upgrade time

[GONNA-GET-U]

hello again everyone

its time to upgrade my pc as ive been having crashed everyday - 2 or 3 times

ive got 300 to spend but want to keep £70 for windows 7

so ive got 230 left - i want to either get a motherboard bundle or build it myself - think i would prefer bundle as its tested and works together

so i need a good motherboard, cpu and memory - i currently have 2x 1GB but think that might be faultly and thinl i should just get myself 2x2GB ram

ive had a look at novatech and eclipse computers and would love you to pick something off there web site or recommend another good website

ive currently got a radeon hd 4870 and 2 raptor haddrives that i can use plus dvd drives and pc case - might need to replace psu if needed so can you recommend what power would be required for whatever bundle you pick

thax for any help you guys can provide - gonna get u

 

[floppybootstomp]

This is quite a good deal

What PSU do you have?

You can test the memory you have using Memtest, freebie software you can download, burn a CD and boot from it.

It then does a very extensive test on your memory and will tell you if there's any fault with it.

I have an M2N-Sli motherboard and it's been doing a few quirky things lately such as rebooting when it should be shutting down and although it's a well-specced motherboard I have known of several to fail.

I suspect your CPU is ok, they usually either work or they don't.

So I'd suggest considering keeping the CPU, test the memory and if that's ok get another 2Gb identical and a new motherboard to suit your old CPU with 4 memory slots.

That way you'd have enough money left to buy a decent PSU such as a Corsair, OCZ or Seasonic, around 500 - 650 watts.

 

[Ian]

It's probably a software problem causing your crashes, so if you wanted to troubleshoot the crash I'm sure that we can help

That bundle that flops provided will be a good base, with just enough money left for a decent PSU if you need one.

You can download Memtest from here : http://www.memtest.org/

 

[GONNA-GET-U]

thanks guys - first ill do the memory test

downloaded the first file and now have a folder called BOOT

do i burn whole folder to cd or the 2 files inside ?

 

[guest_9323wk]

Hi

If you download the ISO file for Memtest from the link above then burn it with this programme here it should be fine.

Hope this helps.

 

[GONNA-GET-U]

i let it run and it passed 2 test with no errors so it must be the motherboard thats a fault
few month back i had to buy a network card as onboard failed
also when i start pc up - on the first page that loads up and tell you about the system it says ive got 2gb - but only single channel - thou that was a memory fault but now seams to be motherboard

but even before these faults it would still crash or reset itself - so im gonna get a new motherboard - my cpu is only a 4600+ so want to upgrade that as im planning to buy star trek online (dont laugh) as some friends now play it and say its fun

i only have xp which i think is fine - but if i get that mobo bundle then i cant use the full 4gb is that right ? so i should get windows 7 too ?

and i would add my radeon hd 4870 gpu
and i currently have a tagan tg530-u15 which i think is 530w
would 530w be ok

 

[floppybootstomp]

Tagan 530 watt is fine - keep it.

If you go for the motherboard bundle and stay with XP it will only recognise 3Gb of the 4Gb memory but it won't do any harm and always handy to have 4Gb for future upgrades.

If you go for the bundle you should be able to sell the 4600 and 2Gb memory on flea-Bay.

But if you can afford it I'd go for Win 7, it's definitely worth upgrading to and your £300.00 budget covers exactly the bundle, Win 7 & postage although I'm not sure what CCL charge for Win 7, £70.00 is the going rate for Win 7 Home Premium.

Be aware though that there are a few older games that won't run on Win 7, such as TOCA Race Driver 3.

 

[Abarbarian]

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

A useful tool for calculating power useage.

 

[floppybootstomp]

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

A useful tool for calculating power useage.

Goody. The one that used to be is now no more so it's good to have an alternative.

I just done my main PC and apparently according to that calculator I only need 415 watts.

I have a Corsair modular 620 watt in that pc so sorted

 

[Abarbarian]

http://extreme.outervision.com/flowdesigner.jsp

They even have a section for showing correct flow for water cooling

I'm on the edge with me HX 520 Corsair psu 484w with me 4850 gfx but if I get a 5850 gfx then I'd only need 471w, better upgrade for safety then hadn't I

 

[floppybootstomp]

Well cool beanz but I have no interest in watercooling.

I'm not an overclocker and to my mind water and electronics just don't go together

 

[GONNA-GET-U]

thax guys ill check out the power usage link in a min - but i just wanted to tell ya that i ordered and have recived and set everything up - hope its been done right

everything is running fine and quite - with no problems so far

thax again

 

[V_R]

Pix!