Upgrade/new build advice?

TroganTrogan London, UK
edited August 2011 in Hardware
I've been given a computer that I want to upgrade slowly over the next few of months. The specs are:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 400+
2GB DDR2
ASRock N61P-S mobo
GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
120GB Maxtor IDE hard drive

This is replacing the old computer that was being used on and off since I joined Icrontic. Anyway, the Maxtor hard drive is a bit noisy. Any suggestions for a quiet and fast hard drive between 500GB-1TB? Budget is between £50-£60. I will probably be purchasing from Scan

Thanks.
«1

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2011
    They're all pretty quiet these days. WD Caviar Black or Seagate 7200.12.
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited May 2011
    Thanks Thrax.

    I will get the WD7502AAEX as it looks a good match. Any reason why the WD6401AALS is slightly more expensive?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2011
    Shitty pricing from the retailer.
  • edited May 2011
    If you haven't bought your hard drive yet, you might want to look at the Samsung 1Tb Spinpoint F3 too. I've heard good things about the Spinpoint F3 drives and it's significantly cheaper.
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited July 2011
    Hi guys,

    I have not purchased the hard drive yet, although I will likely get the Samsung soon.

    However, a slight issue with the computer described in my initial post. I decided to open the case and have a look around, but now the computer will not display anything upon switching it on. It seems to power on as the fans are spinning. I have reseated the memory and checked all cables are secure.

    I don't have another memory stick to test against. Any help?
  • edited July 2011
    You didn't happen to take off or knock loose the 4 or 8 pin 12v connector by any chance?
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited July 2011
    I just checked and the 4-pin connector is secure as are the other connectors.

    I think the on board graphics card has somehow messed up as the monitor shows a very faint fuzzy screen before it fades and says "Going to sleep". What do you think?

    Thanks.
  • edited July 2011
    I would guess that is possible. Do you have an old pci vid card hanging around or some old cheap pci-e vid card? I keep an old Radeon 9200 pci vid card just for testing problem boards with.
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited July 2011
    muddocktor wrote:
    I would guess that is possible. Do you have an old pci vid card hanging around or some old cheap pci-e vid card? I keep an old Radeon 9200 pci vid card just for testing problem boards with.
    Unfortunately, I don't have any parts. However, I want to build my first computer. This computer was being used in the meantime.

    Should I get a cheap video card to test with? Or get a better card that can be used for the new system?

    Thanks.
  • edited July 2011
    If you plan to build a computer yourself later, then you might as well spring for a better video card. And balance the video cards you are looking at with the amount of gaming or whatever you do. For example; if you are a big gamer (not likely since you have integrated vid right now) you might want to spend more on a higher end video card. If you do apps that can utilize the gpu for number crunching, then find out if your app uses CUDA or OpenCL. If CUDA, then you will need to go nVidia, since it's a proprietary format. If your apps use OpenCL, then you can use either (I believe), with AMD cards being preferred since they are more power efficient. And if you run multi monitors or a single high resolution monitor, you will want AMD (for multi monitor support) or a more powerful card with more memory (for a high res monitor). And I'm sure someone else can chime up and help more with this, as I am not a big gamer and I just use a multi monitor setup to span my desktop and not use them for multi monitor gaming.

    Hope this helps out a bit man. :)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    When the time comes, identify your budget in your local currency, list your preferred etailers, and describe what you do on the PC. You'll have suggested builds in no time.
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited July 2011
    Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

    As for the new build, I don't have a set budget as I will be buying the components each month so there is flexibility. I aim to spend approx. £150-£200 each month. If it is easier to work within a budget, I would say around £500-600.

    Etailers:
    Scan
    Ebuyer
    Amazon.co.uk

    The computer will be used for usual things (Internet, Office, music, films, CD burning). Playing games occasionally. Currently testing with VMWare and Virtual PC (these two ran like s*** with the above PC)

    I have a USB keyboard, mouse and a Windows 7 CD. Also have a SATA DVD-Rom drive that can be used.

    Not expecting a super machine, but something better than above PC. This will be my first complete build.

