Yet another New PC Build thread...

jasonb

Hi all...

Have my current PC (Dell Inspiron 545 with Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5GHz, 6GB DDR2-800 RAM, 640GB Hard Disk, ATI Radeon HD 4850 512Mb Graphics), over 6 years now and I'm looking to upgrade.

I'd be confident of building it myself, but have lost touch with what's new and what's obsolete. I'm not looking for the top of the range by any means, I'm not that intense a PC user, but I would like something that'll do what I need/want well (i.e. run some games along with the usual browsing / iTunes / Microsoft Office etc. I'm interested in using an SSD for my main drive (probably 250Mb or maybe 500Mb at a stretch) and then a second HD for all my files/pictures/photos etc.

Anyhow, here's the template...


1. What is your budget? Probably around €500-600 or so (I don't know how realistic that is), maybe more, hoping to get some money back by selling my current PC once I've upgraded.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming (but not the latest releases at Ultra settings, I tend to buy a game or two once a year in the Steam sales, and they tend to be a couple of years old. The newest game I have right now for example is probably Bioshock Infinite. Also Internet use and Office etc. Nothing too strenuous really.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes, probably go with Windows 10.

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? I'm planning to sell the old computer so not really.

5. Do you need a monitor? I guess I could keep my monitor (Dell 2001FP 20" 1600x1200) and get a cheap 19" one to sell with my PC, but depending on cost I could also just get a better monitor for me and sell the Dell one.


5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.] At least 20"?

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? Current one is 1600x1200, I guess I'd want at least that, or the widescreen equivalent.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Don't think so, a card reader might be handy but my printer (which I'm keeping) has them built in as well.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes, if it's easy-ish and stable.

8. How can you pay? Credit Card/PayPal etc.

9. When are you purchasing? Probably in a month or so I think.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [South Dublin City/Cork City/Kerry/etc.]


Thanks in advance...

J.

Digital Solitude

I missed these threads its positively been days!

Pentium G3320 €60
H81m board €50
8gb RAM €40
300w PSU €40
GTX750 €100
1tb HDD €50
250gb SSD €90
Case €50
Total €480

Should do rightly. Any questions ask away

jasonb

Cool, thanks for the quick reply!

Some stupid, newbie questions. What website are these prices on? What type of 8GB Ram is it? And what type of HDD and SSD (i.e. makes and models)? Sorry if this should be obvious to me, but like I said I'm out of the loop at bit.

Any idea how much Windows and a Monitor would cost?

Thanks...

Jason.

jamescd

MindFactory

Digital just mentioned the average prices of said components. The specific brands/makes you can have a go at picking out yourself at the website linked above. Pick out some parts based on Digital's suggestion and post it on here and we'll help you improve it.

As for Windows you can get them on Adverts. For example, this one. You can upgrade any Windows 7/8/8.1 to Windows 10 for free, so you're essentially buying a Windows 10 key.

Maybe keep your monitor for now and just sell your old PC on it's own. You don't need to get a 19" monitor to sell with your old PC, just selling the box on it's own is perfectly fine. Loads of people prefer to buy just the box itself, in fact you'll probably get offers to buy them separately.

Then maybe use the money you get from that towards a new monitor later and just use the €500-600 you have now just for the box itself + Windows. You can have a much better PC that way.

jasonb

Excellent, thanks, really appreciate the advice...

J.

TerrorFirmer

If you want to postpone the full ugprade for awhile, your old PC is actually still pretty OK for your uses.

250GB SSD + GTX750 = 200, and games like Bioshock Infinite will run perfectly fine on that processor.

I would avoid the G3220 as an upgrade, as anything that would choke on the Q8300 would also choke on the G3220 in most cases. For example if you decided you want to play new games like, say, Battlefront, Fallout 4, GTA V, etc, you would have to upgrade the G3220 anyway as it cannot cope with those games. If you are upgrading, you might as well make it an i3-4160.

When you're not really using it too heavily, you might prefer to get a few more years out of it, as it is it's not worth much money anyway.

jasonb

Thanks Terror...

