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Advice on buying a computer needed.



Dick Head

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jan 3, 2010
13,612
Quaxxann
6wj9ZeR.gif
 


FatSuperman

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2016
2,829
Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz, 2800 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)

You are right on the edge of whether it's better to replace your system, or just get a new drive. That machine has a SATA 1 controller and likely won't support NCQ (AHCI I cannot be certain) - two technologies that will make a big difference on your SSD performance. You could get a separate SATA-3 controller, but I think your machine only have a PCI-E 1 port for that, so you'll still be hitting the same bottleneck.

Based on that, as suggested above you would likely see a decent boost by reinstalling Windows and installing an SSD or even a fast (7200 rpm) HDD. You could reinstall a 64 bit version of windows and stick more memory in there as well, which would certainly help prolong the life.

This is going to come down to whether you want to spend ~£70 on a new 250GB SSD (don't get a small one) and put a bit of effort in to see yourself through for another couple of years, or splash out ~£500 on a new box, to see you through another 5-10 years.

Once you decide, we can advise further and give you the steps you need.
 


perseus

Broad Blue & White stripe
Jul 5, 2003
23,454
Sūþseaxna
Great advice, but I would say SSD needs to be a minimum of 120GB. This then gives ample space for updates or even an OS upgrade.


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500 GB. 120GB is not enough (found out). I think I would go for 2TB main HD for files as well.

I am looking for small box to put the gubbins in if there is such a thing? Portable at a pinch, so if it is designed for carrying can be a little bit bigger, but not a tower.
 


FatSuperman

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2016
2,829


Garage_Doors

Originally the Swankers
Jun 28, 2008
11,789
Brighton
Okay, so your current windows version is 32bit [X86] so ignore the suggestions of any RAM above 4Gb as a 32 bit O/S can only use a max of 4Gb.
The idea of a SSD is sound - with a tower case you'll very likely have room to add a SSD and keep your existing drive.

Here's what I'd do.
Buy an SSD drive 120GB or smaller and reinstalled your O/S onto this - SSD runs much faster than spinning drives - you'll be impressed with boot-up speed.
If you know how [its not that difficult] create a partition on the SSD for your data - 50Gb for the O/S partition is ample.
Copy over from your old disk to the new SSD Data partition all your data files - docs / excel / pics etc. - or an external device as a back-up
Then reformat your old drive [how big is it?] and use that as a second data drive or an active disk backup [all depends how much data you have]
Reinstall your apps on to your new SSD
Upgrade to 4Gb RAM

Will be good enough for a few years yet.
Thanks for the good info.
What the benefit in partitioning rh the new SSD other than have the os on one drive letter/name and files on another?
 




perseus

Broad Blue & White stripe
Jul 5, 2003
23,454
Sūþseaxna
[MENTION=153]perseus[/MENTION] You can get lots of different cases, but the different ones are based on the form factor of your equipment (your motherboard specifically). I'm assuming you'll be using standard ATX if you've already got the equipment from an old machine. You'll be limited if this is what you've got.

Form factors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_form_factor#/media/File:VIA_Mini-ITX_Form_Factor_Comparison.jpg

Windows directory is using 62GB on my C drive, so I need it all put on a new SSD drive. Dealer is reluctant to do this. Is this common? New staff and I bought the computer locally for service for such things like this. I might as well keep the same box. Picasa uses over 31GB as well. Most programs hardly use any space.

So you may need a bigger SSD than 120 GB ???

New computer and ideally I would like to go for something smaller in physical size if it doesn't overheat. (Old Dell Dimensions overheated.)
 
Last edited:


perseus

Broad Blue & White stripe
Jul 5, 2003
23,454
Sūþseaxna
Problem solved. Picasa > Tools > Clear Cache files saves tons of space. 20GB on my C disc. Stored pictures are already on D drive.
 






FatSuperman

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2016
2,829
Windows directory is using 62GB on my C drive, so I need it all put on a new SSD drive. Dealer is reluctant to do this. Is this common? New staff and I bought the computer locally for service for such things like this. I might as well keep the same box. Picasa uses over 31GB as well. Most programs hardly use any space.

I would always recommend operating system and applications on the SSD and data on a decent HDD. A huge SSD is still expensive and things like photos etc are of marginal benefit on the SSD.

They cannot really 'move' your installation of Windows to another disk, so it's a reinstall job. Your windows directory will likely be full of old windows updates, use JDisk and then google what you can clear out.
 


Garage_Doors

Originally the Swankers
Jun 28, 2008
11,789
Brighton
You are right on the edge of whether it's better to replace your system, or just get a new drive. That machine has a SATA 1 controller and likely won't support NCQ (AHCI I cannot be certain) - two technologies that will make a big difference on your SSD performance. You could get a separate SATA-3 controller, but I think your machine only have a PCI-E 1 port for that, so you'll still be hitting the same bottleneck.

Based on that, as suggested above you would likely see a decent boost by reinstalling Windows and installing an SSD or even a fast (7200 rpm) HDD. You could reinstall a 64 bit version of windows and stick more memory in there as well, which would certainly help prolong the life.

