Upgrade On A Budget

Vic Vinegar

Hi folks.

I'm looking to upgrade our machine (it's been a while!)

Current specs are:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+
Gigabyte GA-MA69VM-S2 (AM2)
Corsair XMS2 pc800 (i think) 2GB DDR2
Ati 4870 PCi Express 512mb
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm 16mb cache
Some Power supply (can't remember name but it's 500w and very quiet!)

We're basically just looking to upgrade the CPU/mobo/ram for now, the PSU and Graphics card are fine as we don't game on the PC so don't need any graphics beast installed and the hard drive is nearly new and fine for our purposes.

So what are good upgrade options for round about €300?

It's gonna be used mostly for FL Studio and Photoshop, as well as internet use and some media centre type chores.

Cheers!

Effluo

Bombleswizzum wrote: »

don't need any graphics beast installed and the hard drive is nearly new and fine for our purposes.

So what are good upgrade options for round about €300?

It's gonna be used mostly for FL Studio and Photoshop, as well as internet use and some media centre type chores.

Well if you're not gaming then IMO you should take out the 4870 and sell it for around €80 on adverts.ie Someone would snap that right up.

AMD does not do photoshop well So it's going to be an intel build for you!

I'm half thinking that maybe you would be better off selling your pc on adverts as a "gaming machine" you'd want around 300 for it or maybe more depending on the psu.

Actually it would make more sense if you sold the 4870 separately(80) and then sold the pc with just the onboard video(200-250).

Then go into Aldi very early(you might want to queue) thursday morning and get this pc http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055784998 with windows 7 for only €400

So you'd be spending 120 or there abouts on quite a nice upgrade which would suit photoshop better at least!
Find out what psu you have and your case too

Solitaire

^ Probably the best idea. Upgrading to an i5-750/cheap P55/2x2GB DDR3 is better but will probably exceed €300 by a fair margin. You could squeeze it through if you sold the HD4870 and replaced it with a cheaper HD4350 or G210.

Vic Vinegar

Cheers for the replies.

I'm not gonna be getting rid of the graphics card cos i i've only had it a month or 2 and want it there in case it's needed in future for anything. Just wondering what my options are for a Mobo/cpu/ram combo for around the €300 mark (can be a bit higher if necessary!)

That Aldi PC seems ok but the components inside probably aren't that good quality (apart from the cpu) and it looks horrible to be honest!

Is it not really worth getting socket 775 mobos anymore?

Dublin_Gunner

I can't seem to get you a mobo/CPU/Ram(4GB) for less than around €375 (using Komplett), but it is i5 750, MSI P55 & 4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1333 CL7

Would be a good upgrade though, and a fairly noticable performance increase.

Although...

If you wanted to go for a Core 2 Quad (Q8300), you could have a Q8300, MSI P43 Board (DDR3) and 4 GB DDR3 for ~€296.84

Or with a Q9550 for ~€375

All of these are much faster CPU's than what you have (and quad core), more RAM and faster too (DDR3).

So you see, there are options for upgrade that don't have to be high end.

Vic Vinegar

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

If you wanted to go for a Core 2 Quad (Q8300), you could have a Q8300, MSI P43 Board (DDR3) and 4 GB DDR3 for ~€296.84

All of these are much faster CPU's than what you have (and quad core), more RAM and faster too (DDR3).

That's the kind of thing i was thinking of. Not top of the line, but a big improvement over what i have now. I'd be selling the old CPU/Mobo/Ram so i'd be recouping a bit of the outlay too.

Is Intel definitely the way to go? the AMD processors seem cheaper by comparison, probably a good reason for it though...

MSI mobos good? i usually go with Gigabyte cos they're reliable for me, although i'm open to change.

Dublin_Gunner

Its funny, I've had horrible experiences with Gigabyte - and have since used Asus and Abit(sadly now gone).

But most boards these days are fairly decent, even some of the 'lower tier' brands like ECS & Biostar have some relatively decent boards for their price.

MSI generally make good quality products, and a DDR3 based P43 board is a really decent alternative to the high end chipsets.

The new Phenom II's are decent, but then again, I'd still rather a decent Core 2 Quad (though I'm not partial to either, I just look at performance).

You could probably build a Phenom II x4 for the same price, but at the moment I'd still chose Intel, as in my experience between AM2/3 & s775 - the Core 2 based CPU's fare much better. (not saying Phenom's are bad, just not quite as good as a good Core 2 Quad)

Mobo
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=485684
RAM
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=518205
CPU's
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=420765
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=344757

You could go with a Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=518692
and
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=460863

Which would bring the upgrade to around €330 or so, and would give the Q9550 a run for its money.

Vic Vinegar

Great stuff, is there a place in the UK or anywhere that is better value than Komplett? i try not to use them as they are nearly as bad as Pixmania in my experience (got 3 products DOA from them!)

IrishGrimReaper

There's no point getting a 775 socket build, that socket is pretty much dead now. If you can get the i5, get it(but it's out of that price range). The Phenom x4 is a great CPU, and is worth getting over any 775 cpu. Atleast the AM3 socket will have some upgradability in the future.

You could get the PIIx4 955 and a UD3(make sure it's AM3 socket only) and 4GB DDR3 for about €320-€340.

Dublin_Gunner

IrishGrimReaper wrote: »

You could get the PIIx4 955 and a UD3(make sure it's AM3 socket only) and 4GB DDR3 for about €320-€340.

