Upgrade time!

[pikeh]

Bonus month at the end of april, woot.

Think its high-time I upgrade my PC, still going strong after 5 years but just fancy a bit of future proofing.

I reckon I want to spend around £4-500.
I've got my case thats still fine (fits in my PC table just right), and my HD is good and its where I keep all my stuff.

Any recommendations for a mobo/cpu/gfx/ram set up that'll get me good performance for my buckage?

currently running; core 2 duo, 4 gig ram, hd4850 gfx, some gigabyte mobo.

Cheeeeeers!

 

[Scouse]

Have a look at this at Tom's Hardware.

Worth a bash.

 

[pikeh]

Cheers mate, I'll have a peek.

My case is a Antec Sonata III - (500 watt EarthPower(?))Will I need to be upgrading my PSU as well?
Also, If I keep my HD (Samsung Spinpoint F1), will it just be a case of plugging and playing?

 

[Litmus]

Yes you'll need a psu, and put luck with regards to the HD, most of the time you need a clean instal when installing new mobo etc

 

[Scouse]

Cheers mate, I'll have a peek.

My case is a Antec Sonata III - (500 watt EarthPower(?))Will I need to be upgrading my PSU as well?
Also, If I keep my HD (Samsung Spinpoint F1), will it just be a case of plugging and playing?

It depends. That Tomshardware guide says power consumption was ~360 watts - so there's room to keep the power supply (you can always upgrade later if you are thinking of putting more shit in your case - SSD/HDD's etc).

As for the OS - clean, fresh install. Every single time you change the motherboard is an absolute definite. You can get away with most CPU upgrades if you're keeping the same motherboard - but absolutedly not if your mobo is changing.

Back up all your shit to an external drive first. Build your PC and then away you go.


Other than that - I'd *really* recommend getting an SSD for the OS and your favourite games. They rock

 

[pikeh]

I think that'll be a later purchase, not really all that necessary at the moment, I feel.

The Tomshardware site is great, given me good options, but having trouble finding the mobo on UK sites. Managed to find;
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-097-AK but not sure what the 'M' means and it seems to be the model up(a pro4 instead of pro3) and ASRock stuff seems to be quite tough to come by in the UK?

You'll have to excuse my ignorance, I've managed to purchase and build two PC's previously solely with the help from this forum so my knowledge doesn't really extend past 'putting it together'!

I guess I can keep my case (like I said, it fits great in my desk cupboard (very chic!), its quiet and its kind of like an old comfy slipper now) and swap the PSU around (conflicting info on PSU's - don't wanna blow up my shinies the day I get them!). Are these things based on power alone; e.g; the amount of stuff I have needs to be the equivalent of what power I've got? Im likely to only really have one HD and possibly a SSD at some point.

I've got a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, if I format my HD before plugging it back in, can I re-use the license, so to speak, or would this need changing as well?

Managed to piece some bits together on Aria and its coming in at the top end of my budget (it's not a strict budget but I feel like I don't want to have to spend more than this considering how well this PC has done on a budget only a couple of hundred quid more and that was an entire system).


Cheers again for your time, really appreciated.

 

[Scouse]

Stuff

Your PSU should be fine if you're only drawing 400 watts. Check out the wattage of SSD's to see if you've room for more.

Win7 Ultimate, if it's legit it'll prolly have to go through the Microsoft Activation stuff but you should be fine. It's transferrable - but not dual-use-able.

To be fair - don't worry too much about the motherboard. Just check it's got the shit you need in terms of connectors and the like and you're good to go.

 

[pikeh]

Tis legit

Crucial Ballistix Sport 8gig
Powercooler Radeon Myst HD7870 (tahiti ed)
i5 3570k
ASRock Z77 Pro3 Mobo (amazon have one, loathe to order from two different stores, but alas!)

All coming in at £488.
I'll probably get a Arctic Cooling cpu fan as well, only £20 or so.

Cheeeeeaaars

 

[pikeh]

Your PSU should be fine if you're only drawing 400 watts. Check out the wattage of SSD's to see if you've room for more.

Win7 Ultimate, if it's legit it'll prolly have to go through the Microsoft Activation stuff but you should be fine. It's transferrable - but not dual-use-able.

To be fair - don't worry too much about the motherboard. Just check it's got the shit you need in terms of connectors and the like and you're good to go.

Should I be worried about the GFX cards power req? Ive read it needs 530w but that build dosen't mention it at all.
Oooo excited

 

[Litmus]

The reason I said change the psu is because I've never heard of that make, which probably means it's poor quality and can't doing anything close to 500.

 

[Scouse]

Should I be worried about the GFX cards power req? Ive read it needs 530w but that build dosen't mention it at all.
Oooo excited

Takes 200W at max according to Tom's Hardware...

Not sure about the rest of your stuff but GPU's tend to be the hardest pulling things after CPU. If you're worried tot up the max. wattage from all your bits and pieces and make sure you've got a little headroom...

 

[pikeh]

The reason I said change the psu is because I've never heard of that make, which probably means it's poor quality and can't doing anything close to 500.

It was a mid range case at the time (2008?), Antec Sonata III's built in PSU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007

 

[pikeh]

Haha, all the reviews are kind of saying that peeps have upgraded and it dosen't cope so well. So, new case or just a new PSU? Can I change the PSU relatively easily on my existing case?

 

[Litmus]

Psu's are pretty much strandard unless you go for something crazy. So just new psu.

 

[pikeh]

thanks mate.
Ill have a word with the peeps at Aria and see what they recommended.

Also, formatting my hard drive and 'uninstalling windows', do I have to run setup utility from windows disc to take it off or format it from windows itsself?

 

[Hawkwind]

I usually use a dos boot USB

 

[pikeh]

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Com...GBD5-2DHV3E]+++2+FREE+GAMES!+?productId=53474

got this beast today, only a few left in the UK I've heard. Woop!