PC Repair/upgrade

armstrongracer

I have inherited a u/s pc from work, the repairer couldn't fix it, hopefully I can repair & upgrade into a half decent home pc. I'm not into gaming but need it to run 3D CAD, stream movies and music.


The machine in question is a Packard Bell M7522, running Windows 7 pro. It's gone slow & laggy and takes up to 5 minutes to boot, it also locks up regularly. I've tried the usual stuff like HD & Ram checks & put software in to monitor CPU temps and voltages in order to see whats going on, but to no avail. Internet searches give this model a very bad rep for crashing but it was free so I'm willing to throw some money at it, hopefully it won't be good money after bad..


Spec is: Intel Core2 Quad, Q8300 2.50Ghz CPU, Graphics card: Nvidia Geforce, GT220. 6gb ram. HD: WD10EADS-22M2B0 (western digital 977gb)
Wireless network adapter: Atheros AR5006 GS.

PSU is only 250w, which is possibly the cause of some the issues and if i'm opening the machine up to replace that, I may as well upgrade other components. Any suggestions?

Tea_Bag

is it still locking up after a full clean reinstall?

armstrongracer

Haven't been able to do that unfortunately. System and boot disks long gone and Packard Bell site is useless, can't get any useful downloads from them.

Monotype

Since you no longer have the discs, you could use the ABR tool to back up your Windows activation. This saves your from ringing up microsoft explaining why you need to activate a second time.

Then download a Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1 disc image (this isn't illegal, your license is what makes your copy genuine).

Get a hash check tool to ensure that the image that you downloaded matches up with the official hash list.

Then wipe your drive, install the clean OS and restore your activation.

Serephucus

You can also get the key from the Windows stick on the side of the machine, if it has one.

The machine is decent enough. It certainly shouldn't take five minutes to boot. What you might consider is an SSD. It'll speed up boot times dramatically, as well as any applications that are running from it.

armstrongracer

Thanks, I'll try re-installing the OS. The microsoft key-tag is still on the case.

Something has definitely got corrupted or is failing. I used that particular pc at work in the past and boot up etc.. was perfectly normal. I was even running solidworks on it then. When the company scrapped it Solidworks & MS project were taken off, it's just got office on it now, basically it is as it was when new.

armstrongracer

Thought I'd revisit this thread rather than start a new one. Did everything recommended but Mr Crashy is still alive, well & living in my pc. Did some research on the interweb & the finger of blame points firmly at the Gt 220 graphics card. Apparently it was never fully sorted for Windows 7 applications. Too many posts out there giving same symptoms & with the same hardware for it to be a coincidence.

So the question is this, can anyone recommend a good low to mid priced graphics card for this pc. Not really a gamer, use it mainly for films, photo editing and some 3D cad work (Solidworks) I will also be upgrading the motor as it's only 250W.

Thanks in advance.

armstrongracer

armstrongracer wrote: »

So the question is this, can anyone recommend a good low to mid priced graphics card for this pc. Not really a gamer, use it mainly for films, photo editing and some 3D cad work (Solidworks) I will also be upgrading the motor as it's only 250W.

Thanks in advance.

What's your budget? (including a new power supply)

armstrongracer

€120 max delivered for power supply and graphics card, cant really justify spending more than that on a core2 pc, especially at Christmas time.

Having said that, i need to balance bottle-necking the graphics card against leaving enough capacity in there for future CPU upgrades.

armstrongracer

armstrongracer wrote: »

€120 max delivered for power supply and graphics card, cant really justify spending more than that on a core2 pc, especially at Christmas time.

Having said that, i need to balance bottle-necking the graphics card against leaving enough capacity in there for future CPU upgrades.

A 430w should be more than enough and this psu is often recommended here
www.dabs.ie/products/corsair-430-watt-cx430-v2-builder-series-80-plus-power-supply-7K9K.html?refs=55420000&src=3
€40

I'd say a very basic graphics card would do you, like a 6450.
www.dabs.ie/products/asus-ati-radeon-6450-hd-625mhz-1gb-pci-express-hdmi-low-profile-7J2K.html?refs=54150000&src=3

But for €20 extra you could get the next model up, a 6570.
Dabs.ie currently have two versions up. One with the standard cooling (fan) but for 40c extra you can get a silent one with a heat pipe if noise annoys you. Both are €63 ish

www.dabs.ie/products/sapphire-technology-ati-radeon-6570-hd-650mhz-1gb-pci-express-hdmi-7GNK.html?refs=473020000&src=3

www.dabs.ie/products/sapphire-technology-ati-radeon-6570-hd-650mhz-1gb-pci-express-hdmi-ultimate-7V4M.html?refs=473020000&src=3

Bear in mind that the 7000 series from amd will be out soon so if you wait a few weeks, the ones above will likely drop in price

Your motherboard does have a pci express x16 slot doesn't it?
I wanted to upgrade my graphics on one of my computers but found out that there was no slot for a graphics card. Mine is older though