Hello omicron, and welcome to the forum.
Of course you can join, in fact you already have 
ā¦ feel free to ask whatever you want, thatās what weāre here for.
Thank you for the welcome Mark. As previously posted, the first query is the spec of a new PC Base Unit. The current one is nearly 9 years old; which is about when the last two failed. This time I want to avoid the panic of no PC and lost data. The plan is a new base unit running Linux and progressivley move everything from the old PC to the new one.
A local computer co. do a variety of Base Units which can be customised by upgrading various elements.
The spec I was looking at is listed below.
Basic Spec
Processor 1 Intel Core i3-2100 2x3.1G
Memory 2 4GB DDR3 1333 (2x2GB)
Hard Drive 3 250GB Serial-ATA
Optical Drive 22 x DVD R/W DL Writer
Additional Optical No CD drive
Video Card 4 365MB Intel GMA X 4500
Sound Card 8 Channel 7.1 Sound
OS Software No windows software
Monitor No monitor
Card Reader No Card Reader
Case / Colour 5 Cooler Master 334U+ 500W
Keyboard No keyboard
Pointer No pointer
Speaker No Speakers
Networking 10/100/1000 LAN
Motherboard6 Asus P8H6 1M SVL USB3 1P 2Pe
Printer No Printer
Office Software No Office Software
Anti Virus Software No Security Software
Warranty 1 Year RTB Warranty (parts + labour)
Installation Customer Collection
I had thought of some upgrades.
1 Intel Core i5-2400 4x3.1G like the idea of a quicker processor
2 8GB DDR3 1333 (2x4GB) worth it/necessary ?
3 500GB not expensive
4 512MB Geforce GT210 not sure if this necessary/advisable/worth it
or 1GB Geforce GT620
5 Antec Midi NSK4400 keen on this, supposed to have good power supply.
Current case is Antec.
6 No options given ?
Any thoughts, comments, suggestions gratefully received.
omicron
Your upgrades all look good to me
Personally Iād get a 240 - 256GB SSD rather than the 500GB HDD ā¦ I canāt stress enough how much an SSD will improve overall performance.
Donāt bother with the GT210, itās about the equivalent of the X4500 (so no point in spending the extra), but the GT620 would be a worthwhile improvement:
http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=587&gid2=165&compare=geforce-gt-620-vs-intel-gma-x4500
Google suggests thereās no problems with the Asus P8H6 and Linux besides it being UEFI so some older Linux distributions may need a couple of changes in the UEFI (BIOS) prior to installation, but itās not a problem for newer distros (in fact itās usually only a problem on systems with Windows 8 or above, when you want to dual boot ā¦ and as I said, no longer a problem at all on newer distros).
So yeah, all looks good to me ā¦ but Iād give serious consideration to an SSD over an HDD, if you need the storage capacity Iād still get an SSD for the OS/Applications and an HDD for storage either attached internally or via the USB3.0 port.
Another recommendation for an SSD hereā¦ I have one in my laptop and one in the desktop - both were worth every penny. Just helped a friend upgrade an older laptop to SSD as well - she is impressed.
I doubt very much you would regret it.
Once youāve owned/used a SATA Solid State Drive youāll never go back to a Hard Disk Driveā¦ they just feel so antiquated and slow.
I have one on my netbook (Mint) but it is one with very low storage- it was like lightning for ages (I know what you mean Markā¦) so I have an HD to get put in by someone who knows how to do that at a later date. Iād like to get an SSD on my Peppermint laptop in the near future (when I have the money).
I have one on my netbook (Mint) but it is one with very low storage- it was like lightning for ages (I know what you mean Markā¦) but it is running out of space so I have an HDD to get put in by someone who knows how to do that at a later date. Iād like to get an SSD on my Peppermint laptop in the near future (when I have the money).
Thanks for the reply(s) Mark and others. Storage was never really the problem, the 500GB HDD was only included because it was only six quid more than the basic spec. Current PC (circa May-07) 160GB HDD: 99GB used, 50GB free, the other 11GB?.
