Upgrading Computer

[Aηdy]

Well, my motherboard appears to have literally just died lol. So now that I have some money its time for some upgrades!

Motherboard: [-]Asrock ALIVENF6G-VSTA Socket AM2 Motherboard (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+AM2+%28AMD%29/Asrock+ALIVENF6G-VSTA+Socket+AM2+Motherboard?productId=27951)[/-]

Processor: [-]AMD Athlon 64 X2 Black Edition 5000+ 2.60GHz (OEM AM2) (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/AMD/Athlon+64+X2+Socket+AM2/AMD+Athlon+64+X2+Black+Edition+5000%2B+2.60GHz+%28OEM+AM2%29+?productId=30178)[/-]

RAM: [-]OCZ 2GB PC2-5300 Special Ops (2x1GB)[/-] (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+667+%28PC5300%2F5400%29/OCZ+2GB+PC2-5300+Special+Ops+%282x1GB%29+?productId=24324)

Will be getting a new graphics card once I can afford one :) Been reading up on the processor and its up with the Core2Duo E6400 on stock settings, and the Intel costs nearly double the amount the AMD does lol. And the AMD will quite happily overclock to 3.20GHz so should be quick enough :D

Will hopefully get it ordered this weekend lol. I'll keep you all informed lol.

Edit: I don't need anyones comments about AMD/Intel or weather I can get something better. I have limited monies and I have spoken to an IT Consultant :)

[Serenity]

*blink*


*smiles and nods*


:P I'm gonna assume this is good lol, soooo great!

[Aηdy]

Feck off out of what you don't know about :P

HA! Who's the dumb one now then?!

[Serenity]

*sobs in a corner*

[Aηdy]

Now you know how I feel when you brim up your fucking big obnoxious words!

[Serenity]

But look! It's working! You have successfully incorporated the word "obnoxious" into everyday vocabulary!

Man, I'm gonna be a kickass, if not very annoying, teacher someday :D

[0=]

Hurray for unlocked multipliers!

[Maverick]

That's awesome. Good luck with the upgrade and hope all goes well.

[Whisper]

....oh ya!
mine has shiny lights!
that can change color!
n...'stuff
ya...HA
so there

[Aηdy]

Well, screw my original ideas :P The site I'm buying off has a buy now pay in 9 months option if you spen over £300, so I'm gonna get a much better spec lol.

[Patchy]

Sweet same processor as me :)

[Aηdy]

Sweet same processor as me :)

Except more powerful :P

[0=]

My C2Q will own you all this fall or winter <.<

[Aηdy]

What do you run that needs or even supports a fucking quad core? :P

[0=]

Multitasking my friend. Try music, messengers, internet, e-mail, games, virus scans, DVD rips, burns, and encoding, while syncing an iPod.

[Aηdy]

My laptop is capable of doing that, it is in fact diong so right now lol.

[Whisper]

Multitasking my friend. Try music, messengers, internet, e-mail, games, virus scans, DVD rips, burns, and encoding, while syncing an iPod.

mine can do that + look at porn

[Aηdy]

Of course, we can't forget the porn Cody ;)

My main problem is RAM, right now I'm using 1.87GB out of 2GB (Minus 256mb for shared graphics). I'm running Adobe Premiere Pro, AIM, MSN Messenger, Nero 8, WMP, Avant, UltraMon and Power ISO. CPU usage at a steady 50/60%. Not bad for a £500 laptop I must say lol.

[Patchy]

Except more powerful :P

Wow .19 Ghz faster :P

[0=]

Yes, but the quad will do the video jobs faster. Capability and performance are different things. Plus, I don't plan on upgrading for quite a while.

[Patchy]

Yes, but the quad will do the video jobs faster. Capability and performance are different things. Plus, I don't plan on upgrading for quite a while.

But tbh apart from video jobs what else is it faster for, coz my processor right now is a dual core and well its really fast...tbh I dont think a quad is really necessary with the current programs/files a pc deal with

[Aηdy]

Lol, but it can OC to 3.20GHz on stock cooling, and you should see the size of my heatsink lol!

Edit: Patchy is right. So spend your money on some DDR3 RAM or something, only people who do serious video rendering as a profession really need quad core lol.

[Patchy]

Lol, but it can OC to 3.20GHz on stock cooling, and you should see the size of my heatsink lol!

Edit: Patchy is right. So spend your money on some DDR3 RAM or something, only people who do serious video rendering as a profession really need quad core lol.

Yep certainly all im doing this year with my pc is getting DDR3 RAM and a new heatsink and some better cooling stuff.

and maybe some more lights :P

[Aηdy]

Does your motherboard support DDR3?

