Upgrading My Computer

[Seggons]

I've had my current computer that I built for 4 years now and it's starting to get a bit long in the tooth. The current specification of it is:

Motherboard: Asus P5N32-E SLI
CPU: Intel C2D E6600
RAM: Kingston 4GB (2x2GB)
Graphics: Nvidia 8800GTS
PSU: OCZ GameXStream 700W
Hard Drives: 1x200GB 1x300GB 1x500GB
Operating System: Windows Vista 64-Bit

The main purpose of the machine was for gaming. But I've moved away from all that and it's actually rare that I play anything. Now a-days it's video editing and rendering in Sony Vegas which this system can just about manage. So I'm after something new and fresh but to save cost I'll keep my current graphics card and PSU.

My dilemma is do I keep my current motherboard or move with the times and get a 1366 i7 socket motherboard? If I was to keep the motherboard the list of parts would be:

Motherboard: Keep my existing one
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9505
RAM: Kingston 8GB (4x2GB) DDR2 800MHz
Graphics: Keep existing
PSU: Keep existing
Hard Drives: Remove existing and replace with OCZ 60GB Vertex 2E SSD 2.5" SATA-II and Seagate ST31000528AS 1TB Hard Drive SATAII
Operating System: Windows 7 64-Bit
Other Bits: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2, Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste, Arctic Silver ArctiClean 30ml Thermal material remover and thermal surface purifier

Total Price: £545

Or should I jump on the i7 wagon and get:

Motherboard: XFX X58i Socket 1366
CPU: Intel Core i7 950
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz (2x4GB)
Graphics: Keep existing
PSU: Keep exisiting
Hard Drives: Remove existing and replace with OCZ 60GB Vertex 2E SSD 2.5" SATA-II and Seagate 1TB 3.5" Barracuda SATA-III
Operating System: Windows 7 64-Bit
Other Bits: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2, Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste, Arctic Silver ArctiClean 30ml Thermal material remover and thermal surface purifier

Price: £638

I used to follow the whole computer technology train ages ago when I built my current system. But I since drifted away and kind of randomly picked that motherboard. I'm guessing any i7 is good currently? Also the idea of the solid state drive is to host Windows on it and possibly Vegas and other bits.

So what should I do, upgrade my existing system and put the saved money towards a couple of new monitors or spend an extra £100 and go i7?

Thanks to all that reply. :)

[Mr Speirs]

I dont know Seggons and I dont really care.

But Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay you're back!! I've missed your face.

[grimey121uk]

For 90quid more just get the i7
then sell what you have now

[collis]

I wouldnt host Vegas on the SSD as they are not that fast for non repetitive data like movies and music. Windows definately. Unless you can hold the core of Vegas on the ssd and get all the work done on the normal drive.
Also, why not get a 2TB drive instead of 1? Misco have an offer today of 2tb western digital for £95
Linky (http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=501880&sourceid=5637&cm_mmc=Lyris-_-BB-_-BB5637-_-Q293938)

[andrewsmith]

Definitely stay away from SSD's there not that good for the price they are.

I'd definitely do the processor and motherboard, and poss look at the option of double the RAM 16GB.
I agree with Grimley and would sell off the old machine with the two additional HD's cleared or removed

[Kenzie]

If you are looking to use the system for gaming then that card is going to throttle your system. Be careful when buying Windows as I think eBay have banned people selling Windows 7 as so many were fake.

[Seggons]

I dont know Seggons and I dont really care.

But Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay you're back!! I've missed your face.

