Upgrade/Replace, 6 yr old PC for £600

SwiftEdge

SwiftEdge

SwiftEdge

Associate
Joined
30 Aug 2004
Posts
9
Hi, I'm looking to upgrade or replace my 6 year old computer. These are the current components bought from OCuk in 2008:

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
LG GH20NS15 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GB24GB6400C5DC)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS)
Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK)

Is it wise to reuse any of this? Is a 6 year old power supply, with no obvious problems, still a good idea to keep using, or even possible to use with newer components?

The case is good but I'd like a couple of USB 3.0 ports, can they be upgraded easily or perhaps a port bay used? Additional ports seem to be almost as much as buying a whole new case.

Maximum I'd like to spend is £600 inc VAT. With it being used mostly for managing / processing photos in Lightroom, occasional HD video editing and some gaming. I'd like a 120GB SSD in there but OS is not needed. My current PC is only now really unable to cope with modern games at an acceptable resolution, if I put in £600 could I go another 5/6 years? Ideally I'd like to spend less if I could.

Would 16GB of RAM make enough difference to photo processing to make it worthwhile? Is it worth spending £150 more or so to get a Radeon 280X over 270X and and i7 over 6300 to help 'future proof' the PC for the next few years?

Thanks
 
SwiftEdge said:
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

LG GH20NS15 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS)

Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK)
Click to expand...

You can keep the above, so lets fill in the blanks. :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Powercolor Radeon R9 280 TurboDUO 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £167.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD316G2133HC11ADC01) £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £69.95
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £19.99
1 x BitFenix Dual USB 3.0 Front Panel with SoftTouch Finish £8.99
Total : £566.50 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Thanks, quick work guys. But how about that 120GB SSD I asked for?

You feel confident a 6 year old PSU won't cause problems? I see 16GB of RAM was included, I take it you think it would be worthwhile then. Does that USB panel come with the cables to connect it straight to the motherboard?

Thanks again
 
SwiftEdge said:
Thanks, quick work guys. But how about that 120GB SSD I asked for?

You feel confident a 6 year old PSU won't cause problems? I see 16GB of RAM was included, I take it you think it would be worthwhile then. Does that USB panel come with the cables to connect it straight to the motherboard?

Thanks again
Click to expand...

You can grab a 120gb EVO for £68, so thatd take you over budget. :).

That PSU is a quality unit, even though it is old it'll still work fine.

I think you'd see a good use for 16gb, as lightroom is RAM hungry. :).

Yeah, it does come with all the cables you need. :)
 
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