Upgrading my pc - Where do I start?

ddoris

lil306 -there are a limited number of ways to connect to a motherboard and as this m/b's have only 2 pci slots why "waste" one just because the m/b has only 2 sata? You seem to think that this doesn't matter but if you read reviews of m/boards on the net you will find that your views are wrong.

Lil306

ddoris wrote: »

lil306 -there are a limited number of ways to connect to a motherboard and as most m/b's have only 2 pci slots why "waste" one just because the m/b has only 2 sata? You seem to think that this doesn't matter but if you read reviews of m/boards on the net you will find that your views are wrong.

The number of connections available purely depends on what system you choose. The motherboard posted was just a suggestion, if you look at the motherboard that Dazed spotted it had 4 sata ports on it, it's not an issue whatsoever

I stated in an earlier post comprimises would need to be made for the computer to get the requirements needed. Having a low number of sata ports ISN'T an issue, you just seem to think it is. The SATA ports provide connection for the HDD, he has 1 spare available and can easily add an expansion card.

Which reviews are you talking about here. Just because it only has 2 SATA ports doesn't make it an issue, it's just something to work around. The PC is only going to be used for the occasional game, music and movies so mega storage isn't needed and if required a bigger 1TB model can be added for less than £70 and files transferred over.

My motherboard has 4 Sata ports, yet I still use an IDE HDD, because the 250gb sata I bought (Western Digital) couldn't tolerate the temperatures inside my case so it started failing as it was cooking itself alive. It's now residing as a slave to my case acting as storage. My main HDD has always stayed at the same health status, where as the SATA drive was dropping rapidly, it lost around 5% in less than 1 week. It's now recovering because it's used less, but it's permanently damaged.

SATA connections are better, faster and it's preferable to have more, but it wouldn't bother me one bit if I had to use an expansion card. However, Dazed has already mentioned they had a budget of £200 so we were working towards a system which had graphics, decent cpu and memory within their budget. You're not going to find a system where you get everything within budget, so you make comprimises. That's why the bundles are better, matched components and saves money

Have you seen RAID cards, they connect up multiple HDD's which provide faster write speeds than ports in terms of throughput

[Deleted User]

Lil306 wrote: »

We could argue this all day. I've already said I don't know much regarding licensing of Microsoft etc.

I'm not putting forward an argument, I'm simply correcting your misunderstandings over Windows licensing. Don't forget this is an open forum and many hundreds of people will potentially be taking information contained within on board.

Regarding deployment of Windows using the System Builder installation, if it's what I'm thinking of that's just repacking it with sysprep or something similar, which it is already done when you install it

They're both similar but different. One of the main purposes of the OPK is to install it in such a way that the end user still has the opportunity to review the EULA when they first use the computer.

Anyway, not sure what you meant on my third remark, but basically you can transfer the license providing you give the original person you are selling it to the CD (if it's retail), but if you keep the CD you still have to uninstall the operating system before you sell it or the person is using an illegal copy of the O/S imo

If you have an OEM version of Windows on a machine that you sell, you aren't permitted to keep the licence for your own use it must go with the machine. It won't be nullified in the transfer. If you have a retail version that you installed, you are entitled to remove the software from the machine and keep the licence for yourself for use on another machine, however you can't leave it installed on the machine and do that.

In the end, do I care? No

Fair enough, that's entirely your prerogative..

Lil306

anewhope wrote: »

I'm not putting forward an argument, I'm simply correcting your misunderstandings over Windows licensing. Don't forget this is an open forum and many hundreds of people will potentially be taking information contained within on board.

Heh, np. Just thought you were trying to get at me for my choice or suggestions. Always good to be correct. I suck at knowing Microsoft licenses but I just do what I know

They're both similar but different. One of the main purposes of the OPK is to install it in such a way that the end user still has the opportunity to review the EULA when they first use the computer.

Ah, I'm used the AIK tools but never used em much so they seemed simliar


If you have an OEM version of Windows on a machine that you sell, you aren't permitted to keep the licence for your own use it must go with the machine. It won't be nullified in the transfer. If you have a retail version that you installed, you are entitled to remove the software from the machine and keep the licence for yourself for use on another machine, however you can't leave it installed on the machine and do that.

Thanks, you clarified what I was thinking. My post meant this but it was the way I worded it

Fair enough, that's entirely your prerogative..

my way or the high way :P :cool:

BillScarab

I really don't see why only two SATA ports is that big an issue. In an ideal world more would be better but he wants to use his old drive which I think is an IDE so he plugs that into the IDE port. Plugs an opticla drive into a SATA port and if he needs mre storage in the future sticks a 2TB drive on the other SATA port.

Let's be honest we could recommend he goes and blows £200 on a motherboard with all the connectors in the world but it won't be any good if he can't afford any other components.

spud17

I'll admit to only skimming the previous pages, but I had a vaguely similar thread just before Xmas.

With input from spakker and Oneday77, :T I settled on an E6300 (2.8Mhz), 4 GB 1066Mhz RAM and an Asus P5KPL SE mobo.

All from ebuyer for a total of £137, but it did pay to monitor prices, because they seemed to fluctuate through the week.
I probably could have saved a pound here and there but I've always got on O.K. with ebuyer.

Comes with 256Mb onboard graphics, so all the Aero bits work, as does the Ubuntu rotating cube desktop.

I just swapped my existing DVD (ide) rewriter and PSU.

It's way over for my use, but it is pretty quick, Super-Pi is around 18 secs for 1million places.

I had already bought the pre- release Retail Windows 7 for £50.

Only small regret is the mobo, it has 2 SATA and one PCI.

DazedAndConfuzed

Cheers Spud17, I've now worked out I have £250 to spend on a motherboard, graphics card, processor and psu so hopefully thats enough to make something decent?

turbobob

An example:



I think the power supply is reasonable. I'd sooner take a 430w Antec Basiq than some generic with a higher "rating" for less money. Here is an example of how a very cheap "500w" power supply performs (long article) http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/534

Really you could make changes depending on your priorities. That has quite a powerful graphics card which will be ideal for gaming. Its also quite a long card BTW. You could say get a cheaper card and more memory. Or a cheaper processor and more memory. If you are using XP though you don't need more memory and you can always upgrade later. Or you could get an Athlon X3 triple core (obviously on a different motherboard) which will perform better on some applications, etc. etc.

DazedAndConfuzed

Cheers Turbobob, got it ordered and hopefully (fingers crossed!) this time tomorrow I'll be trying to assemble it all and not break anything!

Tempted though I was to get the Athlon X3 triple core I think this spec will definately fit what I need, will get some more RAM at a later date to keep it running at full pelt.

turbobob

Good luck with it. Let us know how it goes