Novice System Builder

Demetrius · 18 Apr 2013 at 18:30

Hello,

I built my desktop computer a number of years ago when I was playing games.

I can't remember what components I used at the time and I wish to try and find out. What would be the simplest way?

The device manager would be a start I assume?

It is at my parents at the moment so I am typing from a laptop.

I had moment where I wanted to start getting back into computers again and I thought an upgrade might be the best start.

After a little trawl since typing the above I have found a few order histories...

The motherboard is Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L iP45 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard.

CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail

RAM Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-6400C5C)

Gfx Card Asus ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

PSU Corsair HX 620W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-620HXUK)

A few other questions:
Will this run windows 8 fine (currently running 64bit vista)?

Generic question:
Is a graphics card useful in saving the motherboard even if it is poor? e.g. If I was to build a machine for my parents who may stream a lot is a would a graphics card be useful?

almoststew1990 · 18 Apr 2013 at 18:40

Depending on how much you wish to invest in 'getting back into PC gaming', If it is on the cheap, I would overclock that 4850 as much as possible, and stick a core 2 quad in that motherboard. An overclocked 4850 is surprisingly capable at 720p. I've got one as my backup card and it runs games like GTA IV fine. If you're looko to invest a bit, a new mobo, cpu and gpu is in order.

Demetrius · 19 Apr 2013 at 13:25

Thanks. I am not really looking to get back into PC gaming.

This is mainly going to be used as a home entertainment system for watching things. I don't own a tv and will mainly use this for streaming and watching films.

CPU
In putting a core 2 quad in the motherboard will I need to put some paste onto the chip? I vaguely remember doing this before and if I didn't upgrade should I re-apply on my currently CPU?

Overclocking is something I have never dabbled and for my usage I doubt it will be needed.

marc2003 · 19 Apr 2013 at 13:28

for your purposes i can't see the point of fitting a quad. it will not offer any benefit at all. the dual core you have is more than enough for basic media playback duties.

windows 8 will run just fine as well.