My first 'new' computer in 12 years

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somebody

somebody

1,410
Australia
Canberra
Unwired-Eddie
I bought my first real PC in '97 and since then have been continually upgrading it. Not a single thing remains of the original system, but it has never been fully upgraded all at once... until now.

For the last few weeks my computer has been acting a bit funny; BSOD once a day, running slow, fans running non-stop, that sort of thing. Then came the real troubles. On Monday I found out Windows\system32\config\system is a bad thing to become corrupt. Tuesday enlightened me to the troubles of 'C:/ not formatted'.

I took this as a sign and decided to get a whole new computer. A bit of overkill, perhaps, but something I was planning on doing in another 6 months. These latest dramas just pushed forward the schedule.

Really, the only thing I can't recover from the old computer is my email list but that is no big deal - they all know where I live if they're that desperate for my company.

Anyway, to the new build. It's nothing particularly special, but as I haven't bought an entire system in 12 years I thought I might post it anyway (/egostroke).

Gigabyte 320W PSU
Gigabyte EP45-UD3L M/Board
INTEL CORE 2 DUO E7400 2.8Ghz CPU
Seagate SATA2 500GB HDD
Pioneer SATA DVD Burner
Gigabyte ATI HD4850 PCI-E 2.0 512MB
BenQ E2200HD 21.5" HD W/S LCD Monitor
Logitech X-230 2.1 Speakers
4GB DDR2 800MHz Kingston RAM
Logitech 350 USB K/Board + Mouse

I also upgraded to Vista. It may be power hungry but the new system handles it well. Also, for the first time in a decade every thing is the same colour. No more purple and silver tower with grey monitor and blue/red speakers. Everything is now black with silver trim... I like it.

So now I start the long and boring exercise of downloading updates, browsers, antivirus doodads, and tweaking thingamajigs. Some time tomorrow I get to really enjoy myself (not) and start recovering files from the soon to be paperweight that has served me for the last few years.

Sidenote: There is actually one piece of equipment from my first purchase that is still in use, even on my new system... the mouse pad.
 
You need to post what type of Seagate HDD that your buying version 7200.10, 7200.11, 7200.12 . The 7200.11 drives have a high rate of failure and its too early to tell on the 7200.12 drives. I would either look for 7200.10 drives or look at WD. 320 watt PSU doesn't leave you much room for future upgrades. I would put at least a 500 watt unit in there. Corsair 520 HX is a nice one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001

Edit: I see you already bought it. Good luck...
 
The HDD is 7200.12

I know the PSU should really be higher but it was one of the things I had to sacrifice due to budget.
 
It does what I need it to do, and I'm not planning on upgrading again for a few years. I don't use my computer for gaming anymore so it won't need to be any better for some time.
 
I've got a spare car battery and some transformers somewhere in the garage. If the PSU loses power I'll just get 'creative'.
 
somebody
I don't use my computer for gaming anymore so it won't need to be any better for some time.
Click to expand...
Then why buy a 4850 video card. You would have been better off getting a cheaper card and putting more money into the PSU. If you shop carefully you can get great deals.
 
My bad. I should have said I don't use my computer for high end gaming anymore. I still need a good card for what I do play, and for photo and video editing.

Unfortunately I'm not as up to date with computers and the various options as I once was so instead of putting bits and pieces together to make a brilliant system, I went out and found the best package for what I needed then made a few changes to get it under budget.

Not the best way to do it, I know, but 4 out of the 6 places I shopped around all suggested the same system and the other two suggested something nearly identical so I figure it should be close to what I need.
 
GT3mich is right, 320W is pushing it with a new GPU, the E7400 only consumes 65W, plus whatever other things you might have plugged in, you might get random BSOD's. Power supplies are the last thing you want to cut corners on.


Congrats on get a new computer, what was the computer you had before?
 
He should be fine with the 320W PSU, if it's up to spec. AnandTech tested with a Core 2 Quad Extreme and a Radeon HD 4870; their system pulled 270–280W at full tilt. A 400 W PSU would do the job more quietly though!
 
opendriver
Congrats on get a new computer, what was the computer you had before?
Click to expand...

Ta! I can't remember the specs for the original system but in its last incarnation it was a P4 2.4GHz 44GB HDD with 2W speakers and a kinda-alright graphics card.
 

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