I need help choosing....

Soldato
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...so im moving back to Pc after being on Mac, but, ive lost touch with teh new CPUs and MB's etc....so need some help.

Overall a bit lost as to whats what, was also looking for a new screen.

Say I have £650 to spend.

Now I currently have an older spec PC machine that is made up of this (yes a bit everywhere and the screen is old now.

Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP 20

Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B Heatpipe CPU CoolerAcoustiFan
C-Series Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin

2x 120 mm Akaska Ambers

Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (was a replacement just to have my progammes installed onto.

Another larger Western Digital Drive think its about 500GB, old tho

Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX

Akasa Eclipse-62 Aluminum Case

Panasonic SW-9584-CF 16 x 16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWrite

Linksys WMP54G Wireless-G PCI Adapter

Antec TruePower 2.0 430W PSU (think its on its way out tho)

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS Edition

Mother Board Gigabyte DS4

CPU...older intel ...not worth talking about lol

GPU is a Ati Radeon HD 4350, its silent..I like it that way i NEVER play any type of gaming on the Pc, so fits the uses I have it for and will be easily upgraded if needs be.

Sorry thats a bit all over the place..the only think im realistically telling my self to harvest from it are the fans and the Soundcard...GPU, and was even hoping for a new smaller case, jsut tired of the HUGE Akaska and better larger screen if Possible.

Im flexable with the budget but would like to stick around it if possible please, and thank you!
 
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As you havent said what you are using it for except no gaming I can only assume work, surfing and watching the occaisional movie.

My idea is this:

Primo Drone" AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 245 2.90GHz DDR2 £244

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-265-OK&groupid=43&catid=1078&subcat=

Micro atx case so small and compact, duel core, 4 gig of ram and a 500gb hard drive. Add your current 4350 (if your happy with its performance I dont see any reason to upgrade it) and stick your 2 12cm fans in the case.

Even thought the monitor is old unless its going out I wouldnt bother upgrading it either.

A dell ultrasharp 24" is £460 :eek: The BenQ G2420HDBL 24" Widescreen LED Monitor are popular and on offer this week

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-033-BQ&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=
 
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as dfour mentioned would be good to get an idea of what you use the system for.

come up with the following, included an ssd as it would be quiet and quick, but if your not using windows 7 may be worth holding off.

unless you really cant put up with it any more i'd keep the akasa case, as it is till pretty good, alternativly you could look into setting up something like an htpc box.

not listed a motherboard, fairly certain it can take the cpu listed but that would need to be double checked before purchase (download cpu-z and it should give you more details).

BenQ G2420HDBL 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £162.14
(£137.99)

OCZ Vertex 96GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1VTX96G) £135.11 (£114.99)

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £46.99 (£39.99)

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5400 LGA775 2.70GHz (800FSB) - Retail £46.99
(£39.99)

Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £29.99 (£25.52)

Sub Total : £358.48
Shipping : £11.25
VAT : £64.70
Total : £434.43
 
Damn it I knew I left sommin out, sorry about that, believe or not was all done off the Phone!

Really into some music producing, and graphic work, photoshop/ indesign, Quark etc etc...

Screen donest have to be AMAZING, as i check my colours off a print monitor the BenQ does look good value and wanted the size as im used to have that kind of space for paletts etc.

Thanks for the lists so far.

The motherboard was a Gigbyte DS4
 
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The motherboard was a Gigbyte DS4

do you know which chipset it is, as i had a look and think it could either be a 965 or p35, i'm favouring the 965 but thought it was worth checking.

edit:

put together another list to include case/new mobo, gone with an am3 quad core.

BenQ G2420HDBL 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £162.14 (£137.99)

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £117.49 (£99.99)

OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600LV4GK) £84.59 (£71.99)

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £72.99 (£62.12)

OcUK Phoenix 910 MicroATX Case - Black (650W PSU)£52.99
(£45.10)

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £46.99 (£39.99)

Sub Total : £457.18
Shipping : £11.75
VAT : £82.06
Total : £550.99
 
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The system I posted could cope with your wants but the quad core will give it all a bigger boost and allow more flexability. £100 under budget always a bonus :)
 
do you know which chipset it is, as i had a look and think it could either be a 965 or p35, i'm favouring the 965 but thought it was worth checking.

edit:

put together another list to include case/new mobo, gone with an am3 quad core.

BenQ G2420HDBL 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £162.14 (£137.99)

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £117.49 (£99.99)

OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1600LV4GK) £84.59 (£71.99)

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £72.99 (£62.12)

OcUK Phoenix 910 MicroATX Case - Black (650W PSU)£52.99
(£45.10)

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £46.99 (£39.99)

Sub Total : £457.18
Shipping : £11.75
VAT : £82.06
Total : £550.99

That seems an amazing little setup for the money!, given I have a few other bits and pieces, may just go with that tho I may add another 1TB drive, would the mini case have the space?

Thanks very much for that!
 
no reason why not, with the small cases you just have to be mindful of generating heat, but another hard drive shouldn't be much of an issue.
 
Looks like I could be ordering tonight so I can tranferr everything back off teh Mac onto it before its sold, so is their anything else I should consider?

I take It ill have to get some Artic, and what is the Stock CPU fan like? ( I assume not much choice due to sapce!?)
 
Hows that looking?

Screenshot2010-08-26at191614.png
 
Didnt realise the one I had was that good TBH, wanted the HDMI out for movie on the big screen, also, its silent.
 
dont go for too much performance...n why do u have such as gd gpu if u dont play games?/

4350 isnt a gaming gpu at all. Nice little case that it will all look very smart when you have it all together.

If you feel you need more powerful and silent cooling that the stock heatsink then have a look at these beautys:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-026-SY&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-027-SY&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

Both suitable for you type of case and both under £30 :)
 
Interesting, I may go for one of those over stock...for the more silent treat meant...

But, im jsut noticing looking at the Reaper, ram design, it looks very high with those heat pips/ handles over them...wonder if space and fitting them will be ok!?

Im think if I just use to two lower slots...not having a clue what the interior layout of the Case leaves me wondering.
 
All ordered then...but...the DPD delivery to NI, at £20, and it wont be here till Tuesday?...what on earth is that all about...Royal Mail can do overnights!.
 
Im sure you could always use the far 2 ram slots and if you dont disturb the tim on the heatsink and you find it still wont fit im sure oc will exchange it for you.

Which did you go for in the end?? I think the cheaper one is the smaller of the 2.
 
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