This is going to come down to whether you want to spend ~£70 on a new 250GB SSD (don't get a small one) and put a bit of effort in to see yourself through for another couple of years, or splash out ~£500 on a new box, to see you through another 5-10 years.

Once you decide, we can advise further and give you the steps you need.

Thanks for the info.
Since i started this thread the BSD are coming quicker now and to top it all my Samsung S2 portable HDD is no longer being read, i have tried it in other machines to be sure so been out and bought a new portable drive to back everything up on.
I'm at the stage now where i have had this now for a good 6 years and spending £100 on a SSD drive and then ore on memory then more on a USB3 card etc ive decided to go the who hog and buy a new one.
been looking at this one, if you "techies" could pass you eyes over it with opinions i would be greatful

Desktop PC
Intel i3 6100 Dual Core Processor running at 3.70GHz
8GB DDR4 2133MHz RAM
Intel HD 530 Graphics
240GB SATA III Solid State Drive
24X DVD / CD - RW Dual Layer Optical Disc Drive

MOTHERBOARD
• MSI H110M PRO VH
• 2 X ULTRA High Speed USB 3.1 Gen 1 Ports
• 4 X High Speed USB 2.0 Ports
• 4 X SATA III Ports
• Gigabit 10 / 100 / 1000 Ethernet Port
• 8 Channel HD Audio
• 1 X PCI Express X16 V3.0 Slot
• 2 X PCI Express X1 Slot
• 1 X PS/2 Port (For Keyboard / Mouse)
• 1 X Serial Port Header
• 1 X HDMI Port
• 1 X VGA Port

AvP Viper PC Case in BLACK
500W PSU
1 x Additional USB 3.0 Ports on Front Top of Case
2 x Additional USB 2.0 Ports on Front Top of Case

Just over £300

Cheers
 


perseus

Broad Blue & White stripe
Jul 5, 2003
23,454
Sūþseaxna
Thanks for the info.
Since i started this thread the BSD are coming quicker now and to top it all my Samsung S2 portable HDD is no longer being read, i have tried it in other machines to be sure so been out and bought a new portable drive to back everything up on.
I'm at the stage now where i have had this now for a good 6 years and spending £100 on a SSD drive and then ore on memory then more on a USB3 card etc ive decided to go the who hog and buy a new one.
been looking at this one, if you "techies" could pass you eyes over it with opinions i would be greatful

Desktop PC
Intel i3 6100 Dual Core Processor running at 3.70GHz
8GB DDR4 2133MHz RAM
Intel HD 530 Graphics
240GB SATA III Solid State Drive
24X DVD / CD - RW Dual Layer Optical Disc Drive

MOTHERBOARD
• MSI H110M PRO VH
• 2 X ULTRA High Speed USB 3.1 Gen 1 Ports
• 4 X High Speed USB 2.0 Ports
• 4 X SATA III Ports
• Gigabit 10 / 100 / 1000 Ethernet Port
• 8 Channel HD Audio
• 1 X PCI Express X16 V3.0 Slot
• 2 X PCI Express X1 Slot
• 1 X PS/2 Port (For Keyboard / Mouse)
• 1 X Serial Port Header
• 1 X HDMI Port
• 1 X VGA Port

AvP Viper PC Case in BLACK
500W PSU
1 x Additional USB 3.0 Ports on Front Top of Case
2 x Additional USB 2.0 Ports on Front Top of Case

Just over £300

Cheers

You will need a second hard disc drive as well, at least 1TB to future proof. Maybe bigger? I would put the old HD in a caddy and connect it externally (USB) as a temporary measure only as moving parts hard disks would not last the pace. (? may not need it just for Word & Excel?)

I do not know what Windows system is best? Windows 7 is good enough for me. I use an older version of Office as I prefer it.
 
Last edited:




StonehamPark

#Brighton-Nil
Oct 30, 2010
9,762
BC, Canada
I would suggest plumping for at least an i5 over an i3.

Everything else looks good. Maybe consider getting a second (or larger) HDD, depending on how much space you intend to use.

If you're just saving a few photos here and there, a bit of music and documents, you should be alright.
 


Shropshire Seagull

Well-known member
Nov 5, 2004
8,477
Telford
Thanks for the good info.
What the benefit in partitioning rh the new SSD other than have the os on one drive letter/name and files on another?

Having a partition that only has the O/S on is just good practice [esp in the server world] - obvious major advantage is there is separation from your data which means if you do get hit by a serious virus or O/S corruprtion, if you lose your O/S drive it is easily reinstalled without risk to your data. Was always smart to keep data on more than one spindle in case of hard disk failure - simple mirroring.

Those who claim 120Gb is too small - I bought the entry level Win Surface Pro [awesome piece of kit] which came with win 8.1 on a 64Gb SSD drive I still have 23% free despite installing quite a bit of software programs [MS Office, etc.] My data sits on a 64Gb Micro SD card and is 44% free.