    Any questions, let me know. Thanks. :)
  • edited July 2011
    One question. Are you an Intel man, AMD man, or don't really care and just want the best buy for your money?
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited July 2011
    I don't have a preference so whatever money can buy.
  • MrTRiotMrTRiot Northern Ontario Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    I built my computer not too long ago and went with an AMD 965 black edition. It's a good CPU and only maxes out when folding...

    Also, my whole computer build (minus the graphics card and hard drives, which I already had) came to just under 600$ Canadian with tax...
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited July 2011
    Thanks for the feedback.

    I have attempted to compile an AMD system using advice from this thread and from Thrax in another thread. This is what I have:

    Case: Antec 300 - Dabs - £46.99
    CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black - Dabs - £99.00
    Mobo: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 - Dabs - £119.98
    RAM: Corsair Memory Vengeance Black 4GB DDR3 1600 - Scan - £34.08
    Hard Drive: 1Tb Western Digital WD1001FAES - Scan - £47.96
    GPU: have no idea on which to pick.
    PSU: Corsair CMPSU-600CXv2 Builder Series 600W – Dabs - £49.99
    DVD-Rom: Sony Optical DVD Writer, AD-7260S-0B - Scan - £14.87 or PIONEER DVR-S19LBK - Scan - £17.98

    Total = £415.99

    Apart from selecting a graphics card, I'm also looking for a new monitor which I will likely purchase last.

    Any advice on the above? I will try and compile an Intel system shortly.

    Edit: fixed error with PSU and corrected price.
  • MrTRiotMrTRiot Northern Ontario Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Only thing I would suggest with that build is maybe add an SSD for the OS. Other then that, looks pretty top notch. It's a gigabyte rather then an asus mobo, it's an antec or nzxt case, corsair memory (I love there vengeance series). Good stuff!
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    I have built in the Antec 300 a few times, and I will say, for a case on a budget, it is good, its flexable, you can add intake fans, it is not great for cable management, but it's not awful either, its biggest issue is that all the drive bays are fixed, so if your thinking about one of the uber long graphics cards, you might want to really think about how your giong to lay things out. If you add multiple SATA drives you can have a situation where you interfere with the card.

    Honestly, I don't know if I'd advise anyone to shove a 69xx (Over 11" cards) card in there, maybe think more around the 68xx (Around 9.5") line, or perhaps consider a slightly larger case. It's not that the longer cards won't fit, it just takes up drive bay space as the back end of the card will interfer with anything you try to put into those bays.

    In that case with that board, I'd actually consider a pair of 6770's or 6850's a better power build strategy vs. shoving a single long card into those bays.
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited August 2011
    The Antec 300 arrived today. I will be purchasing the other components in a few weeks. Any other suggestions or advice would be great.
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited August 2011
    Are there any recommended tools to be used when building a PC?<br>
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited August 2011
    screwdriver, maybe some zip ties for cable management
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2011
    I've found that a single screwdriver and a business card (for putting thermal paste on the CPU) is all I've ever needed.
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited August 2011
    Reminds me I usually like to have some isopropyl alcohol to clean old thermal paste off of things.
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited August 2011
    Would it be OK to use a magnetic screwdriver to install the motherboard etc?

    Would thermal paste be necessary for a new processor?

    What surface is best to do the build and what to avoid?
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited August 2011
    Trogan wrote:
    Would it be OK to use a magnetic screwdriver to install the motherboard etc?

    Would thermal paste be necessary for a new processor?

    What surface is best to do the build and what to avoid?

    #1 I've used one with no problems.

    #2 If you're using a HSF that's not the stock one, yeah. Even if you are using the stock HSF I would scrape the thermal paste/tape off and use some better stuff.

    #3 You can't go wrong with a wooden table.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2011
    1) Yes.
    2) Yes.
    3) No cloth/vinyl.
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited August 2011
    Which thermal paste and HSF is recommended?

    Thanks for the replies.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2011
    1) How much do you want to spend on a heatsink? Could be $20-90 US, with a massive quality disparity along the way.

    2) Arctic Silver is common and fine for average use.
  • TroganTrogan London, UK
    edited August 2011
    1) I would say around $60 or £40.

    2) This thermal paste good to get?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2011
    1) I think this heatsink would be good for your needs.

    2) That's fine.
Sign In or Register to comment.