Upgrading My PC

[tnafan107]

hey guys

i currently have a Packard Bell IMedia Desktop Pc with 1gb ram / 160gb hard drive

Heres My Specs : sugup.jpg - ImageHost.org

im planning on upgrading to 4gb ram / 500gb hard drive , i know what ram i need for the motherboard , do i need to find a specific internal hdd to work with my motherboard or do they all work with one

(please suggest some upgrades also , i have £200 to spend ^^ not including the hdd + ram)

heres one i like :

Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA-II - WD5001AALS on eBay (end time 14-Jan-10 21:49:23 GMT)

how do i find out if i have an SATA/IDE Drive and also if its sata , how do i find out if i can have SATA II drives on my motherboard or not ?

ty

Tnafan

 

[Trotter]

Do you have the iMedia B2218? That's the only iMedia I saw with a 160GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM, anyway.

That model, as well as all other iMedia models shown on PB's web site use SATA drives, so you should be good. If you want to be sure, open up the case and have a look. SATA cables are small, about 3/8" wide (I'm in the US and we use inches ). PATA/ATA/IDE cables are wide and flat, about 2.5-3" wide. The power connector for a SATA drive is small and flat, while a IDE drive uses a molex connector.

SATA II is completely backwards compatible with SATA I connectors. The maximum theorectical throughput is different, but even SATA I drives do not fully saturate the bandwidth available to them.

 

[tnafan107]

please can someone reply as ive changed my post since trotter answered !

 

[aliasaid]

seems like trotter answered all of your questions...

your computer uses SATA and since SATA2 HDs are backwards compatible you could get one for your computer. Here's something you could get:

Western Digital WD7501AALS 750GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM Caviar Black - Ebuyer

or

Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM - Ebuyer

depending on how much space you need.

 

[tnafan107]

thanks dude ill get the 1tb

another question , what other upgrades should i get for my computer ? thanks

 

[aliasaid]

what is it that you do with your computer?

i don't recommend any upgrades unless they're ones you can take on to a new computer. I would save my money and try to get a new computer altogether.

make sure you have a SATA wire for that hard drive.

 

[tnafan107]

hmm i suppose just the ram and and the 1tb hdd

people have told me i can overclock my processor , how do i do this if it can be done ?

thanks

 

[aliasaid]

overclocking generally can not be done on prebuilt systems like yours. The manufacturers lock the bios on the motherboards so that you can't play with the settings. If you build the computer yourself, you'll be able to play around with the settings and clock your CPU higher.

 

[Fat.Clown]

how does this look?
Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H 785G Socket AM3 DVI VGA HDMI Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard
G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw Memory Kit CL7(7-8-7-24) 1.65V
AMD Athlon II 425 X3 Socket AM3 512KB L2 Cache Retail Box Processor

£200.07

upgrade to ddr3
triple core processor
and better graphics

 

[tnafan107]

hmm dude i got another question , if my hard drive currently has an 8MB cache , will a 32mb one work on my system or will i have to get another 8mb ?