Upgrading My Computer
 

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. :)

Re: Upgrading My Computer
 

I dont know Seggons and I dont really care.

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

Re: Upgrading My Computer
 

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

Re: Upgrading My Computer
 

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

Re: Upgrading My Computer
 

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

Re: Upgrading My Computer
 

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.

Re: Upgrading My Computer
 

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? ;)

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.

Re: Upgrading My Computer
 

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

Re: Upgrading My Computer
 

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.

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. :)

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

Re: Upgrading My Computer
 

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 1Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32 Bit OEM - Windows 7 Home Premium 32-Bit 1PK OEM £71.76 City Link #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