PC upgrade

Lestratcaster

After 6 years my HP 3.2 ghz desktop is now starting to get ancient with sluggish running and lag esp when streaming. 

I’m shit at this pc malark but want to upgrade to something quicker and smoother. I don’t play games, so I only need the functionality of a new desktop to surf the web, social media stuff, some recording and word and excel documents.

Will £300-500 get me something decent?

What would be the minimum:

• speed processor will I need 
• Ram
• HD space

I’m also not overly excited on the move to windows 10 after being a Windows 7 user for years. Would my existing keyboard/monitor etc be compatible with a new machine? Also not sure if all programs and software I used on Windows 7 would run on Windows 10?

Fretwired

Windows 10 is far better than 7 and yes most things should run. My wife is still using some XP software on her Win 10 system - it runs in compatibility mode.

What is the spec of your monitor and how old is it? The only major change is the connection between monitor and PC. You could be on an old style HDMI or VGA connector.

Lestratcaster

It’s an Acer AL1716 which is quite old I think.

Fretwired

Just get a new PC with monitor then .. some cracking deals around at the moment.

http://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/desktops-and-all-in-ones/inspiron-desktop/spd/inspiron-3662-desktop/cd66202

LuttiS

£300-500 should get you a fairly decent machine.

For recording you are going got want a high spec processor - 

Quadcore i7 chip would do it, there are lots here so read up on them - if your planning on a laptop pay close attention to the chip as they are very misleading in terms of cores and such. 
They have a thing called hyperthreading (i think) which is like a digital core, so they call them quad core when infact its a dual core but can partition itself for more power. 4 Physical cores (or more) are best for low latency recording.

8gb ram  and 1tb HDD would cover everything you need and should be within budget. 

can be a nice little recording set up.

 

Lestratcaster

Would the new desktop come with a keyboard and mouse?

Fretwired

Or a laptop ..

http://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptop-and-2-in-1-pcs/inspiron-17-5000/spd/inspiron-17-5770-laptop/cn77001

Lestratcaster

I prefer a pc, laptops don’t last as long. My sister has been through 3 laptops in 5 years. Though the portability is appealing.

Lestratcaster

LuttiS said:

£300-500 should get you a fairly decent machine.

For recording you are going got want a high spec processor - 

Quadcore i7 chip would do it, there are lots here so read up on them - if your planning on a laptop pay close attention to the chip as they are very misleading in terms of cores and such. 
They have a thing called hyperthreading (i think) which is like a digital core, so they call them quad core when infact its a dual core but can partition itself for more power. 4 Physical cores (or more) are best for low latency recording.

8gb ram  and 1tb HDD would cover everything you need and should be within budget. 

can be a nice little recording set up.

 

Might stretch to £600 if I need to. 

Seen a a lot of these Quadcore i chips, are they the fastest processors?

I’m definitely wanting a desktop though. I use a Line 6 ux1 and podfarm with Ableton Live 7.0.

Lestratcaster

Something like this?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/hp-pavilion-570-p010na-desktop-pc-10159081-pdt.html

crunchman

You would probably find that your existing one would be massively improved by a clean reinstall of the OS on an SSD.

SSD for the OS makes a huge difference.  I had a desktop that was 7 or 8 years old, that I put an SSD in, with a clean install of Win 10, and it was faster for most things than my wife's laptop that was less than a year old at the time.

If you do go for a new one, get one with a small SSD for the OS and any key software, and then add a conventional drive for storage.

I would steer well clear of the one that @Fretwired linked to as the OS is installed on a conventional drive.  Also, the processor on that one is designed for energy saving rather than speed.  It actually scores significantly lower on Passmark than a second generation i3 (they are now on 7th generation).

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=749&cmp[]=2877

Something like this would utterly slaughter that one on performance:
https://www.ebuyer.com/779628-dell-vostro-3268-sff-desktop-xrhvk

4GB isn't really enough so you would need to buy another 4GB of RAM (around £35 to 40), and a conventional hard drive for storage (probably around £50 with a SATA cable to connect it to the motherboard).

Fretwired

crunchman said:

You would probably find that your existing one would be massively improved by a clean reinstall of the OS on an SSD.

SSD for the OS makes a huge difference.  I had a desktop that was 7 or 8 years old, that I put an SSD in, with a clean install of Win 10, and it was faster for most things than my wife's laptop that was less than a year old at the time.

If you do go for a new one, get one with a small SSD for the OS and any key software, and then add a conventional drive for storage.

