Fast system using "old" hardware.....

qqg3 · 10 Feb 2009 at 10:29

I'm looking to buy the parts and build a really good system using what would be considered now as “old” hardware, basically out of date stuff. This is mainly because I know it will be a lot cheaper in the long run even If it doesn’t necessarily give me super performance in the latest DX10 games (not a requirement). Basically, I know the 7xxxGT nVidia line of cards was and still is really good and I was wondering if I could base a system on this.

It would be used for video and music editing mainly, plus the usual word processing and internet browsing and light gaming.

I tried having a look in the forum archives to see if system build threads still existed from around 04 and 05 but they don’t seem to be there.

So can someone recommend me parts that were amazing then and are still respectable now. I hope this makes sense 

jamiehavok · 10 Feb 2009 at 10:43

i usually find older computer parts dont go down in price they just go out of stock, so unless you plan buying everything off ebay your better off buying a new rig with medium spec hardware - you don't need a massive gfx card to do what you want it for and could get a reasonable rig for low money. maybe like a radeon 4670 paired with a q6600 for the video editing. quads would probably be better for video editing depending on what software you use.

NightmareXX · 10 Feb 2009 at 10:56

Give us a budget and I'm sure you'll get multiple variations on the same idea.

Old PC parts usually go down in price and then shoot up once they become depreciated. I sold my Socket 939 X2 4200 for £50 on the members market here which is pretty damn nice considering it was £200 when I bought it and that was nearly 2 years ago!

qqg3 · 10 Feb 2009 at 13:17

Anywhere up to £400-£450 would be applicable, although I do have a spare 80 gb hard drive somewhere that I can probably recycle.

TheMorningStar · 10 Feb 2009 at 13:41

im specking you something up. do you need a monitor kb mouse speakers etc? becasue that will be really hard. ill spec without first

TheMorningStar · 10 Feb 2009 at 13:56

Asus ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3
http://91.151.218.10/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-168-AS

NZXT Hush Classic Series Silent Midi-Tower Case
http://91.151.218.10/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-NX

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 7750+ Black Edition 2.70GHz
http://91.151.218.10/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-234-AM

Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 AMD 770 (Socket AM2)
http://91.151.218.10/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-111-GI

OCZ StealthXStream 500w SLI Ready Silent ATX2 Power Supply
http://91.151.218.10/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-026-OC

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2
http://91.151.218.10/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-086-OC

Samsung TS-H653F 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
http://91.151.218.10/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-112-SA

Samsung SpinPoint F2EG 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
http://91.151.218.10/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-065-SA

£466.81 touch over budget but thats a kick ass lil system

edit: btw you have free shipping

Audigex · 10 Feb 2009 at 14:34

I wouldn't even call that bad hardware.

Save a couple of bob by dropping the GPU down to a 4830 or 9800 if you want to get back on budget.

qqg3 · 10 Feb 2009 at 14:54

Nope don't need accessories, just the system... thats looking nice, will definetley be able to work off that. Thanks a lot!

linktoinsanity · 10 Feb 2009 at 14:59

Abit IP35 Pro XE Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Coolermaster CM-690 Dominator Case - Black (No PSU)
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.50GHz (800FSB)
Corsair VX 450W ATX Power Supply
OcUK GeForce 9500 GT 512MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express)
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 250GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD2500AAKS)
Asus DRW-20B1ST 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Rewriter (Black) - OEM

£420.80 inc delivery.

Note that the motherboard is on offer at the moment. The system above will be more than capable. It does not include an os, but get either xp or vista 64 bit and the system will work fine with everything that you specify. It is not Quad core, but will be adequate with most video editing applications.

Fledge · 10 Feb 2009 at 17:08

NightmareXX said:
I sold my Socket 939 X2 4200 for £50 on the members market here which is...

What is this members market?
I want in! ^^

minizx · 10 Feb 2009 at 17:52

Fledge said:
What is this members market?
I want in! ^^

http://91.151.218.11/faq.php?faq=vb_user_maintain#faq_vb_use_cookies

i would like to get into the mm too but im far too lazy to spam the forums with the 250 posts i need

rodo · 10 Feb 2009 at 18:03

and spamming it would get you banned very quickly

thepeganator · 10 Feb 2009 at 18:06

minizx said:
http://91.151.218.11/faq.php?faq=vb_user_maintain#faq_vb_use_cookies

i would like to get into the mm too but im far too lazy to spam the forums with the 250 posts i need

29 posts, only 100 needed if you've been here a year.

Is well worth it, 10 new threads a day easy, more like 20.

minizx · 10 Feb 2009 at 19:36

thepeganator said:
29 posts, only 100 needed if you've been here a year.

Is well worth it, 10 new threads a day easy, more like 20.

i think thats for the free shipping as far as im aware theres been no change in the mm requirements

thepeganator · 10 Feb 2009 at 20:01

Indeed, you are true.

PM an admin and they may make an exception as you've been here three and a half years!

JTrickle · 10 Feb 2009 at 21:19

NightmareXX said:
Old PC parts usually go down in price and then shoot up once they become depreciated. I sold my Socket 939 X2 4200 for £50 on the members market

939 cpu prices are silly.

I'm about to sell my old 939 2,4ghz X2, AGP mobo, 2gb ddr166, 1950pro, 160gbHD, dvdrw and a cheap and nasty case and psu to a work colleague for £100.

Tbh its worth me keeping it as a back up rather than sell it at that price, but... He's actually likely to get good use out of it, and I'm a sucker for genuine needy recycling.