Upgrading to sandy bridge for a microATX machine

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elkodust

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 9, 2008
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78
I already have some ideas in mind, but either way, suggestions would be nice. I built this machine in 08, and figure since nows a nice time to upgrade, I might as well look into it. Looking to upgrade my CPU, motherboard, RAM, and GPU if possible. If I upgrade my gpu, I would want to switch to nVidia in order to be able to use certain renderers.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, 3D work(Most important, Maya and ZBrush), Photoshop, Video Editing(Not TERRIBLY important, just minor stuff), General graphic arts, Web browsing. I would like to start being able to stream the games I play, preferably in HD if possible. This isnt really of terrible importance though

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Lets say 500 ish. This is fairly flexible, but lower is always nice.

3) Where do you live?
New York

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word
"Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, RAM, Motherboard, GPU if possible

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
HDDs, CD drive, Case, Monitors, peripherals, 700w ABS PSU

6) Will you be overclocking?
I would prefer not to if possible

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
2 24" 1920x1080. The one I game on is 120HZ, so it would be nice to be able to capilalize on this

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
As soon as I make up my mind on the parts

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Aside from microATX form factor, I dont particularly want anything specific, but usb 3.0 would be nice

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 64 bit

These are my current specs:
E7200 @ 3.17 (Ive had a hard time keeping it stable at this point, and I cant get it any higher)
5770 1gb
4gb ddr2 ram

.I know there have been a flood of these threads, so, thanks guys. :D
 
6) Will you be overclocking?
I would prefer not to if possible
Click to expand...
But do you want the ability to overclock? if so then you need a P67 board and a K series processor.

Unfortunately there don't seem to be many P55 microatx boards out there, newegg only list one in stock. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121482 . It lacks dual graphics card support and front panel USB3 support (it has USB3 but only two ports on the rear panel) but otherwise seems a pretty reasonable board. The documentation is vauge on overclocking though (it says it supports it but I can't find any details in the manual).
 
evilsofa said:
Intel DP67DE microATX motherboard $114.99 + $7.56 shipping = $122.55
G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1600 $49.99 + free shipping
Intel i5-2500K $224.99 + free shipping
Galaxy GTX 460 768MB $149.99 + $7.87 shipping - $40 mail-in rebate = $116.87

Total: $514.40

Hard to go lower than this without serious compromise. Eh, maybe you could save $10 or $15 on the RAM with a no-name brand.
Click to expand...

This looks like what I was thinking of. It seems like its perfectly reasonable, and I have the money for it. What changes would any of you guys do, like lets say we eliminated the GPU upgrade?
 
If you don't get the GTX 460 (which would be mostly a sidegrade than an upgrade anyway), then do the rest of what I've done: get a better, quieter CPU cooler, thermal paste and a hard drive.

Cooler Master Hyper 212+ CPU Cooler $27.58 + free shipping
Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste $6.45 + free shipping
(Those are cheaper on amazon than on newegg, though depending on your state you might need to pay tax)

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB $69.99 + free shipping - $15 from promo code HARDOCP112C = $54.99
(Unfortunately, an SSD just isn't anywhere near your budget.)

$514.40 - 116.87 + $89.02 = $486.55
 
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WTF.. Did anyone else read the questions (danny excluded since what PSU is pertinent).. they get asked for a reason..

If the answer to question 6 is not yes then there is no reason for a k series CPU, aftermarket cooler, or a p67 motherboard.. Also if SLI or crossfire is not listed in question 9 then a board not having dual graphics support is also not needed. Not to mention that the recommendation for a new HDD when OP is reusing his current drives (per question 5) that pretty off the wall. & For the record without a GPU a SSD is definitely within reason.

Now to the OP, How important is the GPU at this point. Seems to me that from a 5770 to be a really worthwhile upgrade you would be looking at a 6850 or better to be really worth the cost unless your bottlenecking currently.. So here are 2 builds 1 with GPU & 1 without..

Without GPU
95 ASUS P8H67-M LX LGA 1155 Intel H67
300 Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz
77 G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

479.30 shipped..

