Another Upgrade Thread

[minux]

Welll, need some help with upgrade options.

Currently have a PC doing nothing, stats are as follows:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.0ghz,
2gig PC3200 DDR ram,
X1300 PCI gfx card
200 gig seagate HDD.

What would best upgrade options be? Main use of the system will be as a second PC to run all my photography software on, which includes, Lightroom, photoshop, bridge to name a few. Just installed Vista on the machine and it is a little sluggy. Oh I will be staying using Vista to, suits what I use over XP. Will be using multistitch images that when merged are around 800 meg at times in size.

For the record, I suck at understanding anything about PC's So be gentle haha.

[vr_owner]

how much money do u have to spend?

[minux]

how much money do u have to spend?

being a second PC and the fact I cannot depreciate it, as little as possible

With that in mind, I still want it to run ok.

[Tom_1569]

For a computer on a budget thats got to handle those sort of files, I'd recommend something like THID.
That price is without a graphics card, which no doubt is going to set you back a fair bit, also add on 100 bux and get a decent PSU(power supply unit), and if Vista add another 2gb of 1066 RAM.

thats 791 minus graphics card. It's probly a little over-kill at this stage but a little bit of overkill is always a good thing in my opinion.
Also if your using the computer to store your files, maybe look at having 1 X 250gb drive or so for the Operating system, and installed programs, and run a 640gb or 1tb to store your files on.
Im not up on graphics cards, but dont go for the very best, as you are looking at around a grand, go 2 or 3 models below and you will get a decent one for around 200 give or take.

[Haydz]

probably go a bit more ram. and of a higher frequency.

id probably run a second smaller hard drive with just the operating system on. for faster boot times etc.

also getting rid of alot of the visual effects on vista will increase speed and efficency

[minux]

For a computer on a budget thats got to handle those sort of files, I'd recommend something like THID.
That price is without a graphics card, which no doubt is going to set you back a fair bit, also add on 100 bux and get a decent PSU(power supply unit), and if Vista add another 2gb of 1066 RAM.

thats 791 minus graphics card. It's probly a little over-kill at this stage but a little bit of overkill is always a good thing in my opinion.
Also if your using the computer to store your files, maybe look at having 1 X 250gb drive or so for the Operating system, and installed programs, and run a 640gb or 1tb to store your files on.
Im not up on graphics cards, but dont go for the very best, as you are looking at around a grand, go 2 or 3 models below and you will get a decent one for around 200 give or take.

Well just cleane dout the box, the amount of dust in it was hilarious Can't even hear it running now lol.

For HDD Storage I use external drives.

As for the other stuff, might just go with what you suggested

For now though, Im thinking some new ram to give it temp kick in the guts until i have spare time will suffice?

[Tom_1569]

Well just cleane dout the box, the amount of dust in it was hilarious Can't even hear it running now lol.

For HDD Storage I use external drives.

As for the other stuff, might just go with what you suggested

For now though, Im thinking some new ram to give it temp kick in the guts until i have spare time will suffice?

Yeah RAM will give it a kick especially if your running Vista.

The system I suggested is what I built for my bro, its uses 1066 mhz DDR2 RAM, where your system now is most likely using 677, or 800.
Ill come back to this tonight caus Im about to head out, but I THINK you could buy the 1066 now to save money on replacing it later, but it will just run at 800 or 677, what ever is supported.

[azkwazere]

buy another HDD and stripe the drives,

add more ram till you reach mobo max.

Set up the box as the second part of a render farm between your other computer and this one.

Run all you software off the main computer.

aZk.

[Fr3ak+--]

being that you have pc3200 ram check that the mobo supports DDR2

if it doesn't there is no point in buying more ram for is as it would become useless once you upgrade

[minux]

being that you have pc3200 ram check that the mobo supports DDR2

if it doesn't there is no point in buying more ram for is as it would become useless once you upgrade

It says PC3200 DDR 400?

[Tom_1569]

being that you have pc3200 ram check that the mobo supports DDR2

if it doesn't there is no point in buying more ram for is as it would become useless once you upgrade

Good spotting, I completly missed that.
Yeah if you want to upgrade your computer in the mean time you will just have to by DDR ram. All new systems use DDR2 as a least.

[Fr3ak+--]

It says PC3200 DDR 400?

yeah then chances are it won't support the new ram

so its add more now and spend more later.. or just wait it out

[minux]

yeah then chances are it won't support the new ram

so its add more now and spend more later.. or just wait it out

I am about to go into town and basically buy what Tom suggested, been looking at vid cards...but fark almost impossible to know what to buy unless you are an uber nerd lol, no offence guys

[azkwazere]

Depends on what cards the MOBO supports...

You have a PCI card atm... if it supports PCI only (unlikely) then your options are limited. If its PCI-E... simple, more money = better card. Aim for as much memory as you can, same as BUS speeds.. Usually what i do is this:

Step One: What Interface(Port Type) do you have? AGP,PCIE,PCI,ISA etc?
Step Two: How much money do i have?
Step Three: Find top 3 cards in price range and port choice in each brand (Nvidia and ATI)
Step Four: Google them for benchmarks + reviews and comparisons.
Step Five: Over allocate cash to the slightly better card because you dont want to be seen with a crappy gfx card.
Step Six: Upgrade the PSU cos the new card draws to much power
Step Seven: Upgrade the case to match the new setup
Step Eight: Relise that the case has 2 extra HDD bays, so buy two new HDDS cos you cant have empty drive bays
Step Nine: ..But the new drives have dual mode sata2 connector options.. cant have any drive latency... time for a new mobo and HDD controller...
Step Ten: Buy a new CPU to match the new MOBO you just bought..
Step Eleven: Buy new DDR3 RAM to also match set new MOBO
Step Twelve: Buy liquid cooling setup to cool the new power PC.
Step Thriteen: Buy new twin 24" screens to enjoy the textures from new GFX card.

.... usually i dont upgrade because my procdure is flawed

aZk.

[Fr3ak+--]

Depends on what cards the MOBO supports...

You have a PCI card atm... if it supports PCI only (unlikely) then your options are limited. If its PCI-E... simple, more money = better card. Aim for as much memory as you can, same as BUS speeds.. Usually what i do is this:

Step One: What Interface(Port Type) do you have? AGP,PCIE,PCI,ISA etc?
Step Two: How much money do i have?
Step Three: Find top 3 cards in price range and port choice in each brand (Nvidia and ATI)
Step Four: Google them for benchmarks + reviews and comparisons.
Step Five: Over allocate cash to the slightly better card because you dont want to be seen with a crappy gfx card.
Step Six: Upgrade the PSU cos the new card draws to much power
Step Seven: Upgrade the case to match the new setup
Step Eight: Relise that the case has 2 extra HDD bays, so buy two new HDDS cos you cant have empty drive bays
Step Nine: ..But the new drives have dual mode sata2 connector options.. cant have any drive latency... time for a new mobo and HDD controller...
Step Ten: Buy a new CPU to match the new MOBO you just bought..
Step Eleven: Buy new DDR3 RAM to also match set new MOBO
Step Twelve: Buy liquid cooling setup to cool the new power PC.
Step Thriteen: Buy new twin 24" screens to enjoy the textures from new GFX card.

.... usually i dont upgrade because my procdure is flawed

aZk.

that is generally how it works too lol