Hehe I've never really been away, I'm more of a viewer then a poster. Are you, Binky and G still having that secret relationship? ;)

I wouldnt host Vegas on the SSD as they are not that fast for non repetitive data like movies and music. Windows definately. Unless you can hold the core of Vegas on the ssd and get all the work done on the normal drive.
Also, why not get a 2TB drive instead of 1? Misco have an offer today of 2tb western digital for £95
Linky (http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=501880&sourceid=5637&cm_mmc=Lyris-_-BB-_-BB5637-_-Q293938)

Thanks for the advice about Vegas. I would actually prefer to have smaller drives. My theory is the bigger the drive the bigger the data loss if it's not kept backed up regularly. Once I get some more money I'll get a couple of new monitors plus another hard drive for backups.

[Mr Speirs]

Hehe I've never really been away, I'm more of a viewer then a poster. Are you, Binky and G still having that secret relationship? ;)

There nowt secret about it. We touch eachothers bums n stuff.

[Seggons]

Definitely stay away from SSD's there not that good for the price they are.

I'd definitely do the processor and motherboard, and poss look at the option of double the RAM 16GB.
I agree with Grimley and would sell off the old machine with the two additional HD's cleared or removed

Are they not even worth the lack of boot up time they offer? I was given one of those Asus eepc thingys and the boot up time of that is mega quick. As for the RAM I can always add to that since I have spare slots when the time comes.

There wont be that much to sell from the old system. Some old RAM, an old E6600 with stock heatsink and that's about it. I prefer to keep the hard drives and use as backups or something.

If you are looking to use the system for gaming then that card is going to throttle your system. Be careful when buying Windows as I think eBay have banned people selling Windows 7 as so many were fake.

It's not going to be used for gaming much at all. Maybe a quick blast for an hour or so. Maybe in time to come I might upgrade it but for now it should be sufficient.

As for Windows, I'll be buying it all from ebuyer so I don't get that issue but thanks for the heads up. :)

There nowt secret about it. We touch eachothers bums n stuff.

Some things might actually be better kept secret. :lol:

[maviczap]

Well I'm no expect when it comes to specc'ing computers, but here's what I put in my latest build

1OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit - 1333MHz RAM Speed, CAS 9-9-9-20 Timings, 1.6-1.65v VDIMM, 10yr Warranty with OCZ. £46.99 City Link #CRW00420 (http://www.city-link.co.uk/pod/podfrm.php?JobNo=CRW00420) 1Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32 Bit OEM - Windows 7 Home Premium 32-Bit 1PK OEM £71.76 City Link #CRW00420 (http://www.city-link.co.uk/pod/podfrm.php?JobNo=CRW00420) 1Arianet GeForce GT 240 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card - 575MHz Core, 1400MHz Shader, 1024MB 1600MHz GDDR3 Memory, 96 Stream Processors, 1x Analogue, 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2yr Warranty £68.14 1Intel E5500 Dual Core CPU Socket LGA 775 - BX80571E5700 - Intel Pentium Dual Core E5700, S775, Wolfdale-3M, 3.0 GHz, 2MB Cache, 15x Core Ratio, 65W, Retail £53.40 1Intel X25-V Value 40GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive - Retail - Read Speed: 170MB/Sec, Write Speed: 35MB/Sec, Flash: MLC, Controller: Intel, Buffer: 64MB, 3 Years Warranty. ***CHEAPEST 4... £66.99 1 1LG BH10LS30 Internal Blu-Ray ReWriter BD-RW SATA Drive - Black - OEM - LG BH10LS30.AUAU10B, 10x Blu-Ray Writer, 16x DVD±R, 8x +RW, 6x -RW, 12x RAM - OEM

Gladiator XPS 430 Gaming BareBones PC + 375w PSU - X48 Chipset, Supports DDR3 Memory



I built it to a price I had in mind, I don't do a lot of gaming, but I do do a fair bit of video editing. The SSD is super quick on boot up, although it is a tad small, but any new programs are loaded onto E drive, which is a 1Tb HD.

Its a very quiet machine and fairly future proof for me, I like Windows 7 as well, although nothing wrong with XP in my book.

Keep your old PC and turn it into a media centre
£69.99

[-Ralph-]

Isn't it cheaper to buy a new one and flog yours on ebay?