With GPU
95 ASUS P8H67-M LX LGA 1155 Intel H67
210 Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
40 G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
180 GIGABYTE GV-R685D5-1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB

532.29 shipped

Between the 2 given your usage I would probably save the GPU for later since other then gaming the rest of your listed should get a BIG jump from the better CPU & More ram (gaming would see a marginal jump, but not as much as the rest).

Also I am not sure about the PSU quality. I am sure danny will report back on quality but you may have to work a PSU into it as well to be safe with the new hardware.
 
bastage said:
Also I am not sure about the PSU quality. I am sure danny will report back on quality but you may have to work a PSU into it as well to be safe with the new hardware.
Click to expand...

That PSU is of decent quality. Should handle your planned setups fine.
 
bastage said:
WTF.. Did anyone else read the questions (danny excluded since what PSU is pertinent).. they get asked for a reason..

If the answer to question 6 is not yes then there is no reason for a k series CPU, aftermarket cooler, or a p67 motherboard.. Also if SLI or crossfire is not listed in question 9 then a board not having dual graphics support is also not needed. Not to mention that the recommendation for a new HDD when OP is reusing his current drives (per question 5) that pretty off the wall. & For the record without a GPU a SSD is definitely within reason.

Now to the OP, How important is the GPU at this point. Seems to me that from a 5770 to be a really worthwhile upgrade you would be looking at a 6850 or better to be really worth the cost unless your bottlenecking currently.. So here are 2 builds 1 with GPU & 1 without..

Without GPU
95 ASUS P8H67-M LX LGA 1155 Intel H67
300 Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz
77 G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

479.30 shipped..

With GPU
95 ASUS P8H67-M LX LGA 1155 Intel H67
210 Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
40 G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
180 GIGABYTE GV-R685D5-1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB

532.29 shipped

Between the 2 given your usage I would probably save the GPU for later since other then gaming the rest of your listed should get a BIG jump from the better CPU & More ram (gaming would see a marginal jump, but not as much as the rest).

Also I am not sure about the PSU quality. I am sure danny will report back on quality but you may have to work a PSU into it as well to be safe with the new hardware.
Click to expand...

First off, thanks a bunch for the advice. The GPU is I guess not terribly important. I wanted to geta nVidia GPU to be able to use a certain rendering program for my 3d work (it wont run on ati hardware), but I realize that CPU/RAM/Mobo is where I need it the most. I run most of the games I play fairly well, and some of them are more cpu dependant than anything (Team Fortress 2).

So if I do go for an ssd, what kind of size can I hope to get and will the upgrade be worthwhile? Ive been interested in an ssd for a while, but I am comfortable waiting for that upgrade.
 
Wait for the SSD. Intel, Crucial, and others are expected to release newer, faster, cheaper SSDs within the next few months. While an SSD is faster, runs cooler, and generates less noise than a mechanical HDD, you still have to pay a higher price per GB with an SSD versus the rock-bottom prices of today's HDDs.

Get the Nvidia video card if your 3D work is more important than your gaming. Considering your budget, you may want to look at a used GTX 470, which should give you more than enough power for your games and plenty of GDDR5 memory for your other programs to utilize.
 
elkodust said:
First off, thanks a bunch for the advice. The GPU is I guess not terribly important. I wanted to geta nVidia GPU to be able to use a certain rendering program for my 3d work (it wont run on ati hardware), but I realize that CPU/RAM/Mobo is where I need it the most. I run most of the games I play fairly well, and some of them are more cpu dependant than anything (Team Fortress 2).

So if I do go for an ssd, what kind of size can I hope to get and will the upgrade be worthwhile? Ive been interested in an ssd for a while, but I am comfortable waiting for that upgrade.
Click to expand...

Ahh that changes things a little bit.. Whats your budget cap & could you float a little more between ordering yourself a new video card & selling your 5770 to help ofset the cost. If you need a feature of a different card then there is no reason not to do a sideways upgrade performance wise & the 5770 doesnt totally suck so you should be able to get a decent amount back from the cost of a new card. a "GTX 460 768" or "GTX 460 1gb le" would both be decent enough for gaming compared to the 5770 & be nvidia based.

