Spec request and little adivce please ( for my dad )

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My dads looking to upgrade from his very old AMD Athlon II X3 440 , 2gig ram. To a little better system as this is very slow now for doing basic things with .

Don't have much of an idea what to suggest as I've not really looked for a while since i upgraded to a Intel I7 2600 K,

I was thinking something along the lines of a AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-327-AM&groupid=701&catid=1967&subcat=1944

As it has built in graphic not sure what motherboard to look at maybe something like this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-221-MS&tool=3 and maybe 6gig ram?

Hoping someone could advise me a bit please also I'm pretty sure he has a midi case and he doesn't want to spend a great deal just a nice simple machine.

Thanks.
 
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I'd get a pentium/i3 with a H81 board, 4 gigs of RAM, 400W PSU, nice and simple


Thanks for the replies everyone

Was looking at the I3 but thought the AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz was more value for money ?

AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz
MSI A55M-E33 AMD A55 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1333C9)
Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 2.5inch SSD
Seagate 500GB Barracuda Internal Hard Drive

All for under £275 ?
 
So would a Intel Core i3 4130 3.40GHz Socket 1150 3MB Cache better than the AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz?

I take it the only difference from the Intel Core i3 4130 3.40GHz Socket 1150 and the i3-3240 is the 3rd and 4th gen and the i3 4130 has a better graphics card?


Thanks guys
 
Yes, in CPU performance it would be better - the APU is average, also is made for low-end gaming which I assume your dad won't be doing, just web browsing etc which the i3 iGPU will be more than enough for
 
imo, it doesnt sound like your dad will be doing anything intensive.
the pentiums will be more than up to the task
my 2pence:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate SSHD 7200RPM 3.5" 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DX001) SSHD Hybrid Drive £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3420 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £46.99
1 x Asus H81M-E Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £37.99
Total : £210.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).



specced a sshd rather than ssd+hdd combo. its 70% of the performance of the ssd+hdd combo, slightly cheaper and also dad wont have to worry about which files goes into which drive (aka less complicating)

ps: i specced faster ram because its the same price as the 1600mhz ram =)
the h81 boards only officially support 1600mhz ram, but faster ram can always run slower, so no point buying slower ram when faster ram is the same price
 
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If its not used for much, I'd just buy an SSD and do a fresh install of windows and see how it is.
If its still not very good then just buy the other bits.
 
Have you considered just upgrading the Ram to 4GB?

I'd be surprised if the Athlon x3 is the problem: I use an Athlon x2 270 in my main PC, coupled with 4GB ram (single channel) and a mechanical HDD. It flies through general computing tasks like internet browsing, office apps and suchlike (and is fine for the gaming I do too).

Maybe a windows cleanup/ fresh install would be in order too.
 
If its not used for much, I'd just buy an SSD and do a fresh install of windows and see how it is.
If its still not very good then just buy the other bits.


Was looking at putting a SSD in it think it would help?

imo, it doesnt sound like your dad will be doing anything intensive.
the pentiums will be more than up to the task
my 2pence:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate SSHD 7200RPM 3.5" 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DX001) SSHD Hybrid Drive £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3420 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £46.99
1 x Asus H81M-E Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £37.99
Total : £210.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).



specced a sshd rather than ssd+hdd combo. its 70% of the performance of the ssd+hdd combo, slightly cheaper and also dad wont have to worry about which files goes into which drive (aka less complicating)

ps: i specced faster ram because its the same price as the 1600mhz ram =)
the h81 boards only officially support 1600mhz ram, but faster ram can always run slower, so no point buying slower ram when faster ram is the same price

Thank you.

Have you considered just upgrading the Ram to 4GB?

I'd be surprised if the Athlon x3 is the problem: I use an Athlon x2 270 in my main PC, coupled with 4GB ram (single channel) and a mechanical HDD. It flies through general computing tasks like internet browsing, office apps and suchlike (and is fine for the gaming I do too).

Maybe a windows cleanup/ fresh install would be in order too.

Which Ram would you recommend to fit that mobo i assumed it was the cpu that was slowing things down as it seems very slow ?
 
Get another 2GB RAM and a 120GB+ SSD.

My dad runs an X2 7850 BE and the biggest factor in its performance was the SSD, even with 2GB of RAM it was very snappy. 4GB is just the icing on the cake.

Also make sure it has a decent entry level card in it like a HD 6450, makes a huge difference in a number of browsing and productivity tasks.
 
Get another 2GB RAM and a 120GB+ SSD.

My dad runs an X2 7850 BE and the biggest factor in its performance was the SSD, even with 2GB of RAM it was very snappy. 4GB is just the icing on the cake.

Also make sure it has a decent entry level card in it like a HD 6450, makes a huge difference in a number of browsing and productivity tasks.


He is just using the integrated graphics card on the mobo or cpu far as i know.

so would Ram like this be fine http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-257-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1516 .

Thanks.
 
Was looking at putting a SSD in it think it would help?



Thank you.



Which Ram would you recommend to fit that mobo i assumed it was the cpu that was slowing things down as it seems very slow ?

Depends if it's a DDR2 or DDR3 mobo (athlon x3 can run either).

I'd probably go for clean windows install as first port of call. Then more Ram (you can check ram usage in task manager - you should probably see it topping out just from internet use)

Edit:
Though if he's running 32bit Windows, then RAM will be limited to 3GB
 
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o ddr3 ram. just get a cheap 2gb stick (to bring total ram up to 4gb) and do a full reinstall of the os and stuff
should see it back to speed
 
o ddr3 ram. just get a cheap 2gb stick (to bring total ram up to 4gb) and do a full reinstall of the os and stuff
should see it back to speed

Thanks

So anything like
Corsair 2GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory
Corsair 2GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory
- PC3-10600
- CL9 (PC3-10600) 1.5V
?

Thanks.
 
Only two ram slots on that mobo, so check whether you have one or two already in place. You'll need two 2gb sticks if you have 2x 1gb in already.

Just go for the cheapest you can find - Athlon only supports up to 1333mhz (faster Ram is compatible, but will be downclocked)
 
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