Your thoughts on this upgrade

B

Budman

I put the Bad in Bad Grandpa!
Joined
May 6, 2000
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The wife wants to upgrade her PC from the current Intel core2 1.8 something proc.
She now has Photoshop & she does light photoshop work.

Here is the list of what we plan to keep.

Case with 500W Antec Truepower PS
She has 2 Sata hd one is 320gig that she uses as the boot drive & a 1TB for backup & storage.
Her current Samsung DVD Sata drive.
She is currently running Win 7 Home Prem 32bit.

Here is what I have picked out.

Proc is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851

MB is : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631

Vid card is:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150447

Ram is :http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193

She don't overclock & we would be upgrading her to 8gig of Ram & Win 7 64bit.

Does anybody see any problems with this selection of parts or suggestions for better parts. She is looking to stay in the $600-650 price range.
 
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Budman said:
The wife wants to upgrade her PC from the current Intel core2 1.8 something proc.
She now has Photoshop & she does light photoshop work.

Here is the list of what we plan to keep.

Case with 500W Antec Truepower PS
She has 2 Sata hd one is 320gig that she uses as the boot drive & a 1TB for backup & storage.
Her current Samsung DVD Sata drive.
She is currently running Win 7 Home Prem 32bit.

Here is what I have picked out.

Proc is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851

MB is : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631

Vid card is:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631

Ram is :http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193

She don't overclock & we would be upgrading her to 8gig of Ram & Win 7 64bit.

Does anybody see any problems with this selection of parts or suggestions for better parts. She is looking to stay in the $600-650 price range.
Click to expand...

Please fix the video card link. It links to exactly the same product as the motherboard.

Also, is your 550W TruePower PSU (the TruePower never came in a 500W version; there were only 480W and 550W versions) a TruePower Trio? (I'm asking this because earlier Antec TruePower PSUs have suffered the early death syndrome that has been caused by their use of low-quality capacitors and a cooling fan that stays off most of the time.) Anything earlier than the TP Trio should not be used at all in a modern system due to the early death syndrome that those CWT-made Antecs suffer from.
 
Try the links now & sorry .

Yes the PS is the 550w my bad.
 
Hmm. Everything listed is excessive, considering the amount of work your wife will do.

For GPU, you can get away with a GT240 or GTX250.
CPU: Athlon X4 620
MOBO: 790X based chipset or if wanted, use 880 chipset
 
Budman said:
Yes the PS is the 550w my bad.
Click to expand...

Then you really should replace that PSU as well for the reasons that E4g1e noted: It simply does not have much life left.

The Truepower I and II series as well as the Smartpower series were well known for their above average death rates due to a poor choice in caps and cooling design. In more specific terms, Antec/CWT specified/used caps (Fuhjyyu caps) that did not respond well to heat. Unfortunately, Antec made the decision to have the PSU fan only ramp at really high temps in an effort to keep the PSU quiet. However, just medium to high temps were enough to screw up the caps so really high temps were murderous. Over time, this degraded the quality and performance of those PSU series.

So I recommend replacing the PSU, especially if you hear a squeal, whine, or any odd noise coming from the PSU. Those are usually the first signs of those particular PSU lines dying. So if you do hear a squeal, whine, or any odd noise, that's enough grounds to replace the PSU.

I recommend the Antec Neo Eco 520C as a replacement.
 
Deluded said:
Hmm. Everything listed is excessive, considering the amount of work your wife will do.

For GPU, you can get away with a GT240 or GTX250.
CPU: Athlon X4 620
MOBO: 790X based chipset or if wanted, use 880 chipset
Click to expand...
Agreed, but I think you may be missing the point. Judging by the out-dated hardware the OP's wife currently has, she probably won't be upgrading again for a long time. I don't think it's overkill to get a six core Phenom.
 
Deluded... ty for your response but we both usually replace our PC's at around 3-4 yrs. Hers will be 3 yrs this thanksgiving. I upgraded her to a 6 core & all that ram because I figure this way we can still usually run what we want when the machine is 3 yrs old or so. She will pass her old PC down to one of her kids as it is better than anything they currently have, so we don't think it's overkill. She is like me & enjoys a fast & speedy PC.

E4g1e... That power supply has never given her any trouble at all in the almost 3 yrs she has had it.I have an old BFG 650 sitting around here from where I upgraded on my last build so if that PS starts giving any problems then I'll change it out.

So nobody see's any problems with all the hardware playin nice with each other then?
I think she is ready to pull the plug on this soon & purchase these parts as it's my job to pick the hardware out & she pays for it all. so that is why I posted to get some other people's input.
 
Budman said:
E4g1e... That power supply has never given her any trouble at all in the almost 3 yrs she has had it.I have an old BFG 650 sitting around here from where I upgraded on my last build so if that PS starts giving any problems then I'll change it out.
Click to expand...

Actually, the BFG is of equally low quality, if not lower, than the TruePower. And while that TruePower might have worked fine with her current components, upgrading those core components will put more strain - sometimes much more - on the aging PSU. Plus, PSUs are typically supposed to last only three or four years.

The reasons outlined are as follows:

1. That old Core 2 Duo E6300 had a TDP of only 65W. But the Phenom II x6 1055T has a TDP of 125W. That means that the power draw from the CPU alone would be nearly double that of the old C2D (not counting the power draw from the other components).

2. What was/is the GPU (graphics card) that she's currently using? A newer, faster graphics card might draw more power than her current GPU.
 
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E4G1e... after seeing the way you have presented that double power thing & yes the Vid card will use much more power I think I will purchase a new PS. Thank you for sticking with me & driving that point home.

What do you recommend for a new PS?

Corsair 650w?
 
ATI cards run hot and present a tougher laod on the PSU...you might be able to get away with the ANTEC but go with a cooler nVidia card...their 128 bit cards are much more power efficient and don't burn out like the ATI cards...
 
OC-Chronic said:
ATI cards run hot and present a tougher laod on the PSU...you might be able to get away with the ANTEC but go with a cooler nVidia card...their 128 bit cards are much more power efficient and don't burn out like the ATI cards...
Click to expand...

Only if the low-end NVIDIA GPU is of an older architecture. The lowest of the Fermis, the GTS 450, still consumes more power than the Radeon HD 5850 at full load.
 
I would strongly recommend an SSD. It will have more impact on how speedy the system "feels" than the CPU upgrade.

Also - for the love of all that is holy, grab her a 5.25" HDD dock and a couple spare HDs so she can have a real backup. There is nothing scarier than a woman who just lost her baby pics/wedding pics.

finally - pleaseplease consider using your spare CPU cycles for folding@home; more folders are needed and it won't impact system performance at all with a PC that powerful. I'm sure she will be impressed that you want to help cure cancer with her PC =)
 
Update... She ordered all the parts listed & then she also went with the 750w Corsair unit.
I kinda told her it would be better to have too much power then not enough. I also have the 750 & I'm overclocking & never had any issues.

I want to thank all of you who took the time to respond to this thread. The parts are scheduled for delivery on Monday so hopefully by Tuesday night she will be up & running on her new PC.
 
You should also install windows 7 64bit. I believe the keys work fine for 32 or 64 bit, you just have to get a 64bit disc.
 
Budman said:
she also went with the 750w Corsair unit.
I kinda told her it would be better to have too much power then not enough.
Click to expand...

The downside of high-wattage power supplies is that they may be less efficient when the power draw is low compared to a lower-wattage power supply.
 
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