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Right guys and gals, I've had a custom PC for the last ish years and I believe its time for a small upgrade,
So I was thinking, go from DDR2 2x2GB RAM to DDR3 2x4GB RAM for a cheap fairly effective upgrade,
how wrong I was -_-
turns out 2x2gb DDR2 is as much as my motherboard is capable of, but with a new mother board I'll need a new processor as the socket on my current processor is an older one that very few new mother boards will fit,

So here's the specs of my current build;
2.50 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad Q8300
Gigabyte G31M-ES2L
2x2gb Kingston HyperX DDR2
500 GB 7200RPM Seagate
ATI Radeon HD 4600
JeanTech 405 watts
NZXT Lexa S case

Yes I know the graphics card is not amazing, but that shall be upgraded at christmas,
so these are the parts I was planning on getting,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004QBUL1C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0054X4I4M/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004FA8NPK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Is this stuff okay? compatible? My dad is giving me £200 pounds worth of computer parts, as he bought my bro a lappy,
any better suggestions?
I'd prefer to stick with intel rather than AMD processors, as a side note
Thanks in advance guys!

Looks pretty solid to me.

If only you could get another £100 together then you could get the Intel 3rd Generation Core i5-3570K CPU with that RAM since you still need a new motherboard.

Depending on the replies here I may also post on Dakka(not in this thread obv) with the 70% new computer I'm hoping to build soon just to double check everything is good to go.

I was hoping just for now a cheap £40 pound-ish upgrade of RAM, dear god wasn't I half wrong xD
yeah for now, The i3 will do me fine I'm pretty sure

My only fear is will the PSU be sufficient enough?

Currently I would say no, though I'm not 100% sure when it comes to PSU.

Depending on what you upgrade your GFX card to then you will most likely need to upgrade it as well.

Though I could be completely wrong.

Bugger -_- Amazon has that i3 listed wrong, it isn't actually quad core -_-
may as well get this then http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Processor-Socket-Sandy-Bridge/dp/B005JBPR9O/ref=sr_1_186?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1347480626&sr=1-186

If you're looking for a decent quad core, the i5 3470 Ivybridge is what I'm running at the moment, and it's great. Amazon don't seem to stock it, but you can get it from Micro Direct for about £150-£160, which is only £20 more than that old sandybridge you linked, and should last you, so long as you don't plan on overclocking it (Ivybridge CPUs run significantly hotter than Sandybridges when overclocked).

For other things, I assume you're going to be running a 64bit OS to take advantage of the 8gb of RAM you're sticking in it? If not, then I'd grab a copy of W7 Home Premium 64bit or, if you can't afford it yet and only have a 32bit OS, only 4gb of DDR3 RAM, because it's all your PC will be able to utilise (strictly only around 3.5gb of it due to Windows taking up 512mb) without a 64bit version.

Yes I have a Windows 7 64 bit disk,
You mean this one I assume? http://www.microdirect.co.uk/home/product/54861/Intel-CPU-Core-i5-3470-Ivy-Bridge-LGA1155-Retail?utm_source=googleps

That's the fella.

If your hopeing to get that part really soon then try here:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-407-IN

It will save you a lil bit of cash.

There is a difference between the 3470 and 3450, but it's only 100MHz of frequency (you get 3200 with the 3470 and 3100 with the 3450), so it's up to you which you want to go for.

Yeah, at a glance, that should work fine for you. Something you might be careful about is that you're going from a microATX form factor motherboard to an ATX style. That means your new mobo will be about 3 inches or so longer on one end. I'd make sure that your computer case adheres to the ATX specification. If it's a smaller case, you'll be disappointed.

I have a NZXT Lexa S, Which says it fits ATX motherboards I believe.....

seagate HD's have the highest failure/DOA percentage in my experience.

Well its been running for 2 or 3 years now without failure, so fingers crossed

Is there any reason you do not want to get an AMD CPU? Their black edition quad cores are very good. While not benchmarking as well as the newer sandy/ivy bridge CPUs, they cost significantly less and will handle just about any game out right now. I have had a 955 quad core for about a year. I can run any game currently on the market at max settings pretty easily.

Also - If you are going to go for a new CPU and graphics card, you will need a new PSU as well. 400W will not run a new gaming GPU and CPU. In fact, I have 6000 series radeons that wont work with a PSU under 550W.

I've always ran intel, never had a problem, my firend had AMD, and well lets just say, it had a few problems.

My current PSU should handle the CPU and crappy Graphics card, when I get a better one at christmas I will get a better PSU with it

For the PSU, I currently use this fella: http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/52134/OCZ-PSU-ZS-650W-80--Bronze

Whilst it may be a little overkilly for what I have, it'll mean I can upgrade a few things before it needs stepping up a notch (if it ever does). It's quite quiet too, if noise is going to factor into the decision.

That can handle and Intel Core i5 3470 and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX560 Ti without any issues whatsoever, and whilst it may very well be overkill, with a PSU, overkill is reasonably good to aim for.

Upgrading RAM is pretty pointless especially if you already have 4gb. The difference between ddr2 and ddr3 is abysmal.

Your cpu is ok but your gpu is really old and propably the only reason for any performance problems you might be experiencing.

And AMD (phenom II x4) for it's pricy point is pretty good while more expensive intel have run into some issues with games (bf3) that don't support various intel's features (hyperthreading). Are you sure that your friend had issues with amd cpu or gpu?

Check out novatech; they are reasonably cheap and offer various levels of "bare bones" machines and upgrade packs that you might be interested in, as well as the parts individually.