While it's not the only issue, part of the issue I think is that I'm at the stage where my Windows install is bloated and slow, as it's over 6 years old with lots of installs/uninstalls of software (including Flight Sim) over the years. I know that if I did a backup, wiped it all and started again, it'd probably perform a *little* better.

But I do get the occasional 'freeze' that I'm not 100% certain is Windows related, and I also know that I'd like to take another 'step-up' and get a computer that will get me through the next 6 years! I'd like to get to Windows 10 when it's free too, but I'd rather not upgrade my current 7 install to 10, I'd rather do an upgrade from a clean Windows 7 install.

A quick question about SSDs. Do people tend to mix (one SSD for Windows and one HDD for data) purely 'cos of cost? In other words, if 1TB SSDs were a hell of a lot cheaper, would people still get HDDs for data? Or do you not get any performance increase from putting data on the SSD, you only get a performance increase from putting Windows on it? Do you also install your apps (Office etc.) and Games on the SSD as well?

Thanks...

J.

challengemaster

jasonb wrote: »

A quick question about SSDs. Do people tend to mix (one SSD for Windows and one HDD for data) purely 'cos of cost? In other words, if 1TB SSDs were a hell of a lot cheaper, would people still get HDDs for data? Or do you not get any performance increase from putting data on the SSD, you only get a performance increase from putting Windows on it? Do you also install your apps (Office etc.) and Games on the SSD as well?

The whole reason there's benefit from SSDs is they have much faster read/write speeds. That means Windows loads faster, but the same principle applies to all other types of data. So if you install your games on an SSD, you drastically reduce loading times. You won't see any benefit in terms of FPS increases, unless it's frame drops due to loading textures or something like that.

Software will also load quicker, but there's a point of diminishing returns on that. If it's big software packages that usually take a long time to load then you'll see a noticeable improvement. For things like word, excel, etc - I wouldn't say there's much of a point.

Digital Solitude

Digital Solitude wrote: »

I missed these threads its positively been days!

i3 4160 €120
H81m board €50
8gb RAM €40 DDR3
300w PSU €40 BeQuiet, Corsair
GTX750 €100
1tb HDD €50 Seagate, WD Blue
250gb SSD €90 Samsung, Crucial
Case €50
Total €540

Should do rightly. Any questions ask away

Added brands and changed for an i3 off Terrors advice

jasonb

Hi there...

Have spent some time while Boards has been misbehaving having a look at mindfactory.de and a few other places. Here's what I have now:

Samsung 850 Evo 500GB €182
Intel i3 4160 3.6GHz €110
ASRock H81M DDR3 €56
2x4GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 €40
Be quiet! 300W Pure Power L8 Non-Modular €42
1GB GTX750 Ti Windforce OC €110
1TB WD Blue €48
Corsair Carbide Series 100R €49

Total: €637.

It's more expensive 'cos I went with the 500GB SSD, as I'm not convinced the 250GB one will be enough for me.

Really wasn't certain what RAM or Case to go with, there are so many out there! Also quite a lot of GTX750s as well!

How does that collection of parts look? It's all from Mindfactory apart from the SSD, which is cheaper from Amazon.

What other bits and pieces would I need? Is the stock cooler that comes with the i3 ok? Will I need any other cables, apart from the ones that come built in to the PSU? Any other little things missing?

Thanks!

J.

Digital Solitude

Stock cooler is grand, all you need should be included

jasonb

Great, thanks! Now I just need to find the money...

J.

slave1

jasonb wrote: »

But I do get the occasional 'freeze' that I'm not 100% certain is Windows related, and I also know that I'd like to take another 'step-up' and get a computer that will get me through the next 6 years! I'd like to get to Windows 10 when it's free too, but I'd rather not upgrade my current 7 install to 10, I'd rather do an upgrade from a clean Windows 7 install.

You can do a clean install of W10 with a W7 key, this would be the cleanest way of a new OS, no need to install W7 and then up it to W10, just install W7 onto a blank system

jasonb

Great, thanks for that tip, I didn't know that, and it'll save some steps...

J.