[maviczap]

Isn't it cheaper to buy a new one and flog yours on ebay?

Where's the fun in that :rolleyes:

I prefer not to have a computer loaded with bloatware I don't need or use :D

[andrewsmith]

Are they not even worth the lack of boot up time they offer? I was given one of those Asus eepc thingys and the boot up time of that is mega quick. As for the RAM I can always add to that since I have spare slots when the time comes.

There wont be that much to sell from the old system. Some old RAM, an old E6600 with stock heatsink and that's about it. I prefer to keep the hard drives and use as backups or something.

Furry muff

My experience is with the Mac Book air and SSD's and they were silly money over a std super compact HD

[Jackie_Black]

I have 2 SSd's striped in raid zero and they make the computer boot up quick. I use them for my OS and the system is snappy. If i was upgrading your PC i'd just throw in the quickest quad you can get and the most ram the board will take for video. You might wanna raid a few normal HDD's for a scratch disk too to speed things up.

[Seggons]

Isn't it cheaper to buy a new one and flog yours on ebay?

Possibly if I was actually starting from totally new. I'm keeping the sound card, graphics card, PSU and hard drives so it doesn't leave much to sell. I did price up a new computer but it worked out at just over £1,000. So I thought it would be a little bit cheaper just to upgrade the parts that I need to.

Furry muff

My experience is with the Mac Book air and SSD's and they were silly money over a std super compact HD

To be honest I am being a bit foolish buying a SSD now because the prices are always going to fall. It wasn't long ago when 1TB hard drives were mega expensive.

I have 2 SSd's striped in raid zero and they make the computer boot up quick. I use them for my OS and the system is snappy. If i was upgrading your PC i'd just throw in the quickest quad you can get and the most ram the board will take for video. You might wanna raid a few normal HDD's for a scratch disk too to speed things up.

If I was going to go down the route of putting in the quickest quad core it would bring the price up to £625. That's bringing it just shy of the i7 setup.

If the Intel Core 2 Quad is as quick as the Intel Core i7 950 then it would make it worth while. But if there is more performance in the i7 then surely it would be better to go the i7 route?

I'm tempted to throw another £40 at the i7 setup and go for the Asus Sabertooth X58 Socket 1366. After reading some reviews of the cheaper boards they seem a bit hit and miss. The Sabertooth seems to be coming out quite well in reviews so far.

[Jackie_Black]

Quickest quad is about £220 atm. If you have a dual core now and encode a lot of video you are going to notice a serious difference in processing. Ditching vista will help too cos its ****e. You could do serious ram, cpu and hdds for about £400. I too suffer from building serious PC's. My current one is an absolute *******. Some of the best improvements I've made have been to HDD's. stripe a few HDD's and use the stripe as a video editing disk and it will speed the system up a lot. HDD's are a serious bottle neck.

[-Ralph-]

Where's the fun in that :rolleyes:

I prefer not to have a computer loaded with bloatware I don't need or use :D

Suppose it depends if building computers comes high on your 'fun' list :smt102

Personally sex, motorbikes, and playing games with my son all come much higher on mine ;)

You can always uninstall the bloatware.

[maviczap]

Personally sex, motorbikes, and playing games with my son all come much higher on mine ;)

I still have time for those sorts of things as well :smt050

[Ruffy]

Maybe I'm missing something here: If your main use is going to be rendering and video editing (all graphics intensive), why are you not seeking to upgrade your video card? Surely that's the bit that's going to do the work.

[Seggons]

You could do serious ram, cpu and hdds for about £400.

The closest I can get is just over £600 with the quickest quad core. http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/3285/basketn.jpg

Would I notice even more of a difference if I put £50 more towards it and get a i7 setup? Or is that quad core equal to an i7 CPU? :)

Maybe I'm missing something here: If your main use is going to be rendering and video editing (all graphics intensive), why are you not seeking to upgrade your video card? Surely that's the bit that's going to do the work.

