upgrade existing P.C or build new?

[Gray]

Ok, I built a 'family' P.C 6'ish years ago.. general usage; internet browsing, e-mail, storage of photos, light editing etc.

current spec below, it has a decent case and cooling:

The machine is on Windows Vista dead but running quite slow now.

I have a budget of £600~ this includes buying a Windows 7 OS and new monitor, something around 20-22", decent res.

Now the question.... Would you be able to build a better machine, starting a fresh? or spend some money on the existing one and upgrade some parts?

I am going to take a look myself, but its always good to get others opinions as we have a few techies on here!

 

[Addicted]

You'll get a whole new pc for that kinda budget tbh, and it will be a massive improvement.

Will spec one up in a bit, check OcUK forums in General Discussion and search for "Spec me" threads - hundreds upon hundreds of already good specs, and some will be £600.

 

[Gray]

Forgot to mention, I have a new HDD to use in the build, but I fancy running the OS from an SSD.

 

[Harpham]

iMac tbh.

 

[Gray]

iMac tbh.

No deal.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Have to say that's actually quite nice for 600 notes. They're decent machines too

 

[Gray]

Have to say that's actually quite nice for 600 notes. They're decent machines too

Me no understandy?

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Is the RAM maxxed out ? Looks like only 1GB but says bank 4... if it's got 4GB it should be quick enough !?

Stick something less awful than Vista on it and see if it springs to life. Looks like a pretty tidy spec even 6 years on !

I'd save the £600, buy a new screen (or two depending on space/need) - can get 20-22" for < £100 - and stick a 256 GB SSD in for the OS.

 

[Gray]

Is the RAM maxxed out ? Looks like only 1GB but says bank 4... if it's got 4GB it should be quick enough !?

Stick something less awful than Vista on it and see if it springs to life. Looks like a pretty tidy spec even 6 years on !

I'd save the £600, buy a new screen (or two depending on space/need) - can get 20-22" for < £100 - and stick a 256 GB SSD in for the OS.

The mobo can handle upto 8GB.

Oh yeah.. forgot to mention / screen grab it has 4gb of RAM already.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Me no understandy?

Lol sorry doofus above me removed the link to a nice XPS on gumtree. Prob wanted it for himself the gypo!

You won't see any benefit putting more ram in tbh, and if you do you'd of been better of just format reinstalling the thing

 

[ThomasBrentnall]

Will be better to just start fresh. Your current has older technology which is pretty much pointless in updating.

Already spec'd you a monitor, http://www.ebuyer.com/388225-lg-ips224v-21-5-led-lcd-hdmi-monitor-ips224v-pn

If you need help with anything I'm willing to help, and I'm also really local to you!

 

[Lal B3N]

I would save yourself some money if that machine is only used for basic things.

Just max out the ram, ssd and Win 7 64 bit. You will notice the world of difference between the two!

 

[Gray]

Lol sorry doofus above me removed the link to a nice XPS on gumtree. Prob wanted it for himself the gypo!

You won't see any benefit putting more ram in tbh, and if you do you'd of been better of just format reinstalling the thing

PMSL.

yep, agreed on the RAM front... I doubt it would help my Dad browse eBay any quicker!

 

[Gray]

The one thing letting it down is the graphics card, it only has 2xVGA ports, no good for a decent monitor.

 

[Lal B3N]

Can get a dual DVI card for less than £60 these days.

 

[Gray]

Can get a dual DVI card for less than £60 these days.

Pretty sure we've got a few spare ones in the Server room at work.. I'll have a rummage later.

 

[Gray]

So the general consensus is:

SSD
new graphics card (DP or DVI output)
Windows 7

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

Just to put it out there, ddr2 ram is silly expensive, leave it at 4gb, Get rid of Vista, put Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit, upgrade the graphics card to maybe a HD7850 they're quite reasonable, If you want to spend the money on an SSD then you'll see a massive increase in performance, even though i'd love an SSD for my new i7 build, I think there to expensive at the minute.

Give me a min, i'll spec you a good machine for £600.

 

[hilldawg172]

I'm looking to sell a very high spec gaming pc if your interested? Send me a pm if you are. Will play all the best games on top settings. Will need to speak to my brother to get exact spec as hes the pc man of the family. Only things i know its 8gb kingston hyper ram / i5 quadcore processor / gainward geforce gtx 560 ti and comes in a fancy case with loads of fans and some blue case lighting but thats as far as my knowledge goes lol.

