Upgrading current computer

[james solomon]

Just thought I would post up what im upgrading to and what with to get your opinion and any suggestions are welcome.

Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz Socket 1156 4MB L3 Cache Retail Box Processor
Intel HUNTER COVE DH55HC H55 Socket 1156 DVI VGA HDMI Out 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz i5 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V
PNY GeForce 9800GT 1GB GDDR3 DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card
ACE 520W PSU With 8cm Fan - 20+4pin 2x SATA 4pin ATX12V 2x Molex

And of course windows vista depending on what vista package the motherboard
can support. Upgrading to vista and giving the bits from my current pc to my sister for her pc

[Loose rivets]

Hallllooooooo....it's 2010. 'Upgrading' to Vista is more suited to folk on the time-travel thread in Jet Blast. Pick out the ones with faces like this: :uhoh: or :{


I'm still unsure if MS is going to tolerate my OEM Windows 7 on a build. NewEgg and CompUSA have both assured me that they never have any trouble.

[Saab Dastard]

To fully utilise the 4GB RAM you will need to install the 64-bit version of Win7.

Just make sure you have all the necessary 64-bit drivers for your hardware and all the apps you want to run are 64-bit / aware / compatible.

SD

[james solomon]

cant run windows 7 because of when I buy Vista because my current components are compatible and are going in my sister pc the choice of os is only Vista

[green granite]

cant run windows 7 because of when I buy Vista because my current components are compatible and are going in my sister pc the choice of os is only Vista

Sorry that doesn't make any sense, what has the OS for the new M/C to do with giving bits of the old one to your sister?

[tony draper]

I though XP could address 4 gig of ram?.
Admit to being a bit confused re 64 bit,the CPU in the Draper super puter is capable of 64 bit thingy,does it mean it will run stuff twice as fast?
Many moons ago I built a dual CPU pentium 500 on the understanding it would be swift,but only if progs had been specitically coded or what they called multi threaded or able to use two separate CPUs

[Keef]

Like Saab and GG, I'm baffled. You're building a new computer, to 2010 spec, and then installing Vista on it? Why on earth would you do that?

If you're giving the old PC away, with the Vista that's on it, then you can't use that Vista on the new one anyway.

If you're installing 4GB of RAM, either you're going to waste some of that, or you need the 64 bit version of Win 7. As they say, make sure there are 64-bit drivers for all the peripherals you want to use.

[james solomon]

To be honest i dont want windows 7. Im currently running xp on this machine and am upgrading to vista saves buying 2 os disks for 2 different windows os

[Keef]

Whatever floats your boat! I switched to Windows 7 on my desktop and laptop, and reckon it's significantly more capable.

I moved a few folks from Vista to XP (to get their machines to work correctly when Vista wouldn't). They are now all on Win 7 and happy.

[Sprogget]

Vista's alright provided you spec the machine to the os & yours will run it comfortably. What you'll be missing however, is the user experience.

A Skoda Superb & an Audi A4 are the same car under the skin, but I know which I would rather drive...

[jimtherev]

I certainly go along with Keef. (and others who share his puzzlement.) I actually bought Vista with real money - quite a lot of it - 'cos I believed the hype. It slowed the machine down, was buggy / picky, and several of my peripherals didn't work... I bought two bluetooth dongles which claimed to be Vista-ready and even with the latest software never got them to work.

Reverted back to XP. Still had the disks and the sticker, so that was ok.

Messed about with W7 in its various betas on my spare machine (not wanting to be bitten twice) and found it was a busy little o.s. which went off and found its own drivers for most things without me telling it - or even knowing about it at first. Faster than XP, **much** faster than Vista, tho' it still has most of the bells'n'whistles.

But, as Keef says, wotever lights your fire.;)

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Just thought I would post up what im upgrading to and what with to get your opinion and any suggestions are welcome.
What's the mission? Nobody can give any useful advice unless they know what you're going to use it for.

[Loose rivets]

and am upgrading to vista saves buying 2 os disks for 2 different windows os


Now I'm getting the gist. :rolleyes:

[Sprogget]

What's the mission?

