Upgrading my PC

Coman

I am in the process of upgrading my PC (with seems to be my last upgrade before having to buy a new PC), but I really would love some advice before buying. My current setup:

Motherboard: IPIBL-LB (Benicia) http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01611311&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=nl&dlc=nl&lc=nl&product=3771838#N439

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E7200  @ 2.53GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.5GHz

RAM: 3GB

Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 4770

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I figured it was easy to upgrade this. I checked the MB stuff and there was a nice list called processorupgrade-infomation and I figured these are the CPU I can add to this MB, but to my supprise my already pre-installed CPU is not in that list. My budget is at most 500 euro's (about 650 dollar) and prefer to be under that a lot if at all possible.

I will get one more RAM atleast and top it to 4GB (I have a 32-bit system to more is kinda useless right?) and want to upgrade my CPU. Not sure what I can use for that though. Following the list the E8400 http://ark.intel.com/products/33910/Intel-Core2-Duo-Processor-E8400-(6M-Cache-3_00-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB) seems to be the best I can get unless intel site is not updated. They are hard to find though in the netherland and will set me back around the 160 euros. Still within budget, but figured worth checking out if there are maybe better and/or cheaper alternatived.

Also the Graphics Card. It is a good card and not that old. I believe I could keep it, but maybe there is a good, way better alternative to it right now making it worth to also upgrade the graphics card. Any advice? 

I prefer to buy the parts myself the local computer guy runs a good business, but he is expensive when it comes to parts. I prolly let him install everything. I fear to mess with the CPU especially if I just payed 160 euro for it :P. Also on a side-note at how many GHz you figure it worth updating? Is a update of 0.2 GHz worth it? How does that really work?

EDIT: Or is it better to spend those 500 euro's on a new PC (might make it 600 in that case up to 700 if the different is huge)? This is all the money I can spend on it for the new 1 year to 1,5 years so waiting for more money is not gonna work. It ain't going to be there :P

Quizzical

If you've got an HP system, then it's probably loaded up with a bunch of cheap junk parts.  For all the stuff you'd want to replace, you might as well just get a new computer.

Whether to keep the video card or replace it is really a question of budget.  A Radeon HD 7770 isn't really that expensive, and would be around double the performance of your current card.  But it would probably push you over your stated budget, and if you're not willing to pay at least that much, then I'd just keep the old card.

One complication is if you need to keep the old computer functional.  In that case, you can't remove the old video card from it unless it has integrated graphics or some other card that you can put inside.

If you give me a link to a Dutch site, I could pick out parts for you.

Coman

http://www.mycom.nl/Productgroepen/Hardware/Componenten/24486 - this website had a page that allowed you to create your own PC, but can not find it.

http://www.informatique.nl/pcopmaat/ This one has it though, but do not know it or if the website it expensive. 

Thanks for the help though!

dronfwar

that shop is very expensive try http://azerty.nl/, has bigger stock too

I found it through google, and it sells the 7770 cheapest

http://www.google.nl/#q=HD7770&hl=de&sa=X&tbs=p_ord:p&tbm=shop&prmd=imvns&ei=dO6mT76mJ8zVsgb8ibWDBQ&ved=0CFQQuw0oAQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=d6c3f252ab58b1f&biw=1093&bih=950

 

sonoggi

im gonna say just buy a new comp. nowadays, it's so easy to build one from scratch and you can build a beast for under $1000.

Quizzical

http://azerty.nl/8-2817-478103/msi-970a-g46-moederbord-at.html

http://azerty.nl/8-3125-450088/amd-black-edition-amd-fx-410.html

http://azerty.nl/8-857-428156/seagate-barracuda-vaste-schi.html

http://azerty.nl/8-1044-279738/cooler-master-centurion-5-ii-.html

http://azerty.nl/8-862-477517/samsung-sh-222bb-schijfstati.html

http://azerty.nl/8-750-478347/crucial-ballistix-sport-gehe.html

http://azerty.nl/8-1073-398419/xfx-core-edition-pro550w-voe.html

http://azerty.nl/0-2086-394013/microsoft-windows-7-home-premium-w-sp1-licentie-en-media-1-pc-oorspronkelijke-fabrikant-dvd-64-bit-nederlands.html

Total is € 492.22 if you keep your old video card rather than buying a new one.  If you want a new video card, then add:

http://azerty.nl/8-3921-482721/club-3d-radeon-hd-7770-ghz-edi.html

That brings the total to € 605.98.

