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Options for upgrading old PC for Music production

  • 11-07-2012 7:02pm
    #1
    spiderjazz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 244 ✭✭


    1. What is your budget? [as cheap as possible, €200-€300]

    2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Music Production, so Ram and CPU will be my priority I think)

    3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No]

    4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Yes, I have a case, power supply (which came with the case, it's 350w if I remember correctly, DVD drives, 3x1gb ram chips (not sure of spec), will be running sound from an external interface, 320gb hdd)

    5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

    5a. If yes, what size do you need. [NA]

    5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080] [No]

    6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [No.]

    7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes]

    8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]

    9. When are you purchasing? [In 7-31 days]

    10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Don't need help]

    My parents PC recently died, I think it's the graphics card on the motherboard so they bought a new PC and this has been retired. What I'd like to do is upgrade this on the cheap and use it for music production. My budget is small, this is more of a project than anything serious, if at all possible I would like to keep it around the 200 euro mark. I reckon what I need to prioritise is a new motherboard, a cpu and ram. I wouldn't mind picking up a graphics card down the line, but getting one isn't an immediate priority. I've had a look at hardwareversand, and they have this AMD Phenom II X4 965 for 91 euro, 8gb of ram for 35. It's looking around 45-50 for a motherboard then that would have a small bit of upgrade potential. Could anyone offer me their suggestions of how I could best spend my money?


Comments

  • #2
    Monotype
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,710 ✭✭✭Monotype


    Getting a proper PSU would be a good idea. It might be the cause of PC failure and I wouldn't trust components with a bad one.

    Do you know that this is upgradable - i.e., that you can re-use the case, i.e., it conforms to the standard, i.e, it's not a manufactured BTX one like Dell use?

    You'd really need to find out the RAM type before you go further. Since the PC is no longer working, open it up and read the labels on the side.

    Edit: Check if the DVD drive is IDE or SATA. IDE = older ribbon cable. The hard drive too.


  • #3
    spiderjazz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 244 ✭✭spiderjazz


    Monotype wrote: »
    Getting a proper PSU would be a good idea. It might be the cause of PC failure and I wouldn't trust components with a bad one.

    Do you know that this is upgradable - i.e., that you can re-use the case, i.e., it conforms to the standard, i.e, it's not a manufactured BTX one like Dell use?

    You'd really need to find out the RAM type before you go further. Since the PC is no longer working, open it up and read the labels on the side.

    Edit: Check if the DVD drive is IDE or SATA. IDE = older ribbon cable. The hard drive too.

    Thanks for the reply.

    I would guess the case is upgradeable, I built this PC around six years ago and it was all from scratch. I'll take some pics and get the info about the ram/DVD drives/HDD drives etc when I get a chance to get back out to the parents. That should give a better idea where I am in terms of what needs to be done.


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