Changing my Desktop.

sydthebeat

Hey all,

Im changing my desktop as its been "narky" for the last few months and its almost at its end of days.

The details of my current desktop at attached. Its probably about 6-7 years old at this stage.

Im looking for some advice.

1. is it possible to simply copy my whole hard drive to another new hard drive? I realise that ill probably be upgrading to 64 bit so software may not work, Its more getting data files copied....

2. the only 'heavy duty' software i use is Autocad so i need min 2gb ram. Preferrably id like 4 or 6 GB. I often use multiple programs open at one time, pdfs, web, pics, Acad, word etc when im working on projects / jobs.

3. I dont use the pc for gaming at all. The kids just play web flash games. What kind of graphics card would suffice?

4. i have a NOC monitor LM729A... is this sufficient for most new desktops?

5. ive filled about 300 GB on this PC, the capacity is 330 (strangly theres two physical harddrives) Id be looking for 1TB harddrive, i think over 500 GBs would be required.

6. what processor is decent for the above requirements? i assume the actual product is more indicitive of performance than the GHZ rating, as im currently on a 3 GHZ pentium D....

So finally, is there a desktop for half decent price (circa 500 maybe? am i realistic?) out there to suit my needs? Ive checked out some sites but TBH i cannot understand the performance difference between some pc's which seem to have the same general hardware.

Thanks to anyone for any advice given...

yoyo

You cannot just do a direct copy of Windows to another machine most of the time, due to driver differences but also license differences (e.g: if that Windows XP is an OEM license you can forget about it). Newer desktops also won't have PATA/IDE ports on board so if both the hard disks/one is IDE it won't be readable on the new machine unless using something like an external HD Caddy (which arn't always that robust).
I'd reccomend buying a decent sized external hard disk, using it to backup all your files. A 1tb (1000GB) external will do grand, even less for you. Plus it can be used as a backup disk later on.
Your old monitor will work fine on your new machine, no issues there!
If your looking for new machine and are confident with computers I'd reccomend building one, very easy to do and it will be a much better machine for less than the store baught ones. I can move this over to PC building & upgrading if you need more advice there

Nick

sydthebeat

thanks nick....

hadnt considered the DIY route... im a complete novie and apart from installing some RAM, wireless cards and DVD drives ive no experience.

however i checked out deconduos post here and it makes for tempting reading if i could get that first cheap office PC built with a I TB HD for less than 500. Is it really a simply case of simply plug and play with these things?

thanks for the info on the harddrive copying. So does that mean that i would need to reload all my software onto a new pc.... cloning doesnt do it?
sorry if thats a stupid question

yoyo

sydthebeat wrote: »

thanks nick....

hadnt considered the DIY route... im a complete novie and apart from installing some RAM, wireless cards and DVD drives ive no experience.

however i checked out deconduos post here and it makes for tempting reading if i could get that first cheap office PC built with a I TB HD for less than 500. Is it really a simply case of simply plug and play with these things?

thanks for the info on the harddrive copying. So does that mean that i would need to reload all my software onto a new pc.... cloning doesnt do it?
sorry if thats a stupid question

You would need to reload all the software, yes unfortunately. Thats just a case of re-installing the software from the discs provided that the software supports Windows 7 (you may need to find patches, etc. for them).
You could quite easily build a computer, it is like a case of lego and just matching components up. Plenty of videos on Youtube how to do it. I would strongly advise doing so as most components come with a 3 year manufacturers warranty, the case you use will likely be much more flexable than a pre-build one and you'll have much more confidence when it comes to fixing the machine should a problem arise yourself

Nick

deconduo

Here you go:

Item|Price
Total build cost: €454.88 + €30 shipping
Intel Core i3-2120 Box, LGA1155|€110.62
ASRock H61M-HVS (B3), Sockel 1155, mATX|€42.83
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€32.53
Xigmatek Asgard, ATX, ohne Netzteil, schwarz|€32.53
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA|€15.97
Antec BasiQ VP350|€33.06
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ)|€99.90
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch|€87.44


If you're based in Dublin I'd be happy to put it together for you as well.

mach1982

when was the last time you did a disk defrag ?

sydthebeat

mach1982 wrote: »

when was the last time you did a disk defrag ?

fairly regularly, i keep a regular cleaning schedule with ccleaner....
and ive used tune up utilities 2008 fairly regularly up to about a year ago...

the current pc has issues that i guess i could go exploring but i think its time to upgrade...

deconduo, thanks for the offer, i might in touch with you by pm if you dont mind. Im not in dublin but im up there every so often.
Just on that spec, sorry if these are silly questions but.....

1. id want a vga port to connect to a tv for some applications... hdmi if thats the norm now.

2. id need a card readers for SD etc?

3. would i need wireless network card as well. i use a wireless LAN USB adapter currently

deconduo, what rough price would you put on a similar spec to yours and what i have above if i was to buy pre made?

thanks everyone for the time and advice.