Another thing to consider is that if 112 GB of storage capacity is enough for you, then you could skip the hard drive and get an SSD instead:

http://azerty.nl/8-1990-404564/ocz-agility-3-series-solid-s.html

That's about € 24 more than the hard drive I linked above, which is well worth it if you don't need a lot of storage capacity.  If you think 112 GB will be enough, and then later discover that you need more, then it's easy to add a hard drive later.  But an SSD doesn't fit your budget if you need a lot of capacity right now.

Coman

I have a legal version of windows 7 here so that is gonna save me some money. I can download them using the MSDN website from Microsoft using a login my school has given me. 

Should I get the 64-bit version? Is it better? From what I gather some games do not work on te 64-bit version or are the benifits bigger then the negatives? 

 

I also current have this harddrive: http://sanwork.com/western-digital-wd6400aaks-caviar-blue-640gb-7200-sata-16mb-buffer-inch-profile-inch-hard-drive-p-33175.html?language=1

Should I put in the new machine or is it rubbish?

 

EDIT: If it's not rubbish would it be better to add the SSD then install windows and newer PC game on that drive and my current hardrive to my new computer or would the slower drive slow down the system anyway?

Quizzical

The advantages of the 64-bit version of Windows are that 64-bit programs will run and that you can use more than about 3 GB of system memory.  The advantage of the 32-bit version of Windows is that 16-bit programs (loosely, anything from before the mid-90s) will run.  Businesses running some 20 year old program that they absolutely need for their business may need the 32-bit version.  Nearly everyone else should go with the 64-bit version.

Getting the SSD and also using the old hard drive makes sense.  If the hard drive is fairly new, then it will be about as good as the one I linked.  If the hard drive is several years old, then it might not be terribly reliable anymore, as hard drives do wear out and die.  Even so, losing data on a secondary hard drive isn't nearly so bad as losing your OS drive and having to reinstall everything.  You can put small data files that you care about on the SSD, too, or even put them on the SSD and also back them up to the hard drive, just in case.

Classicstar

check also Dixons its surpisingly cheap with some parts and have almost everything those other webshops have in holland.

It depends on what you wanne do if you wanne play games of today 64bit is alot better then 32bit.

Coman

Well order my new PC and downloaded Windows 7 (64bit) now I have been looking into crossfire. How does that work and can I take my 4770 and "crossfire" it with the 7700? Does this MB allow it?

jdnewell

Originally posted by Coman

Well order my new PC and downloaded Windows 7 (64bit) now I have been looking into crossfire. How does that work and can I take my 4770 and "crossfire" it with the 7700? Does this MB allow it?

No you cant crossfire the 4770 with the 7770. You have to have two of the same gpu i.e. 2 x 7770's or two 4770's. And honestly you are better off getting a really good single gpu rather than two mid or low end gpu's in xfire.

Coman

Got my new PC now for a few days and work like a charm. Got crysis running and works like a charm on the highest settings. Looking forward to test my machine tonight in GW2 and get my hand in some WvWvW. 

I got the machine that Quizzical advised and added a SSD harddrive myself. The company I got it from where pretty fast. Wanted to call them and ask them if they could put it in, but already had a mail that they send the computer. So I did some research and saw that this tower came with a tray to make SSD cards fit. I think they did not deliver a addition sata cable though. So using the cable from an external Sata port I am not planning to use.

What is that external SATA port for anyway? To plug in external harddrives and card-readers? 

Thanks for all the help!

PS: One more question on crossfire. Let's say I add an other 7770, would that make my graphical output twice as good? Do all games support it? I am asking so I know by the time I want to upgrade.