Which PC Components to Upgrade? [Help!]

[Camel]

Well I spent £450 on mine and £200 of that was on the GPU which i cant use

[Guest RB26DETT]

quad core also uses the 775 socket. :P

 

you may want to upgrade the PSU to at least a 500 or 550w

 

EDIT: get a Q6660. it's the cheapest of the bunch and pretty good with games.

[Iced_Bullet]

So ... I can (hopefully if theres no welding or what not etc etc) get a Quadcore and more RAM and a new CPU. Now, *twinkles eys* Do you think you could state what the best is of each component which fits my spec ;) No matter what the price. Then I'll think if the price needs to come down :)

 

loveage!!!

[Guest RB26DETT]

CPU - Intel Q6660 @ 2.4 ghz

PSU - Corsair HX520w

RAM - dunno. not familar with what's good or not. as long as you get DDR 400 RAM.

 

 

is your case a ATX?

[Iced_Bullet]

What do you mean ATX? :p

 

CPU

Would this be OK? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131823

I selected it from this price range selection http://www.ebuyer.com/search/?page=1&sortfilter=descend&limit=10&strSearch=&bolShowAll=true&intCatID=22&minprice=113.0&maxprice=150.0&bolShowAll=true

[Guest RB26DETT]

i did research again. your case isn't a ATX so upgrading the PSU might be a bit of a hassle. i'm looking for PSU's right now for your case. woot! go me!

 

this is why i hate dell. they make it hard for you to upgrade.

 

yeah that q6600 is good. consumes less power.

the e8400 core2duo is awesome as well.

[Camel]

What do you mean ATX? :p

 

CPU

Would this be OK? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131823

I selected it from this price range selection http://www.ebuyer.com/search/?page=1&sortfilter=descend&limit=10&strSearch=&bolShowAll=true&intCatID=22&minprice=113.0&maxprice=150.0&bolShowAll=true

Make sure you can take out your old CPU before you order a new one and also that you can put your own fan/heatsink onto it

[Guest RB26DETT]

Iced. Regarding the PSU, you'll have to get a PSU that was specifically made for Dell computers. I did a quick google search and found out that information. Now I'm looking for PSU's for dell.

[Iced_Bullet]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Sensei]

You guys confusing him alot. I doubt a really old motherboard with support the newer Core 2 Duo/Quad technology, for sure the cpu will fit in the intel 775 socket but will it actually work once it's in there? No. Beside that, the massive heatsink on Dell's cases is literally fixed into the case with it's own little plastic compartment which is attached to the case, good luck getting round that.

 

I just woke up (Yes, it's 4pm), so I'm not going to type much more but you guys are seriously suggesting some funny stuff. :)

[Guest RB26DETT]

fancy. i found a 400w for your dell 8300. but a 500w would be a safe choice.

http://pcpowerzone.com/8300.html

 

EDIT: found a 500w

http://www.pcpower.com/products/description/Silencer_500_Dell/

 

@ Sensei. Oh, I didn't know that. The motherboard won't be able to support the newer CPU's? I'm not to familiar with Dell's and just basing it on what fits and how much power he needs.

[Iced_Bullet]

OK, Thanks all for the help. Sensei suggested I go round his on monday after our Maths exams and we shall look to see what's good and whats the cheapest I can get from a new setup excluding cables, HDDs, Monitor, GPU etc etc.

[ScaR]

Just because your motherboard supports LGA775 doesn't mean it will support a core2duo, older (2+ years) motherboards only support up to Pentium D's. Unless bios revisions have been put forth by DELL, then you will have to get a new motherboard -> ram -> cpu. old HDD's and DVD drives should work unless DELL has done something to them..

[Sensei]

Indeed, take a look at this nForce 750i motherboard on overclockers.co.uk, it clearly states that it supports the Core 2 Quad/Duo and other such older processor types.

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-265-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1057&name=Asus%20P5N-D%20nForce%20750i%20SLi%20(Socket%20775)%20PCI-Express%20DDR2%20Motherboard

 

And older hard-drives should work, as long as you've got the SATA-II 3GB/s connectors on the motherboard, as the above link states it has 4. It also supports the raid features which I would highly recommend.

 

But as Iced's said, I won't talk much since he's coming round tomorow after exams to look at stuff~

[khevolution]

EDIT: Is it a DELL because last I heard you cant upgrade them yourself

 

my pc is a dell and i got a better GFX card put in it about 3 years ago, ok it maybe broken now, but its 5/6 years old so im not complaining

[Camel]

my pc is a dell and i got a better GFX card put in it about 3 years ago, ok it maybe broken now, but its 5/6 years old so im not complaining

 

Yes but he didn't want a new GFX card did he?

