Spec me a Budget PC please

socnsum1

socnsum1

socnsum1

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14 Jan 2007
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Spec me a new PC on a budget

I have about £400 to spend that I guess could be stretched to £500 if need be. I want a faster PC than my current antique. I use my PC quite a lot for downloading, playing music and movies, streaming videos. I am not a big gamer, but I do multi task. Currently my PC slows down and freezes a lot when memory hungry programs are running. I would love to use my pc more as a media centre if at all possible and record from my Freecom USB freeview stick to my hard drive.

My current setup is;

2500XP athlon barton core OC to 2167 mhz
ECS M848A
1.5gb DDR 2700 (2 sticks of crucial 256mb and 1 stick of 1gb generic)
ATI 9200 Radeon 128mb
17” Hansol monitor
Generic Black Midi case
250w generic power supply
200gb IDE hard disk
250gb IDE hard disk
IDE dvd writer
IDE cd writer
Windows XP Pro
Microsoft keyboard
Logitech mouse

I was thinking of this setup. I want to re-use my midi tower case and my monitor. I also want to reuse my two IDE hard disks. I don’t want to get a Direct 10 graphics card at the moment, but I need a graphics card with a TV out. Could I reuse my old 250W PSU or am I best upgrading my power supply as well?

e4300 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-142-IN
2gb crucial ballistix 5300 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-088-CR
Asus P5N-E http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-221-AS
(I understand this motherboard supports upto 4 IDE devices which would suit my needs with 2 hard disks and 2 disc drives)
Corsair 520w PSU http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-005-CS
Ocuk 7600gt http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-055-OK

Any opinions would be gratefully received. I would like to place an order as soon as possible.
 
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are you sure you've not just got some dodgy memory? or maybe driver related issues? how full are your hard drives? is your page file optimised for the amount of ram you have? also, your psu is a bit low on the power front considering your running a) overclocked b) 2x ide disks and c) 2x ide optical drives. i've got a similar spec pc to you, same cpu oc'd to the same speed... but im running an abit nf7-s v2.0, 2gb of (value) pc3200 ram in dual channel mode, s-ata150 disks for the o/s, ide disks for storage, and a dvd-writer - all enlcosed in a decent antec case/psu. the main thing i use the pc for is running vmware (vmdk's stored on the ide drives) which is possibly one of the most memory hungry apps i can think of! running 2 servers and 2 desktops here whilst using it as my main pc also without it even blinking...! maybe have a look on the members market for some choice upgrades to your existing pc for uber cheapness as your on a budget? that said, i would love a c2d setup! *drools*
 
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Well your current system is just like my old system which I bought an upgrade for literally 1 hour ago.

Spent 3 hours researching this setup and several hours on this forum checking out everyones advice on hardware and I came up with a system for £494 inc VAT & delivery :-)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-142-IN

Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 6400 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-090-CR

Gfx: Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-134-SP

Mobo: Gigabyte GA965P DS3P - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-076-GI

Harddrive: Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-023-WD

Case&PSU: Antec NSK6500 Super Midi Tower (430W PSU) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-067-AN

CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-017-AR

Hope this helps :)
 
PU7E said:
go for a nvidia 8800 over the x1950 as it outpeforms the x1950 by a lot
Click to expand...

the 8800 is £90 more than the x1950 and is definitely worth it if you can afford it :) I don't know how far your budget goes and I will pm you the benchmarks when i build the system in the next 2 days if you would like.
 
atomiser, thanks for your comments and ideas.

I'm not sure of anything if I am honest. My memory might be dodgy but I think my problems could more likely stem from my weak CPU? Should a 2500Xp Athlon be able to handle programs like Media Portal, DVD Shrink and Newsbin?

How would my PSU affect my PC? Could it be responsible for the laggy performance?

What would my optimal page file be? People seem to have differing opinions over what size to choose, and what drive that it should be located on.

With regards to drivers as far as I am aware I have upto date drivers for everything.

I would be tempted to have a look at the members market but it might be a while til i reach the post amount needed to gain access to it.

So you think my current setup should be able to fulfil my current needs of media centre, dvd copying and downloading or is my CPU holding me back?
 
Jaffa, thanks for your suggestions. Looks like the basis of a good rig there. I was thinking along similar lines. Sadly the Gigabyte DS3P would be no good to me, as it only has 1 IDE channel and I have 4 IDE devices to accomodate; and to be honest, I have looked at the ATI1950 PRO, it looks like a cracking card, but I was thinking of getting a mid range card for now and getting a good Direct X 10 card when the prices come down more, as I am not a gamer at all.

Anyway, thanks for the opinion, the more help I get the better, I need it!
 
Asus GeForce 8500 GT 256MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £53.99
(£63.44) £53.99
(£63.44)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £126.99
(£149.21) £126.99
(£149.21)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA804) £91.99
(£108.09) £91.99
(£108.09)
Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Sub Total : £402.95
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
Vat : £72.08
Total : £483.98

at top of your budget but i think you will be happy with it and its dx 10
 
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no worries.

some of the components of your existing pc are more than capable of running media portal, dvdshink and downloading! i.e. the cpu, ram (though ddr400 would be better, particularly as you have oc'd your chip from xp2500 to xp3200 speeds) and disks (though you may as well upgrade to sata2 disks as their backward compatible with sata1 boards, their cheap and you could consolidate two drives into one - less noise, heat and power usage). you may want to think about changing the mobo as i think ive heard bad things about via chipsets. the abit board i use is nforce2 and i've had zero issues with it all, rock solid no matter what i throw at it.

i guess, however, it all comes down to what is 'fast' to you. mine will do a dvd backup to an iso in 10-15 minutes and then a further 10-15 minutes to burn it to a dvd dependant on what else im using the pc for at the time, which is fine and dandy with me! it ran media portal flawlessly too, as i used it as a test rig before i dedicated a.n.other generic pc for that task. for info, my media portal/file server/dvd backup/download box is currently a dell optiplex gx240 which has a p4 1.8ghz processor, 512mb of (pc133 i think!!!) ram, 320gb ide hard drive and an 18x dvd-writer. it's on 24/7, is practically silent, and does all those tasks without even blinking!

i've seen all sorts of horrid issues come about with either dodgy or insufficient power supplies. definately worthwhile spending a bit of money in that area. doesn't need to be mega bucks - i got a budget antec case/psu of ocuk for about £40 a while back and for what i paid it was very good value, can't seem to find it on the ocuk website anymore though.

if you can't get on the members market then there is always the bay of the e variety. i can't link to them 'cos of forum rules but im sure your more than capable to searching for yourself. i've had some right bargains from there in the past. you may even be able to pick up a complete system off there and then sell your other components individually to recoup some cash.

it all depends if you want to take the plunge and move onto the next generation of hardware... for that just look at some of the specs others have put up - some nice suggestions there.

now i've just pimped my (modest) rig it will probably fall over tomorrow!!! oh well, that will force me into a c2d upgrade!!! ;)
 
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So could a weak PSU be making my PC freeze and slow down then? Or is it just that my CPU isn't powerful enough to run media center and programs like dvd shrink and nero?
 
a guy at work had a 400w psu powering an amd xp1800 which was overclocked, plus 4 ide devices, reasonably high end graphics (when the pc was originally built), plus quite a few other pci devices... he started having all sorts of random lockups and freezes... new psu led to a completely stable system, that was over 6 months ago now and not heard a peep from him since. deffo try and swap it out... do you know anyone who could loan you one short term?

your processor is running at 2.2ghz... of course it is fast enough to run media centre apps and dvdshrink/nero... hell, i remember getting my first upgrade from a pentium 133 to an amd athlon 1ghz and thinking it was the fastest thing on the planet... i was watching dvd's, backing them up, and downloading stuff fine... then my next upgrade was to my current machine and it was, again, the fastest thing on the planet! sure, it's not a patch on current technology but its *more* than adequate for the tasks you are trying to use it for!

also, how much free space do you have on your hard drive? as a guide i always try to keep a minimum of 25% of disk space free. also, as i mentioned before, check your page file - again, as a guide i always try to keep the page file to 1.5x the amount of ram you have in your machine... so in your case try fixing it to 2304mb. another top tip would be to look at the performance settings... its probably set to 'let windows choose whats best for my computer'... scrub that and change it to 'adjust to best performance'. also, whats the state of your disks... assuming you have enough free disk space try a defrag, this can sometimes speed things up. if your running low on disk space then turn off system restore... and then if you do use that functionality then turn it back on - at least that way you will free up the disk space it was taking up with old system state data. additionally, run a tool such as ccleaner (google is your friend) against your pc to tidy out all your old crap such as internet history, temporary files etc as these can really hog space. it can also sort your registry out too. another thing to check for is malicious code. what firewall/av/spyware software do you use? is it up to date? have you run a full scan to make sure your pc isn't being used as a drone? ***disclaimer: use these tools at your own risk!!! i do this stuff on a regular basis and never have any problems, but that doesnt mean its the same for every pc!!!***
 
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I have done everything I can think of bar a full reinstall to be honest. My hard discs are usually full to bursting so I will try and empty them off as you suggest so that I can do a full defrag. If that doesn't work I will try cleaning out my pc case again, but failing that I will try buying a new PSU. Would any be suitable for my needs with me having an old computer? Would it be ATX 2.0 or 2.2? I was looking at the Corsair 520w as it has such a good reputation what do people think?

Thanks again.
 
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