PNY GeForce 9800GT 1GB GDDR3 DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card

My guess is there's a bit of gaming involved.:)

[james solomon]

Correct Sprogget but im also gonna use it for the odd bit of coursework from college

[ZEEBEE]

Correct Sprogget but im also gonna use it for the odd bit of coursework from college


Simple....get an IMac :E


No further mucking around needed.

[Albert Square]

Regarding the RAM, my understanding is that 32 bit Windows will recognise 4GB, but that includes the 1GB on the video card. So only 3 of the 4 GB system RAM will be recognised. As others have said, no problem with 64 bit Windows.

Ref the CPU, Intel i5 750 seems excellent bang for the buck at present.

[james solomon]

I see. Should I use the bog standard cpu fan that comes with the intel chip or buy one and not use the Intel fan

[green granite]

Why not go the whole hog and use water cooling?

[james solomon]

because thats expensive

[Albert Square]

Ref the CPU fan, I reckon the standard fan should be fine for occassional gaming as long as a) there is adequate cooling for the case b) you keep it clear of cables etc and c) you clean it occassionally - air blower eg. You could upgrade to a more effective heat pipe / fan cooler fairly cheaply but water cooling is only if you want do do lots of overclocking and get big benchmark numbers.

[Avtrician]

A little off track,

Looks like I will have to upgrade my Desktop PC, the storms in Perth on Monday got it. Now to hope Insurance will cough up the dough....

[txdmy1]

try
Overclockers UK (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/)
good deals, got one 5 mnths ago, sweet ;)

[james solomon]

would 550w psu be enough to power the machine

[JDJ]

Still not clear why you can't go for W7; you don't need to get Vista and then W7, because you can buy a W7 Upgrade package. The difference with going to W7 from XP as opposed to from Vista is that you have to do a clean install; i.e. starting from scratch like a new machine. But as you're getting new hardware anyway........

To find out more detail, you can search for w7 upgrade from xp,

cheers,

Jon.

[Saab Dastard]

would 550w psu be enough to power the machine

Depends on what else is going in, in terms of HDD, optical drives, PCI cards, attached USB devices, etc.

Use a power calculator such as eXtreme Outer Vision - eXtreme tools for computer enthusiasts (http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp) - my thought is to increase the answer by at least 50% to allow for expansion, and the fact that it is better to run a powerful PSU at low capacity than a low-power PSU at high capacity.

SD

[SteerageOnly]

I'm afraid I'd also recommend going with windows 7. Vista really was the O/S that should never have been allowed out of QA.

I've used Vista professionally, since Microsoft released it, and eventually couldn't wait to ditch it. When installed, it was reasonable - but gradually became slower and slower, and more erratic. Their fixes didn't really improve it. Having free access to Win7, I bought another couple of hard disks - and after testing it, have now fully migrated over. On the same hardware, doing the same tasks, it's faster and more stable. The only compatibility issues are minor annoyances - such as the inability to use unsigned 64bit drivers without either hacking things, or doing a convoluted F8 boot. As long as the drivers are signed, the Vista one is usually accepted without a problem (and I've never found a driver signing issue with Win7 32bit anyway).

As far as PSU's are concerned, 550w should eat almost anything that you care to throw at it. As a previous commenter has said, it's probably better for reliability to run a big PSU under limited load, than a smaller one maxed-out.

My own experience is that I expect a windows machine to typically last 12-24 months, before it needs flattening and rebuilding. Go for as much memory as you sensibly can. Windows can't manage virtual memory to save it's life - so don't let it go near its pagefile. Give it plenty of RAM instead. And finally, always partition the disk so that your data is kept seperate from the OS and apps. Makes it easier in the long run when Windows does let-go, and you have to reach for the OS disk. :)

S.O.

[james solomon]

Quick question what would be the best network card that would work with the motherboard and be compatible

[Bushfiva]

Almost any. But what's wrong with the network port that's already there?

[Saab Dastard]

As Bushfiva says - unless you need to add a wifi card.

Any PCI card should work.

SD