I know a fair bit about computers, but I amn't amazing and I want to make sure this will work. As far as I can see, it should, but I want to be sure.

Check the attachments for a list of what it is.

If you want I can post individual links.

Really, I'm just fed up with computers bought from shops that are boxes filled with the cheapest components available that then fail, and I want to do it myself so I know what I have and that it'll work.

Please don't argue that Nvidia are worse than ATi and Intel are worse than AMD, I don't care. I have used and trust Nvidia and Intel and I don't want to test something else really. I just want to know that it will all work well together.

EDIT: Forgot to say that I have an old shop purchased Packard Bell that broke, so I will hopefully take DVD drives, cables, anything else from it, along with another old few computers if needed.

What are you planning to do with it? What's your budget?

The graphics card is crap, the anti statics mat is useless. As HDD, take something more like a 1TB F3 from samsung, cheap as fast.

Graphics card, go for a HD5xxx that isn't that expensive.

CPU cooler, also isn't that great.

CPU, maybe take an Q6600 and OC it?

Don't want to get into overclocking, I'll break something.

Really thats my budget, £500.

I forgot to mention, for certain purposes I would like a silent machine, so the quieter the better.

I don't think I can really afford to upgrade very much, but I could try.

What could you suggest?

The graphics card is crap, and you don't need an anti-static mat, it's useless. My advice: get a better graphics card. The rest of the system is decent, this is definitely not a high-end system by any means though, but it really needs a better graphics card.

I don't know what a better GFX card would be :S

9500GT?

My suggestion. CPU is dual-core, but it's the new 32nm one, so it should run fairly cool. It also has a built-in GPU, which could be handy if some problems with the stand alone gfx card occurs. Or you could go for the i5-750 for a tenner more.

The 9500 is getting *old*. You'll get a lot better performance with a similarly-priced current generation card.

The ATI 5670 is around £70, or if you're an nVidia man, the GT240.

i'd still go for a 9800GT over a 240.

I built a computer for my parent's the other day. It has an mATX Asus motherboard, Intel E3200 processor, 2GB of memory, and some off-brand 9400GT (Zotac is the brand, never heard of it before). It runs fairly cool, total costs including Windows 7 was $428USD, so that's 282GBP I suppose, except the prices of the parts may of course be different according to region.

I haven't tested it in LFS, but in Rigs of Rods I get ~70fps at 1024x768 resoultion and 4x anti-aliasing. Sometimes dips down to about 28fps in some circumstances. I didn't build it for games, my parents just needed a new computer to replace their aged Pentium 4 Dell.

Thanks guys. Its becoming even more desperately needed by the day.

Take a look at the attachments and you'll see why.

I don't think the temperatures are very good, might just be me. They were taken after 15 minutes of Rigs Of Rods on lowest settings, lowest screen size, lowest everything.

The one with all of them on the one page is after being left to cool for 30 minutes.

Also, my hard drive space left

Checked your cpu fan for dust lately?
Download and run CCleaner to free up some space.
Also if you're on Vista SP1, you can run vsp1cln in a command prompt to further free some space, or if you're on Vista SP2 run compcln in a command prompt.

there much more capeable and no more expensive really than any of the other suggestions thus far

Those temp aren't good at all... I had same thing but only with CPU. It came by itself, few weeks ago it gone by itself, but really got a cooling problem.
And about free space... Is your PC taking ages to load a folder? I'm just curious because you actually have no free space...

Quote from matijapkc :

Those temp aren't good at all... I had same thing but only with CPU. It came by itself, few weeks ago it gone by itself, but really got a cooling problem.
And about free space... Is your PC taking ages to load a folder? I'm just curious because you actually have no free space...

Been this temp. for months.

And yes, it takes ages to load up. Surprised it still runs.

Quote from arco :

Checked your cpu fan for dust lately?
Download and run CCleaner to free up some space.
Also if you're on Vista SP1, you can run vsp1cln in a command prompt to further free some space, or if you're on Vista SP2 run compcln in a command prompt.

Dust free, I tried that.

CCleaner can only do so much, I use it daily

What does compcln do in SP2? I don't want to wipe things randomly.

“SP2 also includes a Service Pack Clean-up tool (Compcln.exe), which helps restore the hard disk space by permanently deleting the previous versions of the files (RTM and SP1) that are being serviced by SP2."

Quote from piggy501 :

Been this temp. for months.

And yes, it takes ages to load up. Surprised it still runs.


Dust free, I tried that.

Modern cpu's throttle down when they overheat. There is a change your systems will be a lot faster if you fix your cooling problem. Since all components are hot, try running your system with all side panels removed and see what happens. Offcourse make sure your system is safe, since without the panels your system is very vulnerable to small children for example

Having said that, your current system is slow compared what you want to buy except for the graphics card so it will still be nice to upgrade. As others suggested, look for a 5xxx series ati card. Guessing from what you tell, suggest etc. i think the 5770 will be the best choice for you. You could buy an comparable nvidia card, but you won't have directx 11 and you wont save any money and it won't be more reliable or less reliable.
My old system is built into a antec 900 gamers case, it is a very good case, cooling is excellent and also is the built-quality. What i don't like, building a complete system into it is very time consuming. Took me 4 hours(!) But it is worth the effort.

note: thx for the compcln.exe suggestion, freed 3gbyte with it on my old system.

Quote from Bluebird B B :

Modern cpu's throttle down when they overheat. There is a change your systems will be a lot faster if you fix your cooling problem. Since all components are hot, try running your system with all side panels removed and see what happens. Offcourse make sure your system is safe, since without the panels your system is very vulnerable to small children for example

Having said that, your current system is slow compared what you want to buy except for the graphics card so it will still be nice to upgrade. As others suggested, look for a 5xxx series ati card. Guessing from what you tell, suggest etc. i think the 5770 will be the best choice for you. You could buy an comparable nvidia card, but you won't have directx 11 and you wont save any money and it won't be more reliable or less reliable.
My old system is built into a antec 900 gamers case, it is a very good case, cooling is excellent and also is the built-quality. What i don't like, building a complete system into it is very time consuming. Took me 4 hours(!) But it is worth the effort.

note: thx for the compcln.exe suggestion, freed 3gbyte with it on my old system.

I would remove side panels if they were there to remove. It's a laptop.

O lol :-)
option two: try a laptop cooler :-)

Laptop... I'm pretty sure the air vents and fan is full of dust then. It's a pretty common problem with laptops after a while. Get a can of compressed air, open the covers/keyboard so you can see the fan, then blow air from the outside through the air vents. This will loosen the lint/dust that's stuck to the vents. You might need something to pick up and remove the lints with.

Lmao. I'd be scared if my CPU hit 70 - 80.
Your just sitting there running it at 95 all the time

Don't expect that to be running for much longer

I get scared when my CPU gets above 55

Just broke the 100 degrees mark - At least if there was water inside the system, it's evaporated out of it.

I kinda want it to break now, just so I can be sure that I will be allowed a new one.

my pc doesn't like anything above 60 degrees. Once it passes that it freezes. So my solution. Run my CPU and GPU fans on full wack all the time. It works.