Very Newbie Question Regarding New Hardware
I'm looking to upgrade my computer as I want it to be faster. It's currently 3.0Ghz and most processors these days aren't that fast, but I think that if I get a newer processor, it will have more than one core, and therefore be faster. As such I think I need a new motherboard, and my RAM at the moment will probably be outdated. My shopping list as such is:
Motherboard + Processor RAM I obviously have a case and a power supply. How do I find out what 'Computer form factor' I have, so ensure I get a matching one to switch my existing computer over with? It's a standard computer to me, which according to Wikipedia looks like Standard-ATX, but I have the choice of the follow: ATX, Extended ATX, FlexATX, M-ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ITX, SSI CEB, SSI EEB. The manual talks about ATX and EATX, which I guess is referring to extended ATX? Is there a simple way to determine which of these I have? Are there likely to be other hurdles that I've not accounted for? Thanks, I'm very grateful for any feedback, tips or advice. |
When you narrow down your selection to the form factor and are ready to select the motherboard, be sure to research how well that board is doing out in the wild. I didn't do this with my previous motherboard and ended up with nothing but trouble.
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You're in for a pleasant shock. You cannot measure the performance of a CPU on MHz alone. I dont know what CPU you have, I would guess a single core P4 3.0GHz. They were totally outclassed by Core 2 Duo CPUs in the 1.8-2.1GHz range. Not just due to the extra core, Pentium Ds (dual core version of the P4) are also slower than Core 2 Duo CPUs with much lower GHz. Theres been a few improvements since then, and every time CPU performance has got better. A current i3/i5 or AMD APU/FX CPU at 3.0GHz would be miles and miles faster than any old P4. Quote:
The easiest is probably to run lshw, find your motherboard model and then figure out if your current motherboard is ATX/mATX/mITX/etc.. Quote:
Got a budget? |
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http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/x...marks,128.html Just click on any of the tests to see the comparison. All the CPUs used in that test are limited to 3.0GHz, even though some of them run faster than 3.0GHz stock. There are various different P4 models, the Intel Pentium 4 HT 660 is one of the fastest models they made. Most 3.0Ghz P4s were slower, due to lower FSB (Front Side Bus) and CPU cache. P4 HT 660 is an 800MHz FSB/2MB cache model, lots of P4s were 533/400MHz FSB and 512/1024K cache. Just showing one test as an example- http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/x...0.92,2776.html As you can see, the P4 HT 660 @ 3.0GHz takes 516 seconds to complete the 7-zip file compression test. Something newer, like the i5-2500K does the same job in 217 seconds. While a Celeron G1610, or similar 'Pentium' would not be as fast as the i5-2500K (due to CPU cache) they would be similar in performance. A cheap AMD FX 6XXX/4XXX, AMD A8/A10 or Intel i3 will be at least twice as fast as your old P4 even for single threaded only applications. For multithreaded/multicore capable tasks, they would be even faster.... Quote:
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/...ds/1558_2.html Do you know what computer case you are using? Quote:
If you have a SATA HDD, you shouldnt need a new HDD. The newer HDDs are faster, but I dont know if its worth getting a new one. Quote:
What CPU does laptop run? |
Thanks for the information. I guess it's like trying to measure a vehicles performance purely by the size of the engine. By that theory motorcycles should be pretty slow and Heavy Goods Vehicles pretty fast.
My laptop has an i5, but I'm not sure which one at this very moment. All I know is it's got 4GB of RAM and a solid state drive and it flies, everything is pretty instant when using it, unlike this computer which takes about 10 seconds to load up Firefox/Rhythmbox etc. The case I have is "Verre V770", which unfortunately doesn't mention much about what motherboard fits inside it. |
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Verre V770 seems to be an ATX case. It should fit most ATX motherboards...the only thing that worries me is that it appears to have very few mounting holes so some boards which need some of the less commonly used mounting holes might not fit. If you're got an i5 laptop it will be a dualcore model (with hyperthreading). A desktop i3 will be about as fast, maybe slightly faster than the CPU in your laptop. |
Haha, so whilst my shopping list started off as:
In many ways I guess this is a good thing as I can look at the 'barebones' bundles that various companies offer, which leaves less chance of me 'doing it wrong'. |
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I need a graphics card for my multiple displays. When writing research and articles, I need web browsers, office suite and pdf readers open at the same time, often looking at the all at the same time. I have 3 displays at work which is nice, but I have no idea how to set that up, so I'm stuck with my 2 displays at home.
Looking at prices of the parts and attempting to build myself vs this company who will provide a 'barebones' system for a similar sort of price, it looks as though I would be better off in having someone build it for me and saving a potential lot of hassle. I'd love to compare prices and unfortunately ebuyer, the only other reputable IT company I know of don't do anything similar. Can people recommend UK companies for providing a system with graphics and optical and hard drives? Finally, I read that Intel works better with Linux than AMD does, is this still true, or will both products have the potential to cause me problems? Is it literally just a matter of personal preference, or is one better than the other? |
OK, the 'barebones' systems are probably the easiest to get....but there are drawbacks.
They typically have 'yum cha' (generic and cheap) power supplies. I personaly dont trust really cheap power supplies. Even though this power supply is quite cheap, its very good, and should give you more than enough power to run your system. Corsair Builder Series CX430, £38.38- http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...020046-uk.html The cheaper barebones have AMD A55 or Intel H61 chipsets. They work fine, just are missing some features that could be good to have later, mainly SATAIII controllers (both chipsets only have SATAII). Since SSDs are just getting cheaper, do give a boost to system performance, and a good one is already faster than SATAII, having at least 1 SATAIII port is a good thing IMO. I'm not sure which way you will go, AMD or Intel, or if you would perfer a smaller (mATX) over ATX system, so this is just an example. ASUS P8B75-M LX, £54.98- http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...-g0eay0kz.html BTW, that board should support dual monitors. I'd still be temped to get an nVidia or AMD video card for if the system is mostly used for media, or if you decide you really want 3, 4 or more monitors. Its a LGA 1155 socket motherboard and any LGA 1155 CPU should work. Novatech has various LGA 1155 CPUs, ranging from the Celeron G1610 (£33) through Pentium G2XXX (£50-62), i3 3240 (£100) i5 3330 (£150). *edit- you could also get an i7, but novatech seems to have sold them out, and they arent worth the cost increase over the i5 IMO. 4GB DDR3 (2 x 2GB) is very cheap- G.Skill RipjawsX 4GB (2x2GB), £33 http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...l9d-4gbxl.html I'd be temped to go for 8 GB (2 x 4GB) but that would cost something like £55-60. Quote:
If you are getting the system built for you, its probably easiest and cheapest to have a HDD and CD/DVD drive installed by that company at the time. Quote:
Intel video vs AMD video is messy. Intel only does open soruce drivers, and generally have pretty poor video features/low power (for example, they have only just got dual monitors working with the onobaord video, about 10 years after nVidia and AMD made the ability to run dual monitors prety much standard). AMD has open source and closed source drivers, the open soruce drivers work well but can have power management issues. The closed source drivers also work well, but there are always people with problems (various reasons). |
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