I would steer well clear of the one that @Fretwired linked to as the OS is installed on a conventional drive.  Also, the processor on that one is designed for energy saving rather than speed.  It actually scores significantly lower on Passmark than a second generation i3 (they are now on 7th generation).

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=749&cmp[]=2877

Something like this would utterly slaughter that one on performance:
https://www.ebuyer.com/779628-dell-vostro-3268-sff-desktop-xrhvk

4GB isn't really enough so you would need to buy another 4GB of RAM (around £35 to 40), and a conventional hard drive for storage (probably around £50 with a SATA cable to connect it to the motherboard).

I'd agree .. I didn't see the recording function. It's fine for browsing the web and Office though.

Stretch your budget and get an Intel i7.

Fretwired

Lestratcaster said:

 

Might stretch to £600 if I need to. 

Seen a a lot of these Quadcore i chips, are they the fastest processors?

I’m definitely wanting a desktop though. I use a Line 6 ux1 and podfarm with Ableton Live 7.0.

At the back of my mind I recall an issue with Line 6 interfaces and AMD processor .. check with Line 6 or stick to an Intel chip. I have an old Line 6 interface and POD Farm.

LuttiS

i7 chips are probably the best for what you need - you can get higher end but you're paying silly money for more than you need. Quadcore probably the most efficient. 

You can even go later gen i5, should be fine.

Lestratcaster said:

Something like this?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/hp-pavilion-570-p010na-desktop-pc-10159081-pdt.html

Personally wouldn't go down AMD route - they are good processors but they more focused on gaming, and generally not so great for media tasks. 
Saying that, my main PC is AMD, but it's gaming one, so can handle media stuff well too

Fretwired said:

Or a laptop ..

http://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptop-and-2-in-1-pcs/inspiron-17-5000/spd/inspiron-17-5770-laptop/cn77001

The processor in that is an i3-u - that means it's a dual core, low powered energy saving one. It will be fine for web/social but will choke on recording.

Lestratcaster

Fretwired said:

Lestratcaster said:

 

Might stretch to £600 if I need to. 

Seen a a lot of these Quadcore i chips, are they the fastest processors?

I’m definitely wanting a desktop though. I use a Line 6 ux1 and podfarm with Ableton Live 7.0.

At the back of my mind I recall an issue with Line 6 interfaces and AMD processor .. check with Line 6 or stick to an Intel chip. I have an old Line 6 interface and POD Farm.

Hmm what is the fastest Intel processor?

LuttiS

Lestratcaster said:

Fretwired said:

At the back of my mind I recall an issue with Line 6 interfaces and AMD processor .. check with Line 6 or stick to an Intel chip. I have an old Line 6 interface and POD Farm.

Hmm what is the fastest Intel processor?

i use line 6 interface (hd500 sometimes also UX2 w/pod farm) fine with amd and intel (have both)

Fastest intel chip is probably an i9 Xseries - but this would be total overkill and waaayyyy out of budget. Has 18 cores and ridiculous features... not even sure they available yet

Lestratcaster

What about this one?

https://www.johnlewis.com/dell-inspiron-3268-desktop-pc-intel-core-i3-8gb-ram-1tb-black/p3261184?navAction=jump

Fretwired

Lestratcaster said:

What about this one?

https://www.johnlewis.com/dell-inspiron-3268-desktop-pc-intel-core-i3-8gb-ram-1tb-black/p3261184?navAction=jump

Fine for recording on a budget - I have an old Dell PC and I use Cubase with loads of plugins. If your current system worked this will be much better.

Jock68

Why not look to build your own, it really is not hard.  The key thing is to spend as much money as you can to get the best processor at the start, you can upgrade memory/storage/ graphics in the future. 

LuttiS

Lestratcaster said:

What about this one?

https://www.johnlewis.com/dell-inspiron-3268-desktop-pc-intel-core-i3-8gb-ram-1tb-black/p3261184?navAction=jump

Low processing power.

Perhaps something like this?

https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-570-desktop-pc-intel-core-i5-8gb-ram-2tb-hdd-amd-radeon-r5/p3175976?colour=Natural Silver

Or equivalent from other sites 

Lestratcaster

LuttiS said:

Lestratcaster said:

What about this one?

https://www.johnlewis.com/dell-inspiron-3268-desktop-pc-intel-core-i3-8gb-ram-1tb-black/p3261184?navAction=jump

Low processing power.

Perhaps something like this?

https://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-570-desktop-pc-intel-core-i5-8gb-ram-2tb-hdd-amd-radeon-r5/p3175976?colour=Natural Silver

Or equivalent from other sites 

Is the i5 far from an i7 for processing power? Good shout though.