When I say rendering I mean video rendering and not 3DMax rendering. As far as I've seen so far Sony Vegas is mainly CPU and RAM intensive. Normally when my video card has to do any work the fan normally spins up and makes lots of noise. So far when using Sony Vegas the GPU fan has not kicked in once.

[Jackie_Black]

Video rendering is just pure number crunching from the CPU, RAM and HDDs. If you add a fast quad and double the ram you will notice a huge difference but probably create a bottle neck at the HDD's which is why i suggested striping a few cheap HDD's. I think the i7 is definitely a way to go if you must have the latest and greatest and if its only a little more expensive it may be worth it. BUt if you just change the CPU and nothing else you should still see a massive improvement.

[maxinc]

I'm with Jackie on this one. For video editing lots of ram and CPU power. The i7 is an amazing choice if you can afford it.

Hard drives, depends what sort of video editing you do but for huge HD files, faster drives would help a lot. Have you considered the VelociRaptors? A bit pricey but they're 10k rpm in 2.5" form factor and significantly faster. Instead of RAID0 I would go with multiple individual drives for each type of media. Video drive, Audio, Scratch, Export Drive etc. Is not the read / write speed that is the bottleneck but the low access time mechanical drives suffer from. This could be reduces when a drive doesn't need to read and write several files at the same time.

SSD for OS, Applications and Page file I would say is a must. Can't believe anyone would disagree on this one since they make such a huge difference in system responsiveness and multitasking.

i7 with 8GB-16GB RAM
Win7 Pro x64
60G SSD
2-4 Data Drives
Velociraptors if you can afford them

[Seggons]

I think it's got to the point where I'm going to have to draw a line in the sand. The problem with computer upgrading is the price keeps going up and up and up. I'd love to go down your route Maxinc but I'm looking at another £200 if I get a couple of those drives. Then I could move on and say I'd be better off going for the 1155 Sandy Bridge socket since there's another 15 to 20 percent speed upgrade there. Next thing I know I'm knocking on for £1000. :lol:

Has anyone got any advice on the following setup.

Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth X58 Socket 1366 (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/241996)
CPU: Intel Core i7 950 Socket 1366 (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166528)
Cooling: Artic Cooling Freezer 7 rev 2 (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176157) with Artic Silver 5 Paste (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/126410)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/262579)
Hard Drives: OCZ 60GB SSD SATA-II (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225415) and Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA-III (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/252858)
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168373)
Cleaning: Artic ArctiClean (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139175)

Thanks alot everyone for their input on this thread. :D

[hindle8907]

I wouldn't get that cooler it made no difference in temp really from the stock cooler.

I did have it as you can see here

http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo290/hindle8907/LR10Medium.jpg


and I changed it for a zalman which is excellent and lets me clock my 3.2 AMD Phenom II X4 to 3.6 and is very stable.

http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo290/hindle8907/IMG_1081.jpg

I would also swap the 1TB Seagate for a 1TB samsung spin point.

[Jackie_Black]

I loved those coolers when I was running air. Why not just try running A quad instead of a dual core. its effectively 2 more faster processors bolted onto your pc. As for the HDD's I agree about the access times and stuff but if you get to shooting and editing hd video you are going to need very fast (hence raided) throughput to avoid a bottle neck, these will be big files and you wanna move them quick!!

[Jackie_Black]

Also you can probably get a really stable Overclock of about 3.4 gig running air on the fastest L775 quads. I've been running my 2.4 at 3.1 gig for over a year and a half now.

[james160987]

i find a ssd help improve performace, I hold most of the core os on the ssd and other programs on a normal sata drive,

Why not something like the 1155 boards and sandybridge cpu,

[Seggons]

I wouldn't get that cooler it made no difference in temp really from the stock cooler.

Thanks alot for that advice. I never really thought to look up the performance of different fans. After a few hours pawing over reviews the Zalman does get a high review but the following cooler gets a better review. The Akasa Nero 2 (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/237704). From what I've read the Zalman is a bit on the louder side and a bit of a hassle when being installed. Plus the Akasa seems to come out with slightly lower temperatures overall.

Why not just try running A quad instead of a dual core.

I have looked at the cheapest quad core and I worked out that I'm only going to be saving myself £50. My plan is to build a system that's going to last me another 4 years like this one has. I personally don't think a cheap quad is going to keep me happy for the next 4 years.

Why not something like the 1155 boards and sandybridge cpu,

Do you know what, I've just about got everything set in my head until you come and post that. After doing some pricing and realising it's not as much as I thought I can get Intel Core i7 2600 (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/252536) plus the Asus P8P67 Pro (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/260185) for about £26 more. Now I'm all confuzzled weather I should now move to the Sandy Bridge or stick with the nehalem. Help? :neutral: :D

[maviczap]

Certainly the Zalman I fitted to my media centre PC is a noisey beast, and the fan speed controller didn't work, so its always spinning at a constant RPM. I was stuck with the Zalman, as I needed a low profile cpu fan, because of clearance issues with the blu ray player in the case.

[Jackie_Black]

I have looked at the cheapest quad core and I worked out that I'm only going to be saving myself £50. My plan is to build a system that's going to last me another 4 years like this one has. I personally don't think a cheap quad is going to keep me happy for the next 4 years.


Well i'm due an upgrade too soon. I've toyed with building another complete system. I currently have a 2.4 gig quad in there and 4 gig of 1800mhz ram. I looked at the fastest I7's and I honestly think by just getting the 3 gig L775 quad and 8 gig of ram my pc will be great for another 3 years. My reason for not wanting to go I7 is quite simple. I think we are really starting to get to a law of diminishing returns with pc's at the moment and so my current platform will be fine until the next generation comes along. Just my twopenneth. My current 280 gtx grafix card is by no means cutting edge but it still plays all the games on my 27" screen. Saying that if you can build a complete PC for about £50 more then go for it. I tend to spend £250 on my mobos alone so thats why i like to keep me pc's running a while!!

[Seggons]

Another way I'm looking at this is this might be the last year where I can kind of be a bit careless with money and enjoy myself. It might also be the last time I can do a upgrade of this kind.

I've always been waiting for that 'next generation' but no sooner has it come out they then announce the next generation. So I've decided just to go for it instead of waiting for things to settle or slow down.

Each setup that I've built has always been middle range. If my current computer had all high end bits in it I'd be alot more inclined to put another 775 chip in it. I'm going to be ordering the new setup sometime next week hopefully. :D

[Kenzie]

Hope everything goes ok. I bought an Intel 1155 Sandybridge set up and three days later they announced a recall. Not impressed. Never did swap my board but just used the unaffected sockets.

[Jackie_Black]

Each setup that I've built has always been middle range. If my current computer had all high end bits in it I'd be alot more inclined to put another 775 chip in it. I'm going to be ordering the new setup sometime next week hopefully. :D

Yeah well my current rig comprises of.

Asus striker extreme 2
Quad core 2.4 running at about 3.2
4 gig of 1800 mhz ram
2 ssds in raid zero for win 7 64 and most used apps
@ spinpoint 160s in raid zero for scratch disk (mainly audio work) I also install all my games on here for speed.
1 TB datadisc for miscellaneous crap.
Geforce GTX 280
Dell 27" monitor
2 19" ilyama monitors at either side of the dell

All of this is housed in a custom coolermaster case with a custom water loop cooling it all down. It runs incredibly well and I have real need to upgrade, but I will put in a 3gig quad soon and some faster ram to get a few more years out of it. Mainly because the FSB on the newer quads is 1333 mine is only 1066. This means when i OC the new chip i'll get even more bang for me buck.

