I need some help with a new-to-me home built desktop

I've inherited a home built (gaming type???) desktop but as I've only used laptops for years now I'm a bit over my head as to what is what. I've managed to get it running (with some help from here) and have managed to over-write the password so ... it"s sitting here running Win7.

I loaded up speccy and here is the overview:

Operating System:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 945 33 °C
Deneb 45nm Technology
RAM:
8.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 802MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard:
ASUSTeK Computer INC. M4A78T-E (AM3) 34 °C
Graphics:
ASUS VE278 (1920x1080@60Hz)
3072MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner) 31 °C
Storage:
931GB Western Digital WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B1 ATA Device (SATA) 31 °C
119GB ADATA SX900 ATA Device (SSD) 30 °C
29GB Lexar USB Flash Drive USB Device (USB)
Optical Drives:
No optical disk drives detected
Audio:
VIA High Definition Audio

Does anyone have any thoughts about this system?
Is it any good or hopelessly out of date?
I'm a bit confused about the ram - it has 2 4GB sticks yet ... speccy says single channel - can someone explain that to me?
Attached to the motherboard (I presume over the cpu is a device labelled Antec Kuhler H2O 920 - is this a water cooler and if so, do i have to do anything in particular to make it go or .... does it just start with the computer?
Thinking of the cpu - is it overclockable or is that something I should stay away from.
Is the video card any good?
There are actually 4 hard drives - all have wires attached to them but windows only 'sees' 2 of them. any thoughts as to why that would be? Also, the boot drive is easy to identify because it is an ssd but .... is there any easy way for me to determine which of the other 3 drives windows is finding?
there is a optical drive in one of the bays with wires attached to it - windows i guess can't see it - when i push the open door button ... a little green led light comes on and it kinda makes a pathetic noise and the door doesn't budge - safe to say the drive is a goner?
 
Solution
The performance is likely there.
But, Home theatre should be nearly silent and I suspect you have noise.
Also, aesthetics will count; I do not know what your case looks like.
Lastly, you want high capacity hard drives for video storage; no telling how big your missing drives are.

As a proof of concept, ok, but I would plan on doing it right later.
I'm a bit confused about the ram - it has 2 4GB sticks yet ... speccy says single channel - can someone explain that to me?
If you look, the RAM is likely loaded in slots 1 and 3, this is a single "channel"

Is the video card any good?
It was, now it is quite out of date...

Thinking of the cpu - is it overclockable or is that something I should stay away from.
yes, just leave it... it was a great little CPU, in its day...

basically, this is a 6 ish+ year old system. It was a good gamer in its first go around. Now, good web surfer, youtube and maybe netflix.
 

koreanoverlord

Honorable
Mar 6, 2013
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It is fairly current. For games from 2012 and older it should run pretty well. If you are doing anything more lightweight than that, it should be sufficient.

It is sometimes difficult to get two seperate sticks running in Dual Channel mode. Most of the time Dual channel will not impact real world performance.

The CPU cooler is an all in one water cooled solution. It is not meant to be maintained and is fairly straight forward. Depending on it's age it may be reaching the end of it's life span. If it goes out you will notice a massive temp spike in the CPU. Once that happens you will need to replace the cooler.

The CPU is not a black edition, therefore it cannot be overclocked with the typical multiplier method. Googling "945 Overclock" will give you answers on what the process is of overclocking that chip.

The video card is either a 7950 or a 7970. Both of these cards are older, however they have aged quite well. Most of the time it will be your CPU that will hold back on gaming.

Open up the Windows Partition Manager (Windows key + R -> Diskmgmt.msc) , that will show all physical drives connected to the system.

The CD drive is probably jammed.
 
Your new desktop is somewhat dated, but if you are using it for web browsing, it should be OK.

The cpu is relatively weak for gaming, and there are no useful cpu upgrades.

The graphics card might be OK for simple gaming
Run cpu-Z which will identify the model.
Do you see a discrete card in one of the pcie x16 slots?
Or, is your monitor connected to the back of the motherboard?
If it is, you are using integrated graphics which is very weak and not suited for gaming.

Likely both sticks of ram were mounted in the same channel so you are getting single channel operation.
Download the motherboard manual which will tell you where to place each stick for dual channel operation.

The device attached to the cpu is indeed an all in one cooler.
You need do nothing with it.

The cpu is overclockable, but perhaps that has been done already.

If the drive capacities are different, that might be a clue.

Try disconnecting the power or data cables from each to see which one disappears.
Possibly your dvd drive is broken.
No big deal, they cost some $15.

All in all, if the pc does your job, ok.
Otherwise, I would not spend more $ on it.

If you do a new build, keep the os, drives and perhaps the case.
Not much else.




 


thanks for the info and advise - yes there is a discreet video card - i have the monitor connected to it so presumably that is the card that is running.
how would i know if the cpu is already overclocked?
 
 
The performance is likely there.
But, Home theatre should be nearly silent and I suspect you have noise.
Also, aesthetics will count; I do not know what your case looks like.
Lastly, you want high capacity hard drives for video storage; no telling how big your missing drives are.

As a proof of concept, ok, but I would plan on doing it right later.
 
Solution