Assuming SSD = solid state drive, I hadnāt thought that. No HDD to help offset the higher cost of an SSD (we all have budgets). A 256GB SSD is now a serious consideration.
How much room does a typical LinuxOS (I was thinking Mint) use.
Look at the link posted but donāt do games, never have, but still like the idea of a good graphics card.
More research, back later.
Thanks
omicron
Mint (with the included software) Iād expect to come in at well under 6GB ā¦ probably more like 4.
Ubuntu says it wants 5.3GB minimum for it to install ā¦ weāve lowered that to 3.8GB in Peppermint (For EeePCās that had 2 x 4GB SSDās) but I wouldnāt expect that much spare change.
Iām current running a 256GB Samsung Evo PRO and with Peppermint and all my apps and user data (including all the Peppermint development stuff) Iām using around 17GB
In reality unless you have a LOT of āstuffā thatās basically just āstorageā (like films, audio, pics, etc.) then 256GB is a massive amount of disk space (even with 10% over-provisioning) ā¦ and even if I had that āstorage stuffā, Iād keep that on an external (or second) Hard drive, but run the OS and applications from an SSD (solid state drive)
As I said, I CANNOT IMPRESS ON YOU ENOUGH the difference in performance between a SATA HDD and a SATA SSD ā¦ with an SSD my Peppermint laptop (once past the GRUB menu) boots in about 3 seconds as opposed to I dunno maybe 15 -20 on a HDD, and application loading is as near as damnit instantaneous.
And then then thereās the robustness (pretty much impervious to damage by being knocked whilst in operation), and power saving ā¦ and these days possibly life cycle (with modern NAND and firmware SSDās are no longer shorter lived than HDDās), see the āSSD Lifetime Estimationā chart and the text underneath it here:
Lifespan with 100GiB of Host Writes per Day with 3x Write Amplification = 14.14 years
(and on a normal desktop PC youāre highly unlikely to come anywhere near 100GiB per day)
Thanks for the response Mark, Iāve now done a bit more research (clicking about on stuff) and Iām pretty much convinced about the SSD option. After a visit to the local PC co. the spec has changed a bit, their webpage was out of date.
The motherboard is now an ASUS H81 ā PLUS (socket 1150). From what Iāve found I think that should be o/k.
The video card is now a GeForce GT 610 2GB silent, I think that should be o/k too.
Any comments on the above would be gratefully received.
The next bit is really down to me.
Either a 120GB 2.5 SSD and a 500GB 3.5 HDD
or, a 240GB 2.5 SSD and no HDD.
The price difference is about a fiver !
It was suggested that a caddy for the current HDD (3.5 SATA) via a USB would be useful.
I Do like that idea. I have accumulated a lot of stuff over the years, documents, spreadsheets, photos, downloaded statements, etc, etc,etc. The ability to copy stuff off the old/current HDD really does appeal.
The speed is not critical. If this is feasible Iām very tempted to go with the bigger SSD and no HDD.
Any/All comments welcomed.
Thanks
omicron
Personally Iād go for the 240GB SSD, and ask them to fit your current HDD as a secondary internal HDD on the second 6Gb/s port (which will be faster than an external USB enclosure/caddy, even a USB 3.0 one)
The GT 610 falls somewhere between the GT 210 and GT 620 you mentioned earlier ā¦ and will be fine for most things, except playing games at high resolution ā¦ but it can always be swapped out for something more powerful later if necessary
Motherboard looks fine ā¦ I canāt find anything online that suggests thereās any problems with Linux
Iāve missed this, what CPU are we talking about? I wouldnāt bother with a GT610, the onboard GPUs on new Intel & AMD chips have more power now.
Whatās your budget?
Actually thatās a good question ā¦ knowing your budget might allow people to make suggestions of what to get and where to get it, they may know of better deals than your local computer shop.
