Upgrade or start from scratch again?

y2viks

y2viks

y2viks

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Joined
31 Dec 2003
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I Freed Fishfingers 13/08
Hi,

At the moment my system looks like this:

Processor - 2.80 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
Motherboard - ASUSTeK Computer Inc. P4C800-E Rev 1.xx
Memory
Slot 1 - 1Gb Corsair PC3200 (CMX1024-3200)
Slot 2 - 512Mb Kingston PC 3500
Slot 3 - 1 Gb Corsair PC3200 (CMX1024-3200)
Slot 4 - 512Mb Kingston PC 3500
Graphics Card - AGP RADEON X850 Series

I've checked the stats of my motherboard which can go to a P4 3.2 at best. I'd like to go to a Core2Duo or a QuadCore processor, but seeing that i'm replacing my Motherboard, Processor and Graphics Card, would any/all of the RAM I have in my current set up be up to scratch for the higher end systems?

My plan at the moment would be to take the 2 512 sticks of Kingston out and get 2 more gigs of PC3500 memory, along with a new Mobo, Processsor and Graphics card and then i'd have two systems.

Thanks

Viks
 
Even an upgrade would be virtually starting from scratch. You need new CPU, new memory, probably new graphics, and new PSU. Personally though I would just get the miminum of new parts by upgrading, then I can either spend less money overall, or more of my money on each part. It depends if you want a working PC to sell or use elsewhere though...
 
This was just going to be a second PC for the sake of it to be honest, and while i was thinking about it i thought... well i might as well make is as up to date as possible. I had a check on the site and if i hadn't closed down all the browsers for some unknown reason i could give you more precise details

Quad Core Processor - £170
Motherboard - £65
4Gb Ram (2 lots of 2x1Gb) - £65

I'm really out of touch with graphics etc so I wasn't too sure of where to look. I then realised... damn! need new harddrive also... and a DVD RW... and a case! ><

As for my budget I'd like to have it somewhere near £500 but i'm flexible if it would be worth it. I think i might have to drop down to a Dual Core ... the shame :p

Thanks for the responses guys :)

Viks
 
That quad core is a tad pricey, you can get the Q6600 OEM from ocuk for arouynd £155 AFAIK, might be a slower model than the one you picked, but team it up with a decent cooler and you can clock ythe nuts off it
 
Little bit over the budget but it should be worth it. :)

OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-5400C5 Dual Channel Vista Upgrade Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2VU6674GK) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Pioneer DVR-212D 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
Antec NSK 6580 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W Earth Watts PSU £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £135.99
(£159.79) £135.99
(£159.79)
Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A32728) £26.99
(£31.71) £26.99
(£31.71)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Sub Total : £427.92
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £76.80
Total : £515.67
 
Bendage I just saw your upgrade page. Must be 2 years ago I'm guessing? Still good to see and a nice build by the end.

At the OP. I would say you'll probably need a new motherboard, RAM, gfx and CPU to upgrade. If it's only going to be a second PC then you could go with the Asrock 4-Core board. That will let you use your old AGP gfx and DDR memory in it so you could just get a new CPU and that board and be sorted. Get a E2180 and the asrock board for well under £100 and you can clock it a bit to get it up to around 2.8Ghz if you're lucky.
 
Bendage I just saw your upgrade page. Must be 2 years ago I'm guessing? Still good to see and a nice build by the end.
Click to expand...

Thanks, yeah, over 2 years ago now. Upgraded a few times since too. I should probably take that off...
 
Same case (Antec AMG Plusview) and psu that i currently have.

Very nice, have u kept the UV stuff in there since that upgrade then?
 
schumi84 said:
Same case (Antec AMG Plusview) and psu that i currently have.

Very nice, have u kept the UV stuff in there since that upgrade then?
Click to expand...

The case is an Akasa Eclipse 62. The old one was a Chieftec dragon, which I think was the same chassis as the antec one IIRC. The UV stuff got better when I watercooled it and put UV reactive dye in the pipes, looked ace. The UV stuff got taken out just a few weeks ago when I get a new mobo, didnt have enough money to get a LANparty and the UV dye has faded, so I took it all out for now and put the solid side pannel back on. It'll glow again in the future though
 
semi-pro waster said:
Little bit over the budget but it should be worth it. :)

OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-5400C5 Dual Channel Vista Upgrade Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2VU6674GK) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Pioneer DVR-212D 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
Antec NSK 6580 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W Earth Watts PSU £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £135.99
(£159.79) £135.99
(£159.79)
Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A32728) £26.99
(£31.71) £26.99
(£31.71)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Sub Total : £427.92
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £76.80
Total : £515.67
Click to expand...

I've taken a few bits and pieces out from this spec and just wanted to check everything is still compatible etc or if anyone has some better suggestions? I've got rid of the DVD-RW and the GFX card and also repaced the Quad Core for a Dual Core.



Antec NSK 6580 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W Earth Watts PSU £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-5400C5 Dual Channel Vista Upgrade Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2VU6674GK) £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.20GHz (800FSB) - Retail £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 160GB ATA-133 8MB Cache - OEM (0A32722) £26.99
(£31.71) £26.99
(£31.71)
Sub Total : £274.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £50.03
Total : £335.92



Will this rig also be able to oveclock a bit?

Thanks

Viks
 
It will overclock a bit although the IP35-E isn't as good for overclocking as the IP35 is, the reason for picking it easlier is that it is cheaper and the CPU was faster as a result.

I'd change the E4500 to an E2180, you lose 1mb L2 cache but (debatably) there isn't much loss in performance, it costs less and overclocks well which would allow you to buy a better CPU cooler such as the Tuniq Tower or Noctua NH-U12F.

I'd buy a SATA hard drive since there is only one IDE port on the motherboard.

Finally do you already have a PCI-E graphics card? Because there isn't one onboard. :)
 
i made a simular tread like this and my budget was £500 as well hers what i got :


Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
(£39.94)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2
(£37.59)
Corsair VX 450W ATX PSU (CMPSU-450VXUK)
(£43.46)
Abit IP35-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
(£64.61)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail
(£55.21)
EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
(£176.24)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
(£49.34)
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS II
(£58.74)
 
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