recommendations for 4 year old rig

mdaw

mdaw

mdaw

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18 Apr 2013
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620
Hi there,

I bought my current pc 4 years ago (Feb 2009) for about £630, here are the specs:

Intel core 2 quad Q9650 3ghz cpu
ASUS P5QL motherboard
4 GB OCZ Platinum 1066mhz DDR2 (ocz2n10662gk)
Arctic freezer pro 7 (I think) heatsink
EZCool 550w power supply
Nvidia 9500GT graphics card
X-clio 3060 case
still only running windows XP 32 bit

obviously compared to stuff nowadays this is a bit of a dinosaur.

I've had a few issues with games crashing in the last six months on games it never used to like civilization V and footy manager 2013. All steam based, not sure if thats the problem.

I've also had a message on boot up saying the cpu fan is not working press enter to continue. this doesnt happen that often but when it does the fan isnt on but when I press enter it bursts into life!!! So I dont know if it needs replacing or not? Maybe this is causing the system to crash.

I want to upgrade to windows 8 but dont want to lose all the stuff on the hard disk, any recommendations?

also the giant fan (360mm) on the side of the x-clio case seems to have stopped working a few years ago and want to fix it as i think increased temps maybe one thing possibly causing my computer to crash even when playing low end games like football manager 2013. (I dont really play high end games)

I know the graphics card could use an upgrade as it was never great when I bought it. I've seen a few highly recommended like the GTX460 or AMD HD 6870 as an older option and people say they can get them for £50-60. So far i've only found refurbed ones for about £75 for the GTX460 and new £120 for the 6870. Really I'd only like to spend about £50-70 on another graphics card but looking around it looks like for something thats not gonna be obsolete in a few months like my current graphics card i'll need to spend £85-135 just for a decent budget card. I quite like the look of the nvidia GTX650ti for about £95 (thats the cheapest i've found) but the one most websites seem to be rating highly is the HD7850 saying they can get it for £120. cheapest ive seen it is £135. This may sound strange but I heard somewhere once upon a time that if you uprade from a Nvidia to a Radeon it causes problems? is this a myth? I'm sure loads of you on here have probably done this and could tell me. Thats one reason Im not sure whether to go with the AMD cards that seem better value at low to mid range cards.

Lastly does anyone know where you can pick up cheap priced DDR 2 ram from as I'd like to upgrade mine to 8GB when I hopefully get Windows 8 64 bit.

Sorry for the long post,

Any help appreciated.
 
Depending on how much you are willing to spend, a complete upgrade would be in order. Haswell, Intel's next gen CPU, is due out in June, may be worth waiting for that, but if your not fussed, what would be your total budget?

The GTX 460 is a good card and overclocks well, but that kind of cash, you could be looking at getting a 7850 for roughly £120. The 7850 is a great card and will give you a boost.

The other option would be to look at Trinity. Trinity is AMD's solution to integrated graphics with the CPU and on a limited budget, would be a good choice. DDR2 is just as expensive, if not more so, than DDR3, upgrading the CPU, Motherboard & RAM would be a good place to start, re-using your HDD & Case, but would defiantly think about a new PSU.
 
fair enough a total upgrade could happen at some point but I was really only thinking about helping this one along for the next few years as the Q9650 still isnt too bad for my processing needs. I wish I had a DDR3 setup but at the time DDR3 on an intel system was really expensive. AMD systems you could get at about the same price I paid back then with DDR3 but everyone back then were saying intel were well ahead and your better off with a good processor and DDR2. The only things running DDR3 then on the intel side were the first I7 processors that were out costing a minimum of about £800 for a computer. The I5 unfortunately wasnt out when I bought this.

The graphics card is one one thing I really need to upgrade plus a bit more ram. looking at £200 for the both. If I went for a new computer I'd look at something costing £600 as I want it to last minimum of 5 years for my needs. This one I have now will do the 5 years easy if I get these issues sorted and a new graphics card.

Have you seen the 7850 anywhere for £120. If you have please let me know as I'd probably take it for that as it seems to be the best mid range card out there.
 
