Desktop advice please. Upgrade or Replace!

Racehunter

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My current desktop is a Dell Dimension 9150, with a few minor upgrades giving the following spec:

Processor: Intel Pentium 4. 3.0GHz
Memory: 4 slots with 1024 MB DDR2-SDRAM (PC2-5300 / 667 MHz) in each.
HDD: Primary (C Drive) 150GB Secondary (Z Drive) 350GB
Op System: Windows XP Home + Office 2003 Professional.

I have been having a few problems with BSOD failures after running full back up from C drive to Z Drive, and sometimes when running full McAfee scan. Having updated drivers etc, removed potential conflicting software, I am left with the serious possibility that I have a hard drive failure just around the corner. This is worrying as I am not able to carry out back-up due to BSOD and I use the PC to run my business as well as for home use (home based office!)

So what are my options? I have considered simply backing up files only, to external hard drive then replacing existing C drive, but perhaps a new base unit would be better. What prompted this was a Staples offer for aCompaq Presario CQ5308 for £250 in my local branch, however I am not sure it is right for me.

I would like to move to Windows 7, run the usual Office programmes, surf the net, emails etc. Within the family users, my son downloads a lot of music, edits his own video's and we run a small home wireless network for a laptop and printer. BBC iplayer and other similar sites are used quite regularly, but gaming is something that we tend not to be involved with, that said I had always thought about using the PC to run one of the motor racing 'games' as a simulator to help in my hobby!

With all that said, I would appreciate suggestions that anyone may have for either an upgrade to existing system, a good 'ready built' PC or a spec sheet to build my own and what difference I would then see in performance. I do not need monitor as I have recently purchased a 22" LG widescreen one.

As for budget, If I could do something worthwhile for under £400, that would be good but its not set in stone.

Thanks

Steve
 
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The Compaq system you mention does seem pretty cheap, however the main problem I have with prebuilt systems from companies such as compaq is that they use fairly low quality components usually so the chances of the PSU/motherboard/RAM etc dying tend to be a bit higher.

As for a custom spec suggestion I'd take a look at something like this:

450spec.png


It's a bit more than you were planning on spending, however it would be more than enough for most of the things you wanted and it would give you the chance to try some of those 'driving games'. ;)
 
Interesting spec. And I am VAT registered! Thanks for the starting point. Now will my Office Professional work or will I have to purchase the latest?
 
Yes - that is a good spec.

Office 2003 Professional will work with Windows 7. :)
 
A bit of fine tuning and detail! Would it be work spending a little more on the processor and if so, which one and how about a sound card? Is W7 Professional worth paying for? Mind you next month my son qualifies for the hugely discounted student rate as he will have a college email address!!

Thanks again for the assistance. I know little...............
 
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IMO Win 7 home premium is fine, but if he can get the cheap student one then go for whichever version that is. :)

Sound card - don't bother unless you have some quite expensive speakers/headphones (£50+?), otherwise you won't really be able to notice any difference. The Asus Xonar series are all very good if you do want one.

CPU wise this AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 635 2.90GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail [ADX635WFGIBOX] Processors AMD Athlon II would be a nice little improvement if you wanted to splash out a bit more. :)
 
Getting closer to biting the bullet so to speak, but a few more questions that, I am sure will have some of you laughing at as to my lack of knowledge!!

I like the look of the specification kindly posted by Redmint, but using the Quad Core 635 processor. However, I see no mention of connectivity, such as USB, and as video editing will be a use, how about firewire inputs? How do I go about adding these? I suppose a minimum of 6 USB ports would be good?

Also what about cooling the case and working bits? I have seen in other postings mention of an alternate PSU (Corsair CX650?) What advantages is there in changing the PSU spec? And finally!! how much better is a 24x DVD writer compared to a 22x?

I know I said 'and finally' but I just remembered that I would also like to add the second HDD from my current PC as its only a couple of months old. It is a Seagate 250GB Barracuda 7200.10 SATAII NCQ 3Gb/s 8MB Cache OEM. Will it be compatible? I intend to use it for auto back up.

Now please stop laughing :nono:
 
To try and answer your questions as simply as possible:

Plexus High Speed USB2.0 Firewire Combo PCI Card 2 X.. | Ebuyer.com Firewire/USB PCI card which you can add in if you need extra ports, Asus site is being rubbish atm so can't actually check the spec of the board to see how many external USB ports it comes with. However if you just go to their site (global) and search for the motherboard name you should be able to see the full specs once it's working again.

No need to change the PSU for a more expensive one, that one is fine for the PC.

Very little advantage to switching to a 24x DVD drive atm, fastest DVD-Rs I've seen are 16x anyway. If you really want the faster drive for when you can buy 24x DVDs then by all means change it.

Should be no issue adding that hard drive to the system.
 
