upgrade time

sharper9 · 12 Nov 2009 at 10:58

Hi All

my first time on the forum so hello!

I'm looking at a new pc box it will not be a self build due to disability. So I will be looking for OcUK or a another company to put it together.

I'm currently running an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4800+. GeForce 7300 GT not sure of the motherboard. 2Mb Ram. XP Sp3. Getting very slow.

Looking for an all rounder. I do play games but not many action ones, not sure where to spend the budget of £750.

Windows 7 ant thoughts?

This is my list. All input appreciated

Case Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) this important due to positioning of front on/off and USB's
Processor (CPU) Intel® CoreTi5 Processor i5-750 (2.66GHz) 8MB Cache
Memory (RAM) 8GB CORSAIR XMS3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2: DDR3, SATA II, 2 PCI, 1 PCI-Ex
USB Options 8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Hard Disk 500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
DVD Drive22x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Graphics Card 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 9800GT PCI EXPRESS
Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply & Case Cooling 600W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling COOLIT DOMINO A.L.C. CPU LIQUID COOLER FOR CORE i5/i7

jms198 · 12 Nov 2009 at 11:11

I'd avoid the 9800gt; its not as good compared to say a 4850 and they are often more expensive.
Not sure how much you need the 8gb ram; its reasonably expensive atm and maybe upgrade later?
the motherboard is pretty entry level with limited cooling; so not really suited to OCing (if thats what you're after). If you're not into OCing then not to worry but a CPU air cooler may be better than and save money on the liquid cooler.
wrt to the PSU what brand is it? if its Be Quiet than should be good. Also the HD brand? I would maybe think of a SSD when they sort out all the problem and fall in price which should be very soon.
Not really an i5 expert tbh; wouldn't mind one though!

Stupot_ · 12 Nov 2009 at 11:27

I would say...

Stick with 4gb ram

hard disk - samsung spinpoint f3 1tb

graphics - 9800 GT is a bit old tech, go for one of the ati 5XXX, 5770 looks pretty good...

power supply - anything decent over 500W should be fine, get something bigger if you're looking to upgrade in the future, corsair are always recommended here.

cooling - corsair H50-1 or any decent air cooler. As for the corsair H-50, it's not as quiet as people say it is! If you're looking for a quiet system then maybe replace the stock corsair fan, the pump makes a noise too but its not that loud.

Also, I personally don't like the look of the antec 300. Quite a lot of cases have connectors/power on the top, i think quite a few Lian Li's do, I much prefer the look of them

in fact... something like this would be pretty sweet!

Ast3r · 12 Nov 2009 at 11:30

Stupot_'s build is pretty good you should get that.

sharper9 · 12 Nov 2009 at 11:33

thx jms

All the spec in the first post is a starting point and is open to change.

Did not think you could ever have to much ram. Also OCing is not something I know much about other than you get more processing from the CPU but it CAN cause a funny burning smell from the black box under the desk.