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You've got still GOOD PC.

Anything it wants it's some repairs.

FIrst of all, change your PSU to something branded - Antec, COrsair, Enermax, BeQuiet, OCZ, Seasonic etc. Same power level.
Next, buy some aftermarket cooler - like Scythe Mugen 4 (just announced). It will help "things inside" being quiet & cool. You would require some o/c which will be easy with such CPU and motherboard.
Regarding to OS - unfortunately you will have to lose some program data/settings due to all software needs to be reinstalled. All other data will be on its place, unless you click "format" :) BTW, for install progress you can change MyDosuments' folder name to MyDocuments2 and then copy this over "new" MyDocuments, just in case.
You have to buy this huge fan, or replace it with one or two smaller (120-140mm) - look in your case manual if it's possible and buy some nice fans.
You can buy used GTX 460 for about 70 pounds (I sold two such Hawks - fully refurbished) for 72 pounds, it's still good card, depending on games you play, of course. Upto 70 quids you won't find anything better. You might try Gigabyte 7770 OC in Clearance lines here for 59 quids, but it is card a bit slower in higher resolutions. There's no issue with having Radeon after GeForce and vice versa - just uninstall drivers, clean up system (CCLeaner) and install nwe card & drivers.
No cheap option for DD2 upgrade - follow Ebay auctions, maybe you will be lucky. And - mostly - no reason to buy 8 GB just for WIndows 8. Windows itself doesn't require memory - but programs/games do. If you are happy with 4 GB = it means no upgrade is needed.
 
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Best change you could make before doing anything is to replace that truly awful psu. Ez-Cool are amongst the worst psu's available and i am surprised it's lasted this long.

Once you have done that get that Q9650 clocked, 3.8-4Ghz should be achieveable if the motherboard supports clocking, temps allowing. A overclock along with a new graphics card should give you a decent boost.

Replace that psu first though!!
 
I agree with pastymuncher. Get rid of that and drop something reliable in the there. You can get socket 775 motherboards that support ddr3, like the Gigabyte GA-P45T-ES3G. You'd have to buy used but would help with faster ram speeds, and cheaper to upgrade ram in the future.

I wouldn't be surprised if all the problems you're having are due to the psu starting to fail. Sounds quite typical problems of psu degradation. Get rid f e EZcool asap and worry about upgrades a little later.
 
Changing to DDR3 on S775 isn't going to get you much performance gains, I doubt it's worth it. And going for 4GB to 8GB probably won't gain a huge deal. Your main limit is the GPU.

I'd upgrade the PSU and get a decent GPU and leave it at that until overhauling the whole rig later.

I've never heard of PSU degradation, I doubt it's the cause of his problems.
 
I mainly use it for web browsing and games like civilisation V and football manager 2013. So nothing mega. I like a decent CPU and RAM for the processing of things like football manager. A good gpu is a bonus. That's why I'm looking to upgrade it now. I know the 9500 gt is holding it back. It always did. I want 8gig ram as 64 bit can handle it. My 32bit xp can't. That's why I stuck with 4. I think I will prob look very seriously at the 7770 at £59 as that's over half the price of the 7850. This should be plenty enough for my needs for a few years.

That'll give me a few quid to upgrade the power supply (psu). Why is it such a problem if its 550w and working? Surely if its working it should pump out the same wattage as something branded. I understand better brands usually give more stability and quality just like a tv. But at 550w and working is it not really supplying that?
 
PSUs with unstable voltages are much more prone to failure (usually due to cutting corners with cheap capacitors and regulators) and when they fail, they tend to take down other parts (mobo, GPU, CPU) with them. It can also cause long-term damage to other components causing them to eventually fail. Just because it says 550W, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is capable of delivering that. I had a 700W OCZ ModXStream which was only capable of delivering 550W on the 12V rail, so you have to be aware how the power is distributed.

It's like putting bargain basement tyres on your car. Sure, you will still make it from A to B. But these cheap tyres could cause secondary problems with: brakes, suspensions ride quality, tyre longevity and ultimately safety.
 