 

[Gray]

Looking at the RAM, the max my mobo can handle is DDR2 800mhz, the 4gb I have fitted is only 333mhz.


Does the memory speed make much difference?

 

[Gray]

Looking at the RAM, the max my mobo can handle is 4 x 240-pin DIMM, 8GB DDR2 800/667/533 ECC and non-ECC, un-buffered memory

The 4gb I have fitted is only 333mhz, does the memory speed make much difference going upt to 800mhz?

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

tbh, I wouldn't bother, It would affect but not that much.

For 4gb ddr2 at higher frequency, you can pay the same and get 8gb ddr3 kit @1600MHz.

Forget about the ram.

i5 3570k	£179.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler	15.98
Asus P8Z77-V LX2	£79.99
Samsung Green 8GB (2x 4GB) 1600Mhz	£41.99
XFX Pro Series 650W XXX	£69.98
HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5	£149.99
Antec One Gaming Case	£36.98
1TB Seagate HDD	£61.99
Win 7 Home Pre 64 bit	£79.99

Total - £716

I have gone over, I expect you can cut some corners on that, Maybe if your current case is good enough you can save some money from that and put towards a monitor.

But from that list, you can play current games near enough on high, and should last longer than 6 years.

Just type all that in to overclockers and it'll come up, Also don't rely on ocuk, you can find the same stuff cheaper on other sites such as Ebuyer.

 

[Gray]

tbh, I wouldn't bother, It would affect but not that much.

For 4gb ddr2 at higher frequency, you can pay the same and get 8gb ddr3 kit @1600MHz.

Forget about the ram.

i5 3570k	£179.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler	15.98
Asus P8Z77-V LX2	£79.99
Samsung Green 8GB (2x 4GB) 1600Mhz	£41.99
XFX Pro Series 650W XXX	£69.98
HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5	£149.99
Antec One Gaming Case	£36.98
1TB Seagate HDD	£61.99
Win 7 Home Pre 64 bit	£79.99

Total - £716

I have gone over, I expect you can cut some corners on that, Maybe if your current case is good enough you can save some money from that and put towards a monitor.

But from that list, you can play current games near enough on high, and should last longer than 6 years.

Just type all that in to overclockers and it'll come up, Also don't rely on ocuk, you can find the same stuff cheaper on other sites such as Ebuyer.

It's not a gaming P.C I am building... just an all rounder for the family to use.

 

[Tyler@Ultimate]

tbh, I wouldn't bother, It would affect but not that much.

For 4gb ddr2 at higher frequency, you can pay the same and get 8gb ddr3 kit @1600MHz.

Forget about the ram.

i5 3570k	£179.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler	15.98
Asus P8Z77-V LX2	£79.99
Samsung Green 8GB (2x 4GB) 1600Mhz	£41.99
XFX Pro Series 650W XXX	£69.98
HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5	£149.99
Antec One Gaming Case	£36.98
1TB Seagate HDD	£61.99
Win 7 Home Pre 64 bit	£79.99

Total - £716

I have gone over, I expect you can cut some corners on that, Maybe if your current case is good enough you can save some money from that and put towards a monitor.

But from that list, you can play current games near enough on high, and should last longer than 6 years.

Just type all that in to overclockers and it'll come up, Also don't rely on ocuk, you can find the same stuff cheaper on other sites such as Ebuyer.

Think you've missed his monitor and SSD out. Also gone over by £116

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

I mentioned about the monitor that I left it out, also SSD, right now is just too expensive, why over £100 for only 120GB, sure, you get blistering performance, but you also get limited storage and reliabillity issues, ok they've really improved since they've first started, but for the money, i'm not sold...When they get a bit cheaper, then they're worth it.

i5 3570	£161.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler	£15.98
Asus P8Z77-V LX2	£79.99
Samsung Green 8GB	£41.99
XFX Pro 550W Core Edition	£49.99
Asus HD 7750 V2	£79.99
Antec One Gaming Case	£36.98
1TB Seagate HDD	£61.99
Win 7 Home Pre 64 bit	£79.99

Total - £607

Still a very good spec that will definately last more than 6 years, and makes it better for upgrading in the future.

