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Thread ID: 91360	2008-07-04 06:12:00	9 year old PIII 600 struggling with load....	laworder (12738)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
685155	2008-07-04 06:12:00	I use it for for browsing and document and file handling - and usually have 10-15 tabs running each in 3-4 browsers, plus email, plus torrents, and a media player playing music. I may also be moving large quantities of files back and forth from my external drives or camera or flash drives and/or burning CD's etc all at the same time. The only thing I never use the machine for is gaming, which I doubt it's on board graphics could cope with anyway. Understandably its struggling a bit, so I intend to bite the bullet and buy a new one which I intend to hang on to for a while. I will be dual booting to Ubuntu and XP. I have decided that XP is mature enough now having made the leap to Win 2K about 4 years back. Given that my primary requirements are stability and reliability, rather than utmost speed, I am looking at buying midrange components of good quality. The set up I am thinking of getting is this; Intel 8400 Core2 Duo 3Ghz CPU with 1333 MHz FSB around $255 Given that almost all the software I will run is old, with the exception of Firefox 3 and Ubuntu. I see no point in going to Quad Core for now, but will get a motherboard that can take one to so I have the option of upgrading later if I feel the need ASUS P5K E Wifi motherboard has been recommended to me by someone I trust, but supplier I intend to use has A-bit and Gigabyte boards - any one have views on these? They also have Intel boards which I lean towards as my old machine has an Intel board which hasn't missed a beat in 9 years 4 GB DDR2 800 RAM, name brand - Transcend? G-Skill? Any brands to stay away from? A Seagate 500 GB Barracuda SATAII drive, picked on recommedndation and because it has a 5 year warranty. I will be backing this up regularly to two seperate external drives, plus CD's that go offsite for crucial data Power supply I'm not too sure about, will 400W be adequate given that I dont play games and therefore have no need of a graphics card? I was looking at a Silverstone one of this capacity for $80, but can get bigger- any brands people here recommend/avoid? I was told that I should go for a much higher capacity supply as they run most efficiently at 50% load Case will be chosen by my partner on purely aesthetic grounds :-) It's been quite a while since I last bought a computer, so my knowledge is a little rusty, and advise/ input from those who know about these things would be greatly appreciated Thanks and Regards Peter Jenkins	laworder (12738)
685156	2008-07-04 06:16:00	Correction to above - make it 2GB of RAM as I will only be running 32 bit OS My budget is around $900 or so	laworder (12738)
685157	2008-07-04 06:25:00	And where are you?? in NZ?	Speedy Gonzales (78)
685158	2008-07-04 06:50:00	In Newmarket, Auckland - must add that to my profile :-) I have a specific supplier in mind I have used before, and they are close by - like 50 metres from home I'm more looking for comments, suggestions on the components, perhaps if people have had good/bad experiences with particular brands By the way I have a monitor and other peripherals, just upgrading the box Regards Peter Jenkins	laworder (12738)
685159	2008-07-04 06:56:00	XP Computers arent too bad, theyre in Newmarket (31 Kingdon St). Altho, I havent purchased a lot of hardware from them. I've only been there 2-3 times. I think most people in here would recommend ASUS.. Theyre reliable It may also depend on WHAT you the mobo to have onboard.	Speedy Gonzales (78)
685160	2008-07-04 09:10:00	Given that my primary requirements are stability and reliability, rather than utmost speed, I am looking at buying midrange components of good quality. The set up I am thinking of getting is this; I game comfortably with my setup, the only thing I beat you on is the graphics card. Although I also intend to update a few times in the next 9 years :P. Given this, the parts you have chosen should have a good long life for a system not intended for gaming. ASUS P5K E Wifi motherboard has been recommended to me by someone I trust, but supplier I intend to use has A-bit and Gigabyte boards - any one have views on these? They also have Intel boards which I lean towards as my old machine has an Intel board which hasn't missed a beat in 9 years In my opinion, I trust the Asus, Gigabyte and Intel boards, but not the A-bit board. This is purely based on "brand names", although I have used Asus and Gigabyte boards before. 4 GB DDR2 800 RAM, name brand - Transcend? G-Skill? Any brands to stay away from? As far as cheap mid-range ram goes, I like Kingston ValueRAM, although there are many other quality mid-high range ram manufacturers out there. I have had a GeIL stick fail on me before around the 1 year mark, not sure if this is normal or not has I haven't had anything else to do with them. A Seagate 500 GB Barracuda SATAII drive, picked on recommedndation and because it has a 5 year warranty. I will be backing this up regularly to two seperate external drives, plus CD's that go offsite for crucial data I choose seagate myself, never had a problem with them. Power supply I'm not too sure about, will 400W be adequate given that I dont play games and therefore have no need of a graphics card? I was looking at a Silverstone one of this capacity for $80, but can get bigger- any brands people here recommend/avoid? I was told that I should go for a much higher capacity supply as they run most efficiently at 50% load I can't be to sure here really, I don't have much experience with power supplies. As a guide I have a 2ghz Intel Dual Core, 1gb DDR2-800 RAM, nVidia 7900G! 512mb, 80gb Segate SATA1 and 320gb Seagate SATA2 in my computer and it is all powered by a 420W Enermax PSU. I'm pretty sure the Graphics Card is my biggest power user, so if that was replaced with onboard then the extra power probably could power more powerful CPU's etc like what you've chosen. However I'm not willing to put my word to this so just take this part as a guide rather than advice. It's been quite a while since I last bought a computer, so my knowledge is a little rusty, and advise/ input from those who know about these things would be greatly appreciated As long as you aren't buying "generic" brand off pricespy, I'm happy :)	Faded_Mantis (79)
685161	2008-07-04 10:30:00	Thanks for that Fade Mantis, that is pretty much what I thought. I can always put a low end graphics card in if I need one, and I will get a 5-600 Watt supply so I will have plenty of headroom Speedy Gonzales, it is XP computers that I will be dealing with - have done a lot of business with them over the last few years on behalf of my brother's car yard and for the Sensible Sentencing Trust and have found them to be good. And they are handy so if something goes wrong I dont have far to go Thanks and Regards Peter Jenkins	laworder (12738)
685162	2008-07-04 10:42:00	Get the newest Seagate 500 gig model 7200.11 they are blazingly fast. Read speed 100+ Megs a second	apsattv (7406)
685163	2008-07-04 11:07:00	NP, laworder. lol oops, I know this isn't important but... nVidia 7900G! 512mb Was meant to be nVidia 7900GS 512mb	Faded_Mantis (79)
685164	2008-07-05 02:45:00	Power supply I'm not too sure about, will 400W be adequate given that I dont play games and therefore have no need of a graphics card? I was looking at a Silverstone one of this capacity for $80, but can get bigger- any brands people here recommend/avoid? s Do NOT buy Hyena. Do not use whatever is bundled with a case. Enermax is good. Coolermaster is good. Silverstone is good. 400w is enough too.	pctek (84)
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