New build advice (please)

littleredspot

Right, old PC finally kicked virus infection bucket. Time for an upgrade. All suggestions and comments very welcome.


1. What is your budget? Preferably under 500

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Internet, and media server. I have a huge music library and want to stream both music and HD video around the house. Some photo editing. I always have a few programs open at once. NO gaming or video editing. I would like it to be as quiet as possible.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No, have Windows 7

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Knackered Pc was purchased from Ankermann at the beginning of 2007 and seemed to be sufficient for my needs.

Case: Ultron Midi UG805 (This is quite big and has 2 quiet fans, 4x 5" drive spaces and 2x 3". Also room for 7 pci slots)

PSU: This was a replacement, it appears to be called a Pentium P4 650U.
Basically a bog standard 650w one I think.

Motherboard: ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA (PCIe- AGP8x-SATA-I) (this has only 2 SATA connections)

CPU: INTEL Core 2 Duo E6400 2x 2,13Ghz FSB 1066 S.775 2x2MB (with a quiet after market cooler)

GPU: PCI-e 256MB NVidia GeForce 7600-GT TD Triple-XXX TV-out

Can't check the RAM but I think it's DDR2 2x 2gb

I have a DVD drive

I also have a Soundblaster Soundcard (which I wouldn't mind upgrading)

I've also bought a PCI card with 4 SATA connections with the intention of setting up a RAID system to protect my media library (this is important)

I've got a few internal HDs for storage but if people think it would be worth my while getting a SSD for the operating system, then suggest away.

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5a. If yes, what size do you need. N/a

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? I run 2, a DGM L2249WD which is 1680x1050 and a Flatron L1917s which is 1280 x 1024. Don't feel the need to upgrade but am open to opinion.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? A front mounted card reader would be handy as would some front mounted usb ports (the current ones are broke)

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? If there's an easy/ reliable way to do it, then yes.

8. How can you pay? Either

9. When are you purchasing? Asap (unless there's a particularly good reason to delay)

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Dublin city center, but willing to travel.


I'm happy to give assembling it all a shot and am happy to buy on-line/ second hand.

Hopefully I've given enough info, if you need anymore just ask.

Thanks

Jonny7

You could get a new harddrive, 1tb = 45 euros, install Windows 7 and start over with the old PC?

littleredspot

Jonny7 wrote: »

You could get a new harddrive, 1tb = 45 euros, install Windows 7 and start over with the old PC?

Yup, tried that today, after a lot of waiting around for not a lot to happen I got a "bootmgr is missing" screen and decided sod this, it's time to start again from scratch. If it's the general consensus that there's not a lot to be gained though, I could try again. And happily save the money

Tea_Bag

while I won't argue for or against getting a new PC, a boot mngr missing issue is very fixable, you just need a windows DVD /bootable ISO and get into the repair console with a few commands. a quick Google will talk you through it.

littleredspot

Tea_Bag wrote: »

while I won't argue for or against getting a new PC, a boot mngr missing issue is very fixable, you just need a windows DVD /bootable ISO and get into the repair console with a few commands. a quick Google will talk you through it.

I think I've just had enough frustrations with the slow and painful death of the old PC that I want a fresh start.

(More importantly Mrs Redspot has given the go-ahead:), having seen how much time I've put into it already)

littleredspot

Tea_Bag wrote: »

while I won't argue for or against getting a new PC, a bootmgr missing issue is very fixable, you just need a windows DVD /bootable ISO and get into the repair console with a few commands. a quick Google will talk you through it.

Tried this again this morning. I have a boot disk on a usb key. Its not letting me get into the repair console.
I go into the set-up menu, select the usb key as the boot disk, save and exit, and when it continues to reboot I immediately get the BOOTMGR is missing message.

When I started to try and fix it yesterday, I was getting as far as "Windows is copying files" but after an hour or so it was still at 0%. After rebooting it I started to get the Bootmgr messages

littleredspot

It's been suggested that some of the problems I'm having with a fresh install are to do with dodgy usb connections, so it might be an idea to add a new case to the list?

Serephucus

Why not try install from a disk first?

littleredspot

Serephucus wrote: »

Why not try install from a disk first?

Unfortunately my original disks got scratched (kids and technology just don't mix!)

Serephucus

So download the ISO and burn it.

littleredspot

Ok, eventually got around to trying to boot off the ISO. (on a new HD) Still not working. Took overnight to get past the 'Setup is starting' screen and hours to progress a few moves past that, then hung on 'loading windows files' at 0% I've tried removing a usb port PCI card and the Soundcard in case they were interfering, which had no effect. I reckon I've spent about 40 hours now trying to get Windows fixed. I surrender. Would someone like to please spec an upgrade route for me? New mobo,chip and RAM maybe? If I keep the case, graphics card and power supply I'll splash out on a ssd

littleredspot

I've had a look at some other builds here and have come up with this suggested package. Any opinions? Will it work with my current power supply, sound and graphics cards? I'll also be adding a PCI card to add some HD's in RAID. Thanks



Total build cost: €427.21 + €30 shipping
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower black Window, ohne Netzteil €59.15
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €185.73
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9 €36.70
ASRock P67 Pro3 (B3), Sockel 1155, ATX €81.59
OCZ Vertex Plus 60GB SSD SATA 6,4cm (2,5") €64.04