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Upgrade which PC?

  • 22-06-2008 10:27am
    #1
    slave1
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 19,480 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    Have 3 PCs in the house, oldest in order
    1. Medion 8818 Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6300, 1.86GHz, XP 2gigRAM, 320gig+750gig HDD, NVidia GeForce 7650GS, cannot take a graphics card upgrade due to power supply/no room because of layout, using as general PC, torrents, burning etc
    2. Dell Vostro 200 Pentium® Dual-Core Processor E2200, 2.2GHz, Vista Ultimate on a 80gig HDD, +500gigHDD, 4*1gigRAM, Gainward GeForce 8600GT 512MB GDDR3, using as a HTPC for 1080p to HDTV.
    3. Dell Vostro 200 Pentium® Dual-Core Processor E2180, 2GHz, Vista Home Premium on a 250gig HDD, 2*0.5gig RAM, the current Dell bargain alert, ordered yesterday

    Printer/Scanner/BBand etc hooked up to Medion running XP

    What I want is a HTPC, PC for the kids (5+6) and the best PC for me with a graphics card upgrade.

    I assume the 2.2GHz above is the best processor but the primary drive is only 80gig, not an issue for it's current use as a HTPC but would not suit if I were to use it as my main everyday PC as I need lots of room.
    What I'm thinking of doing is gutting my Medion (extra HDD, opticals and card reader) into the best of the two Dells, adding a decent graphics card and using as the main PC for general use, downloading and gaming, other of the Dells as a HTPC - already have all gear in place, and stripped down Medion as a learning PC etc for kids

    Questions for ye of greater knowledge.

    Can I simply swap the two Vostro HDDs without issue, the differential being that the 80gig has Vista Ultimate and the 250gig has Vista Home Premium, I'm not bothered on the OS just want to check is it possible to just swap the hard drives, the PC's being the same build means I should be okay from a bios/mboard view??????

    Is it worth the hassle of hard drive swap to move from a 2GHz to a 2.2GHz?

    I assume I can take one of the 1gig memory modules from one Vostro and add to the 2*0.5gig modules, same spec memory, leaving the HTPC with 0.5+0.5+1 and the "best" PC with 1+1+1, Yes/No

    Will there be an issue with Vista and torrenting (legal torrents of course), the main PC is on 24/7 downloading, 3mg line

    I have Crysis, COD4 and even HL2 sitting around never played because I've been waiting for a graphics update, Samsung 225BW monitor.
    Noting my current card as a base to improve on, could you recommend a card upgrade for the Vostro, would like to keep the cost around the ton'ish and as quiet as possible as this PC is in the sitting room and is currently virtually silent, prefer NVidia. Not afraid of net orders and well used to Dabs/Komplett

    If I've not been clear or if I've left anything out please come back.
    TIA


Comments

  • #2
    slave1
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 19,480 Mod ✭✭✭✭slave1


    Questions above remain, how about the following

    Blu Ray/HD DVD combi ROM - €98.85 for the HTPC, should work okay....

    Graphics card, Club3D 8800GT, 512MB, NVIDIA Geforce 8800GT, PCI-Express €110.93 for the everyday PC

    I have a few other bits n' bobs to get that will make the €30 P+P okay


  • #3
    Shiny
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,259 ✭✭✭Shiny


    I read the original post but there are so many questions and
    uncertainties that I just didn't know where to start.

    My main questions are :

    Is there any sort of a network ?

    Is 250Gig the biggest drive you have (Not really big enough for a MC)

    Any of the processors are suitable once you have a graphics card
    capable of decoding HD.

    If the main PC is on 24/7 wouldn't it be better to store all the hard drives
    in that and then network the media pc to that?

    I wouldn't swap any of the drives, too much hassle for little gain as far
    as i can see.

    I'm not up to date with graphics cards to reliably recommend one.


  • #4
    slave1
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 19,480 Mod ✭✭✭✭slave1


    My main questions are :

    Is there any sort of a network ?
    No, no real interest in a network at the minute

    Is 250Gig the biggest drive you have (Not really big enough for a MC)
    Have some 500g + 750g as second drives.
    Medion = 320 primary, 750 second
    HTPC = 80 primary, 500 second
    New one on the way, just the 250 primary

    Any of the processors are suitable once you have a graphics card
    capable of decoding HD.
    Assuming you are talking around the HTPC here, I have that PC sorted, I have the HTPC giving me 1080P and DD5.1 via optical,it's more the "main/everyday/surfing/gaming/downloading" that I want to spec as high as possible from the various stuff lying round

    If the main PC is on 24/7 wouldn't it be better to store all the hard drives
    in that and then network the media pc to that?
    I could but I want to keep the kids PC completely separate and I usually bulk up my downloads before transferring to an external hard drive to transfer to the HTPC for viewing.

    I wouldn't swap any of the drives, too much hassle for little gain as far
    as i can see.
    Yeah, thinking that myself, might just swap the Processors

    Sorry for the confusion, hence my posting to see where I can max my setup


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