Another new pc question..

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stevewestern

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Following on from kingsizeriz's thread about a new pc, I would like some help please..

I have an old (6-7 years) pc that need upgrading - I am keeeping the case and Nexus 4090 400w power supply, but it has been suggested that I replace the rest with this lot -

Asus P5QL-PRO Socket 775
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 2.66Ghz 6Mb 45nm
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro LGA775
Team Elite2Gb DDR2-PC6400
Asus,NVIDIA-GF8500GT,HTDP

This lot will be costing me about £250, though I could spend a little more if it were going to make a big difference..


What suggestions do you guys all have.
Also, a lot of mention about overclocking - can anyone run through it, in really basic terms, as the articles I have read don't make it clear to me how to do it - I am a total nonce when it comes to computer stuff..
 
Sorry - dumb of me not to say..
Photo editing, music, internet - no games.
Nothing too heavy - my current pc has a 2.8 P4 on an Asus p4p800-e deluxe mobo, and 1.5 gig of ram, and it does the job, albeit slowly..
I have a couple of H/D's in caddies that may be fitted (750 and 1TB) plus a 160gb that is going in
 
is your current ram ddr2 or ddr1? because you could just get a new motherboard and cpu, get an extra gig of ram and you'd be sorted.
 
i'd look at changing your power supply if you're going to overclock and i'd be tempted to change it anyhow as i'm not sure i'd be comfortable running that off 400w from a brand i've personally had no experience with or heard anything about

granted it may be fine though :)
 
oh I missed the bit about overclocking.

I would be tempted to put a decent psu in it if your going to do it, but theres nothing really stopping you from oc'ing with a cheaper psu its just not recomended.

now overclocking....

basically in simple terms it is making the GHz rating of the CPU higher.

there are two basic ways to do this, by upping the multi on the cpu
or by increase the FSB (front side bus)


the cpu multi is usually locked, so the second method is more common.

The overall GHz of the CPU is the multi times the FSB.

so if my Q6600 had a multi of X9 (which it does) and the FSB was 333MHz the overall GHz would be just under 3GHz.

also the FSB will effect the RAM speed. so if you have the memory ratio (or divider) set at 1:1, in the example above you'd be left with your memory running at 333MHz (667MHz effective).

often with small overclocks you can keep the stock volts, but with larger oc's you will need to up the voltage to keep it stable.

Also all of this will make you CPU create more heat, so to stop it from over hearting aftermarket cooling is often used although u can do without for smaller overclocks.
 
OK, the overclocking bit - I may try it out on the old pc which I will be making up from old bits just to have a go - I am not really keen to put my new pc at risk from my hammer-like hands, more interested in how to do it, and what you are all writing makes me think I should forget it, as it sounds way above my head..
I have been told that I need to replace my ram, but have no idea what it is, and was also told that the PSU is more than enough for the new build - the old pc , the power supply and the new bits came/are coming from Kustom PC's, who have been great to me in the past, and I have always followed their advice, but I guess I am wondering if a little more spent on the cpu might be good or just to hear what other suggestions people might have..
 
steveinspain said:
OK, the overclocking bit - I may try it out on the old pc which I will be making up from old bits just to have a go - I am not really keen to put my new pc at risk from my hammer-like hands, more interested in how to do it, and what you are all writing makes me think I should forget it, as it sounds way above my head..
I have been told that I need to replace my ram, but have no idea what it is, and was also told that the PSU is more than enough for the new build - the old pc , the power supply and the new bits came/are coming from Kustom PC's, who have been great to me in the past, and I have always followed their advice, but I guess I am wondering if a little more spent on the cpu might be good or just to hear what other suggestions people might have..
Click to expand...

that PSU will be fine if you don't want to overclock.

Overclocking can be very very easy, especially if you are only doing a small overclock (say from 2.4GHz to 3GHz) because it will probably require no volt changes.

I'd say the CPU is going to be the most important thing to update, but your motherboard is old so I don't think it supports the latest Core 2s so you'd need to update that, but then I'm guessing your ram is only DDR1 in which case that will need to be updated becase the lastest motherboards only support DDR2 & 3
 
Just a note, if you aren't comfortable with OC'ing, don't attempt it.
 
MattF said:
Just a note, if you aren't comfortable with OC'ing, don't attempt it.
Click to expand...

Why would you say that?

