Small upgrade help

Dubb3d · 9 Feb 2011 at 19:59

My brother wants to upgrade some of his PC, he will be able to keep:

HDD's
PSU (Generic 550W, so I think it should be OK?)
5550 gfx card.

So he will need a CPU, mobo, RAM and a case for around £250.

Thanks!

stulid · 9 Feb 2011 at 20:08

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
Coolermaster CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black £58.99
(£49.16) £58.99
(£49.16)
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Sub Total : £202.47
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £42.49
Total : £254.96

Dubb3d · 9 Feb 2011 at 20:16

Thanks mate, do you think the generic PSU would handle it, surely 550W would be enough?

stulid · 9 Feb 2011 at 20:18

yes, but next upgrade would have to be a reliable/named psu.

and sooner rather than later, trusting almost £300 of stuff with a psu costing £15-20 is a big no no.

a corsair 430w is better http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-033-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084

RJC · 9 Feb 2011 at 20:18

Being Generic I would not trust it, have a look at the PSU below:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-042-BQ&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1083

Dubb3d · 9 Feb 2011 at 20:22

Yea I do feel slightly uneasy using that old PSU, would you guys see any downsides to changing from the asus board to the Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT, the other one at £50?

stulid · 9 Feb 2011 at 20:26

thats fine.

both motherboards only have a single IDE connector, so if your bro's harddrive and optical drive are both IDE, that will be an issue.

having a slow optical drive and fast hardrive will cause the transfer speed to default to the slowest component, the optical drive in this case.

Dubb3d · 9 Feb 2011 at 20:31

If I tell him about the PSU im sure it will prompt him to buy one, tbh he will do whatever I suggest, lol, I assume that the corsair 420W PSU is better than more generic ones with higher wattage, so it would be sufficient?

RJC · 9 Feb 2011 at 20:33

Yes, most generic PSU could not even get close to there max wattage without blowing the Corsair will hopefully run without a problem.

stulid · 9 Feb 2011 at 20:33

Dubb3d said:
If I tell him about the PSU im sure it will prompt him to buy one, tbh he will do whatever I suggest, lol, I assume that the corsair 420W PSU is better than more generic ones with higher wattage, so it would be sufficient?

yes, its much better, the generic ones never actually give out what their wattage label suggests.

bit like a hifi with PMPO and RMS watt power, the RMS is the true figure.

Dubb3d · 9 Feb 2011 at 20:58

Thanks for the help stulid, we went ahead with the bits you suggested

Thanks again!