Help upgrading a budget desktop PC! (G-3220 or i3-4130?)

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Future Science

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Nov 23, 2012
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I need to upgrade an old PC, from an old Penium 4 to a current Haswell-based desktop.

If possible, I would like to retain some of the components that I already have, which are:

I'd like to stay under the €250 budget, buying a new CPU, a new motherboard and RAM and, if needed, a PSU.
 
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smorizio

smorizio

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Jan 22, 2010
30,984
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PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2jmpA
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2jmpA/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2jmpA/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Pentium G2020 2.9GHz Dual-Core Processor (£40.01 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£59.46 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£63.36 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£37.10 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £199.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-12 23:16 GMT+0000)
 
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smorizio

smorizio

Titan
Jan 22, 2010
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a ssd drive with windows 8 wil only give your pc a slightly faster boot time. run hdtune and vendor test tools on your old hard drive if it health is good reuse it with your sata drive. I used the older ib to save some cash it only slightly slower then haswell cpu and will last you for years. i tossed in a newer power supply,with higher end parts you want to use a name brand power supply. the newer mb and cpu today need clean power to run right. if a power supply has to much ripple or does not reg clean power to the mb it can lock up or reboot.
 
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smorizio

smorizio

Titan
Jan 22, 2010
30,984
9
125,315
PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2jmWy
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2jmWy/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2jmWy/benchmarks/

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.97 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman ZM-T1 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£29.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Total: £69.56
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-12 23:32 GMT+0000)
 
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smorizio

smorizio

Titan
Jan 22, 2010
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the older drive may be fine after a format. with a new mb and chipset your going to have to format it and reinstall windows.
myself I would spend the extra money to pick up a new case/cd rom drive and hard drive and build a new pc and leave the old one as it is and have two pc. the old one could still be used for web and word.
 
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Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

Honorable
May 26, 2013
2,640
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Well.. if you are into gaming, then this rig is a very good option for the budget :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (£69.07 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-DS2 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£64.86 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£32.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£26.98 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£34.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £263.04
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-15 13:18 GMT+0000)


But if you are not into gaming, then this build should be better for the budget :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£83.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£34.98 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£56.49 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£32.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£26.98 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£34.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £268.58
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-15 13:28 GMT+0000)


Yes, for putting decent parts, I had to go a bit above the budget.
 
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Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

Honorable
May 26, 2013
2,640
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Okay, use your old HDD, but replace your case. Since I am not sure if that old case has standoffs for the Micro ATX size Motherboard.

At the time of Pentium 4 CPU's Micro ATX was not that common at that time, hence I suggested a new case. As for the HDD, sorry. I did not noticed that you already had one. Yeah, definitely use your older HDD. That would be just fine.
 
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jb6684

jb6684

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Feb 20, 2011
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Hmm, if your not gaming, why not just buy a pre-built system??? You simply can't build a "basic web surfing" system for less than a pre-built.

Here's a peek at Dell:
http://www.dell.com/us/p/desktops?~ck=mn#!everyday-desktops

How old is that current system? (I'm guessing 4--5 years if it's a Pentium 4?)

- New Operating system alone is $100, Windows 7 (unless you have a full retail version of your OS, you can't "re-use" the old copy...)

- I would not re-use an old Hard Disk, at that age, its just about ready-to-fail. If its that old, it's likely NOT SATA, and would Not be usable in a new system

- You can Only re-use the DVD/CD ROM drive if it is SATA, if not you can't.. (yes there are some motherboard still out there that support Parallel interface drives but they are become very rare...)

- You can Only re-use that powersupply if it is ATX compliant, you'll need a 4 or 8 pin ATX CPU power cable for any new motherboard, can't re-use the powersupply if these are missing (& likely are missing...)

- Your keyboard and mouse, are they USB? (not likely) So, they won't be usable unless your new motherboard supports the old legacy mouse & keyboard ports (these are become more & more rare...)

Sorry, I'd retire that old system completely, or, keep it around just for basic web browsing....
 
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