PC fettling and repairs thread

[MontyVeda]

quick question to which i suspect I know the answer...

current Pc has a 4core 2ghz CPU

Will I notice any difference switching to another PC with 2core 3ghz CPU

i'm not a gamer

 

[Grant Fondo]

quick question to which i suspect I know the answer...

current Pc has a 4core 2ghz CPU

Will I notice any difference switching to another PC with 2core 3ghz CPU

i'm not a gamer

2 core most likely slower these days, might be worth checking both here for better answer:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/

 

[MontyVeda]

2 core most likely slower these days, might be worth checking both here for better answer:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/

of course, but 3ghz as opposed to 2ghz

 

[DCBassman]

While the higher clock speed is always a nice-to-have, it won't make up for the two extra cores. If your usage is strictly office and browsing, it likely won't be a big difference, but there WILL be a difference.

 

[DCBassman]

It would be informative if we knew the exact models we're talking about, can you find out from the systems properties pages?

 

[MontyVeda]

It would be informative if we knew the exact models we're talking about, can you find out from the systems properties pages?

Hi,

I'm just looking on Ebay at the motherboard you recommended; P8H61... some come bundled with a CPU and some RAM, some just the bare board and using a combination of ask google (not always reliable) and ask a cyclist (more reliable) to find out if the various CPUs are any good or not. There's a wide variety so I'll not list anything just yet.

You've answered my question perfectly (more cores are better than fewer faster cores) and since i currently have a quad core I can start discounting the boards bundled with a dual core CPU. Of course if the price is right, I could try swapping the CPU for the one you recommended; i5 3470 (but that would be new territory for me).

I've also got 2x4gb of DDR ram in my current machine. I presume i can just stick that into the new MB?

Thanks

 

[DCBassman]

I've also got 2x4gb of DDR ram in my current machine. I presume i can just stick that into the new MB?

If it's DDR3 RAM, then yes. Otherwise not. CPU: depending on usage, also check out an i7-2600. Fits the same board, has 4 hyper-threaded cores, so that the operating system sees 8 cores and apportions jobs accordingly. It's not at all necessary, but despite being only a 2nd-gen processor, it's a lot of power to have, and will not cost a massive amount to procure. A bit-of future-proofing, if you will.
I have a 3470 and the ram should you need it.

 

[MontyVeda]

Thanks DCB.

Current motherboard has DDR3 ram so I'll put that in.

From what i can gather, the i7-2600 won't (officially) run windows 11 and neither will the i5-3470... and with the i7 being priced around the £50 mark on fleabay and the i5 being £15-£20... I may as well go for the cheaper option.

I was hoping to raid my stock of old stuff but it appears things have moved on in recent years. I couldn't spot an IDE connection on the P8H61 board, which means my existing DVD drives won't be any use... and I was hoping to reuse the PSU too but I don't think there'll be any SATA plugs. At least i won't have to buy a box to put it all in.

edit. PSU in the old-old PC box does have SATA... I just can't remember why that PC got replaced. It might have been the PSU

 

[DCBassman]

Thanks DCB.

Current motherboard has DDR3 ram so I'll put that in.

From what i can gather, the i7-2600 won't (officially) run windows 11 and neither will the i5-3470... and with the i7 being priced around the £50 mark on fleabay and the i5 being £15-£20... I may as well go for the cheaper option.

I was hoping to raid my stock of old stuff but it appears things have moved on in recent years. I couldn't spot an IDE connection on the P8H61 board, which means my existing DVD drives won't be any use... and I was hoping to reuse the PSU too but I don't think there'll be any SATA plugs. At least i won't have to buy a box to put it all in.

Cool, any questions, fire away. IDE stuff definitely out, and in any case as you're building from scratch essentially, see if you can work a 120GB SSD into the budget, if you don't already have one. Use that purely for the OS, and put everything else on whatever other drives you install.

 

[MontyVeda]

Thank you DCB.
I'll be using my existing SSD which as you advise is purely for the OS. I'm presuming I'll have to reinstall the OS and all software on it again?

 

[ColinJ]

What are you all using these super-PCs for?

My 5 year old laptop is powerful enough to do everything that I currently want to do. The music software that I have (FL Studio) can do way more complex stuff than I'd ever want it to.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Had a c.2004 ex-gaming pc returned to me today. I think its got a 6800GT card and some kind of AMD X2 chip in it ... will check tomorrow. Wonder if it will run Win 11?

 

[MontyVeda]

What are you all using these super-PCs for?

My 5 year old laptop is powerful enough to do everything that I currently want to do. The music software that I have (FL Studio) can do way more complex stuff than I'd ever want it to.

i think 5 years is brand spanking new compared to the old sh!t we're faffing about with. This thread is scrapheap challenge AFACT.

 

[Grant Fondo]

What are you all using these super-PCs for?

Nothing beats bringing old kit back to life and keeping the cash out of Currys pocket!
Unfortunately, trying to play modern games at 4K needs proper graphics grunt, even quality 3 year old kit just won't cut it, alas.[/QUOTE]

 

[ColinJ]

Ah, the games that I play require virtually zero grunt!

Sudoku, Spider Solitaire, 2048 and so on are not exactly demanding!

I suppose there must be a modern game that I would like but so far I haven't seen/played one.