Desktop Upgrade

Kevo

Hi,
I'm looking to upgrade my current computer. I'm going to be keeping most of my old equipment and just replacing the motherboard, CPU and RAM. I'll also be upgrading to an SSD and using the old HD for media.

I'm hoping to spend 550 maximum but preferably less and need to order from a online store which accepts credit cards, so unfortunately I won't be able to order from hardwareversand.


So far I've picked these out:
Upgrade kit: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP - Intel i5-3470
Crucial m4 256GB mSATA 6Gb/s
Total €542.94

The computer is used for memory intensive applications, hence the 16gigs of RAM, but also for web, email, movies and music. It may occasionally be used for games but I already have a decent enough graphics card.

I'd like to hear some opinions and alternatives. Any advice is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Kevin

apples22

You have to be careful with keeping old parts. There could be incompatibilities between your case and new motherboard, your psu might not be able to handle new/more components. It's also generally not advisable to keep hard drives between upgrades, as new ones are simply faster/larger and old ones.... well they die. You don't want to have a new rig all set up only to have your media/boot drive die after a month. They're relatively inexpensive these days.

Also, be aware that if you're using a 32-bit operating system most of that 16gb ram is going to waste as 32-bit can only address 4gb of ram.

Serephucus

You've selected an mSATA SSD, which your motherboard won't support. You want this one:
http://www.komplett.ie/komplett/product/zkb_01com/20152500/hi_2_5_crucial_m4_ssd_256gb__7mm/details.aspx

Assuming you have 64-bit Windows (I assume you do), then it looks good.

Kevo

Cheers guys. I think I'm going to go ahead and order tonight or tomorrow morning.
Thanks,
Kevin

Monotype

You could get a Z77 and 3570K for not much more from scan.

Item|Price
MSI Z77MA-G45, Intel Z77, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 3.0, D-Sub/ DVI-D/ HDMI, Micro ATX|£74.12
Intel Core i5 3570K,1155, Ivy Bridge, Quad Core, 3.4GHz, 5 GT/s DMI, 650MHz GPU, 6MB Smart Cache, 34x Ratio, 77W, Retail|£177.78
256GB Crucial M4 Slim 7mm 2.5" SSD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, MLC-Flash, Read 500Mb/s, Write 260Mb/s, 50,000 IOPS|£150.30
Shipping|£9.15
Total|£413.18

~ €480
+€73
http://www.memoryc.com/computermemory/ddr3ram/16gbgeilevocorsa1333mhzdualchannelkit.html

Total €553.


If you keep your eyes on the today only page, you can often knock off a few pounds.