Minstadave said:
I've never heard of PSU degradation, I doubt it's the cause of his problems.
Click to expand...

I was referring to capacitor ageing and popped capacitors. From poor quality caps and insufficient cooling, poor build quality. It degrades the performance over time.

And you may be right about the (lack of) performance gains in going with ddr3; but I was looking more at along term usability, and leaving an option for OP to further upgrade later on, since OP wants another five years out of the machine it seemed like a worthy mention.
 
mdaw said:
That'll give me a few quid to upgrade the power supply (psu). Why is it such a problem if its 550w and working? Surely if its working it should pump out the same wattage as something branded. I understand better brands usually give more stability and quality just like a tv. But at 550w and working is it not really supplying that?
Click to expand...

That psu is never going to give you 550w. It's a piece of rubbish built down to a price using cheap components. It may say 550w on the label but a lot of that will be on rails that don't matter. The 12v rail is the important one and i have yet to see a cheap and nasty budget psu get anywhere near it's claimed 12v output before blowing up. I really don't understand why people build a decent rig and then skimp on the psu. It's the single most important component in a pc and should not be skimped on. Cheap ones are inefficient, use cheap components and when they fail are likley to take some other stuff with them. If you want to keep using it that's up to you, but don't come back here crying when it blows up.

Have a read of these review's on budget psu's.

The bargain basement psu roundup.

Death of a gutless wonder l

Death of a gutless wonder ll

Death of a gutless wonder lll

Death of a gutless wonder lV
 
Thank you for the links to the reviews pastymuncher. That is the proof I needed to show me that a better psu is a good idea. Obviously as with so many retailers they over promise on what they actually deliver.

So for my system if I was to add a HD 7850 or HD 7770 to it, what psu would you recommend? I dont want to spend a fortune but any suggestions are welcome to give me an idea of whats good and whats not.
 
You could easily manage with a quality 400w psu for your rig with a low powered card such as the 7770. If you want a more powerful card have a look at 550w+.

Some psu choices:-

Non Modular. Cheaper than modular but more of a pain for cable management.

XFX Pro 450w core edition cracking unit built by Seasonic £39.95

XFX Pro 550w core edition cracking unit built by Seasonic. £47.99

Seasonic S12 ll 430w £49.99

Modular Only plug in the cables you need so easier for cable managment but more expensive.

Enermax Triathlor FC550W £76.99

EVGA Supernova NEX650w £74.99

Seasonic G series 550w £76.99

Silverstone Strider Plus 500W £67.99

The popular psu's on here are out of stock. I have'nt listed the Corsair builder series and will probably get slated for this, but i really don't rate them. Personally i feel they are only just above a cheapo psu and are built down to a price. I would never use one in any rig i build.
 
Pop a new PSU in and a 7850 and that should be a nice boost. DDR2 is getting expensive so I wouldn't go hunting for more to make it up to 8gb. If you start doing much more than PSU and GPU with that setup, it starts to become more realistic to upgrade your platform to a newer motherboard/cpu/ram bundle. This is based on giving more of a gaming performance increase. As above, if you haven't already, look at overclocking the CPU as this will massively boost that machine and help to prevent bottlenecking any new GPU you buy. That CPU should overclock a little, if not a lot quite easily.

EDIT: Also look at SSDs as you can take this with you in the future and isn't a wasted investment. This single thing will give a huge performance increase and general responsiveness in the OS will be improved the most over anything else.
 
Thanks for the replies, before I buy a psu, you say the non modular are more of a pain for cable management. In what way? Are they just not tied together? Or have more adaptors to connect to motherboard etc.

I also now agree with the ram. It's too expensive for the gain. I'll probably wait for DDR 4 to come in and become a bit more mainstream before upgrading my motherboard and CPU. Although I may also get a enermax t60 heatsink along with a xfx 550w PSU and the hd 7850 plus the windows 8. Or do y think there is a better heatsink for the money.
 
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