I bought a new HP tower i3 last year and immediately replaced the 500Gb drive it came with with a 120Gb SSD - created a 60Gb partition for O/S and 60Gb for data - there is also a 1Tb 2nd drive in the box that acts as a backup repository networked with 5 other home computers where they copy all their dynamic data using Syncredible on a nightly basis.

Sure, if you have the budget you can buy an SSD bigger than 120Gb but it is the O/S running on SSD that gives the greatest performance boost - data gains very little - so wasting money using SSD for data too.

I also put a 60Gb ATA SSD in an old Tosh Tecra M2 laptop [ATA disk not SATAIII] running XP - wow! what a release of life that gave the old dog [max 2Gb RAM already installed]

One last tip - disable defrag on an SSD drive - because they don't work the same as a spinning disk it's not required - worse, it creates unnecessary read/writes on the disk which will dramatically shorten the life of a SSD disk
 


Jimmy Come Lately

Registered Loser
Oct 27, 2011
478
Hove
As a Linux user, this thread makes me sad. Your hardware is great, your O/S is the problem.

This. If I were in your position I'd download the 64-bit Cinnamon version of the latest Linux Mint, burn it to a USB stick and boot from it. This would leave your existing Windows installation exactly as-is and give you a chance to try out Linux without having to deal with the installation process and repartitioning your hard drive. You would be able to see whether your hardware gives performance that you're satisfied with for browsing and using office software. Booting from the stick should automatically detect your existing hard drive and make it available, so you would also get to check whether the Libre Office programs cope with your Word and Excel files.

However, the otherwise pretty helpful instruction PDF on the download page only deals with burning the Linux disc to DVD, which I don't recommend: running directly from DVD is always painfully slow and doesn't give a good indication of what installed performance would be. And I've been using Linux as my primary OS for so long now that I've never had to make a bootable USB stick from Windows, so I don't know what's the best way to do that. Although I see that UNetbootin is available for Windows, so it shouldn't be too challenging.

I'm recommending Mint because it has a look and feel that's quite similar to Windows so it's easier for Windows users to get to grips with. Other flavours of Linux are available. Trying Linux for the first time can be a bit of an adventure and you do need to be prepared to spend a bit of time mucking about to get it working just right, but if you decide that it suits your needs there are a few users on NSC who would be able to advise you on installing it for real. It's generally no worse than installing Windows from scratch, so if that's something you have experience of you'll probably be fine.
 




FatSuperman

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2016
2,829
[MENTION=12090]Garage_Doors[/MENTION] I'd buy I new one if I were you as well, given how cheap they are nowadays. That machine is great value and will be light years ahead of your current one, you may be able to find cheaper actually, but I'd be happy with that. If you do shop around, as long as you ensure you get an Intel i3 or i5 processor then it'll be great for you.

Please check the one you're looking at includes Windows? Sometimes the really cheap ones don't!
 


FatSuperman

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2016
2,829
...obvious major advantage is there is separation from your data which means if you do get hit by a serious virus or O/S corruprtion, if you lose your O/S drive it is easily reinstalled without risk to your data. Sure, if you have the budget you can buy an SSD bigger than 120Gb but it is the O/S running on SSD that gives the greatest performance boost - data gains very little - so wasting money using SSD for data too.

Viruses can absolutely cross disk partitions, although in practice you are spot on, why would they bother. If it's malware to get at your files, then a partition isn't going to help unless you've set permissions such that you can't access the files whilst logged on either.

I'm with you on the SSD, I put my OS and apps on mine and use a couple of large HDDs for data storage, there is little practical reason to put your data on the SSD.
 


FatSuperman

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2016
2,829
Those who claim 120Gb is too small - I bought the entry level Win Surface Pro [awesome piece of kit] which came with win 8.1 on a 64Gb SSD drive I still have 23% free despite installing quite a bit of software programs [MS Office, etc.]

My Surface Pro is the best computer I've ever purchased. Ditched my MacBook, ditched my Lenovo laptop, ditched all my note pads and pens. Take all of my meeting notes etc on OneNote, I love it. So sad :)

Although I've got an awesome PC in the office for more heavy duty work (that's how I'm justifying it to myself).
 


FatSuperman

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2016
2,829
This. If I were in your position I'd download the 64-bit Cinnamon version of the latest Linux Mint

Whilst I know where you are coming from, this is miles away from what the OP is going to need. Based on my experience of understanding people's tacit requirements ;) (he doesn't want to learn an entirely new operating system, get new office apps, learn them, etc etc. I appreciate it's easy - for some of us. Others just want an easy life)
 






Garage_Doors

Originally the Swankers
Jun 28, 2008
11,789
Brighton
You will need a second hard disc drive as well, at least 1TB to future proof. Maybe bigger? I would put the old HD in a caddy and connect it externally (USB) as a temporary measure only as moving parts hard disks would not last the pace. (? may not need it just for Word & Excel?)

I do not know what Windows system is best? Windows 7 is good enough for me. I use an older version of Office as I prefer it.

I have a TB drive to go into it and a TB external drive s spare is an issue, I will be putting Windows 7 Pro on to it as like you that plenty good enough for me.
 



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