[0=]

I probably will go DDR3. A lower C2Q can easily achieve 3GHz. I really don't feel like upgrading again for a long time after this, except maybe the video card. I know what I'm doing.

[Patchy]

Does your motherboard support DDR3?

Dammn it doesnt.

damn shit motherboard :(

[0=]

It could also be interesting to see what AMD pulls with Phenom this year. If they get the clock up I might consider it. Of course Intel is releasing Nehalem cores, so Penryns might drop in price.

[Aηdy]

I remember the days, a 133MHz Pentuim Pro (which I still have two of lol) seemed totally amazing and phenominal power. You couldn't run an iPod off that now lol. My iPod is 633MHz lol.

[Patchy]

lol...I wonder how big the first processor was :P

[0=]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004

First MICROprocessor. The first processor filled a large room.

[Patchy]

hmm doesnt look that big tbh

[0=]

Yes, but it was slow. 740KHz 4-bit processor.

[Patchy]

yikes...I'd love to see a sata hdd work with that :P

[Blahages]

I've got a couple 8086's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8086) laying around. The machines still work nicely too.

Never had any 4004's, though, unfortunately. :(

The HDD in one of the machines is 20MB, and is the relative physical size of a CDROM drive.

[0=]

Wow...

[Blahages]

Wow...

Picked them both up at a garage sale for 14 bucks (total for both) last summer. Both came with a monitor (Both took special monitors that only worked on the correct machine), and I already have keyboards that would fit them (AT Keyboards, not PS/2). It also came with a HUGE amount of games (with original disks) on 5.25" Floppies. I'd say there's about 30 different titles. Only bad thing was the 20MB HDD is bad. It makes banging sounds when you turn it on. The other computer has a working HDD, but it's physically smaller, and 40MB.

I used to have another of the exact same model drive as the 20MB, like 8 years ago, but it was back when I was younger, and stupid when it came to these things, and had no use for it, so it ended up being a toy for smashing. Should have kept it.

[Aηdy]

I think I got rid of just about all my old computer stuff, I remember those 5.25" floppies lol.

Anyway... here's what I've come up with for now:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/muckingfuppet/th_computer.jpg (http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/muckingfuppet/computer.jpg)

I've heard people OC those processors to 3.70GHz quite easily on air cooling so I could easily get about 3.40GHz out of it I reckon :)

[0=]

Looks like your poor computer got raped by Vista.

[Aηdy]

Its not my computer, I'm only using it because I was burning a DVD lol.

Anyway, I've found another site, new spec:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/muckingfuppet/th_computer1.jpg (http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/muckingfuppet/computer1.jpg)

£402.18 including delivery, buy now pay in 9 months :)

This is part of the graphics card I'm getting :) (http://event.asus.com/vga/2007/en8600gt_ocgear/index.htm)

It's up to £465 now because I've added and changed things lol.




Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, S775, 3.0 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB Cache, Retail (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=736334)

2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=402849)

Coolermaster Cavalier 3 Black Tower Case w/o PSU (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=134904)

450W Corsair VX Series PSU, ATX, PS/2, UK Version, 80 PLUS® certified (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=644038)

ASUS 2014L1T 20xDVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, x14 DVD-RAM, SATA Lightscribe Black/Silv Retail (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=713202)

MSI P35 NEO2-FR, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=636580)

Zalman CNPS9500-AT Intel LGA775 Aero Flower Cooler (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=369638)

[-]512MB BFG 8600GT ThermoIntelligence OC2 PCI-E 1500MHz GDDR3 GPU 620MHz 2xDual Link DVI-I/HDTV HDCP (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=668014)[/-]

[-]256MB XFX 8600GT Fatal1ty, PCI-E(x16) Mem 1700MHz GDDR3 GPU 620MHz 2xDL DVI-I/HDTV Heat Pipe Cooling (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=615951)[/-]

[-]384MB XFX 8800GS Alpha Dog, PCI-E2.0 (x16), 1400MHz GDDR3, GPU 580MHz, 2xDual Link DVI-I/HDTV, HDCP (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=747618)[/-]

512MB XFX 8800GT Alpha Dog, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1800MHz GDDR3, GPU 625MHz, 2 x Dual Link DVI-I, HDCP (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=712422)

It all comes to a pricey £557.61 (Near enough to $1200), but I've read loads of reviews on all of the stuff and it's all pretty top-notch! Also people have got that CPU to 4.00GHz with air cooling. Not bad at all I don't think :)

Edit: Another thing, I read up on DDR3 ram, and there's no point in getting it yet. There's no performance increase to good DDR2 as of yet and it's really expensive. Although worth considering in a year or two!


Just ordered everything on the list excluding whats crossed out lol.

[0=]

Hurray for burning a hole in your pocket! I want some benchmarks of that sucker <.<

[Aηdy]

Haha :P What benches do you want? 3dmark06?