Give it a while longer then think about getting an SSD when they do eventually get cheaper, It'll just make your PC sooooo much faster.

Install windows and all your other software on the SSD, and keep the 1tb HDD or get a smaller one (Maybe a 750 or 500gb) for your music, vids, pics etc.

 

[Tyler@Ultimate]

you would only need £60gb, agreed they are expensive but have come down in price a lot last year.

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

If that's just gonna be an all rounder family PC, I think you'll find it hard to fill a 1TB hard drive, swap it for a 500gb seagate and the total will be £580, then you'll have spare to get a monitor and not go over by much.

Again, my List is just a suggestion to what you can get for the money you suggested, and some of them parts you can get cheaper elsewhere.

 

[Tyler@Ultimate]

You've still missed the OP's requirements.

He still needs a monitor and also said he has a new HDD already, but wants a SSD.

£60 will get you a 60/64GB SSD which will be fine for the OS

 

[Addicted]

You don't need an i5 for web browsing imo, i3 will do fine.

 

[Gray]

Mentioned above... I already have a new 1TB hdd to use on the potential build, hence wanting to use an SSD for the OS.

 

[Uncle_Gravy]

Oh right didn't see that you have an Hdd, £500 for an i5, that'll last you longer than your current machine, which will also be great for the future for upgrades, that's a no brainer.

If you're gonna get an SSD, stick with Samsung, Intel or Crucial in that order, anything else is crap, crap reliability and crap customer service, and you can pick up a cheap decent monitor £100 or less these days.

Anyway least i've actually suggested some things for him...

 

[bright]

Your basket

MSI HD 7850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Cards£119.99(£99.99)£119.99(£99.99)

BenQ GW2250HM 22" Widescreen LED Professional Monitor - Black£100.00(£83.33)£100.00(£83.33)

Intel Core i3-2130 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail£99.95(£83.29)£99.95(£83.29)

Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard£79.99(£66.66)£79.99(£66.66)

Intel 330 Series 60GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail£59.99(£49.99)£59.99(£49.99)

Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9)£41.99(£34.99)£41.99(£34.99)

Cooler Master Elite 335U Case - Black£32.99(£27.49)£32.99(£27.49)

Cooler Master Elite Power 500W Power Supply£29.99(£24.99)£29.99(£24.99)

LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM£17.99(£14.99)£17.99(£14.99)*

Sub Total :£485.72

Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland withPD Next Day Parcel(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping :£19.10

VAT is being charged at 20.00%VAT :£100.96*

Total :£605.78


Everything in there I think?

 

[Silent_Scone]

I'd say the 7850 is unessential but hey-ho

 

[Addicted]

^ What bright specced is essentially exactly what I'd spec!

If you can find the components cheaper in certain retailers then do it, and hopefully avoid the shipping costs.

GPU probably not needed, unless you do a lot of editing then you'll see some benefit.

 

[Saner]

bright has forgotten windows at about £80

 

[Silent_Scone]

Put a more mediocre graphics card and add OS to basket. Done.

 

[Wilkeh]

Drop the 7850 for something like a 5450, better than onboard and will do you just fine. Can add Windows on then.

 

[bright]

Bawls, forgot about Windoze.

Depends on what you're going to use the PC for Gray, no gaming at all? then stick with the 8500GT till it dies as it'll do a more than adequate job. In fact the onboard GFX will suit you if you're just running a monitor for films / general browsing etc. The SSD will be a luxury but for quick turn on it'll be awesome

If you drop the GFX card you can probably go for a 400W PSU as the 8500GT won't have a massive power draw, or if you use onboard then again, small power draw.

 

[Gray]

No gaming on the P.C, it's just a family computer... They just want something with decent performace, plenty of storage for photos etc. Dad is getting into his photography!

I've got my own stuff for gaming

 

[bright]

No gaming on the P.C, it's just a family computer... They just want something with decent performace, plenty of storage for photos etc. Dad is getting into his photography!

I've got my own stuff for gaming

then as I said, stick with the 8500gt to be honest then, stick win 7 in and your sorted. thats all off overclockers by the way, a fair bit is on their this week only deals. Monitor looks like a bit of a bargain to me.