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Decided to solicit some opinions here, as I can't decide which route to go. Dad/brother currently share a computer, but the motherboard just died. I'm not sure if it was a problem with the power supply voltages (a 500w Fortron Blue Storm PSU), though it isn't dead, but I happen to have an identical one from when I upgraded lying around, so I can pop that one in instead. I'll need some advice on whether or not that is sufficient given the rest of the post.
1. Dad mostly does web browsing, ripping DVDs, music, etc. Brother, as I mentioned, does try to game.
2. I don't think Dad wants to spend more than the $400ish range, which I know isn't much given everything here, which is why I'm assuming I'll have to go with simply replacing the motherboard and then adding the hard drive/video card, rather than upgrading the CPU.
3. I'm in the US near a microcenter, which seems to have some pretty solid deals on CPU/mobo combos.
4/5. Two options on parts: just replace the motherboard, or do an upgrade replacing the motherboard, cpu (and cooler I guess? haven't used a stock one in forever), and RAM.
Their current rig is an e8400 cpu with, I believe, 8gb of RAM, all hand-me-downs from me. I think this is their case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
Musts: they're desperately in need of hard drive space since they've got some ancient hard drives in the 200-250gb range in there, and Dad does quite a bit with lossless audio and ripping dvds, so a 2tb hard drive is a must. Additionally, though Dad doesn't want to pay for it, my brother does try to game on Steam, and he's rocking an unfortunately ancient nvidia 8800 GTS, so he really needs something with a bit more power. Given the budget, nothing high-end, obviously, but enough so he can actually play - something cheap but still a clear upgrade from where he's at now, maybe like a Radeon 7790. I don't know what he does now with an 8800 GTS in there, I'm assuming he's playing games on Steam at like 5 FPS.
The Fortron 500W Blue Storm I have here can be reused (not the one that was in their computer).
6. No overclocking.
7. I believe they have a 17 or 19" 1280x1024.
8. Immediately.
9. Really aren't any musts for the motherboard. They'll never use crossfire/SLI, they have a sound card. Has onboard video come far enough that it's viable instead of a stand-alone GPU?
10. My Dad does have a copy of Win7 that he's had problems with, probably because some guy he knows gave it to him on a burned disc
. So yeah, an OS would probably be a good idea.
1. Dad mostly does web browsing, ripping DVDs, music, etc. Brother, as I mentioned, does try to game.
2. I don't think Dad wants to spend more than the $400ish range, which I know isn't much given everything here, which is why I'm assuming I'll have to go with simply replacing the motherboard and then adding the hard drive/video card, rather than upgrading the CPU.
3. I'm in the US near a microcenter, which seems to have some pretty solid deals on CPU/mobo combos.
4/5. Two options on parts: just replace the motherboard, or do an upgrade replacing the motherboard, cpu (and cooler I guess? haven't used a stock one in forever), and RAM.
Their current rig is an e8400 cpu with, I believe, 8gb of RAM, all hand-me-downs from me. I think this is their case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
Musts: they're desperately in need of hard drive space since they've got some ancient hard drives in the 200-250gb range in there, and Dad does quite a bit with lossless audio and ripping dvds, so a 2tb hard drive is a must. Additionally, though Dad doesn't want to pay for it, my brother does try to game on Steam, and he's rocking an unfortunately ancient nvidia 8800 GTS, so he really needs something with a bit more power. Given the budget, nothing high-end, obviously, but enough so he can actually play - something cheap but still a clear upgrade from where he's at now, maybe like a Radeon 7790. I don't know what he does now with an 8800 GTS in there, I'm assuming he's playing games on Steam at like 5 FPS.
The Fortron 500W Blue Storm I have here can be reused (not the one that was in their computer).
6. No overclocking.
7. I believe they have a 17 or 19" 1280x1024.
8. Immediately.
9. Really aren't any musts for the motherboard. They'll never use crossfire/SLI, they have a sound card. Has onboard video come far enough that it's viable instead of a stand-alone GPU?
10. My Dad does have a copy of Win7 that he's had problems with, probably because some guy he knows gave it to him on a burned disc
. So yeah, an OS would probably be a good idea.
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