I think that will keep me close to a top I7 level of performance so can't see the need to build one. I will however probably get a new system on the go when they announce their new major chip family which I believe will have loads and loads of cores...:D

[Seggons]

Hope everything goes ok. I bought an Intel 1155 Sandybridge set up and three days later they announced a recall. Not impressed. Never did swap my board but just used the unaffected sockets.

I have seen that there have been some issues going about. I know that the Asus board I'm getting was first fitted with a dodgy chip and they had to recall them all. But now they are on the B3 revision everything seems to be ok.

When things get released to the public there is always problems. It all depends on how quick the programmers can code to get these issues fixed.

Jackie: If I had a system like that I don't think I would be worried about upgrading. It does seem like a very nice setup you have there. Your 2 cores up on mine, have a better motherboard then me and I'm running on 3 Hard Drives that are all 90% full. :D

[Kenzie]

Yeah, it was to do with the 3gbps sata ports, but I run my stuff on the 6gbps ports which aren't affected. Couldn't be bothered to strip the rig down for recall, but only 5% of boards were faulty anyway. I had already sent the board back as duff which they swapped.

[Seggons]

This is something I'm a bit confused about. I take it that 6Gbps ports are a new or recent thing. Does this mean I can plug my hard drive into the 6Gbps port and it will run quicker? Or does the actual device have to be built to run on the 6Gbps port?

Also is the new USB 3.0 connections different to USB 2.0? My case has 2 USB 2.0 ports on the front, can I plug the lead into the USB 3.0 socket on the motherboard and turn them into USB 3.0 ports?

[maxinc]

This is something I'm a bit confused about. I take it that 6Gbps ports are a new or recent thing. Does this mean I can plug my hard drive into the 6Gbps port and it will run quicker? Or does the actual device have to be built to run on the 6Gbps port?

Unless you have an ultrafast SSD like the OCZ Vertex 3 which can benefit from the extra bandwidth, SATA3 will have no effect on your existing drives. SATA 2 can deliver up to 300MB/s per drive.

Also is the new USB 3.0 connections different to USB 2.0? My case has 2 USB 2.0 ports on the front, can I plug the lead into the USB 3.0 socket on the motherboard and turn them into USB 3.0 ports?

No. They will only work as USB2 ports. USB3 connector has extra contacts.

[rodders]

Have you considered overclocking? I have i5 760 quad core with each core running at 4 ghz they will run faster but I want the reliability.

Spend your money on raid drives

You wont max out sata 2!

[Kenzie]

This is something I'm a bit confused about. I take it that 6Gbps ports are a new or recent thing. Does this mean I can plug my hard drive into the 6Gbps port and it will run quicker? Or does the actual device have to be built to run on the 6Gbps port?

Also is the new USB 3.0 connections different to USB 2.0? My case has 2 USB 2.0 ports on the front, can I plug the lead into the USB 3.0 socket on the motherboard and turn them into USB 3.0 ports?

The 6gbps is fairly new but the drive has to be compatible. A usb2 will fit in a usb3 port but won't benefit from the extra spped as usb3 has extra pins. You would need a usb3 device.

[Seggons]

Thanks for clearing that up Maxinc and Kenzie. :)

Rodders: The only overclocking I've done is to mess about in Asus'es software but not actually know what I was doing. One thing I did learn that by clicking the wrong things it made the temperature shoot up with the stock cooler followed by the computer acting very strange. At that point I thought it best to leave alone.

So I'd rather just buy a quick CPU to start with. I'm still a bit undecided weather to go for the i7 2600 or the 2600k. I'd prefer not to spend the extra money but from what I read the 2600 has limited overclocking on it. Decisions decisions. :D

[maxinc]

Yes, the Sandy Bridge architecture has this feature called turbo boost which is basically a on-the-fly over clocking for those moments when extra power is really needed. I think is a lot better than having it OCed al the time.