Computer ideas for uni....

ojrules

ojrules

ojrules

Associate
Joined
18 Nov 2007
Posts
1,747
I'm going to uni (hopefully) in october, and thinking of computer stuff..

At the moment i have a modest gaming rig:

i have a e2180 ( dual core @ 2.9 ghz) (obv clocked) - normally 2ghz
4gb of ddr2 667 ram.
Asus p5q pro
4850 graphics card
2x old barracuda hhd.
1x New dvd drive.
xp x32
NZXT hush case
19" monitor

I have a tasty £500 to spend on computing/laptop of any sort. Though im not just going to **** money up the wall. I'm a casual gamer, i don't really have too much time these days, and frankly on my res of 1280x1024 my system still performs very well.

^ As said my system performs very well in games, but has a slow startup, and menial tasks, such as opening web broswers can be surprisingly buggy and slow.

enough with my life story. 2 things really, how well is that computer likely to travel?. - Could i scale it down cheaply, with little comprimise, into a smaller/more portable case? Are there any obv performance upgrades i could get aka, new hdd , win 7?. - Also i plan on saving about £300 to possibly spend on a tabletpc, though still dont know....

thanks for any replies
 
Last edited:
Your motherboard uses the P45 chipset so I would look to get a quad core if possible. It maybe worth looking getting a secondhand Q6600 or Q9300 and perhaps a new CPU cooler too. Your graphics card will even do well at a higher screen resolution.

What PSU do you have BTW??

Also perhaps getting a new system drive such as a Samsung 500GB F3 would be a good idea as this should make your system a bit more responsive.

You could also get a copy of Windows 7 and maybe you could get a discounted copy or even a free copy as you will be a student.

If you want a smaller and lighter case I would look at the Lian Li PC-A05.
 
Last edited:
hmm, how about saving yourself £500 and formatting windows? I do it quarterly, as I like the snappy feel of a fresh OS.

Otherwise, 4GB of PC28500 would see you some benefit. You say you dont game a lot, and for browsing obviously that PC is fine. As for travelling, it will be fine!
 
there used to be a ultimate steal upgrade for £30, but now its £70, which is less attractive, i'm not sure of any other deals...

I've got an enermax liberty 620w

It's not a terribly old installation tbh, and i've already defragged it a couple of times, with no drastic improvements... oo, just found a nice site that does lots of student cheap software, inlcuding win 7 professional upgrade for £33 :)
 
Last edited:
defragging hardly helps.

get win7 on it.

add a SSD for fast response/run your most used programs.. keep the old drives for storage.
 
ojrules said:
there used to be a ultimate steal upgrade for £30, but now its £70, which is less attractive, i'm not sure of any other deals...

I've got an enermax liberty 620w
Click to expand...

The offer may come back at some point TBH and if you have MSDNAA access at university you can get a free copy anyway.
 
oo thats rather tasty.. from what i can see going to bath i could get a free copy of win 7 64 :)... and a lot of other software :) ..


on another note, non of you have seemed suggested it beign neccesary to scale down the pc size wise?...
 
Last edited:
surrey uni were giving free copies of 7 pro to students. it was one of their major selling points.

kinda sums it up really. liverpool for the win
 
oj rules i would get a Samsung f3 500gb or 1tb and a matx board then grab a matx mobo also as others have suggested sticking win 7 will help and some more ram also........saying that though my current main pc is my netbook hooked up to a screen and its more than fine for browsing,football manager,winamp etc...although i cant do 3d gaming as i dont have a ION chipset but theres a lot of netbooks (no need for tablet) which do and you can get itx motherboards also.
 
ojrules said:
oo thats rather tasty.. from what i can see going to bath i could get a free copy of win 7 64 :)... and a lot of other software :) ..


on another note, non of you have seemed suggested it beign neccesary to scale down the pc size wise?...
Click to expand...

The Lian Li case I suggested only weighs around 4KG and is smaller than your existing case.

OcUK sells the case:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-153-LL

TBH, a mATX P43 or P45 motherboard is going to be expensive.
 
Last edited:
thingemajib said:
surrey uni were giving free copies of 7 pro to students. it was one of their major selling points.

kinda sums it up really. liverpool for the win
Click to expand...

I got that at Bournemouth Uni. You could email the uni you're looking at and ask them about it.

I also saw some other deals microsoft were doing with Win7 making it cheap for students. Can't remember where though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom