Need to upgrade-Ideas

Associate
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Swansea, South Wales. UK
Hi All
I have two overclockers PC's. One on standby, (quite old now) the other used for Web and office.
The one I use for Photoshop etc is a Medion from A u know who! :)
M/B is a Medion MS-7366
2.50Ghz Intel Core2 Quad Q8300 socket 775 LGA
NVidia GeForce G210
4GB Samsung 400MHz PC-6400 Ram in slots 1&2...Should they be in slots 1&3??

It is giving me Probs in PSCS5.

Is there a Motherboard I can buy that will take the Processor.?
Needs to hold 8GB Ram, possibly same as I got so I only need to buy another two sticks. Will buy a new PSU and Graphics card as well.
If not worth it, then please speck me a Gigabyte board that will give me 8GB ram with G/C etc. for Photoshop CS5 & new 6, but not costing no more than £600. Must last me at least 3 years as most of my cash gos on Cameras/Lenses these days.
Cheers.
 
Soldato
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United Kingdom
Your best bet looking for an LGA775 motherboard and DDR2 RAM is second hand. Decent motherboard and 4GB DDR2 RAM will probably set you back at least £70-80. I would recommend just bite bullet now and do a full system upgrade. You could probably sell your CPU and RAM very easily to recoup some of the cost. (Both are still sought after components). Remember Intel refresh of CPU's is due in the next few weeks (Ivy Bridge).

Sandy Bridge is dead easy to overclock, you shouldn't have any trouble getting it upto 4.5GHz with the above cooler. Re-use your existing HDD and DVD-RW if they're both SATA. Can use the integrated Intel HD3000 on the i5 or even get a decent dedicated GPU to go a bit of gaming!:p Your existing NVIDIA Geforce 210 isn't much better than the IGP. Could even go for an i7-2600K/2700K as they'll improve performance in programmes such as Photoshop as they add hyperthreading.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £173.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £29.99 (£59.98)
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
Total : £421.92 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
Associate
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16 Dec 2010
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1,807
-snip-
4GB Samsung 400MHz PC-6400 Ram in slots 1&2...Should they be in slots 1&3??
-snip-

I think this part is motherboard dependent. I've seen pictures of people that have the dimms in slots 1 & 3 and also motherboards that are colour coded suggesting the slots to use are 1&3, and 2&4, such as the Asus Maximus IV. You should consult the motherboard manual and it will tell you there.
 
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OP
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Hi Shadowboxer---Funnily enough I was looking at that i5 and the Z77x. The Z77x more so because it can use 32GB of Ram if needed. It also has a good G/C so no need to hurry on that one. I do not game as photography is my hobby, so the more ram I have for PSCS5 the better.
I don't need a case as I got spare ones here, but if I do decide on a newer one it will be one where I can slide the hard drives in easily from the side rather than conventional.
PSU--I think I will need a much larger psu. Reason why. I have a DVD-Writer a DVD-Reader. 1tb HD in case, 2x1tb hd in caddys (plug n play), and 5 2 TB HD on usb plus a NAS box and a 4 port usb gigabit network server, + 2 printers. (one wireless, one usb).
I have 3 Desktops and I can't swap anything from one to other. Must make sure that does not happen again.

Thanks for links to the comparison of those boards..What a huge difference.

Hi valkynaz--I think you be correct, 1&3 it should be. Rather surprised it is still working ok.
I took them out to clean dust up, and put them back into 1&2, silly me did not realise this untill I checked with Belarc Advisor. Been like this for 5 months now, so due for another clean and swap to 1&3.
It will be another two to three months before I buy anyway, but that Z77x-D3H is top of my list.
Thanks All. Appreciated.
 
Associate
OP
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OK-Silly Me. Must be going NUTS! lol This Medion mobo has only 2 slots for ram so it has to be slot 1&2. So that is correct. Now that, that is sorted I must now concerntrate on this Z77x-D3H..
Thank You All.
 
Associate
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Mid-Wales
The q8300 and the other models 8200 etc are kind of junk frankely I used to have one & was very disapointed when I needed some more juice when it began struggling with the latest games and discovered they're more or less un overclockable >_< My recomendation would be to hang on in there untill Ivy is out, it shouldn't be long now, 29th is what everyone's saying but I'm hopefull they will get on with it sooner than that personally :D
 
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OP
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I have noted down what Shadow has said. It sounds Good but was looking at a minimum of 16GB Ram and a larger PSU. (silent) What will go with the above. Thanks.
I am going to wait a month or two.
 
Soldato
Joined
10 Aug 2010
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5,508
Location
Somerset
I have noted down what Shadow has said. It sounds Good but was looking at a minimum of 16GB Ram and a larger PSU. (silent) What will go with the above. Thanks.
I am going to wait a month or two.

This is a good priced 600W modular PSU

I see shadow_boxer specced you a case, did you need a new one?

Ivybridge is out soon [Intel's latest CPUs], so I'd suggest waiting for that as they should be similarly priced and perform better :)

Here's what I'd recommend [with an Ivy Bridge CPU instead]
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Samsung Green 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual/Quad Channel Kit (MV-3V4G3D/US) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £84.98
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £62.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £34.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £23.99
Total : £551.03 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
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