[khevolution]

no but people are saying you can't upgrade dell computers, i was saying that you can

[Sensei]

We didn't say you can't upgrade Dell computers, we said certain parts of it are made very difficult so that if you want to upgrade in the future you HAVE to do it through Dell, learn to read would you?

 

Yeah you can put a graphics card in it for sure, that's a simple plug a play mechanism for replacing. But replacing CPUs and other components is made a helluva lot more difficult.

[Iced_Bullet]

What do you think? I'm not sure. As Sensei said ...

 

"lol ####, you gotta face the fact that if you want to get a new setup, complete new rig I mean.. you can't keep the agp card"

 

The answer is simple, don't upgrade.

 

Upgrading that system would be a big waste of money, throwing cash at old technologies. Kalniel said the Asrock 939 Dual Sata2 , well the 939 chips were discontinued 2 years ago so you junking one old tech for another. The amount of extra bang for your buck just isn't sufficiant enough to warrant the purchase.

 

Best thing to do is just hang on to your current setup till you are willing to go for the whole thing, especially considering that majorly overhauling your rig will cost you at least £300-£400 (re-using case, hdd, and Dvd drives)

 

If I was to suggest what to replace should you do it now though this would be it.

 

CPU

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=643237

 

MB

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=605522

 

Ram

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=402849

 

Video

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=772608

 

PSU

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=618002

 

Overall that runs up to £415..but will give ya an extremely capable system and one where you'd see where the cash went..

[Sensei]

This is Iced_bullet:

 

""

 

Right, this buy is what we've come up with so far (Myself and Sensei):

 

A bit of a strech as I was more thinkning about the £440, could be slightly more, mark for the new rebuild ...

 

I would like to keep Quad Core though ... what could be changed to reduce the price but keep the performance up (ish) concidering I won't be O'Cloking the PC ...

 

£500.46

 

Components

Case - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-065-AN

 

* Considering the fact you probably will not be OC'ing the computer, this case is a low-mid price range case with excessive amounts of cooling.

 

 

PSU - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-026-OC

 

* 500w PSU fine for 1 gfx card.

 

 

Motherboard - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-235-AS

 

* Motherboard fine for 2 gfx cards (if you want to add another one in the future) (+sound card that you have +TV tuner card that you have)

* Also supports the 800MHz memory and the Core 2 Quad (45nm) processor architecture.

 

 

CPU - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-161-IN

 

* Q6600 - great mid-range CPU low priced.

 

 

RAM - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-090-CR

 

* 800MHz - fastest speed that'll fit into the motherboard. Cheap too =]

 

 

GPU - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-175-SP

 

* Only GPU I've seen with GDDR4 type memory

* 2nd best ATI GPU beside the HD3870X2, and it's got single slot cooler = takes up less room in case = better airflow = better cooling

* Factory overclocked with warranty

 

 

 

 

NEEDED Extras

Thermal Compound - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=AC-000-AC

CPU Heatsink - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-017-AR

 

""

[Sensei]

That was Iced on my laptop, forgot to log his own profile. *rolls eyes* Idiot.

 

Anyway, as I have said to him it will be really difficult to scrape any money off that at all. All the components that we looked for were the cheapest you could get whilst keeping reasonable specs. Cheap graphics card, but quality so that he can justify upgrading from the AGP card... cheap motherboard! cheap memory! cheap CPU! really cheap PSU! The case is cheap as well AND it has excessive amounts of cooling when compared to other cases in that price area which are just boxes!!

 

I really don't know how he can complain about the price. But hey, if any of you guys can find indentical products at cheaper prices elsewhere then feel free to give links. Overclockers.co.uk tends to be the best prices though and buying all from same place saves on P&P

[Guest RB26DETT]

pretty solid build. the parts i would've suggested would've costed 10-20 quid more. so scrap that.

 

i'd like to apologize with the whole old mobo + q6600 episode i did on this thread. i acted to quickly. hey, you learn something new everyday.

[Sensei]

No problem, I spend a lot of time wishing I had a better computer and checking out new parts on the internet so I learn alot by just reading the product spec and if I don't know something asking someone on MSN or reading up about it.

[Iced_Bullet]

No worries RB :)

 

You know more than me anyway :p I've just had to take the help from Sensei, others from EU TDU forum and the USA one as good. We based it on a mixture on the things suggested and his knowledge etc, still trying to get Quad core and reasonable specs for my price range :)

[Speed]

Aren't you 2 sitting in the same room? Need to both post? PC+1 ftw :rolleyes: