Upgrading HP Pavilion Elite HPE-210y

[rodrigornovaes]

Here's the deal: I was getting ready to build a replacement for my 2006 Athlon 64 rig, but then I stumbled upon an HP Pavilion Elite HPE-210y on an outlet for $575 and couldn't let the opportunity pass.

The specs are: Foxconn AMD 785G mobo, Phenom II X4 945, 8 GB DDR3 @1066, ATI HD5450, 1 TB HD 5400 rpm, Bluray, 300W PSU.

Questions:
1) The mobo supports 1333 but only if I use two memory slots. Would it be faster to use 4 GB @1333 instead?

2) I think I definitely should replace the video card. I've seen threads here saying I could plug an ATI 5670 without upgrading my PSU ($70). However, by the newegg power supply calc, I should have at least 370 W.

OR I could get an XFX 5770. According the calculator, it goes up to 480W, so a 500W PSU will be enough, right? If so, that will cost $180.

3) I was thinking of getting a small 7200 rpm drive ($ 40). But I don't know if it will make a real difference over the 5400 rpm. The 10,000 rpms are kinda pricey ($ 170), is it worth the investment for this system? I think SSD is overkill, plus I don't know if this mobo supports SATA II anyway.

BTW, currently I will be using the system for video editing (mostly SD) and casual gaming (Civ5). But I intend to stay with it for 4 years or so.

 

[jgutz2006]

Here's the deal: I was getting ready to build a replacement for my 2006 Athlon 64 rig, but then I stumbled upon an HP Pavilion Elite HPE-210y on an outlet for $575 and couldn't let the opportunity pass.

The specs are: Foxconn AMD 785G mobo, Phenom II X4 945, 8 GB DDR3 @1066, ATI HD5450, 1 TB HD 5400 rpm, Bluray, 300W PSU.

Questions:
1) The mobo supports 1333 but only if I use two memory slots. Would it be faster to use 4 GB @1333 instead?

2) I think I definitely should replace the video card. I've seen threads here saying I could plug an ATI 5670 without upgrading my PSU ($70). However, by the newegg power supply calc, I should have at least 370 W.

OR I could get an XFX 5770. According the calculator, it goes up to 480W, so a 500W PSU will be enough, right? If so, that will cost $180.

3) I was thinking of getting a small 7200 rpm drive ($ 40). But I don't know if it will make a real difference over the 5400 rpm. The 10,000 rpms are kinda pricey ($ 170), is it worth the investment for this system? I think SSD is overkill, plus I don't know if this mobo supports SATA II anyway.

BTW, currently I will be using the system for video editing (mostly SD) and casual gaming (Civ5). But I intend to stay with it for 4 years or so.

1: with the Video Editing comment, i'm thinking your better off with the 8GB vs slightly quicker 4, depending on what software you build with and how much memory is used.
2. new graphics cards are always a welcome in my book, more and more programs can use GPU acceleration which helps speed things up a bit, not to mention gaming is better
3. Do a search for hard drive comparison charts, 7200 drives are going to be much quicker but at the $40 point, maybe not quite as much as it could be, some higher density drives put up some good numbers

 

[rodrigornovaes]

1: Because I use Ubuntu (except for gaming, no patience to set up cedega), the hard work is done by mencoder/NeroAAC.

2: So for the new card I'm going with this PSU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139018)

3: The HD I have is a WD Caviar Green. Not a bad HD, Blacks are better suited for a boot disk, but the Green is quieter, so I think I'll keep it for now. Hopefully with 8 GB there won't be a lot of paging.