Computer upgrade help

denwyn

My present computer consists of the following

Pentium Dual Core 8500 cpu
16 gb crucial SSD drive
1 tb and 500gb Sata 2 Hard drives
Radion HD 540 Graphics card
8 gb memory
MSI G14-P28 MB
Dell Monitor... want to keep this



The computer is a Zoostorm PC bought from Ebuyer about 5 years back,has been slightly modified with extra memory, small SSD drive, graphics card and extra Hard Drive
I would like to upgrade it to something a bit quicker, its ok for surfing but as doesn't cope to well with tasks like burning DVDs, it tends to slow down to a crawl if you are doing anything else, its about 5 years old now, and i think its time to update. I want to keep the two Sata hard drives if possible, or definitely the 1 tb one as its not that old, the computer case is ok, and i recently fitted a new 500 watt power supply, as the old 350 watt one packed in.
I am fairly confident i can fit new motherboard etc, but am not really sure what i should buy, was also thinking along the lines of also fitting a 250 or 500gb SSD. what i dont want to do is overspend on something, don't play games at all, but would like something fairly quick. Would be buying online, as don't trust the likes of PC world to offer sound advice. What should i be looking at, i have sort of narrowed it down to Intel i5 or AMD equivalent, 8 Gb of memory, Gigabyte or Asus M.board, preferably with on board graphics. I use Win 7 as my OS, not sure if i would update it to Win 10, but just in case i ever take up the free upgrade i would want a system suitable. I have looked at pre-built Motherboards online, at Novatech, Scan Computers and Overclockers, prices look about £170 to £250, but the more i look the more confused i get, so any advice would be appreciated...Thanks

Cisco001

You need to purchase new os if u change motherboard.

For 250, you could consider getting refurb PC. Probably 2nd or 3rd gen i5 with win 7 from eBay. Then change SSD yourself.

Or u could consider spending 20 to get C2Q from eBay and run Linux on ur current machine

bsod

more importantly, find out why dvd burning is slow, the spec of the pc is fine already, if it's slow, re-install windows7, and put the smaller drive in a usb caddy

a new processor, motherboard, more ram and whatever else, isn't going to make a dvd burner spin faster.

16GB ssd? how much free space has that got, if any? shift your page and hibernation file to a real hard disk, and point temp to the same place. what type of dvd's are you burning.

denwyn

Why would I need new OS, Have a genuine Win 7 DVD and key code, bought it new, after I bought this computer. Refurbished PC is an option, but I won't buy from EBay, its to dodgy. Never used Linux, her indoors also uses computer, took her long enough to get used to Windows, I couldn't stand all the questions etc if I put Linux on.

Thanks

denwyn

Oops. 16 GB is a typo, I think it's 80 GB, It has OS on it and all programmes like MS office, Nero, etc. Burning DVDs is OK as long as your not doing much else,its then it tends to slow down. Windows is a fresh reinstall, didn't notice any real improvement. Other thing that happens occasionally, should I be burning a DVD movie and using another programme to convert some Flac music to mp3 then I have noticed I get errors on the DVD, but just burning a DVD and doing nothing else is always OK.

bsod

your system is already well over spec for these simple tasks. a 15 year old p2/3 pc with 128-256 MB of ram would be able to convert flac to mp3 and burn a dvd at the same time with ease. burning takes very little resources, you are simply shifting 4Gb of data from a hard disk to a dvdwriter, it's format conversion that takes processor effort, normally that's already done beforehand

so either thin out the system, 3 internal hard disks is at least one too many, look at what burning software and processes you are using, or reinstall to one drive, and try that, ie no ssd, could also be the dvd drive, but it should consistently fail if so, or your choice of discs

or forget about dvd's, convert to mp4, save to flash drive, insert into tv.

dvd errors should be a thing of the past, what speed are you burning at, what format is the source file, what software is being used

enfield_freddy

look for something like a skt 1150 board + CPU , anything from a Pentium upto a i7


the g3258 CPU is a cracker for the price about £50 or a i3 4170 at about £90 , and then a board from about £40 + some memory , 8 g will do , and cost you about £35


however BSOD is correct , your machine should handle what you are doing

Fightsback

enfield_freddy wrote: »

look for something like a skt 1150 board + CPU , anything from a Pentium upto a i7


the g3258 CPU is a cracker for the price about £50 or a i3 4170 at about £90 , and then a board from about £40 + some memory , 8 g will do , and cost you about £35


however BSOD is correct , your machine should handle what you are doing

You can buy the skylake i3-6100 for £82 on Amazon (currently out of stock and on back order) which is faster than the i3 4170, has a better IGP and slightly less watts (51w). Also it can take advantage of DDR4 RAM (plus other features) with a 1151 board.

Cisco001

denwyn wrote: »

Why would I need new OS, Have a genuine Win 7 DVD and key code, bought it new, after I bought this computer. Refurbished PC is an option, but I won't buy from EBay, its to dodgy. Never used Linux, her indoors also uses computer, took her long enough to get used to Windows, I couldn't stand all the questions etc if I put Linux on.

Thanks

I though your machine from zoomstorm PC which usually with OEM version of windows?

It usually only retail version that you can transfer to another PC.

Cycrow

Fightsback wrote: »

You can buy the skylake i3-6100 for £82 on Amazon (currently out of stock and on back order) which is faster than the i3 4170, has a better IGP and slightly less watts (51w). Also it can take advantage of DDR4 RAM (plus other features) with a 1151 board.

But with a skylake cpu you will need a compatible motherboard and DDR4, which would be more expensive compared to haswell, and not really needed for basic use

Cisco001

If you can re-use your OS and RAM. You can consider this

Intel Core i5 6400

Gigabyte B150M-HD3

Samsung 250 GB 850 EVO Solid State Drive