New build advice

brylcreem

Hi,

I'm looking for a bit of advice on an upgrade I'm planning. I currently have a Dell 4700 running a P4 3.0 Ghz with 2gb of RAM. Recenntly I have noticed that it's performance running windows 7 is getting worse. In fact, it was never that great in the first place. So that's why I'm looking to upgrade.

Here's what I have planned:

Processor: Intel i7 860 2.8 Ghz quad core
Motherboard: Intel DP55
RAM: 6GB 1333 Crosair
Graphics: ATI 1024 HD 5570
PSU: 450W with micro HKC tower case

Also case 2 new case fans and a CPU fan.

Already have1TB HDD and DVD RW etc which I can re-use.

Can anybody see any problems or suggest improvements on these choices? I don't use the pc for much other than moderate office type work, amateur Photoshop and iTunes etc.

Thanks

Trevor451

brylcreem wrote: »

Hi,

I'm looking for a bit of advice on an upgrade I'm planning. I currently have a Dell 4700 running a P4 3.0 Ghz with 2gb of RAM. Recenntly I have noticed that it's performance running windows 7 is getting worse. In fact, it was never that great in the first place. So that's why I'm looking to upgrade.

Here's what I have planned:

Processor: Intel i7 860 2.8 Ghz quad core
Motherboard: Intel DP55
RAM: 6GB 1333 Crosair
Graphics: ATI 1024 HD 5570
PSU: 450W with micro HKC tower case

Also case 2 new case fans and a CPU fan.

Already have1TB HDD and DVD RW etc which I can re-use.

Can anybody see any problems or suggest improvements on these choices? I don't use the pc for much other than moderate office type work, amateur Photoshop and iTunes etc.

Thanks

heya, Pepole here dont reccomend to use power supplys that come included with cases because they are mostly junk and could explode But you might get away with the cheap psu only if you want to do office work on your system.

Anyways a core i7 cpu is a bit over the top for a office build. I use a AMD athlon x3 CPU in my gaming setup and it is such a powerfull cpu and yet it is half the price of a i7 cpu.

Have you chosen where you are going to buy the parts? Hardwareversand.de is a good site wich is where I ordered my parts from and they are fast and cheap Delivery is €30 for the whole build and you can even get them to asemble the computer for you for about €20.

Lu Tze

brylcreem wrote: »

Hi,

I'm looking for a bit of advice on an upgrade I'm planning. I currently have a Dell 4700 running a P4 3.0 Ghz with 2gb of RAM. Recenntly I have noticed that it's performance running windows 7 is getting worse. In fact, it was never that great in the first place. So that's why I'm looking to upgrade.

Here's what I have planned:

Processor: Intel i7 860 2.8 Ghz quad core
Motherboard: Intel DP55
RAM: 6GB 1333 Crosair
Graphics: ATI 1024 HD 5570
PSU: 450W with micro HKC tower case

Also case 2 new case fans and a CPU fan.

Already have1TB HDD and DVD RW etc which I can re-use.

Can anybody see any problems or suggest improvements on these choices? I don't use the pc for much other than moderate office type work, amateur Photoshop and iTunes etc.

Thanks

If you are taking the hard drive and dvd-rw out of that dell they may well have the older IDE connection which would be incompatible with newer boards using SATA.

I would also second that it may be a little over powered, unless you are going to be using it for photoshop a good bit?If not you would probably do fine with an i3 processor. If you aren't gaming i wouldnt bother with a graphics card (assuming its got onboard VGA), but if you are you will need a better one than that.

Jonny7

I second that, processor is a little overkill

if you do still wanna spend money you can pick up a great 6 core processor from AMD which is excellent for photoshop but much less than the i7

I suspect however a tricore or 'normal' quad core would be just fine for you

Just to give you an idea of prices

AMD tri-core - 65 euros
AMD quad-core - 80 euros
Intel i3 fast dual-core - 100 euros
AMD 6-core - 160 euros
Intel i5 760 (one of the most popular performance chips here) - 165 euros

Recommended motherboard prices range from 55 euros to around 100 for what you need

Ram is dirt cheap again

PSU, you could risk a 'cheapish' one since no heavy graphics card, however I would recommend something like a corsair 400 watt - 40 euros

brylcreem

Thanks for the replies. I should have said the processor and motherboard are a special offer deal I can get for €150. I'm keen to get something forward compatible. I used to game on pc but now have ps3. I may in the future want to game again on pc so I went for the quad core option.
If I wanted to play games again what sort of graphics card should I be looking at? Higher GPU?

Can you reccommend a card Nvidia/ATI for under €100

I know that the psu is cheap but the case I want comes with it. If a crosair psu is so cheap I might just look at that again.

All the items picked comes to €345. The case, ram, fans, and graphics card are from hardwareversande.

Lu Tze

Where are you getting that deal!?

If you are looking for something forward compatible, that socket type is changing right now, there will be a replacement incompatible socket out in a couple of weeks. The graphics card really depends on the resolution of the monitor you are gaming at.

Jonny7

For 150 quid? jesus thats good, go with that then

Graphics card? for 105 euros you can get the ATI 5770, you'll get PS3 framerates on just about any game up to a 24 inch monitor.

PSU? get a quality one, pay the extra 20 euros, really - its the heart of the PC, you'll save it on the ESB bill anyway - you are looking for something like a corsair, about 550 watts would be fine with that processor and an ATI 5770

For safety get an ATX case from hardwareversand, if you get a mATX (micro ATX) and the motherboard is ATX, then they obviously won't fit

brylcreem

With the graphics card. I have a 17" monitor with max resolution of 1280 x 1024. I'm not really interested in upgrading that. If I buy a card like the ATI 5770 is it just going to be a waste if thats the max resolution i can get from the monitor?

Also looks like most of the cases I like the look of come with PSUs. I'll keep the one that comes with it as a spare and use a corsair one like this or this.

Is 6 GB of RAM ok?

Thanks again