less heat than the 8600 being installed. If you play a lot of movies on your system then this is where the IGP's from Intel can struggle. Most media (videos/films) are recorded and stored at 23.976fps but the best the Intel HD2000 will do is play them back at 24fps. This basically means that every 40 seconds or so you will get a frame being repeated (which appears at a minor stutter). Many people can't see it and it doesn't bother them tbh. This is where AMD's IGPs are generally better. Llano actually offers a lot more grunt on the GPU side (enough for playing games at low settings and resolutions) but you lose the upgrade path in the future. For a general home use system I would personally lean towards the Intel (largely for the better upgrade path) and use your existing Geforce 8600 if you encounter stuttering playback on movies.
Click to expand...

Trinity and IB are coming out very soon, I'm quite interested in how the IGP on the IB chips will perform. I guess there is no massively pressing need for the OP to upgrade yet, it might be better to wait and see.
 
The CX430 whines, I have one and if you can hear a CRT TV then you will most likely to be able to hear the whine. If you are older then this won't be a problem, the fan on the CX430 is dead quiet.
 
@OP it's not just about the speed you see wrt to MHz etc. Clock for clock speed the much new Pentium G620 will be much much quicker.

@cereal3, yes, I've notice a little capacitor whine on my CX430, if you can strecth the budget a little the XFX linked above is a very good power supply.
 
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