Upgrading old pc

woofercooker

woofercooker

woofercooker

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4 Nov 2011
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512
Can you talk about buying used components on here? if so then great, i currently have this set up which im using as a media pc with XP im upgrading to win 8, it copes well enough with 1080p movies but im not sure if upgrading to win 8 will slow things down much. Basically i want to just upgrade it on a budget with used parts just to give it a boost up as i only use this rig for movies and old school games which it copes with ok at the moment but would be nice if it were a little quicker.


Antec Black Fusion V2 MATX MediaCenter Case - 430W PSU

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2220 2.4GHz

Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L iG31 Socket 775 mATX

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3485#ov

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Platinum XTC Memory Kit CL4 2.1V


8800gt 512mb

im thinking 4gb ram and a better cpu is as good as its going to get? WIll a better GPU effect video playback? what cpu would be the best if im not going to overclock?
 
stulid said:
A SSD will make things happen a nice bit "snappier" and I think is a good investment.
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Deffo looking into these! Somebody has just told me win 8 is quicker than xp is this true?

Just for the heck of it what is the cheapest Matx mobo/ram/cpu combo that would blow my current set up away? if its not much im tempted to just buy new, its only a media pc the most demanding thing is 1080p videos sometimes youtube in 1080p becomes choppy and out of sync and i have to watch in 720p, its ok for downloaded stuff but sometimes i get slow seeking.
 
Last edited:
Win8 is rapid indeed, but then again its usually combined with newer and faster tech.

For a laugh I once fitted an SSD to a old Intel system and it made it so much more usable.
 
I'd probably go for 4gb of ram with windows 8 too. I doubt a CPU upgrade would make much of a difference although used socket 775 processors don't exactly cost a lot. An SSD would also be good, the advantage with this is you would be able to use it in a new system if you were ever to upgrade.
 
I'd get an SSD first and go from there, if your not happy, then it's not wasted anyway, as you can still use it with your new bits
 
los said:
I'd get an SSD first and go from there, if your not happy, then it's not wasted anyway, as you can still use it with your new bits
Click to expand...

Think i will try this first, as like you say i can use it in a new build.

What are peoples thoughts on win 8 vs xp performance wise? im hearing mixed things some people are saying that its more efficient than xp even on older machines? Is this true because if that's the case i think i can hold onto socket 775 for a while, The only issues i have is 1080p is choppy on youtube 720p is fine and also some 1080p files are a bit slow and choppy when seeking but ok if i just leave them to play. I Just need a little extra boost an ssd another 2gb ram and maybe pick up a cheap cpu a q6600 is cheap enough im just worried that windows 8 will cripple my pc and make me need to upgrade everything anyway.
 
The newer versions are great performance wise (especially when paired with an SSD).

I'd make sure to install the 32bit version with only 2GB of RAM though. It's not a problem because a windows 7/8 license covers both 64 and 32bit versions of the operating system, it's just that I find the 64bit versions use more RAM.
 
If I were you for general use and media playback a faster 2 core CPU would be a better option and probably cheaper.

An old E8400 should set you back £10-15 shipped.
 
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