Looking at upgrade

[tr3nt]

Hey guys..

I've gotten back to using my tower PC for various reasons. I run a 1TB Portable Hard Drive, so HDD space I doubt would be an issue. Lately I've found doing simple (what could be seen as multi-tasking) operations, the PC lags like all hell - and startups are getting longer and longer. I've defragmented, and spybotted, which seems to have done nothing.

I'm using a AMD Athlon 1.2GHZ processor, 512Mb Ram. What would be a good motherboard, processor and memory combination to upgrade to. Any ideas, and ballpark $$$ amounts?

Cheers guys.

[sweefu]

hey mate, i'm in the same boat as you and have been researching alot
A gigabyte base model mobo would do you find, around $80ish
i would go with 4gb a ram which would be very quick only $100
a low end amd dual core processor, you would get maybe dual 2.6ghz for $80ish again

there you go :P thats going to be a very quick computer for under $300

[tr3nt]

Ahh sweet, cheers mate!

[azkwazere]

hey mate, i'm in the same boat as you and have been researching alot
A gigabyte base model mobo would do you find, around $80ish
i would go with 4gb a ram which would be very quick only $100
a low end amd dual core processor, you would get maybe dual 2.6ghz for $80ish again

there you go :P thats going to be a very quick computer for under $300

unless your running a 64bit OS i wouldn't bother with anything over 3gb of RAM... mainly becuase windows wont even use ut... unless you use the beta patch thats floating around however im not sure on its stability.

Keep in mind a few things trent..

1. Your new mobo will have PCI-E, not AGP... what graphics card do you have now? if tis a 1.2GHz AMD, id say AGP which means your up for a new GFX card.

2. Hows your power supply... you up ram and processor and you up power requirements.. look into it.

jump onto MSY and figure out your price range... Work out the requirements your after and pick a mother board (try not to get sucked into mobo marketing tricks.. base models are fine 90% of the time..who needs 7.1DD for a computer.. seriosuly) once you know your mobo you get the biggest processor you can afford to match that.

aZk.

[sweefu]

unless your running a 64bit OS i wouldn't bother with anything over 3gb of RAM... mainly becuase windows wont even use ut... unless you use the beta patch thats floating around however im not sure on its stability.

Keep in mind a few things trent..

1. Your new mobo will have PCI-E, not AGP... what graphics card do you have now? if tis a 1.2GHz AMD, id say AGP which means your up for a new GFX card.

2. Hows your power supply... you up ram and processor and you up power requirements.. look into it.

jump onto MSY and figure out your price range... Work out the requirements your after and pick a mother board (try not to get sucked into mobo marketing tricks.. base models are fine 90% of the time..who needs 7.1DD for a computer.. seriosuly) once you know your mobo you get the biggest processor you can afford to match that.

aZk.

Hey mate,
mobo could have onboard graphics, so graphics sorted
even a 200w power supply could run this stuff easily
and the ram will still be use although not recognised if not running a 64bit operating system

not picking on you here mate just commenting.

[azkwazere]

Hey mate,
mobo could have onboard graphics, so graphics sorted
even a 200w power supply could run this stuff easily
and the ram will still be use although not recognised if not running a 64bit operating system

not picking on you here mate just commenting.

Onboard graphics? What fun would that be? Depending on what he is doing, it may not be enough virtual mem and then its gonna start eating his other resources to compensate.

a 200w PS can run things... but efficently? effectively? safely? hmmm, i think not. People seriosuly misjudge power rerquirements when building PC's and it costs money when it fails. NEVER undersupply your computer, its not different to a car with a crap battery... just not ideal. Its a big jump from a 1.2ghz to a 2.4 Dual/Guad core CPU..despite effiecncy increases.. its still a big rise. I'll also add at this point things like connectors (AT->ATX->ATX2 etc), SATA vs IDE... will the ps be physically able to be used?

As for RAM, its just not the case. I have not seen a 32bit version of windows, with ANY hardware configuration that can use 4gb of RAM.. despite its physical capability (hardware dependant)... if windows doesnt acknowledge or report the allocation page as 4gb, its not there and it wont use it...mainly because it cant.

Look, i could build a computer for peanuts that has ok specs, however:

1. Will it last? if i use crap hardware, no... not long.
2. Will it be expandable? again, hardware dependant... not worth the time
3. Will it preform? you get what you pay for.. you want preformance, you pay for it..

All i can suggest is that time is taken to select the right componenets and that everything matches... its not different to building a car actually... i dont think trent wants FIT rockers in his computer

aZk.

[levymetal]

and the ram will still be use although not recognised if not running a 64bit operating system

i'm sorry, but that is not correct. a 32 bit OS can only map 2^32 addresses.

2^32 = 4,294,967,296
4,294,967,296 / (1,024 x 1,024 x 1024) = 4GB

that's 4GB in total, including everything else that is addressed, not just the ram. so that means devices, graphics cards, which all take priority over ram. you usually get left with about 3GB for ram. if you have more, it is not addressed, and is therefore not in use.

hope that clears things up

[ClairBear]

Hey mate,
mobo could have onboard graphics, so graphics sorted
even a 200w power supply could run this stuff easily
and the ram will still be use although not recognised if not running a 64bit operating system

not picking on you here mate just commenting.

LOL, bit brave really on your part questioning solid advice when your profile indicates you are a kitchen hand, whereas Azk is in the IT field.

I know in this instance which advice I would follow if I were Tr3nt

[sweefu]

I'm just offering my advice here from what i have found looking at upgrading myself, i worked in computer shops for three years so i'm in no way an it professional but i'm not completely stupid.

graphics -- in the original post it says that he is only doing basic computer operations, for which onboard graphics would be sufficient

ram - onboard graphics will take a bit though not much, i also suggested 4gb because its cheap, you will pay near $100 for 3gb of ram anyway, so may as well go for 4gb and have overkill, in my opinion.

"LOL, bit brave really on your part questioning solid advice when your profile indicates you are a kitchen hand, whereas Azk is in the IT field. "
i'm not being brave mate i'm just offering my advice on what i have found with computers.i know azk is an it professional, but its a car forum i thought i'd still chuck up my advice.

Not trying to start an argument or anything.

Cheers guys.

[tr3nt]

Woah.. My heads hurting right about now..

Thanks for the feedback..

For the record, I don't actively "game" but I do have a bit of a poke around with Photoshop, so a someone decent 'shelf' kind of graphics would be an idea.. I'm Currently using a GeForce FX 5500 video/graphics; 512 DDR Ram, and AMD Athlon 1.25GHz cpu