Upgrading HP Pavilion

JCW

Hey there folks im new to the site I need some help in choosing upgrades for my current computer to be honest im not entirely sure what my motherboard will allow me to do (having trouble even finding out what motherboard I have?) basically I want to upgrade my CPU,GPU and PSU and not break the bank

System Information

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: VS278AA-ABU p6215uk
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8300 @ 2.50GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Graphics Card name: NVIDIA GeForce G210

Ive tried a good Google search but cant seem to find what im looking for so any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

Jonny7

JCW wrote: »

Hey there folks im new to the site I need some help in choosing upgrades for my current computer to be honest im not entirely sure what my motherboard will allow me to do (having trouble even finding out what motherboard I have?) basically I want to upgrade my CPU,GPU and PSU and not break the bank

System Information

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: VS278AA-ABU p6215uk
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8300 @ 2.50GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Graphics Card name: NVIDIA GeForce G210

Ive tried a good Google search but cant seem to find what im looking for so any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

You are running a 2.5 ghz quad core.. you will not really see any big difference in a new chip. Only in high level gaming or heavy encoding is there any noticeable difference.

If you intend on gaming you could throw in a _much_ faster graphics card for 100 euros. It would be fairly easy to do.

JCW

Jonny7 wrote: »

You are running a 2.5 ghz quad core.. you will not really see any big difference in a new chip. Only in high level gaming or heavy encoding is there any noticeable difference.

If you intend on gaming you could throw in a _much_ faster graphics card for 100 euros. It would be fairly easy to do.

Cheers Johny what about PSU the one I have is only 350W would this need upgrading too??

Jonny7

JCW wrote: »

Cheers Johny what about PSU the one I have is only 350W would this need upgrading too??

Don't take my word for it, I believe the q8300 is a little thirsty on the power but you could get away with an ATI 5750 for 90 euro which will run nearly all games nicely on 1280 res and use the current PSU

Any higher res and I would recommend the ATI 5770 (110 euros).. they don't draw much power but maybe some of the more knowledgeable nerds will tell you if you'd need a better PSU at that level

Personally if you get the 5770, then I'd recommend the corsair 400 watt - about 40 euros;; much better and safer than your current PSU

So far my 5770 runs everything buttery smooth on 1680 res

IrishMetalhead

just out of curiosity what exact model is your pavilion?

JCW

Jonny7 wrote: »

Don't take my word for it, I believe the q8300 is a little thirsty on the power but you could get away with an ATI 5750 for 90 euro which will run nearly all games nicely on 1280 res and use the current PSU

Any higher res and I would recommend the ATI 5770 (110 euros).. they don't draw much power but maybe some of the more knowledgeable nerds will tell you if you'd need a better PSU at that level

Personally if you get the 5770, then I'd recommend the corsair 400 watt - about 40 euros;; much better and safer than your current PSU

So far my 5770 runs everything buttery smooth on 1680 res

Yea I think Ill play it safe and get a decent PSU it wont hurt and ther not very expensive for a decent one thanks for your help!

IrishMetalhead wrote: »

just out of curiosity what exact model is your pavilion?

HP Pavilion PS215UK Thats what it says on the case

JCW

Sorry to bump this back up but another quick question would this PSU

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/3509848/art/cooler-master/elite-power-460w-pc-power.html

have any problems running this?

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/7984279/art/palit/geforce-gtx-460-smart-edi.html

Moon54

That one looks fine as the recommended power supply
for the GTX 460 is 450 Watts.

JCW

Moon54 wrote: »

That one looks fine as the recommended power supply
for the GTX 460 is 450 Watts.

Thanks for the help gona go order now cant wait once again thanks for your help!

Serephucus

Might I recommend picking up a decent aftermarket cooler for your CPU as well? You'll notice quite a difference if you can clock your CPU to 3.0GHz+.

JCW

Serephucus wrote: »

Might I recommend picking up a decent aftermarket cooler for your CPU as well? You'll notice quite a difference if you can clock your CPU to 3.0GHz+.

I thought HP's where nearly impossible to overclock??I cant even access my BIOS at start up?(Im a complete noob when it comes to overclocking etc)

Serephucus

JCW wrote: »

I thought HP's where nearly impossible to overclock??I cant even access my BIOS at start up?(Im a complete noob when it comes to overclocking etc)

No idea, never had one.

Seriously, no BIOS access at all?

JCW

Serephucus wrote: »

No idea, never had one.

Seriously, no BIOS access at all?

Nope at least none that i can find??Im gona do a more thorough search now by the way what cooler would you recommend?

