Upgrading a PC

rmg1

Hi all

Unfortunately, this is yet another "I want to upgrade my PC and I'm not sure what I need" thread.

I've done Crucial scan (here) to see what they recommend and to confirm what's already installed.

I've currently got in a single drive with two partitions.

What I want to do is:-

• Get an SSD for the O/S and programs (I think around a 250GB will do, and it will give me some room for future)
• Get a "traditional" HDD for saving files, etc. (I'm looking at a 1TB drive as they are so cheap)

The problem is I'm not sure where to get these things from any more.

I'd prefer to spend less than £100 if possible, but could go above that at a push.

Can anyone give me any recommendations for drives and places to get them please?

I've looked a Curry/PC World (I know, I know) and eBay but I'm not 100% what I'm looking at.

TIA

Richard

debitcardmayhem

Is it a desktop or a laptop? Does it have space for two drives ? A manufacturer and model number may help

Neil_Jones

(the system details are in the posted link to Crucial )

You could do far worse than Crucial, though it is more expensive from them, but the quality (particularly on the memory) is good.

HDDs you can get from anywhere - eBuyer, Scan, even Amazon.  All 3.5" drives are the same to an extent, that's your standard for those, and all SSDs are standard 2.5".

So that's a  desktop computer, GA-H67M-D2 board , standard socket 1155, processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2400 CPU.  You have 4Gb of memory and a HDS721010CLA330 hard drive, which is apparently a 1Tb but Crucial says its an odd size, 470Gb so it's probably partitioned into two.

Cheapest solution would be get an SSD and keep the hard drive you have now as a second drive.  Just load a shiny new Windows 10 installation onto the SSD.  Your Crucial ink doesn't say what version of Windows you have.

debitcardmayhem

Ahh couldn't see the blue on here

(the system details are in the posted link to Crucial )

age thing

Toxteth_O_Grady

Neil_Jones said:

and all SSDs are standard 2.5".

Unless it's NVMe.  

  

TOG

Neil_Jones

Toxteth_O_Grady said:

Neil_Jones said:

and all SSDs are standard 2.5".

Unless it's NVMe.  

  

TOG

Actually the board listed doesn't support any other SSD beside a 2.5" one.  So for the purposes of the OP it will be a 2.5".

Toxteth_O_Grady

I know. I was deliberately being pedantic and teasing because you said all SSDs are 2.5". Lockdown boredom, haha. 

rmg1

Thanks guys (or gals)

I'm running Windows 7 but looking at upgrading to 10 so I'll probably do that at the same time. 

I currently have a second drive as an internal backup that's starting to give me error messages (Windows keeps doing a chkdsk on it) so I was thinking of replacing that with my current HDD and getting 2 new ones. 

You are correct, the drive is 1TB and partitioned into 2. 

I'll have a look at the places mentioned and see what they've got.
Another quick question I couldn't see the answer to, which SATA "version" would I need?

Thanks again 

Richard 

Neil_Jones

rmg1 said:

Another quick question I couldn't see the answer to, which SATA "version" would I need?

There's only one type for internal SSD's of the 2.5" variety - SATA 3.

If you connect a SATA 3 SSD to a board that doesn't support SATA 3, it'll throttle itself back automatically.  But that doesn't apply to your board.

getmore4less

Do a camel on amazon to check price history.
I checked the last MX 250gb I bought in Oct for ~£30 they seem to be ~ £40 now.

Cex is often good for some cheap ram

TheRightOne

rmg1 said:

Thanks guys (or gals)

I'm running Windows 7 but looking at upgrading to 10 so I'll probably do that at the same time. 

I currently have a second drive as an internal backup that's starting to give me error messages (Windows keeps doing a chkdsk on it) so I was thinking of replacing that with my current HDD and getting 2 new ones. 

You are correct, the drive is 1TB and partitioned into 2. 

I'll have a look at the places mentioned and see what they've got.
Another quick question I couldn't see the answer to, which SATA "version" would I need?

Thanks again 

Richard 

Seems like a poor distribution of funds and storage.

250 GB SSD is relatively expensive and the poorest performer.
Then the rest on yet another HDD. A terrible waste.

My choice would be for two 500 GB SSD and you using your current HDD as a secondary back up. The two 500 GB SSD on the SATA 3 connectors, the old HDD can sit on a SATA 2 connector. 
There is such a small price difference between the 250GB & 500GB. 250GB poor value in comparison.
Plus there is a lift in performance with 500 GB. Plus with three separate drives, you can have three separate copies of files on each drive in case one fails. Transfers between drives also very fast...
https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Crucial-MX500-500GB-vs-Crucial-MX500-250GB/m418385vs3951

Of course you don't need two SSD. You could buy just one and upgrade the RAM to 8GB. 
https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=smem9qah £10 for 2 x 4GB
Though not the same as buying from a dedicated seller of RAM, just a cheap way of obtaining RAM.
Dedicated sellers usually offer a lifetime warranty but are more expensive. Example: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XUM-4GB-8GB-Memory-RAM-Desktop-PC3-10600-DDR3-1333-240-Non-ECC-Unbuffered-Lot/324242324005 or https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2GB-4GB-8GB-Memory-RAM-Desktop-PC-DDR3-1600MHz-PC3-12800-240-Pin-Non-ECC-Lot/324153980853 £26 for 2 x 4GB.