PC Upgrade

[egneg]

This is a hint of things to come ...

[JimClark]

Gamer

[Meniscus]

Very cool Egneg! I just put one together myself.

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Let me know if there's something you need. I've got some various computer items laying around that could use a home.

[egneg]

Very cool Egneg! I just put one together myself.

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Let me know if there's something you need. I've got some various computer items laying around that could use a home.

Looks great ... whats in it?

[Jeff Wohlt]

Maybe one of you could tell me if I can upgrade my processor or if I am better off with a new PC. Athlon 3000. Can a person just change certain items to sped it up? It will only take 2 gig of ram and graphics card is built in.

How hard to change to a dual processor?

[JimClark]

Get a new one Jeff and give the old one to your Kids

[Jeff Wohlt]

Probably the best idea. I just need a new tower with the latest guts. Tiger has some good prices.

[Meniscus]

Looks great ... whats in it?

It was built to serve as my stable platform for my studio. Point is, not the fastest stuff for gaming, but I've overclocked just for fun and remains stable at low temps up to 3.5 GHz per core.

MOBO: ASUS Sabertooth 55i P55R

• Supports the Intel® Core™ i7 and Intel® Core™ i5 Processors in the LGA1156 Package
• Intel® P55 Express Chipset
• CeraM!X Heatsink Coating Tech.
• CoolMem! Fan Frame
• E.S.P. [Efficient Switching Power]
• TUF Caps. & MOSFETs

CPU: INTEL | CORE I5 750 2.66G R

Core Lynnfield Multi-Core Quad-Core Name Core i5-750 Operating Frequency 2.66GHz L3 Cache 8MB Manufacturing Tech 45 nm 64 bit Support Yes Virtualization Technology Support Yes Thermal Design Power 95W

RAM: Kingston HyperX T1 Series 4GB

4GB (2GB 256M x 64-Bit x 2 pcs.) DDR3-2000MHz
CL9 240-Pin DIMM Kit => Dual Channel Matched with Heat Sinks
Note: with add-on memory cooler.

GFX: ASUS EN9600GT/DI/512MD3 GeForce 9600 GT

- Native HDMI Output Support
- 40% Energy Saving
- ASUS Exclusive Glaciator Fansink
- Ultimate Armament delivers top quality VGA


HDD 1&2: WD Caviar Black - QTY 2 @ 1TB

1 TB, SATA 3 Gb/s, 32 MB Cache, 7200 RPM


HDD 3 (Backup - Static Storage): WD Caviar Green - QTY 1 @ 1.5 TB

SATA Hard Drive
1.5 TB, 32 MB Cache, SATA 3 Gb/s


CASE: Raidmax Smilodon Extreme Black

I'm not a huge fan of Raidmax, but it has the right features and was cheap.
Some notable feature includes the ability to fold out the entire motherboard tray via lever. Card slots remain attached, all for easy access.

Again, I had to stick with compatible chipsets and the goal was stable.

[egneg]

That looks similar to what I am doing.

BFG 680i mobo, 600 watt ocz power supply, and a intel quad core on 4 gigs of ram and 1 TB hard drive w/ a 320 gig for back up and the 8800 vid card.

[Diegoboy]

I stopped upgrading my PC when I started to buy boats...

[Meniscus]

Egneg, if you haven't purchased everything yet, consider registering with Newegg. They have daily specials you receive via email and if you don't mind spreading your purchases over a couple of weeks, then you could really benefit. Just an idea.

[domwilson]

Newegg, Circuit City (Tiger) PC Mall all have good prices on computer parts. Newegg has good customer reviews which help you steer clear of junk. I have way too many computers and they're partly to blame...

[NativePaul]

I'm a gamer and normally upgrade something on my PC every year, I gave away my 8800 a few months ago when I upgraded to a 285.

Jeff, what do you use your computer for and do you rebuild it regularly? My mother wanted to upgrade her PC recently saying it wasn't fast enough for the stuff she runs any more but it turned out that she wasn't doing anything that needed a fast machine for, just surfing the net word processing and storing photos, her computer had just filled up with crap and she didn't have any free memory to run stuff so her PC was using virtual memory all the time, so I backed up all her photos and filed and reinstalled windows, reloaded her programs and a few hours and zero financial outlay later she was happy with the speed of her machine again.

If you have rebuilt recently and still aren't happy with your performance there may be a number of upgrades you can do for a lot less that a new PC would cost an almost universal one is memory pretty much whatever you use your PC for more memory will improve it, your motherboard will take 2gb does it have 2gb in it or just 1? its cheap as chips and a very worthwhile improvement just make sure you fit pairs so if it has a single 1gb stick in it you can get another for your 2gb but if it has 2x500mb sticks buy 2x 1gb sticks not 1x2gb stick as kinda like LiPos it can run 2 sticks in parallel to double the throughput. it depends what you are doing with your PC for other Mods but for myself the next on my list would be a graphics card which will help with watching videos, playing games, and using paint or cad programs, unless your serious about games and have modern titles this doesn't have to be expensive, a 6800 will be a vast improvement over onboard graphics and being a few years old can be had for a pittance if you know where to look, a graphics card will also have its own dedicated memory on board which will improve the performance even of tasks that aren't graphics hungry because you are not using up any system memory for graphics, just remember to go into bios and switch off the on board graphics after you fit it and install the drivers.the other thing you can do cheaply to increase performance is change the processor, Athlons were made for several different motherboard sockets so make sure you open the case note down the motherboard make and model and look up on the net which CPUs are compatible there may or may not be a worthwhile upgrade for your board, if there is you can probably upgrade to the boards to chip without spending a lot of cash and don't think that because it isnt an all singing all dancing modern 4 core processor costing hundreds you will always be at a massive disadvantage, older software has no support for multicore processors and for lots of older applications my Athlon 3800 was almost as quick as my X2 6400, its just programs I've bought in the last few years that show a large benefit.

[egneg]

Egneg, if you haven't purchased everything yet, consider registering with Newegg. They have daily specials you receive via email and if you don't mind spreading your purchases over a couple of weeks, then you could really benefit. Just an idea.

I am getting the mobo and quad core from a guy I work with that is upgrading to dual xeon and 16 gigs of ram. The 8800 I also got from him for 50 bucks as he went to one that cost a grand. The power supply is coming from newegg on Monday and the hard drive will be ordered next week when I get a bit more money from props.

[domwilson]

What OS are you planning on using?