Upgrading My Computer

[Richard_G]

The graphics card looks reasonable. Increasing the RAM will give you the biggest increase in performance. Windows XP runs very slowly with anything less than 512Mb. The difference between 1Gb and 2Gb is nothing like as noticable.

One thing to bear in mind though, the value of secondhand computers is very low so don't expect to get much for yours when you come to sell it.

[Nitro89]

how much u think I can sell it for £300-£400?

2GB RAM
512MB Graphics Card
Intel Pentium 4 HT
500GB SATA Hard Drive
HQ DVD ROM Drive
Card Reader

[Nitro89]

I also need a really fast fan as I have an Intel Pentium 4 HT processor, would this fan be a good one?

[DB83]

Sorry, but you would be lucky to get £100-£150.

It's a buyers market. Any buyer will weigh up whether to buy second-hand (cheap) or spend a little more and get new.

Pentium 4 is already old technology so it will only appeal to someone who really needs a cheap PC.

BTW why do you need a fast fan ?. Has the present one stopped working ? If it has then replacing the fan could be the least of your problems.

My honest advice to you is save the money on your proposed upgrade. Put it towards the new PC you want later in the year and if you are really lucky you could still get £50-£100 on the current one.

[Nitro89]

that sucks, well I just had an engineer fix my pc today, replacing the motherboard, CPU and fan, due to overheating, the CPU is 45oc and the fan runs on 2800, I don't want the same problem again

[DB83]

The over-heating was caused by one of two things.

The fan failed and fried your CPU and MB hence my comment about 'least of your problems'

or

The Power supply is suspect.

But now you have a new CPU and a new fan. They usually come boxed together and tend to be a good match. No need IMO to even contemplate replacing it.

[Nitro89]

is it cheaper to make a HQ gaming pc or buying one at a shop?

[DB83]

So many questions and frankly so many answers.

Depends on what you regard as a shop.

Look at this spec:-

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6550 2.33GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB Cache Genuine Windows Vista (R) Home Premium 2GB Memory 320GB Hard Drive Dual Layer DVD Rewriter 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GS Graphics 15 in 1 Media Card Reader 6 USB connections 20" LG Widescreen Monitor

You could buy this 'gaming' PC tomorrow for £730 from a shop.

You might find a mail-order manufacturer who could trim £30 to £40 of this price but a small, local, dealer would charge more.

I doubt whether you could purchase all these components for the price quoted.

The real advantage is building your own is flexiblity of choice. But that choice always comes at a price.

[Richard_G]

Fast fans are noisy, much better to go for a bigger but slower fan. They shift the same amount of, if not more, air but are much quieter. Unless you like a pc that sounds like a jet engine.

As DB83 has already pointed out, your current pc is virtually worthless on the second hand market. Buying a ready built one will probably get you a machine that will do the job but you may end up getting things you don't need (why would you need a DVD Rewriter and media card reader in a machine for gaming?). In the same way, a machine used for video work needs two big hard drives but a gaming one doesn't. Having one custom made to your own spec will get you just what you want but will cost you more, building it yourself will save you a little but you need to know what you are doing.

[Nitro89]

I initially want to build a gaming pc, but I do quite a bit of video and photo editing.

[DB83]

Out of curiousity, I out-sourced the components in the above specification at todays prices from a reputable on-line seller.

The typical cost was £739. However this did NOT include the case or power supply as that really would be down to personal choice. Anythng from £26 upwards and some not even including the PSU (best option)

You would save a fair bit if you have an instalable copy of XP.

But have you actually built a PC before ? It's not difficult but can be fiddly.

[Nitro89]

I've studied PC's really well, I open mine up and look around, I know all the wires, where they go etc so its all good

[Nitro89]

I just took apart my old PC, the only things that may be any use to me is the 8.6GB Hard Drive, Memorex Twelve Maxx 1032 CD-RW Drive and 64MB RAM, I don't think it would be worth installing any of these accept the hard drive. How do apply the settings to the new hard drive to be accepted by the Computer as in BIOS?

[DB83]

You had better read this :-

http://www.pcguide.com/byop/index.htm

[redwudz]

If you plan on using the XP OS (Operating System) or even Vista, 8.6GB is too small a hard drive for much of anything. XP and some added programs can easily use up half of that space. You would run out of space quickly. And with a new computer build, it's best to just repartition and reformat a used hard drive and do a fresh install.

