Rate my upgrade path

[Omegas]

Ok, so I don't have the normal upgrade path that most people do because my original parts become my wifes new parts and her old parts become either the Media Centers' upgrades (rarely) or kids/friends/spare Comp parts. By the time spare parts are actually spare and unused they are usually 3 to 4 generations old. (spare 6800gs anyone?)

So right now here are my current boxes.

Main
e8400 @ 3.6 on a P5Q Pro with stock vcore
2x2gb's DDR2 800
64gb SSD + 120gb WD (sata)
XFX 5870 pushing 2 x U2410 and 2407 for eyefinity
Quatro 850 died so on my spare StealthXstream 500w untill new PSU is purchased

Wifes
e6300 conroe @ 2.8 on an Abit P35 with stock vcore
4x1gb DDR2 800
200gb WD 7200
HD4870 512mb pushing 1 x 2409wfp and some 22" TN thing..
PSU, err can't remember...

Media Center
9850BE @ 2.5 on a M3N78-VN
2x1gb DDR2 800
500gb WD
9800GTX+ Hybrid SLI'd to the IGP 8200 onboard (functional) pushing a 50" samsung plasma
PSU 400 or 450 Earthwatts that came in the Antec Fusion Case.

Spare Box
be-2400 @ 2.3 on a M3A78-EM
1gb DDR2 800
80gb WD
PSU err something...

Server
Acer Aspire Easystore H340 with 5gb's of movies/pix/stuff


Now comes the fun part, I just ordered a 1.5tb Seagate 7200.11 for a stupid low price and snagged the new amd 1055t at a stupid low price. As far as what each system does, both me and the wife game, the media center also does encodes/rips and plays WoW when nephews come over, and the Spare is just well, sits there. It maybe the HTPC for the spare bedroom though... I have a WDTV Live for our bedroom.

My idea is to swap my e8400/P5Qpro for the wifes e6300/Abit P35. Sell/trade the e6300 to a friend for not much + his P4 with HT. Take his P4 /w HT and sell it for not much to another friend to replace his total POS thing... ( I think athlon XP ) I would then take the spare computers M3A78-EM and shoe horn that 1055t beast into it and hope for at least 3.4 @ stock volts. Swap the be-2400 over to the media center (won't play WoW as well but meh..) and do something with my 9850BE.. This will allow my rig to do all the vid incoding along with gaming and I'll be past a Dual Core setup for those new games that like/use the extra cores.

Now I'm at a loss what to do with HD's. Should I keep the 7200.11 in my box along with the SSD or put the 500gb WD in mine with the SSD and put the 7200.11 into the wifes. The media Center would end up with my wifes 200gb WD or 120gb WD (I'm not sure if it's 7200 or 5400) I prob should leave the 500g WD in the Media Center since it's a greenie and that comp stays on 24/7, guess it matters whether with 120 is 7200 or not, have to check.

Thoughts? Comments? TLDR?? Will make cliffs on request..

 

[akirarat]

I'm confused at who's getting what, but P4s are horrible and you're probably doing your friend a disservice by selling it to him/her. They're hot, slow, underpowered. Anyway, do whatever you like with the hard drives, sell them or give them away.

 

[engiNURD]

put the 1TB wherever its needed. looks like you figured everything else out. My hand-me-down-chain is similar to yours, but twice the size. With the FS/T forum and combos from Fry's/MC, I've been able to keep both chains filled with relatively newer hardware for minimal upgrade costs.

 

[Omegas]

The friend getting the Pent D pretty much doesn't have much money for computer upgrades but still likes to game on occasion. This will allow him to leave AGP behind and enjoy additional upgrade paths with little cost, I also have a spare 7600gt ( I think ) that could go to him as well. All told I'll prob charge him $40 for all (proc/MB/Vid) and he'd be out of the stone age and into the 1800's at least.

And Enginurd, isn't it nice seeing these once great computer parts continue being useful tools. While some things just need to go away ( CRT's, i'm lookin at you..), others are still just plain usefull but get no love. Like that e6300 conroe, had it for almost 4 years now. Paid $75 used, on this forum, and got lots of good use out of it. I know the guy I'd be selling it to will get a least a few more years out of it also.

 

[Dangman]

Looks like you got this figured out.