Low Budget Upgrade
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Low Budget Upgrade
Tossing the system in my signature for a new one. I rarely play games anymore and the pc is mainly used for some 3d cad, and lots of photo editing. I am open to savings or better components.
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz 65W
MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3
G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model DVR
Thanks, John
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz 65W
MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3
G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model DVR
Thanks, John
so you want to make it quieter.
generaly there are a few options -
1. the cheapest - suspend your HDD, it's a bit tricky doing but you just need to get an elastic cable, and the sound difference is incredible!
note that they will get a bit warmer because they aren't connect to the case (unless you put a fan in front of them)
2. changing the Case fans to quieter ones, or trying to rig the ones you got to the MB and lowering their speed. if that doesn't work a zalman fan mate 2 is a very cheap solution to decrease their speed.
3. more expensive - (possibly) if you have a heatsink on your cpu - that you can change the fan on, do it, if not get one that can.
4 more expensive, replace your graphics card to one without a fan or replace the fan to a heat sink.
5. get a quieter PSU.
after writing all that, your sig setup is good - u don't need to change any thing in the case, you hdd are suspended, the PSU is fine.
- i didn't write what components to get because i don't know how much you want to spend. and you have SPCR to get great recommendations .
my sig has my setup, and i'm pleased with it.
hope it helps.
Dan.
generaly there are a few options -
1. the cheapest - suspend your HDD, it's a bit tricky doing but you just need to get an elastic cable, and the sound difference is incredible!
note that they will get a bit warmer because they aren't connect to the case (unless you put a fan in front of them)
2. changing the Case fans to quieter ones, or trying to rig the ones you got to the MB and lowering their speed. if that doesn't work a zalman fan mate 2 is a very cheap solution to decrease their speed.
3. more expensive - (possibly) if you have a heatsink on your cpu - that you can change the fan on, do it, if not get one that can.
4 more expensive, replace your graphics card to one without a fan or replace the fan to a heat sink.
5. get a quieter PSU.
after writing all that, your sig setup is good - u don't need to change any thing in the case, you hdd are suspended, the PSU is fine.
- i didn't write what components to get because i don't know how much you want to spend. and you have SPCR to get great recommendations .
my sig has my setup, and i'm pleased with it.
hope it helps.
Dan.
I presume that you want to change the PC in your sig for a newer faster beastie such as the one that Dan missed in your post
The spec looks fine to me, but I am not up to scratch with Intel stuff although I understand that the mobo and CPU are good.
You will (as you know) want to stick with 2 HDD's one for Swap and the other for Scratch to keep everything running smoothly, and suspension as Dan says is a good idea.
Do modern CAD packages get any benefit from fast GPU's or not.?
Do you realise that you will only be able to use 3-3.5GB of RAM if you are running a 64-bit OS, I also wouldnt suggest Vista to anyone unless I hated them - stick to XP.
Andy
The spec looks fine to me, but I am not up to scratch with Intel stuff although I understand that the mobo and CPU are good.
You will (as you know) want to stick with 2 HDD's one for Swap and the other for Scratch to keep everything running smoothly, and suspension as Dan says is a good idea.
Do modern CAD packages get any benefit from fast GPU's or not.?
Do you realise that you will only be able to use 3-3.5GB of RAM if you are running a 64-bit OS, I also wouldnt suggest Vista to anyone unless I hated them - stick to XP.
Andy
since you seem to be really going for low cost here...
check out this motherboard alternative. As far as I know, it's a good quality board, just missing pretty much all bells and whistles. If it's missing something you need, forget about the suggestion lol.
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813128078
Things to know:
-Only 2 slots for memory, no room for expansion unless you scrap whatever is in there before the upgrade. (4GB is plenty though...)
-MicroATX board
-integrated graphics onboard, which you won't need, but that's okay.
And as a totally unrelated comment, consider getting a SATA DVD burner instead of IDE. Better airflow/cable management, similar price.
Also consider a passive video card or adding aftermarket quieter cooling to the card. (unless you don't care about PC noise, but then why would you come here lol?)
Finally, look at the E4600 or the new E4700 instead, as slightly more expensive but faster CPU's than the E4500.
check out this motherboard alternative. As far as I know, it's a good quality board, just missing pretty much all bells and whistles. If it's missing something you need, forget about the suggestion lol.
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813128078
Things to know:
-Only 2 slots for memory, no room for expansion unless you scrap whatever is in there before the upgrade. (4GB is plenty though...)
-MicroATX board
-integrated graphics onboard, which you won't need, but that's okay.
And as a totally unrelated comment, consider getting a SATA DVD burner instead of IDE. Better airflow/cable management, similar price.
Also consider a passive video card or adding aftermarket quieter cooling to the card. (unless you don't care about PC noise, but then why would you come here lol?)
Finally, look at the E4600 or the new E4700 instead, as slightly more expensive but faster CPU's than the E4500.
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Are E4x00 series really a low budget? I myself consider Celeron's and Sempron's low budget CPU's while E4x00 series inteds to be middle priced... AMD is still cheaper by the dozen and in E4x00 series AMD can compete with X5000+ BE or regular AMD X2 4400+ - X2 4800+ are pretty good for lower budget rigs.
Pairing it with AMD 690G chipset you will get nice low power consumption.
Pairing it with AMD 690G chipset you will get nice low power consumption.
Thakns for the help..
Yes CAD like more expensive GPUs but for what I do, knife design, my current rig works though a little slow when in 3d modeling.
I will look at the AMD rigs I have not kept up and was not sure what competed where so i picked middle of the road cpu from intel.
I will be using XP pro not vista so maybe I only need 2 gig of ram?
Yes CAD like more expensive GPUs but for what I do, knife design, my current rig works though a little slow when in 3d modeling.
I will look at the AMD rigs I have not kept up and was not sure what competed where so i picked middle of the road cpu from intel.
I will be using XP pro not vista so maybe I only need 2 gig of ram?
for XP pro -
2 GB RAM
E4600
Gigabyte G31M-S2L that I linked to earlier.
that combination should work well for you. If you need to save more cash, look at this CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6819116070
It also has a slower alternative for $10 cheaper, the E2200.
2 GB RAM
E4600
Gigabyte G31M-S2L that I linked to earlier.
that combination should work well for you. If you need to save more cash, look at this CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6819116070
It also has a slower alternative for $10 cheaper, the E2200.
Highly recommend the 3650 over the 2600. Similar speed, much lower power consumption and heat than the 2600. Intel or AMD would suit you just fine. Overall, an AMD system in this performance range would be cheaper for the same speed but either are workable. I just prefer AMD for the motherboard selection.