In the future I might get another 2gb RAM and another graphics card to stick in SLi :P

[Underage_Thinker]

Bah instead of wasting energy on 3dmark do something useful. Like calculating the first million digits of pi:)
http://www.xtremesystems.com/pi/

[Aηdy]

Lol, i'll leave my laptop to do that and compare it with my new one lol!

[0=]

Whatever's free that I can compare mine to later this year.

[Aηdy]

Haha alright then :P

How much are you planning to spend on yours?

[0=]

$700-800. Considering both AMD and nVidia will have released new graphics cards and Nehalem will be out the prices should drop dramatically. DDR3 will probably be more widely used, as well, and hopefully drop to 200 bucks for a 2GB kit. Lots of guesswork when you're on a budget. I already have a sturdy case and an excellent power supply, along with hard drives, optical drives, fans, and a sound card, so I'll just be gutting the motherboard, processor, video card, and RAM. I'm not too worried about Nehalem being significantly better, it sounds like a hybrid between Intel's current architecture and AMD's. There shouldn't be a massive gain like the change from Netburst to Core 2.

[Aηdy]

I still don't think by the end of the year it will be worth getting DDR3, its just a complete waste of time for a good couple of years yet according to most reviews I've read. New motherboards and processors will be able to take advantage of this more in the future but right now it would be a waste of money.

Processors should be in stock on the 12th, so should have my computer by the 15th at the latest! Then after next week I have a week off school, so I have pleanty of time to get everything right :)

[Aηdy]

Ok well it arrived yesturday, so here are final specs:


Intel Core2duo E8400 3.00Ghz (OC'd to 3.5GHz)
2GB Corsair RAM
2x 80GB Maxtor SATA Hard Drives
1x Acer DVD-RW LightScribe SATA
MSI P5 Platinum Motherboard
Coolermaster Black Aluminium Case
Corsair 450w Power Supply
Zalman CPU Cooler
XFX Alfa Dog nVidia 512mb 8800GTI think that's about it, I'm running Vista Ultimate (In the hope of a service pack soon!) and DirectX 10. Runs well, if i click Avant, MSN and iTunes they all just appear pretty much instantly!

The only upgrades I want now is a 74GB Raptor hard drive and maybe upgrade to 4GB RAM if I need it. Vitsa uses near enough tto 1GB with no programs running!

So I'm very happy, the build was easy, booted up first time, never opened the case since then! Overclocking was easy and CPU still only at 40C with a few app running, CPU fan running at 12.5% so it's al whisper quiet!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/muckingfuppet/th_d17e30d2.jpg (http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/muckingfuppet/d17e30d2.jpg)

[Serenity]

*blink*

...yeah! :P Sounds like fun stuff

[Aηdy]

Go feck off then :P

[Maverick]

What an obnoxious post there Val. :P

[Serenity]

lol you know you guys love it :P

[Aηdy]

Argh It's That Fucking Word Lol!

[Serenity]

lol Andy, it's not our fault your vocabulary is extremely inferior to that of we of the intelligent portion of our species :P

[Aηdy]

Its not my fault no-one will explain to me what the fuck it means lol!

[Serenity]

Lol I've explained it to you too many times to count. Why don't you look it up??

[Aηdy]

Because i cant spell it >.<

[Serenity]

Lollllll

Copy + Paste ringin a bell, Mr. Tech Freak?? :P

[Aηdy]

Obviously not :P

[Serenity]

Pathetic :P

[Aηdy]

Ok well it arrived yesturday, so here are final specs:


Intel Core2duo E8400 3.00Ghz (OC'd to 3.5GHz)
2GB Corsair RAM
2x 80GB Maxtor SATA Hard Drives
1x Acer DVD-RW LightScribe SATA
MSI P5 Platinum Motherboard
Coolermaster Black Aluminium Case
Corsair 450w Power Supply
Zalman CPU Cooler
XFX Alfa Dog nVidia 512mb 8800GTI think that's about it, I'm running Vista Ultimate (In the hope of a service pack soon!) and DirectX 10. Runs well, if i click Avant, MSN and iTunes they all just appear pretty much instantly!

The only upgrades I want now is a 74GB Raptor hard drive and maybe upgrade to 4GB RAM if I need it. Vitsa uses near enough tto 1GB with no programs running!

So I'm very happy, the build was easy, booted up first time, never opened the case since then! Overclocking was easy and CPU still only at 40C with a few app running, CPU fan running at 12.5% so it's al whisper quiet!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/muckingfuppet/th_d17e30d2.jpg (http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a102/muckingfuppet/d17e30d2.jpg)

Anyway... before I was rudely interrupted, back on topic lol...