EDIT:Nope tried accessing the BIOS again and had a good google search and i found that HP have the BIOS locked so no go there any good (free) programs that can let me OC my cpu?(Sorry I know this is in the wrong section but dont want to start a whole new thread)

Jonny7

You can search but no i never found anything for my pavillion to overclock it


its very very locked

you'll just end up damage the pc

JCW

Jonny7 wrote: »

You can search but no i never found anything for my pavillion to overclock it


its very very locked

you'll just end up damage the pc

Cheers I'll leave as is so anyway theres always my next PC eh??:D

Monotype

Waaaaaaaait. Hold on. Those coolermaster PSUs are complete rubbish! I'll take a look what's there.

JCW

Monotype wrote: »

Waaaaaaaait. Hold on. Those coolermaster PSUs are complete rubbish! I'll take a look what's there.

F*** it anyway I already ordered!

Monotype

Well they're not the worst. It's just that that one is really a 400W PSU relabelled. They're a Fortron unit with reasonable efficiency but they're not great with ripple.

I don't see anything fantastic value there, but the OCZ SXS II 500W (also Fortron, iirc) is about the best thing that doesn't extend the budget too far (if there's a chance that you can cancel).

Jonny7 wrote: »

I'd recommend the corsair 400 watt - about 40 euros;; much better and safer than your current PSU

They don't make those anymore. They have those crappy ones in the new CX series that are actually worse than the old 400W.

JCW

Moon54 wrote: »

That one looks fine as the recommended power supply
for the GTX 460 is 450 Watts.

Monotype wrote: »

Well they're not the worst. It's just that that one is really a 400W PSU relabelled. They're a Fortron unit with reasonable efficiency but they're not great with ripple.

I don't see anything fantastic value there, but the OCZ SXS II 500W (also Fortron, iirc) is about the best thing that doesn't extend the budget too far.

So its no good for me so as Moon54 said

Moon54 wrote: »

the recommended power supply
for the GTX 460 is 450 Watts.

anybody wanna take this off me p/x for a better PSU???

@Monotype that one looks great but i just didnt have the extra 15 quid i only get 90 eur a week as it stands so it was hard enough to get enough for what i ordered (and no i dont get a 90 euro a week allowance :P)

Monotype

Well you should still be fine with about 400W. It's the same as this PSU. Add up all your stuff on a PSU calculator.

Also, that card is the "smart edition"... which is definitely better than what you have but is a bit more cut than the regular edition.

Can you cancel with pixmania?

JCW

Monotype wrote: »

Well you should still be fine with about 400W. It's the same as this PSU. Add up all your stuff on a PSU calculator.

Also, that card is the "smart edition"... which is definitely better than what you have but is a bit more cut than the regular edition.

Can you cancel with pixmania?

That calculator has me lost???Im gona have to do some serious googling to find all that out haha

and I could cancel at least i tink i can but i cant afford anything better for another 6 weeks or so and i really dont want to wait that long my current GPU is killing me

Monotype

I put in your stuff. It estimates about 370W max.

JCW

Monotype wrote: »

I put in your stuff. It estimates about 370W max.

Haha I tried and got 34W!!Thank you for your help heres hoping i dont kill my computer!

JCW

Ok rather than start a new thread I thought id bump this up again...

Basically my order from Pixmania was canceled and I wont be ordering from there again so what would be the best alternative besides hardwareversand??

I need a new PSU and graphics card I was going to go GTX 460 can anybody recommend me a good card and PSU for 250 including delivery?I *MIGHT* be able to stretch that another 40 or 50 quid??

Monotype

Are you buying today? Scan's today only deals are reasonably good. You'll have to search for these items, then add directly to your basket from the deals page.

1GB EVGA GTX 460 SC Super, 3800MHz GDDR5, GPU 763MHz, ShaderClock 1526MHz, 336 Cores, DVI-I/MiniHDMI £131.99 (incl vat)

600W Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold, Modular, 80 PLUS Gold, 90% Eff', SLI/CrossFire, EPS12V, 135mm Fan £62.39 (incl vat)

PSU is a bit much for your needs, but highly efficient and could last you into a new computer.
Delivery (~£13 or something)

Which is just below €250. The 460 is better and PSU is much better than your previous choices.

JCW

Monotype wrote: »

Are you buying today? Scan's today only deals are reasonably good. You'll have to search for these items, then add directly to your basket from the deals page.

1GB EVGA GTX 460 SC Super, 3800MHz GDDR5, GPU 763MHz, ShaderClock 1526MHz, 336 Cores, DVI-I/MiniHDMI £131.99 (incl vat)

600W Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold, Modular, 80 PLUS Gold, 90% Eff', SLI/CrossFire, EPS12V, 135mm Fan £62.39 (incl vat)

PSU is a bit much for your needs, but highly efficient and could last you into a new computer.
Delivery (~£13 or something)

Which is just below €250. The 460 is better and PSU is much better than your previous choices.

Thank you Mono just had a look there and after a quick googling that card is allot better than the one I picked (new to all this!) and for the extra few quid there both much better!