I'd also agree that more RAM is not really going to do much for you, especially if you have 4gig already. From what I understand most applications can't make use of anything more than 2gigs.

 illuknisaa wrote:
Upgrading RAM is pretty pointless especially if you already have 4gb. The difference between ddr2 and ddr3 is abysmal.

The difference between them is unimportant, what is important is that upgrading the CPU will require upgrading of the Mobo, which in turn means that it's very likely the new one will NOT support DDR2. Whilst I agree that 4gb should do unless one is planning on using a lot of photoshop and digital editing or other similar activites, that does not mean that he doesn't need to get new RAM, in fact, if he wants a motherboard that can take an intel core i5, it's mandatory, since support for DDR2 was dropped with their introduction IIRC.

Long story short, his other upgrades require an upgrade to DDR3.

Avatar 720 wrote:

 illuknisaa wrote:
Upgrading RAM is pretty pointless especially if you already have 4gb. The difference between ddr2 and ddr3 is abysmal.

The difference between them is unimportant, what is important is that upgrading the CPU will require upgrading of the Mobo, which in turn means that it's very likely the new one will NOT support DDR2. Whilst I agree that 4gb should do unless one is planning on using a lot of photoshop and digital editing or other similar activites, that does not mean that he doesn't need to get new RAM, in fact, if he wants a motherboard that can take an intel core i5, it's mandatory, since support for DDR2 was dropped with their introduction IIRC.

Long story short, his other upgrades require an upgrade to DDR3.

You are right but...

Vulkan_He'stan wrote:
So I was thinking, go from DDR2 2x2GB RAM to DDR3 2x4GB RAM for a cheap fairly effective upgrade,

His gpu is the one that sucks (to put it bluntly) and for a new gpu he need a new psu neither of which require a mobo upgrade. I recommend he waits for a new gpu and then goes throwing loads of money for stuff that might not suffice or are complete overkill.

Okay guys, if what I need is a new GPU and PSU, what do you recommend?

Depends what you want to do.

Do you want to play minecraft on the lovest setting at 10fps or do you want to play BF3 with 5 screens, maxed out settings and 3d enabled with 120fps ?(not possible btw)

If you future proofing* I recommend pouring some money on cpu as it is harder to hit the cpu's limitations

If I were to build a pc I would pick a mobo with sli/crossfire support, intel i5 2500k (not silly expensive but has plenty of perfromance assuming you have high resolution), nvidia gtx 670 (nvidia has good balance for texture memory and shader performance, amd goes for overkill memory with poor drivers), 4gb memory and 600w psu.

*doesn't exist

Well my current specs at the moment are in the first post,
running games like BF3, Gmod, just lots of steam games,
I would spend money on the CPU, but everyone says to spend it on the GPU and PSU instead.

Would this PSU
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Atx-Psu-Blue-700W-Alpine/dp/B007QT5A1W/ref=sr_1_15?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1348174227&sr=1-15
and this GPU do?
http://www.tekheads.co.uk/product/XFX-AMD-ATi-Radeon-HD7850-2GB-GDDR5-HDMI-PCI-E-Graphics-Card_43828.html
From what I can tell the PSU has the right connections I believe (Has the 6 pin the graphics card needs I think xD)

I'm not an ATI guy, so I can't comment on the card. I've never heard of Alpine, so I wouldn't trust them personally. Getting a decent PSU is important. Back when I worked consumer PC repair, I saw all kinds of computers have their motherboard fried from the PSU going bad. Granted, most of these were big box computers (and most of those were eMachines interestingly) but the point is to go with a good brand. Of course, this also means that you pay for it. Personally, I like Antec or Cooler Master.

Also, Amazon has terrible prices on PSUs, apparently. You don't have any sort of reliable Friendly Computer Store close to you?

Check this, I'm pretty sure it's exactly what I have: http://www.microcenter.com/product/339039/Extreme_Power_Plus_700W_ATX_Power_Supply

Nope, no computer stores near us, all we have is Curry's supposedly a 'computer shop' but don't sell parts -_-
Ahh, ATI is kinda like an unspoken rule for me like the Intel, I'd be willing to have an Nvidia or whatever, but I've always use ATI and never had a problem so I like sticking with them.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMPSU-650TXV2UK-Enthusiast-Series-Performance/dp/B004O0P9TO/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1348210214&sr=1-2

Never had a Corsair power supply, but I think their RAM is fine. If it was between Corsair and and random house brand, I'd probably go with the Corsair.

XFX AMD ATi Radeon HD7850 2GB GDDR5 HDMI (PCI-E) Graphics Card is what I have and it is great for the price. It is comparable to the current Nvidia cards for quite a bit less. Nvidia fans may disagree. I am running an AMD processor. I am really happy with the price to performance with this card. I'm playing games like Skyrim and Fallout on ultrahigh settings with 56-60 frames and running 3D design programs no problem. Not sure if there are problems running it with Intel (did someone post that). Just do your homework and you will be fine. Seriously, this card is awesome. The silver metal casing for the heat sink is amazing, the pictures don't lie. Someone told me the card runs hot like a hotrod. I still haven't got the heat sink hot enough to glow yet.

Your design specs look pretty solid. I don't think you are going to go wrong although I can't help you with compatibility issues. Just keep doing your homework and find the deals you are happy with.

The Corsair power supplies seem to be a great buy. I almost ordered one but found something on sale locally that had the same stats I wanted and looked cooler.

I just built mine a couple of weeks ago. Booted right up.
Have fun!

Thanks! Well I'm running a AMD GPU and and Intel CPU at the moment and we had no compatibility issues,
The only problems we had was the case slots at the back were too narrow and slightly over hang the VGA port XD
So there is now a lovely bent bit on the back of my case