And heās also right about the on-chip graphics adapters ā¦ the newer intel chips (i3, i5) have an HD4400 graphics built into the CPU itself (though they may need a particular motherboard to access it) which is more powerful than the GT 610
Hi Mark, thanks for the reply(s). I think Iāve pretty much decided on the 240GB SSD without an additional HDD. Knowing very little about the internals of a PC āon the second 6Gb/s portā unfortunately leaves me a bit flummoxed (more research).
For information purposes, the current PC has two HDDās. The C: drive is SATA and the D: is PATA. I did manage to install the old/old PATA drive from the previous computer into the current one. I only use it (D:) to back up stuff I really donāt want to lose.
The caddy option came up because the PC company said some of the connectors are now different and it may not be possible to put the old (SATA) drive in a new PC. Iām not sure whether I said or he knew the current PC had a SATA drive. If the āon the second 6Gb/s portā is possible itās a better option than a caddy (back to the shop).
Did I mention Iām concerned (no Iām not paranoid) about access to previous stuff. Six months; or more, down the line Iāll be looking for something Iād forgotten I had.
With regards to the CPU chemicalfan, the current option Iām looking at is an Intel Core i5-4460 4x3.2G. Although Iām not a Gamer, I did want a half decent video card with a HDMI output. That said, if the on-chip graphics is better than the GT610; do I need a graphics/video card ?
As for the budget, Iām trying to hold it down to below Ā£500, maybe a little above if really necessary.
Any/All comments welcomed.
Thanks
Omicron
SATA connectors are the same ā¦ he probably thought you meant the IDE drive (PATA), as the H81-Plus doesnāt have an IDE connector
Your SATA drive will go in without issue ā¦ the IDE (PATA) will not
As for the 6Gb/s SATA ports ā¦ if you look at the picture here:
https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/H81PLUS/
you should see the 2 6Gb/s SATA ports clearly marked (the yellow 2, above the 2 x black 3Gb/s SATA ports) ā¦ the SSD should definitely be connected to one of those yellow two, if your HDD is SATA III it also wants to be on one of the yellow ones, if itās SATA II it can go on one of the black ones ā¦ that said it wonāt hurt to bung it on the yellow one as SATA III ports are backwards compatible.
As for the IDE (PATA) drive ā¦ you could get one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CiT-3-5-inch-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B00647A4KY
The onboard GPU is more than capable in that i5 chip, Iād wager that itāll have more power that the GT610 (itās only the texture bandwidth it has over the Intel i5, and thatās irrelevant if youāre not gaming). Save yourself the budget, itād be a waste to get the extra card (you could always upgrade something else, maybe)
If I were you Iād get it without the graphics card ā¦ the onchip Intel HD 4400 is a better solution.
You can always save for a better add-in card later if you choose.
Thanks for the reply(s) and links Mark and chemicalfan. As the current HDD is SATA (the PC co. had the build list on record from back in ā07) it will fit internally, so thatās good. Also, as you suggested, I donāt need a graphics card, the i5 is more than capable, so thatās O/K too.
What has cropped up is the connection between the PC and the Display/Monitor. I have a widescreen flat panel LCD,( native res 1920 x 1080) that only has DVI-I / HDMI / Optical Out / Audio out connections on the back. It looks like the ASUS motherboard only has VGA on it. That said it only needs an adaptor to make the connection. The only āgraphicsā stuff I do is minor tweaks, (cropping, brightness/contrast, etc.) to photos from a DSLR camera. As long as the resolution is sharp Iām not bothered how they are connected. Any comments appreciated.
Thanks
Omicron
Thereās no HDMI output? Thatās strange for a new PC ???
Iām pretty sure you can get a VGA-DVI converter, but itās not as clear cut as VGA is an analog signal, and DVI-I can be both (it may depend on what the monitor is expecting). Can you post a link to the machine, or to the motherboard? Or let us know exactly what make and model (and model number) the motherboard is?
Do you need the legacy PCI and Parallel ports ?
If not, ask em if they can do the H81MPLUS motherboard
https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/H81MPLUS/