Upgrade dilemma HELP!

[crazjayz]

So I have this dilemma, and I'm asking all you fellow [H]er's to help me out with your suggestions. Here's the situation:

Currently, I use a relatively old desktop. It's a s939 AMD 4400+ with 2GB ram, 9600GT video card, and a Corsair 520HX. Now, as far as a completely new "badass" rebuild is concerned, I can't do that until I finish college and know what I'll be doing afterwards, which is in 1 year (May 2010). To further complicate things, my dad usually takes my old computers (he just does basic computing anyway) after I'm done with them. Right now, he's using a 2.6Ghz P4 with 512 ram, essentially a basic Dell comp.

Now for the question, do I sell my current rig (4400+, ram, 9600GT, and maybe the 520HX) and jump for a high performance/dollar setup (looking to spend around $500 for cpu, mobo, ram), or do I push onwards with my current rig, and give it to my dad after 1 year?

My main concerns are thus:
1) How well will my current rig perform after 1 year, so like between 2010 and 2013? Will it be too slow for basic computer (web browsing, word documents, watching movies), or will it suffice? Essentially, when I give my current rig to my dad in 1 year, can he still use it, or will he feel that it's worthless?

2) If your suggestion is to sell and get a new system, do you have any recommendations? Personally, I've been leaning towards this, but would definitely like a second (or third, or fourth) opinion. As far as when can I be ready to buy, at the earliest I'll be looking about a month away, which gives me this time to plan.

Whew! Hopefully someone can understand the situation I'm in. This is the first time I've run into this problem since I've got my desktop. For the past couple years I actually haven't used it that much, since I relied more on my laptops. But after those started to give out, and the warranty went bye-bye, I brought my current rig back to life.

Thanks for the help, suggestions, and advice in advance.

 

[Dangman]

This is more suited towards General Hardware since you're not asking about a prebuilt. PM a mod to move this thread.

If your current system is not performing to your needs, then build a new system. In other words, wait until you can no longer and then build.

1) For basic computing, your current system would be more than enough between 2011 and 2013.

2) $500 can get you some pretty nice hardware:
$197 - AMD Phenom II X4 920 CPU and GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AMD 770 ATX Motherboard Combo
$40 - A-Data ADQVE1B16K 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM
$170 - XFX GX260XADJF GeForce GTX 260 Core Edition Core 216 896MB PCI-E Video Card
----
Total: $407 plus tax and shipping.

 

[crazjayz]

This is more suited towards General Hardware since you're not asking about a prebuilt. PM a mod to move this thread.

If your current system is not performing to your needs, then build a new system. In other words, wait until you can no longer and then build.

1) For basic computing, your current system would be more than enough between 2011 and 2013.

2) $500 can get you some pretty nice hardware:
$197 - AMD Phenom II X4 920 CPU and GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AMD 770 ATX Motherboard Combo
$40 - A-Data ADQVE1B16K 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM
$170 - XFX GX260XADJF GeForce GTX 260 Core Edition Core 216 896MB PCI-E Video Card
----
Total: $407 plus tax and shipping.

Thanks for the reply! I don't know how the new AMD chips perform, as I've been out of the loop for a while now. All that I know is that Intel has been winning the high-end market for a while now.

Anyway, the more and more I think about it, the more and more I want a new rig (go figure). So here's what it's come down to:

1) I'm going to sell my s939 rig for sure, but I may keep my PSU.
2) I'm open to both AMD and Intel builds, but as far as video cards go, I'm all for Nvidia, for the simple reason that I fold 24/7 and I game maybe a couple hours per week.
3) My build price is now $750, assuming I can get ~ $250 for my old hardware.

So now that this has turned into a "build help" thread, here are the answers to the needed questions:

1) What will you be doing with this PC?
- Light gaming, daily computing, Folding@Home. I'm more concerned with the longevity of the system

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
- $750. Ideally tax and shipping included, but it's okay if it's not.

3) Where do you live?
- Southern California, Los Angeles area

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
- CPU, RAM, mobo, video card. Maybe a PSU (read below). AMD or Intel, I don't care.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
- I current have a Corsair 520HX power supply. I would like to use this in my next build, but I'm okay selling it as well if it can't handle this new build. I'll be using my current hard drive and optical drive.

6) Will you be overclocking?
- Yes. Initially I'll be going for a modest OC, so feel free to suggest a heatsink as well. I'm kinda partial to the TRUE though

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
- I have a Dell 3007WFP-HC. 30" and 2560x1600 pixels of glory. I do not game at this resolution though, so I feel GTX285 and whatnot would be overkill for me.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
- Within the next couple months.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
- SLI would be nice, as I'm preferrential to Nvidia GPUs, and I'm running a 30" screen. Esata would be a plus, but not mandatory.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
- No problems here.

Price/Performance ratio is what I'm looking for with this build. Another thing is that this build has to be reliable and last possibly 4-5 years, since I'll be passing this down to my dad in 1 year.

 

[thrawn86]

sounds like there's nothing wrong with the 407$ build for your uses. no need to burn extra money for power you're not using.

 

[Dangman]

sounds like there's nothing wrong with the 407$ build for your uses. no need to burn extra money for power you're not using.

I concur with thrawn86: Since you really don't want to get the GTX285, you are not planning at playing at 2560x1200, and plan for light gaming, I don't see any reason to not go with the $407 build I listed for you above.

The 520HX will be more than enough for the system I listed. AMD's socket AM2+ has a bit more longevity as you can use AMD's future socket AM3 CPUs with socket AM2+ mobos. AMD's socket AM3 is suppose to be AMD's top socket for another 2-3 years.

 

[crazjayz]

Can a 520HX handle a Phenom II X4 940 and 2 GTX260s with some slight OCing? I'm leaning towards the 260 SLI due to the resolution I'm running at, and the fact that I'd like to increase my contribution in folding.

 

[Dangman]

Can a 520HX handle a Phenom II X4 940 and 2 GTX260s with some slight OCing? I'm leaning towards the 260 SLI due to the resolution I'm running at, and the fact that I'd like to increase my contribution in folding.

No. I recommend at least the 750TX for GTX 260 SLI:
$120 - Corsair 750TX 750W PSU

I linked to Amazon since Amazon doesn't charge us CA residents tax.