But if you were to use a hard drive with the OS already on it, you would need to install the new motherboard drivers. I really wouldn't recommend doing this, especially if you have an OS older than W2000 or XP. You may not even be able to boot into the old OS to update the drivers, depending on the OS used.

[Nitro89]

None of the parts fit, they're all crap, the hard drive won't fit, the RAM is 64MB and the CD-RW drive isn't worth it, I mite just buy a new PC or just make one, when I go uni of course.

[Nitro89]

my Intel Pentium 4 Processor is running at 43oc and my motherboard at 50oc, is that normal?

[redwudz]

That MB temp seems unusually high, if it's reading correctly. Don't know about the CPU, but that temp is reasonable, depending on your cooler. Are you in a warm climate or is the room temperature high?

Most times the problem is a high CPU temp, not a high MB temp. What sort of cooling fans do you have on that computer?

I would try taking off the computers side covers and set a desktop fan to blow in there. If that drops your motherboard temp a fair amount, you may need more airflow through your PC.

I like to have one intake fan in front to pull in cool air from outside and blow air over the hard drives and MB, and one fan at the rear of the computer to suck out the warm air. Good cross flow helps with cooling, including the CPU.

[Nitro89]

The climate in my room is usually warm, my fan runs at 2800rpm (approx), I only have one fan, can I put more fans in my PC? For more airflow for my PC, should I consider a new case? Where do you get these out fans that you mention on your last paragraph?

[redwudz]

Most cases have a space for a front intake fan and the rear exhaust fan. 80mm is the common fan size, some can use 120mm fans. They come with a 3 pin motherboard fan power connector or a 4 pin Molex connector (Same as your hard drives) or some have a adapter for both. They also have the mounting screws included most times. They are easily obtainable at most computer stores.

Make sure you orient them the proper direction, as they can mount either way.



I have a guide that also covers fan installation:

Link to: MY GUIDE Sorry, a bit outdated at present.

I would still try taking off the side cover and blowing a desk fan in there to see if the temps drop. That's an easy way of checking your case cooling. You probably don't need a new case unless there are no fan mounts in your existing one.

[RabidDog]

Nitro 89 you appear to have a LITTLE knowledge of PCs.. you state that the engineer came and fixed yours, thats got to be worth about £200+, with no further explanation. In all honesty, you would be better going out and buying a machine. I know a reasonable amount about PCs and I have managed to FUBAR two builds. Its simply too difficult to diagnose problems at home. Look at the dell outlet some really reasonable machines also ACER are quite good. Remember you only need a base unit no monitor, and if you have your own copy of Xp all the better. Anyone with a good knowledge of PCs would not be running XP in 256mb of RAm.
Try ebuyer.com
scan.co.uk
novatech.co.uk
Komplett.co.uk
autdirect.co.uk
advancetec.co.uk
Good luck (1gb of ram to run XP)

[Nitro89]

lol, I know that but thats how I bought my PC from PC World, well, I didn't buy it but thats how it came. I am planning on buying 2GB RAM this week but now my PC is broken, won't turn on at all, keeps restarting so the engineer has to come again, apparantly its a faulty motherboard.

[Richard_G]

I bought my PC from PC World

I'm afraid that has just confirmed you know nothing about computers.......

[Nitro89]

lol, I did't buy it, it was a gift but yeah during my experiences I hate PC World but there aren't really any PC retail stores other than PC World

[DB83]

lol, I did't buy it, it was a gift but yeah during my experiences I hate PC World but there aren't really any PC retail stores other than PC World

Even more confirmation.

If there is a PC World near you then you live in, or are fairly close to, a big town or city. And if that is the case there will always be independent retailers who repair PCs. And if they repair they will also build to order. Some of these will also have some base units ready built which you can enhance as you wish. Of course they will charge more but you will end up paying more if you attempt to build yourself.

[Nitro89]

I also want to buy a monitor or HDTV for my computer, but the response time for HDTV is 5m/s whilst a monitors response time is 2m/s, will the HDTV still be suitable for gaming?