I just posted that! (well with a 965 BE)


I generally use Komplett and I've NEVER had an issue myself.

You'll find the UK stores aren't really any cheaper I have used Dabs.ie, Specialtech.co.uk & Tekheads.co.uk before, all perfectly fine and some good prices.

I wouldn't be dissing a s775 build just yet Reaper. Higher end Core 2 Quads still give brilliant performance, and they're coming down in price.

Fair enough, this is probably the last year we'll see CPU's released for the platform, but its still holding its own against the Phenoms.

Effluo

The reason why i think you should sell the 4870 is because you have absolutely no need for it unless you are gaming.
The only thing the 4870 will be doing in your case is devaluing itself, not to mention increasing your electricity bill (think it's around 80watts on idle)

IMO no matter what socket you buy it's going to be "dead" by the time you get your next upgrade. For instance even if you buy the latest proc, the i5 and it's latest board, which is it's only one, a p55. By the time you upgrade again they might still be using 1156 sockets but your board will be too old and your ram slow with poor latencies in comparison.

So no matter what you buy, don't expect to be able to upgrade the cpu and keep the same mobo in 2-3 years time





Your looking at around €350 delivered for this bundle, but i really think you should get rid of that 4870 b4 it becomes worthless altogether

And here's your alt http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158996

Dublin_Gunner

In fairness, he can use the GPU for rendering.

Effluo

IrishGrimReaper wrote: »

The Phenom x4 is a great CPU, and is worth getting over any 775 cpu. Atleast the AM3 socket will have some upgradability in the future.

AMD is a great option, but only when Photo shop is not one of the pc's main uses.

Seems to be rather unclear about how beneficial the 4870 would be, if at all noticeable. Was looking for quite a while and couldn't find a thing on it(does it not cost a load more for cs4 with gpu acceleration something like €400?)

Would it be a good time to talk about if the op does upgrade what operating system he'll be able to use? Like if he changes the mobo on a pc with an oem version of windows then he'll have to buy a new copy? did i not hear that windows have bcome stricter on that? Also op you need a 64bit operating system to be able to use more than 3-3.25gigs of ram

Vic Vinegar

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

I generally use Komplett and I've NEVER had an issue myself.

Maybe i'll try them again then, it seems they are about the same price or cheaper than everywhere else!

Effluo wrote: »

The reason why i think you should sell the 4870 is because you have absolutely no need for it unless you are gaming.
The only thing the 4870 will be doing in your case is devaluing itself, not to mention increasing your electricity bill (think it's around 80watts on idle

The girlfriend does play the Sims on it (not really taxing i know) but she's a fickle lady, i could end up getting rid of the card then there could be a game out that she has to have that's only on the pc or something... she loves Dragon Age for instance and i've heard it's a far better game on the PC so we might end up getting that down the line.

Anyway

So far I have narrowed it down to:

AMD Phenom II X4 925 AM3 or Intel Core™ 2 Quad Q8400 2,66GHz

Crucial DDR3 BallistiX 1333MHz 4GB CL7

& a suitable Mobo depending on which way i go with CPU

Dublin_Gunner

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/405/kb405745.html

CS4 anyway.

And for pretty much ANY video encoding, its much faster through GPU than CPU.

CS3

Dublin_Gunner

Effluo wrote: »

AMD is a great option, but only when Photo shop is not one of the pc's main uses.

Seems to be rather unclear about how beneficial the 4870 would be, if at all noticeable. Was looking for quite a while and couldn't find a thing on it(does it not cost a load more for cs4 with gpu acceleration something like €400?)

Its built into CS4

Would it be a good time to talk about if the op does upgrade what operating system he'll be able to use? Like if he changes the mobo on a pc with an oem version of windows then he'll have to buy a new copy? did i not hear that windows have bcome stricter on that? Also op you need a 64bit operating system to be able to use more than 3-3.25gigs of ram

Looking at his specs, I would have my doubts that it is oem.

Also, you do not need a 64bit OS for 4GB ram. Sure, you may only be able to use around 3-3.5GB of it, but thats better than 2GB.

The OS can always be upgraded later if the OP so wishes.

And for the price of ram these days, there's no point buying 2x1GB kit. (and if you wanted 3GB, good luck finding 512MB DDR3 so you can still have dual channel.)

Solitaire

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Its built into CS4

Really?

Also, you do not need a 64bit OS for 4GB ram. Sure, you may only be able to use around 3-3.5GB of it, but thats better than 2GB.

+1.

And for the price of ram these days, there's no point buying 2x1GB kit. (and if you wanted 3GB, good luck finding 512MB DDR3 so you can still have dual channel.)

This isn't 2007. Seen the price of RAM lately?! :eek: And AFAIK if you stuck in a 3GB kit you'd still get dual-channel on one channel, its just one of the sticks that will get slowed down. Or was flexchannel removed from DDR3?

Dublin_Gunner

I posted a link on CS4 earlier. Sure that was one of the main features - GPU acceleration. Even CS3 (photoshop & premiere do anyway) have GPU acceleration built in.

And in fairness, under €100 for 4GB of VERY decent DDR3 is a bloody good price.

About the memory controller - I'm not sure if the dual channel nehalem's (s1156) have that flex thing (uneven channel sizes still results in dual channel). Maybe they do, but I'd still personally have each channel filled with the same amount of ram..