Fundamental PC rebuild

[Ian]

I've received some UDMA (300x) memory cards to test, but my current test PC motherboard can only accommodate 32-bit PCI cards, so even though I have a PCI 32/64 bit FireWire 800 (1394b) interface card, it can't operate at full pelt in a 32-bit slot. My 2GB system has also been memory starved when running several large apps, so it's time to upgrade and rebuild. It's about time I reinstalled Windows and cleaned everything up.

I'm sticking with AMD, so here is the upgrade:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2GHz, 2x512MB cache) => AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (2.8GHz, 2x 1GB cache)

2GB PC2700 DDR memory => 4GB PC6400 DDR2 memory

ATI Radeon 3700 128MB AGP graphics => ATI Radeon X1550 256MB DDR2 PCI Express x16 (OK, not cutting edge for 3D but this isn't a games machine!)

System drive (C: drive) 160GB ATA133 => 300GB SATA2

The new motherboard has a pair of PCI Express x16 slots as well as some slower slots and some standard PCI slots.

I'll be fitting a Belkin combo PCI Express FireWire 800/USB 2.0 High Speed interface card, which should be fast enough to let the UDMA/Firewire 800 card reader run at full speed.

The bits should arrive by the end of the week...

Ian

[Danny Chau]

Re: Fundamental HD rebuild

Hi Ian,

I have a run of bad luck of late, apart from the 1TB drive died couple of weeks ago, the 2 internal drive in my G5 also gave up on me a few days ago. I was lucky enough to noticed the speed difference and lack luster in performance, so I purchase 2 Western Digital Enterprise Drives (these are supposed to be have better longevity than the standard drives), then purchase software call 'SuperDuper', I was able to dupe the entire drive with bootable partition and saved the day.

Hope this would give everyone a reminder, that nothing is permanent.

Best,
Danny

[Ian]

Re: Fundamental HD rebuild

Hi Ian,

I have a run of bad luck of late, apart from the 1TB drive died couple of weeks ago, the 2 internal drive in my G5 also gave up on me a few days ago. I was lucky enough to noticed the speed difference and lack luster in performance, so I purchase 2 Western Digital Enterprise Drives (these are supposed to be have better longevity than the standard drives), then purchase software call 'SuperDuper', I was able to dupe the entire drive with bootable partition and saved the day.

Hope this would give everyone a reminder, that nothing is permanent.

Best,
Danny

I recently invested in a pair of 500GB USB drives (Freecom - excellent product and great value).

The practice of backing up can not be over-emphasised.

Ian

[Guest]

Re: Fundamental PC rebuild

Ian - As a matter of interest what motherboard have you chosen for the upgrade. I ask because I am also contemplating the build of a new desktop model to replace my current one, as it is beginning to drag its feet a bit when faced with two demanding applications running simultaneously. Are you also sticking with Windows XP. ? I have also looked at using Intel Core 2 Duo cpu but you seem to get more 'bang for your bucks' using AMD Processors.

[Ian]

Re: Fundamental PC rebuild

Ian - As a matter of interest what motherboard have you chosen for the upgrade. I ask because I am also contemplating the build of a new desktop model to replace my current one, as it is beginning to drag its feet a bit when faced with two demanding applications running simultaneously. Are you also sticking with Windows XP. ? I have also looked at using Intel Core 2 Duo cpu but you seem to get more 'bang for your bucks' using AMD Processors.

Ian

[Patrick]

Re: Fundamental PC rebuild

Ian

I have in the past built my own or should we say assembled my own computers, but looking at the figures and taking into account the preloaded or given software there was no real monetary advantage to speak of, that's why this time I eventually went for the Dell. Glad I did its a great machine.
CS3 loads and ready to use in 3 seconds flat, and a 150 Mb photo file loads in about 4 seconds.
I think that's quick, and its very quiet.

I shall be having a C521 which is a mini tower version to replace my second computer I use for work stuff later this year.

Patrick

[Ian]

Re: Fundamental PC rebuild

I have in the past built my own or should we say assembled my own computers, but looking at the figures and taking into account the preloaded or given software there was no real monetary advantage to speak of, that's why this time I eventually went for the Dell. Glad I did its a great machine.
CS3 loads and ready to use in 3 seconds flat, and a 150 Mb photo file loads in about 4 seconds.
I think that's quick, and its very quiet.

I shall be having a C521 which is a mini tower version to replace my second computer I use for work stuff later this year.

Patrick

I wouldn't recommend building your own PC unless you absolutely want to and saving money is not necessarily a) a good enough reason (there could be lots of headaches involved) and b) because it could even not save you much or anything!

I do get satisfaction from building my own PCs. The big heavy duty tower case I use is 6 or 7 years old and I'd guess this is the fourth motherboard it has accommodated.

The motherboard and CPU that's currently in there will be transplanted into the case that my children use at home and, in turn, its innards will be used to upgrade their grandfather's PC Talk about recycling!

I forgot to answer Dennis' other question - will I be upgrading to Vista? Not for this machine, which is mainly used for testing and heavy duty work in Photoshop and other number crunching. The niceties of Vista are not needed for this and the remaining compatibility issues with Vista mean that it wouldn't be wise for me to upgrade on this machine for the time being.

I do, however, use Vista on my laptop and I really like it - apart from the problem of software and peripheral driver incompatibilities that pop up now and again. For example, I have a FireWire 800 Express Card interface that won't work under Vista and Adobe CS3 beta software I have won't work under Visa either.

Ian