Another option may be to add a 2nd card to the pcie x4 slot just for this purpose if something cheap will do just for this feature (not sure what it is your in need of, but since adding an nvidia card behind AMD cards can still get you cuda this may work. Research would be needed & this may only cost a few bucks).

As far as an SSD goes performance is insanely different for anything reading/writing from/to the HDD on a constant basis. Gaming wise there not a huge help except for load times, & vary rarely see a gain in FPS. With your other activities a SSD would be a big help though & definitely a worthy upgrade. Question is though how much space your going to need for your apps & the files your working with. If you can work with 64gb then I am sure we can squeeze in a ssd somewhere. If there much ore then as triades said there should be faster & cheaper (not necessairly in the same drive) coming out in the next couple months.
 
bastage said:
Ahh that changes things a little bit.. Whats your budget cap & could you float a little more between ordering yourself a new video card & selling your 5770 to help ofset the cost. If you need a feature of a different card then there is no reason not to do a sideways upgrade performance wise & the 5770 doesnt totally suck so you should be able to get a decent amount back from the cost of a new card. a "GTX 460 768" or "GTX 460 1gb le" would both be decent enough for gaming compared to the 5770 & be nvidia based.

Another option may be to add a 2nd card to the pcie x4 slot just for this purpose if something cheap will do just for this feature (not sure what it is your in need of, but since adding an nvidia card behind AMD cards can still get you cuda this may work. Research would be needed & this may only cost a few bucks).

As far as an SSD goes performance is insanely different for anything reading/writing from/to the HDD on a constant basis. Gaming wise there not a huge help except for load times, & vary rarely see a gain in FPS. With your other activities a SSD would be a big help though & definitely a worthy upgrade. Question is though how much space your going to need for your apps & the files your working with. If you can work with 64gb then I am sure we can squeeze in a ssd somewhere. If there much ore then as triades said there should be faster & cheaper (not necessairly in the same drive) coming out in the next couple months.
Click to expand...

My budget is pretty flexible, but I am a college student so I have to be mindful of the money I spend; I dont exactly have an incredible income, I just had a good christmas. ;) I have some stuff that I could sell, including the card.

Adding a second card is actually something even the company themselves suggests.
http://www.refractivesoftware.com/
Thats the software Id like to use, for those interested. The results seem to be some incredible stuff, so it would be nice to be able to use this, but this upgrade doesnt have to be ALL at once, and Id rather conform to my budget than be impatient.

Currently I am using a 500gb hard drive as my primary drive, and its half full. but I havent been conservative with my use of it at all. I feel like I could make the switch to a 64gb ssd if I honestly tried though.

Thanks alot for the help so far.
 
elkodust said:
My budget is pretty flexible, but I am a college student so I have to be mindful of the money I spend; I dont exactly have an incredible income, I just had a good christmas. ;) I have some stuff that I could sell, including the card.

Adding a second card is actually something even the company themselves suggests.
http://www.refractivesoftware.com/
Thats the software Id like to use, for those interested. The results seem to be some incredible stuff, so it would be nice to be able to use this, but this upgrade doesnt have to be ALL at once, and Id rather conform to my budget than be impatient.

Currently I am using a 500gb hard drive as my primary drive, and its half full. but I havent been conservative with my use of it at all. I feel like I could make the switch to a 64gb ssd if I honestly tried though.

Thanks alot for the help so far.
Click to expand...

I'd like to use Octane Render, but i have an ATI video card, or any other non-CUDA capable video card, what should I do?
Currently, Octane Render requires a CUDA enabled video card to be installed. If your motherboard can accept a second video card, it is possible to install a second video card and dedicate the non-CUDA card for gaming and general display in the operatings system. The newly added Nvidia card can be dedicated to Octane Render. The cost of Octane Render is low. The additional cost of integrating an Nvidia GPU into your system is very low compared to purchasing 10 to 15 more computers to get equal performance with a CPU based solution.
Click to expand...

OK since a 2nd card does the trick here you go along with the without gpu build I listed above (565 shipped).. Keeps you at a reasonable amount & Whatever nvidia tech it is you need you have plenty of vram to work with there (according to there forums it looks like the vram is very important to it).

& later you can upgrade the 5770 if needed.
 
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