Need a small/cheap PC upgrade

I have a (almost) 6 year old desktop which is on it's last legs and I need a fairly cheap replacement.

Current specs are:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
2GB DDR
GTS250 1GB
2x 250GB HDDs
480W Tagan PSU

I'm currently looking at a:

Intel i3 540 (maybe a i5 if psu can handle it)
Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H
4GB DDR3 1600 RAM
GTS250
480W Tagan PSU


I know it isn't the best of specs but I'm not made of money and I want something cheap before the VAT goes back up next year.

So would the newer rig be ok on that PSU? That's my main concern atm. I'm like to push to a i5 760 but I'm not too sure about cooling and power consumption. I did read on another forum that someguy with a AMD x2 3700, 4850 and 4GB of ram worked well on his 460W psu. But would the tagan be powerful enough for the new rig?

Also, any other suggestions about specs and where to buy them?


Cheers.

the 480w psu may handle all that but i would get a t least 500-600 W just to be on the safe side.
I used to have a 450 W psu on my server that died just a week after i installed extra 3 X 1.5 TB drives. The server has a AMD x2 4000-something and a standard Gygabit motherboard with a cheap fan. Hard drives like power, so do powerful CPUs. I use a 1100W here but i have a dozen of drives, 24GB ram (havent updated my statistic here) and plenty of other usb/esata/firewire devices and I doubt the machine could have handled all that with a 800W PSU. Again.. I'm almost sure it will handle the new system but still you can check this yourself.. There are a bunch of PSU calculators on the web. Good luck.

Here's what eVGA recommends for use with a GTS450:

EVGA | Products=

(400W, with 22A available at +12V). I'd expect your Tagan 480W PSU to be adequate, although you don't list its 12V spec. (That's usually listed on a label on the PSU itself, if you feel like looking in the PC's case.)

The motherboard requires a 24 pin ATX power connector, and a 4 pin +12V CPU connector. I can't recall whether your old Socket 939 system needed the same, but I think so. (In a pinch, you may be able to use a 20 pin ATX connector.) If the PSU lacks a 6 pin PCI-E power connector, a Molex adapter is usally supplied with the graphics card.

whs said:

Why replace the mobo. You have an AM2 socket and could upgrade to a 5600+ (that is cheap and the most powerful AM2 CPU) and then add 2GBs of RAM and you are in business. I don't think the i3 will be a lot better than the 5600+ but I think my solution would be a lot cheaper.

AM2 is socket 939? I didn't know that.

Also, given the fact that I have 4 512mb DDR sticks of RAM (maxed out), I really could do with more.

Plus since I've decided to wait and get the new Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs in January, I doubt a 5600+ will provide the long term benefits the i5 2400 will provide.

whs said:

Yeah, everybody seems to wait for Sandy Bridge but nobody knows how it will really perform. I was just trying to configure something at a "budget level". But I made a mistake anyhow. Although the 939 socket and the AM2 socket both have 940 pins, they are not compatible. That sucks. Sorry.

Don't feel that you need to beat yourself up about it. Making mistakes it all a apart of life. It's how we learn.

And since I'm on a 6 year old CPU, performance will be noticeable.

QuackPot said:

I have a (almost) 6 year old desktop which is on it's last legs and I need a fairly cheap replacement.


Also, any other suggestions about specs and where to buy them?


Cheers.

The best place I found recently for computer components (just built a complete new rig and got everything from them) was www.amazon.co.uk

They have a good selection at very good prices and free delivery. Just make sure you order from Amazon themselves and not a third party seller (third parties do not give free delivery).

QuackPot said:

I have a (almost) 6 year old desktop which is on it's last legs and I need a fairly cheap replacement.

Current specs are:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
2GB DDR
GTS250 1GB
2x 250GB HDDs
480W Tagan PSU

I'm currently looking at a:

Intel i3 540 (maybe a i5 if psu can handle it)
Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H
4GB DDR3 1600 RAM
GTS250
480W Tagan PSU


I know it isn't the best of specs but I'm not made of money and I want something cheap before the VAT goes back up next year.

So would the newer rig be ok on that PSU? That's my main concern atm. I'm like to push to a i5 760 but I'm not too sure about cooling and power consumption. I did read on another forum that someguy with a AMD x2 3700, 4850 and 4GB of ram worked well on his 460W psu. But would the tagan be powerful enough for the new rig?

Also, any other suggestions about specs and where to buy them?


Cheers.

That PSU has two 20A 12V rails - each capable of 240W. It should be fine with an I3 and GTS 250. Or so the spec says - these are not always truthful. The GTS250 pulls a maximum of 150W and the I3 75W. PSU loose their power capability over time so you need some margin. That power supply is 6yrs old? Still may be fine - just make sure your PCi-E aux power connector for the graphics card and the MB/CPU power connectors are on different rails.

But I would go for a 550 watt, e.g. you can get a 550W OCZ fatality with 2 25A 12V rails for $64 ($45 with rebate):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341022