Classicamiga Forum Retro Edition
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Thread: PC upgrade time
Harrison 03:06 23rd November 2011
Here is a suggestion for you, and exactly what I did. I needed to update the PC I use for downloading, burning CD/DVD, streaming music and video around the network, managing files etc... And this was my solution:

An i3 540 CPU, Asus middle of the range motherboard, 4GB DDR3 ram, Arctic Freezer 7 Pro cooler, 600W Coolermaster PSU. All that cost under £200 and is amazingly fast for the money.

The i3 CPU is more powerful than its price tag might suggest, and they are actually dual core CPUs with hyperthreading, so the OS sees then as 4 cores, and my 540 runs at 3.06GHz stock speed so is nice and fast out of the box. It also has speedstep which reduces the CPU clock speed to around 1GHz when idling which reducing power consumption and keeps the CPU cool. Mine idles around 24 - 28 Deg C, and even under load never goes over 40 Deg C. The i3 also has built in Intel graphics, so with a compatible motherboard you don't even need a separate graphics card if you are not gaming, and the Asus board I'm using even has dual VGA and DVI outputs so I can run a dual display setup from it. Such a setup is still a lot faster than your current AMD X2 system and would be exactly what you need. And its still good for a spot of gaming if you wanted by added a dedicated PCI-E graphics card if you wished. Obviously an i3 won't deliver the power current game releases need to run on high settings, but its great otherwise and I think ideal for your needs.
[Reply]
J T 21:29 8th January 2012
I need to do a fresh install of windows as my current vista is creaking, despite only being around 14 months old. And I've got a copy of Win7 that I want to put on it (it has been running very well on the little Revo under the telly).

While I fanny about trying to make up my mind, I might just sling an SSD in to my big PC and put a fresh install on there.... but will a SATA3 drive be able to talk to my old SATA1 ports on the A8N-E mobo? (Yes, I know that if it works I won't be getting the full speed, but it would help for the moment and maybe stretch things out so I can get an even better CPU in say six months).
[Reply]
Harrison 08:42 9th January 2012
Yes, sata is backward compatible so sata 3 will work with sata 1 ports. However you can get fairly cheap PCI or PCI-E x 1 sata 3 cards, so you could stick one of those in for the full benefit of the new drive in your old system. It is 600MB/s vs 150MB/s after all, although in the real world the best ssd's only manage about 300MB/s.

The only other thing is your motherboard. When I had the A8N-SLI Premium motherboard I found it very picky about hdds it would work with. It didn't work properly with sata drives by Maxtor for example, so it might be worth doing some compatibility checks in google first, or going the sata 3 card route.
[Reply]
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