TheJamhead
New Member
Hey, I'm a bit of a computer noob to be honest, although I'm studying Computer&electronic engineering so i do have an interest in it and a decent understanding of how the parts work (albeit probably far too narrow and too detailed an understanding to be in any way useful). I've been planning on updating my current family computer for a good few months. My dad's given me a limit of 500-600euro.
The main problem getting parts is I live in ireland so if i want computer parts for anyway reasonable price i sort of have to use the website www.dabs.ie, or www.pixmania.ie which i assume is much worse value than what you US/Continental guys can get parts for.
We use our computer mainly for listening to music, I play some games but they're quite old and just generic stuff like that. Nothing too intense.
Anyways, my computer at present is AMD and is quite dated.
According to Everest and what I know it has:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64, 2000 Mhz (10x200) 3000+
Motherboard Name: Albatron K8X250GB Pro/ Biostar K8NHA-M (Grand)... this keeps going on for about half a mile of text and forward slashes, I don't think the rest is needed? I can give details if required but i presume its horribly outdated, memory bus type is DDR SDRAM, Real Clock 201MHz (DDR)
RAM:2x 512 mb ram.
PSU: about 500W psu from an unknown brand which isn't on the internet (i assume it's underperforming but don't know how to check).
Graphics: ATI Radeon 9000 series (64 mb)
Running windows xp pro.
So all that out of the way, I was hoping for something that would last quite a while and be improvable in 3 years or so if required. Was thinking of the following improvements. Planning on updating to Windows 7 also.
CPU:
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4291725/art/amd/phenom-ii-x4-955-3-2-ghz.html
Motherboard:
http://www.dabs.ie/products/gigabyte-am3-amd-740g-ddr3-matx-74Z1.html
Memory:
http://www.dabs.ie/products/corsair...12800-c9-1600mhz--cmx4gx3m2a1600c9--6ZPH.html
GPU:
Don't really have a clue, something like.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/xfx-ati-radeon-5670-hd-1gb-gddr5-pci-express-hdmi-avp-750W.html
or if this would do it is cheaper, it says it requires some things though
http://www.dabs.ie/products/xfx-ati-radeon-5570-hd-1gb-ddr3-pci-express-hdmi-76GL.html
or this? I really don't have a clue I'm sorry. I doubt I need a great one, but it'd be nice to have something not totally shit.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/gigabyte-geforce-gt-220-720mhz-1gb-pci-express-2-0-hdmi-68VX.html
PSU:
I presume I'll need a new one to power this stuff so ehh a guess.
I've read that this is meant to be great, it seems a little bit pricey though for what I actually need?
http://www.dabs.ie/products/antec-true-power-650watt-120mm-67MX.html
Overall that should come to within the price range I hope. my current case is pretty big, is it actually important to get a new one? I don't really see the point. my cd drives are fine too.
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated! If this is the wrong section I'm very sorry! I'm new! And if I've left out any important details I'm sorry. Thanks for any help!
The main problem getting parts is I live in ireland so if i want computer parts for anyway reasonable price i sort of have to use the website www.dabs.ie, or www.pixmania.ie which i assume is much worse value than what you US/Continental guys can get parts for.
We use our computer mainly for listening to music, I play some games but they're quite old and just generic stuff like that. Nothing too intense.
Anyways, my computer at present is AMD and is quite dated.
According to Everest and what I know it has:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64, 2000 Mhz (10x200) 3000+
Motherboard Name: Albatron K8X250GB Pro/ Biostar K8NHA-M (Grand)... this keeps going on for about half a mile of text and forward slashes, I don't think the rest is needed? I can give details if required but i presume its horribly outdated, memory bus type is DDR SDRAM, Real Clock 201MHz (DDR)
RAM:2x 512 mb ram.
PSU: about 500W psu from an unknown brand which isn't on the internet (i assume it's underperforming but don't know how to check).
Graphics: ATI Radeon 9000 series (64 mb)
Running windows xp pro.
So all that out of the way, I was hoping for something that would last quite a while and be improvable in 3 years or so if required. Was thinking of the following improvements. Planning on updating to Windows 7 also.
CPU:
http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/4291725/art/amd/phenom-ii-x4-955-3-2-ghz.html
Motherboard:
http://www.dabs.ie/products/gigabyte-am3-amd-740g-ddr3-matx-74Z1.html
Memory:
http://www.dabs.ie/products/corsair...12800-c9-1600mhz--cmx4gx3m2a1600c9--6ZPH.html
GPU:
Don't really have a clue, something like.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/xfx-ati-radeon-5670-hd-1gb-gddr5-pci-express-hdmi-avp-750W.html
or if this would do it is cheaper, it says it requires some things though
http://www.dabs.ie/products/xfx-ati-radeon-5570-hd-1gb-ddr3-pci-express-hdmi-76GL.html
or this? I really don't have a clue I'm sorry. I doubt I need a great one, but it'd be nice to have something not totally shit.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/gigabyte-geforce-gt-220-720mhz-1gb-pci-express-2-0-hdmi-68VX.html
PSU:
I presume I'll need a new one to power this stuff so ehh a guess.
I've read that this is meant to be great, it seems a little bit pricey though for what I actually need?
http://www.dabs.ie/products/antec-true-power-650watt-120mm-67MX.html
Overall that should come to within the price range I hope. my current case is pretty big, is it actually important to get a new one? I don't really see the point. my cd drives are fine too.
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated! If this is the wrong section I'm very sorry! I'm new! And if I've left out any important details I'm sorry. Thanks for any help!