It's almost impossible to do any damage these days unless you have no common sense.

As long as you understand the basic concepts then it' easy.
 
Perhaps a better question is why bother overclocking? It's not going to double the speed of the system or anywhere near that. In real world terms the gain won't be noticed unless you're batch processing 1000 images in LR where you might save a minute or two.

Of course if you're doing it purely to please your inner geek then it's a whole different matter ;)
 
pxl8 said:
Perhaps a better question is why bother overclocking? It's not going to double the speed of the system or anywhere near that. In real world terms the gain won't be noticed unless you're batch processing 1000 images in LR where you might save a minute or two.

Of course if you're doing it purely to please your inner geek then it's a whole different matter ;)
Click to expand...

I disagree, if you can get a 1.6GHz cele to nearly 3GHz, (that's a nearly 100% oc) you are going to notice a big difference, just in general PC usage, and especially when applying filters and the like to high res images in PS.

Why spend money on a 2.8GHz cpu when you can pay the same price as you would for something at 1.6GHz and still have 2.8GHz?
 
Well, this is very interesting, but I am not any closer to knowing if my possible upgrade sounds like a good one or not..
Is it a good pc ?

I am not comfortable with overclocking, as I have no real idea how to do it, and as I said, I am not going to be risking anything but an old and otherwise junk pc (I will have two that will be almost totally redundant - I just want to try to learn a bit about the workings of a pc and to overcome my fears of going into the BIOS and 'all that'
 
steveinspain said:
Well, this is very interesting, but I am not any closer to knowing if my possible upgrade sounds like a good one or not..
Is it a good pc ?

I am not comfortable with overclocking, as I have no real idea how to do it, and as I said, I am not going to be risking anything but an old and otherwise junk pc (I will have two that will be almost totally redundant - I just want to try to learn a bit about the workings of a pc and to overcome my fears of going into the BIOS and 'all that'
Click to expand...

ok dokie, yeah the PC in the OP, is absolutley fine.

you could probably do better, I'll see if I can better it. I assume your building it yourself?
 
Yup - I'll be doing it myself.
I have no idea oif a faster cpu would make much difference in actual use - I am not an upgrader, nor do I play games, but I want a decent workhorse pc that will do more than chug along slowly..
Thanks for the help, and I do find the 'debate' about overclocking interesting, but I don't understand much of it..
 
yeah spec's sound good! as per other post i would prob replace the power supply as well!

unless you need or want to over clock then i wouldn't worry. that pc will run office/photoshop nicely! you haven't said how much memory you are getting with it? (i'ed go for 2gb)
 
martynbez said:
yeah spec's sound good! as per other post i would prob replace the power supply as well!

unless you need or want to over clock then i wouldn't worry. that pc will run office/photoshop nicely! you haven't said how much memory you are getting with it? (i'ed go for 2gb)
Click to expand...

it says 2GB in the spec
 
ok so I've just done up a spec.

It's a lot cheaper. I'm not fully up to date on graphics cards at the low end (im a gamer so I only really look at the top end stuff), but if you just want it for PS/office/web then it won't really matter.

Asus P5K SE-EPU Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.50GHz (800FSB) - Retail £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Asus ATI Radeon EAH3450/HTP/512M Vcool Silent 512MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £27.99
(£32.89) £27.99
(£32.89)
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £20.99
(£24.66) £20.99
(£24.66)
Sub Total : £158.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £29.38
Total : £197.29


you could actually have a quad core, which helps in photoshop when adding filters and processing stuff which would bring your total to about £270 instead, or you could have 4GB ram and a quad for about 300
 
OK, in order - the cooler is in part as I live in the south of Spain, and the house is often around 35 degrees in summer, so the cooler seems like a good idea..
I do have a dvd drive - in fact there is a cd drive as well.
Yantorsen - you have gone for a chip that is way cheaper than the one I had in my first spec - what difference does the chip make The one I had was about £120 - what more do I get for double the price, seeing as both are 2 core ?
And, many thanks again - I will take a proper look at your specs !

And the hard drives can be external, as they are in caddies at present
 
you lose 0.16666 GHz, and it only has a 2mb cache instead of 6mb. which is not worth the extra money imo. the site I got that spec from you can get your original cpu choice for £90

and remember, your never gonna be able to run the cpu cooler than ambient temps, but the cooler won't do any harm and doesn't cost much so go for it if you want it.
 
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