RAM, Harddrives, and buying cheaply questions

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Didn't know what to title this really but I'm looking to upgrade my computer a bit.

Currently running a quad core pc with 2gb DDR2 PC-5300 ram in it and with Windows 7 32 bit preinstalled on a 500gb hard drive.

Recently I've been told that for a quad core, you really should be running 64 bit as it handles more processors alot better?

Anyway as I have a 64 bit copy of windows 7 sitting here I thought I'd install that over the next copy of weeks whilst I wait for my start date for my new job (give me something to do).


Heres whats on the shopping list:

4GB DDR2 anything PC-5300+ considered, ideally I'd prefer this as two 2GB sticks or as a single 4gb stick.
I'm debating whether its necessary having 6GB of RAM?? This is a general all-purpose machine that runs ALL of the latest games at high settings, burns/rips dvd's, and occasionally also acts as a server for games/software.

1TB SATA hard drive: I'd consider anything 750gb or above, with the amount of work and games I play and use this computer for, space is paramount, I have about 80gb of my 500gb left and tbh that was cut down alot from 20gb free space left!

Lastly, I want some software (preferably 'free' ) to back up all my data onto either the new 1tb drive.. or a 300gb external drive (obviously it won't ALL fit) as i'd rather not lose anything!

Cost:

I'd ideally like to get both the RAM and Harddrive for under £50 not bothered about specs too much providing they work. Would consider buying 2nd hand providing its tested.
I have found some RAM which seems to fit the bill but it is stickered as 'DELL'? Does anyone know that if they fit other computers or are they dell specific?

Can't seem to find any 1tb harddrives for under £35, anyone got any cheap places to buy these as well?

Thanks in advance!

to anyone who can help!
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[Frost]

50 quid for all that is a big ask.
a TB hard drive will cost more like 50 quid, and it's worth getting a decent brad one as having it fail and lose everything just really isn't worth it.
Are you regularly running out of ram? If not then adding more won't improve things in any way at all. Getting some faster ram might help though. As for the dell ram thing, it doesnt matter what it's branded provided it's unbuffered 240pin DDR2.
As for changing to windows 64, i'd suggest not fixing it if it's not broken. I'm running a 32 bit operating system on my 6 core system with no ill effects. I've run 64 bit in the past and encountered the odd compatability problem. I seem to remember 64 bit browsers being crap and plug in's not working for them. might have all been solved by now but i wouldn't recommend uninstalling a fully functional OS just to 'upgrade' to 64 bit.

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[el_oso]

you should be able to find a 2Tb for about a fiver/tenner more than a 1Tb drive.
i think i payed around £65 for a 2Tb a little while ago.
do you really need more RAM. i can rarely use half my 4Gb of RAM. Unless you are going to be doing things like video/sound/photograph editing or running virtual machines then i seriously doubt you will need more than 2Gb of RAM. if you want to play all the latest games maxed out, you need to keep your video card up to date more than anything else. processor and RAM are hardly used in comparison to how hard the GC works.
the best upgrade for RAM would be to add another sticks of exactly the same as what you have now.

Aria
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