OK, update time. Summer holidays over and focus back on putting together my PC project. My son is now eligible (through college entry) for the discounted Microsoft software (Win 7 and possibly Office 2010) so I am simply looking at the hardware items.

As technology moves on at a pretty fast pace, is the custom spec suggested (22 July) still as good as, especially if I use the AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 635 2.90GHz (Socket AM3) processor and try to stick to a £500 budget?

Sorry to ask again, but I feel a spate of spending coming on this weekend!!

Steve
 
Is the £500 budget including software or not?

This has a few changes to my original version which makes it a bit better without spending too much more:

500spec.png
 
Redmint,

Thanks for the suggestion. To answer your question, the budget cost of £500 does not include software.

Steve

Just a thought, what about if the £500 was plus VAT? How much difference would the extra spend mean to the system?
 
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Okay how about this from Overclockers:

AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1055T 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1055T 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £136.16
(£159.99) £136.16
(£159.99)
Palit GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card Palit GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £95.99
(£112.79) £95.99
(£112.79)
G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM) G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM) £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Be Quiet! Straight Power E7 600W Power Supply Be Quiet! Straight Power E7 600W Power Supply £50.20
(£58.99) £50.20
(£58.99)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) £25.52
(£29.99) £25.52
(£29.99)
LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £12.76
(£14.99) £12.76
(£14.99)
Gelid Silent 120mm Quiet Fan Gelid Silent 120mm Quiet Fan £6.80
(£7.99) £6.80
(£7.99)
Sub Total : £397.42
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
(£407)

This from Amazon:

Antec 300

This from Ebuyer:

Asus M4A87TD/USB3

Comes to just a bit over £500 including postage but not including VAT?
 
— As an Amazon Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases —
Its sooooo easy to spend money!!

That certainly looks like a good performance system in my novice eyes, so thanks again for the help. Time to start ordering and building and I will report back once done.

Steve
 
Well, as they say, That's Life! Just about everything possible got in the way of my planned PC build, but now as all that is sorted, I am ready to order, however having checked prices and supply etc, I find that on the whole, aria.co.uk can supply most of the bits at a price better than Overclockers, who now are not showing a couple of items.

What they do not list is the Be Quiet Straight Power E7 600W power supply (ebuyer), or the G.Skill memory (overclockers). Are there any other recommended alternates to these items, so I can try and order from a single supplier and save a bit of postage?

Additionally, what, if anything will I need in the way of cables, screws etc?

Thanks
 
Well, I finally got down to building the PC this weekend, based on Redmints 10th September suggestion. Very late build which was delayed by the non appearance of Windows 7 software dispatched before Xmas!!

Anyway, I found myself being pretty anal about cleanliness and static, even using a large sheet of aluminium, earthed back to a home made mains earth plug as the base for assembly, with wrist straps earthed to this. Even the case had an earthing fly lead back to the aluminium. I did not want the build to go wrong and even found myself checking earth continuity before starting!!

I carefully followed the case and motherboard manuals and methodically put everything together in the indicated order. Cables where duly tidied to my satisfaction so as not to affect airflow and at last, I put the mains lead in, switched on the power supply and pressed the start button on the front panel. NOTHING :( I then disconnected power, and checked all cables paying particular attention to the motherboard ATX connector and the fiddly front panel to motherboard connectors. Time to try again. NOTHING, that is apart from the green LED on the motherboard indicating live parts, which was on at the first attempt. So, check the manuals, go back through everything again (by which time my son was keen to tell me I should have bought a ready built PC), plug in, turn on and ..NOTHING. No fans moving, no humming or buzzing, no LEDs on the front panel.

Out came the AVO meter and I ascertained that the on/off moment push switch was working correctly, but even so, I switched the wires so that the reset moment push switch acted as the on/off. Still nothing. I then established that a small current was sent to the switch from the motherboard (just under 5v), so power was available. I assume that the on/off switch triggers a voltage switch through some sort of electronic relay. Can any of you much more experienced experts, give me some advice as to what to do next. Obviously I do not know if I have a faulty component and am not sure how to test either the motherboard or power supply.

Thanks

Steve
 
I was about to run the AVO meter over all of the PSU cables when I noticed that one of the contacts in the P4 processor power plug was not seated correctly into the moulding. Having cut back the heatshrink tubing I was able to refit the contact and now I have a new PC that powered up and is currently loading Win 7

What a good feeling........................:thumbsup:
 
good to hear you got it sorted, except from the one issue, was it all straight forward

any chance of a photo?
 
After I got over the shock of just how many cables came out from the PSU, I suppose it was pretty straightforward. Like many others have said, take your time. I would add to that 'check twice and fit once'. Now I have installed all of the software and drivers I am really impressed with the beast. I think it will be fun to use!

As for pictures, I will snap a few tomorrow and post them up.

Steve
 
Just taken a few for information.

Steve
 

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