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Upgrade core of old PC

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  • 18-04-2012 1:55am
    #1
    Zardoz
    Registered Users Posts: 5,787 ✭✭✭


    I think its time to upgrade the core of my old pc.
    I've upgraded alot of the parts over the years but the core can no longer be upgraded, it needs replacement after 10 years of faithful service.:)
    That's the motherboard,Cpu,Ram and Graphics card.
    Everything else is fairly new and compatible with a new system.
    Audigy Soundcard,Hard drives (Sata),DVD writer (Sata),Wlan card,500w Psu and Antec case.

    The existing system is an AMD Athlon XP+ 2200, 1.5Gb of 400Mhz DDR Ram and a Ti4800 AGP graphics card.

    So I'd like to upgrade the machine to give it a new lease of life.
    Its still working away but getting a bit slow for 2012.

    Budget is ~250 euro for motherboard,cpu,ram and graphics card.
    I'd prefer a motherboard with at least 3 pci slots .
    Ideally I'd like to do a bit of gaming but mostly the pc wont be doing anything too taxing .

    Last time I was looking at parts ,its been a while ,I had been recommended
    CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 445
    Motherboard: ASRock M3A770DE
    4GB Ram 1066

    Can anyone recommend what would be suitable parts in todays market ?
    Many thanks


Comments

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    #2
    ShadowHearth
    Registered Users Posts: 22,929 ✭✭✭✭ShadowHearth


    You won't squizze in anything decentish in to 250eu.

    You can try this:
    H61 mobo
    i3 2120
    4-8gb ram
    Ati 6670.

    Sorry, I can't link it as I am on my phone.


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    #3
    Eboggles
    Registered Users Posts: 1,600 ✭✭✭Eboggles


    ShadowHearth wrote: »
    You won't squizze in anything decentish in to 250eu.

    You can try this:
    H61 mobo
    i3 2120
    4-8gb ram
    Ati 6670.

    Sorry, I can't link it as I am on my phone.
    Or a G530 as he's on a budget, with a 7750?


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    #4
    ShadowHearth
    Registered Users Posts: 22,929 ✭✭✭✭ShadowHearth


    Eboggles wrote: »
    Or a G530 as he's on a budget, with a 7750?

    I was thinking maybe he could squizze in for around 300eu?

    H61 - 60eu
    I3 - 110eu
    8gb ram - 40eu
    6670 - 65eu

    Good idea about G530 though, but I would just add that few quid for i3. He still has his hdds, drives, psi etc

    How much 7750 is anyway?


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    #5
    Tea_Bag
    Registered Users Posts: 4,983 ✭✭✭Tea_Bag


    I'm not sure ID ever buy a celeron branded CPU ever again, but I own a Pentium G620 and its an impressive little chip. I'd go so far as to say its an i3 without HT, which is useless in gaming anyway. it also idles at 6w.


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    #6
    Zardoz
    Registered Users Posts: 5,787 ✭✭✭Zardoz


    Thanks for all the advice guys ,much appreciated.

    I think I will go for the Pentium G630 cpu .Its half the price of the i3 2120 and highly rated.
    I found this comparison of Cpu's here
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-10.html
    The dual-core Pentium G630 and G860 perform incredibly well, matching up to AMD's former Phenom II X4 955 flagship. At $80 and $100 respectively, both Sandy Bridge-based Pentiums boldly snatch the budget gaming CPU recommendation from the Athlon II CPUs we’re used to seeing dominate this segment.
    The biggest flaw with Intel's low-end offerings is that the Pentium family limits you to dual-core configurations. Our concern is that, outside of a game, you're going to find situations where the two cores hurt performance in other applications. Having said that, the Pentium G630- and G860-based machines were snappy throughout testing, and their lack of Hyper-Threading didn't negatively impact our experience.
    I will get 8Gb of Ram as ye recommended.

    The Ati 6670 looks decent too,I have an Ati 4650 in my backup pc.

    Just have to decide on a H61 motherboard now,one with an ide port would be nice as I have 1 ide hard drive in my current pc but I can always use a pci-ide adapter,I have a spare one .


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    #7
    Zardoz
    Registered Users Posts: 5,787 ✭✭✭Zardoz


    Updating this as I am only getting around to updating the pc this week.
    I have all the parts just need to put them together.
    I settled on the Intel Pentium G630,4Gb Ram ,Gigabyte Radeon HD 6670 and a Gigabyte H61 Atx motherboard .I also got a 60Gb SSD .

    I plan to swap out the motherboard ,cpu,ram and graphics card of my old pc and put these in .
    I am currently running Win XP on it .
    I was thinking of sticking with XP but I'd imagine a fresh install would be best ??
    Would Win 7 be better ? I have an upgrade to Win 8 bought but I dont fancy trying that quite yet .


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    #8
    ED E
    Registered Users Posts: 36,167 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    I'd jump up to seven if I was you, you have plenty of power for it now and it can be a little bit more productive IMO. Also, you wont need 3xSPs plus another 200 updates. Most importantly though, it finds the drivers for you which is a really nice change.


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    #9
    Zardoz
    Registered Users Posts: 5,787 ✭✭✭Zardoz


    ED E wrote: »
    I'd jump up to seven if I was you, you have plenty of power for it now and it can be a little bit more productive IMO. Also, you wont need 3xSPs plus another 200 updates. Most importantly though, it finds the drivers for you which is a really nice change.
    Cheers ED E,I will go with Win 7 so ,it will also allow me to use more than 4Gb of Ram further down the line .


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