Budget PC upgrade

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Mark_T

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Hi guys,

I've got about R1500 - R1800 to use to upgrade my current PC. The main thing I want out of the upgrade is for my PC to be as quite as possible, so I'll need to replace my case, CPU cooler, as well as the graphics card because at the moment it's extremely loud. Any recommendations? What other parts should I upgrade?

Specs:

Mobo - Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2l
CPU - Dual Core E2180 2.0Ghz with stock cooler
RAM - Kingston 1 GB DDR2-800 RAM
GPU - Gigabyte 7800GT
HDD - Seagate 160 GB IDE HDD
PSU - Gigabyte 360W PSU
Case - Gigabyte GZ-M1

Thanks
 
No, the noise coming from the graphics card and CPU coolers. I tried cleaning them both out but they're still very loud.
 
Try taking a fan out, fan by fan to eliminate the loud noise. Take a fan out and turn the PC on to hear the noise difference but don't leave it on, your system could overheat and fry. Then report back and we'll have some constructive advice.
 
Well 1.8k is not really that much to upgrade with man, you need more memory a better cpu and better vga card for 1.8k

Pentium 2.8 Dual Core E6300(800FSB 2MB)LGA 775Pinn R 619 excl. R 705 incl.
2GB DDRII-800 (Kingston - KVR800D2N5/2G) R 309 excl. R 352 incl.
HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E DUAL DVI-I / TVO R 1,055 excl. R 1,202 incl.

Slightly over budget but yea that would be a decent upgrade.
 
stroebs said:
Try taking a fan out, fan by fan to eliminate the loud noise. Take a fan out and turn the PC on to hear the noise difference but don't leave it on, your system could overheat and fry. Then report back and we'll have some constructive advice.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks I did that. I've only got one system fan which doesn't make much noise, the stock Intel CPU cooler makes a fair bit of noise, but the graphics card fan makes by far the most noise.

I think I'm going to replace the stock Intel cooler with a Coolermaster Hyper TX3, and upgrade the graphics card to something more recent. Would a better case not reduce noise?
 
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What I want to know is, are you okay with the speed of your PC? What do you use it for?

Buying a Zalman or CoolerMaster CPU cooler will reduce the noise in your system as well as buying a new GPU. Another thing you may want to upgrade is your RAM, just buy another gig, it's cheap.
 
stroebs said:
Try taking a fan out, fan by fan to eliminate the loud noise. Take a fan out and turn the PC on to hear the noise difference but don't leave it on, your system could overheat and fry. Then report back and we'll have some constructive advice.
Click to expand...

Yes, start with your CPU fan, remove it. And check if that is causing the noise. Then report back here and we'll give you advice
 
AcidRaZor said:
Yes, start with your CPU fan, remove it. And check if that is causing the noise. Then report back here and we'll give you advice
Click to expand...

You may not have noticed but he has already replied. GPU is making the most noise.
 
stroebs said:
You may not have noticed but he has already replied. GPU is making the most noise.
Click to expand...

You may or may not have noticed that Acid was talking with his tongue firmly embedded in his cheek. What do you think would happen if you removed the CPU fan and then booted into Windows?
 
Rodent-Boy said:
You may or may not have noticed that Acid was talking with his tongue firmly embedded in his cheek. What do you think would happen if you removed the CPU fan and then booted into Windows?
Click to expand...

Who was talking about booting into windows? I clearly stated in my earlier post for him NOT to boot into windows. And Acid didn't mention booting into windows either...
 
So Acid was suggesting that he take his CPU fan off, don't boot, and just stare at the bare CPU to see if it starts glowing red?
 
Ya, I would like a little bit extra speed, but I sleep in the same room as the PC so I need it to be as quite as possible. I got an offer to swap my PC + 1.6K for a Lenovo Thinkpad T61, would this be better? Or should I rather upgrade my PC?

Specs of the T61:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (2.2GHz, 800MHz FSB, 4MB Cache)
Display: WXGA+ 1440 x 900 (LG screen)
Hard Drive: 250GB 7200RPM
Memory: 2GB (1GB x 1GB)
 
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