Hardware Upgrade Advice

[DKT27]

Hehe. My PC is more than 4 years old. :lol:

Never done any upgrade(except added some RAM) . Runnin like a workhorse for more than 12 hours a day. Runnin acceptably smooth.

But yea, I'm happy that I can think to buy a i7(cheaper one) next year.

[mara-]

@ karachidude

Well my advice to you is to get Quad processor. Yeah, it's little overpriced but it will last longer for you (you won't have to update in longer time). From your page I recommend P5QL-E Motherboard. I would never take any Intel Motherboard. Asus simply rocks.

@ Lohengrin

You want to upgrade? Well, I don't know what you do with computer but I don't see why you would upgrade. Maybe just Graphic Card, but that one you have is pretty decent.

Cheers ;)

[RadioActive]

Hehe. My PC is more than 4 years old. :lol:

Never done any upgrade(except added some RAM) . Runnin like a workhorse for more than 12 hours a day. Runnin acceptably smooth.

But yea, I'm happy that I can think to buy a i7(cheaper one) next year.

i7 is an overkill even for someone like me, imo i5 is a better deal, it's more reasonably priced and in the benchmarks I seen it actually was pretty close to i7 in almost all scenarios, but that's just me :D

[DKT27]

Please explain me benchmarks, to be honest I dont know anythin about benchmarks, wiki gives some idea, but I wanna have some personal notes about it. And if I'm gonna buy an expensive PC, it is i7, nothin else.

[karachidude]

yeh well i am not a hardcore gamer and do very processor intensive tasks,but i will look into video editing once i get one of these...but the thing is i bought my Pentium D 3.2Ghz less than 3 Years ago,thinking the same thing,that i dont do games or graphixs,i thought i dont need a Duo or Quad..but now,with minimalistac software even by my standard the Pentium D chokes,it sucks...so i would try to make the best use of the money i have got,and get the best that i can afford...like u said u r already thinking of upgrading...if u had gotten urself a Quad it would have been sufficient ^_^

thanks again for the advice man :)

I think you misunderstand something, I'm *not* using a dual-core, and I *do* use CPU-intesnive applications (games, encoding, coding and virtual machines :P) oh and in case you didn't notice I use a Phenom II X4 940BE OC'ed to 3.3GHz :D

Don't compare your situation with mine, because my needs and use of my PC are rather different than yours and my humble advice to you is based on my experience, I just don't want you to end up spending cash on things you won't really need or make use of because I see a lot of people do that and end up regret it :s

oh yeh i dint c that,i was in a hurry to leave to somewhere -_- ,but why do u want to upgrade,its fantastic spec,i just checked :D ,but offcourse u do things with the computer i dont ^_^

A thank u from the bottom of my heart :)

[karachidude]

Please explain me benchmarks, to be honest I dont know anythin about benchmarks, wiki gives some idea, but I wanna have some personal notes about it. And if I'm gonna buy an expensive PC, it is i7, nothin else.

Lohengrin is talking about comparisons between different processors,based on similar situations.

[karachidude]

@ heath

yeh..ur rite...it choking while in normal use was actually a overstatement.i take care of the PC through Defrag and all the thing u guys have suggested in the past..

but i mean even MS Word 2007 becomes usable after 40 seconds of the double click :lol: ,i cant play cool new games like these guys are playing,and i want to put atleast one Virtual OS,i would instal 7 at boot and XP inside VM,and i want to learn to make cool 3D things,and put heavy software and play around with it,who knows i might like that.. :D

I m getting a chance and want to avail so that i can do things i have not done before,without worrying about the recourses :)

Thanks for the advice ^_^

[karachidude]

@ karachidude

Well my advice to you is to get Quad processor. Yeah, it's little overpriced but it will last longer for you (you won't have to update in longer time). From your page I recommend P5QL-E Motherboard. I would never take any Intel Motherboard. Asus simply rocks.

Cheers ;)

thanks mara,i wll go for it :D

[DKT27]

If you wanna play some cool games, get a good Graphics Card. ;)

You can play some great games even if you have a slow processor. :) . My experience.

[RadioActive]

Please explain me benchmarks, to be honest I dont know anythin about benchmarks, wiki gives some idea, but I wanna have some personal notes about it. And if I'm gonna buy an expensive PC, it is i7, nothin else.

Well, here's a a summary of benchmark/review about i5 vs i7, it should give you a clear picture of what I was trying to say and if you wanna read the whole thing you'll find a link for the source at the bottom. I hope that helps.

"It is clear from the graphs shown that the Core i7 at 3.2GHz is faster than the Core i5 at 3.2GHz. It is also very clear that the i7 is not a whole hell of a lot faster than the i5. I'm not even sure "faster" should be used in describing the performance difference. To be honest, I was stunned that clock for clock the i5 was as fast as it was, but then when you think about it, it should be. Nehalem vs. Nehalem. HyperThreading vs. No HT. Triple Channel vs. Dual Channel; and we have yet to see there be a big difference in any "normal" desktop applications in terms of new age memory bandwidth where 20GB/second is no longer impressive. What is there to give the i7 a huge advantage over the i5? Apparently, not a damn thing."

Source: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/08/25/intel_core_i5_performance_preview/1

If you wanna play some cool games, get a good Graphics Card. ;)

You can play some great games even if you have a slow processor. :) . My experience.

True, I been trying to tell him that the only real advantage of quad-cores are the CPU intenstive (and threaded) applications but he won't listen :P

[DKT27]

Thanx for the review. You made me confused. Now I will have to research about i5(in depth). Well I asked a question previously, I was thinkin to go for 2.66GHz i7. So is I worth to go for 2.66GHz i7 or it will be more worth if I go for a 3.XX GHz Core 2 Duo?

[shought]

Just don't tell him that, just don't get a Quad Core :P Only if you have the urgent need to spend some money and have no idea on what, then buy me a Quad Core(i7 ;)), mkay? :P

Thanx for the review. You made me confused. Now I will have to research about i5(in depth). Well I asked a question previously, I was thinkin to go for 2.66GHz i7. So is I worth to go for 2.66GHz i7 or it will be more worth if I go for a 3.XX GHz Core 2 Duo?

Depends, what's the prices?

[DKT27]

Well I wanna buy a PC that doesn't make me feel that I should have waited, and should stay like for 4 more years like my current one.

[RadioActive]

Well I wanna buy a PC that doesn't make me feel that I should have waited, and should stay like for 4 more years like my current one.

I dun think you can even compare a C2D to an i5/i7, the gap is just too huge.

My advice for a new system, get an i5, it has superb performance and the price is far more reasonable than the i7.

And if I had to rate CPU/builds, 1 being the best (cost-to-benefit), here they are:

1) Intel i5 w/ P55 board

2) Phenom II X4 9XX w/ 790GX board

3) Athlon X2 7750/7850 w/ 780G board

4) Intel Core 2 Duo E8400/8500 w/ P43/45 board

I can't recommend i7 to anyone because I don't believe it's worth it and same goes for Core 2 Quad.

[DKT27]

Hmm. I know i5 would b good. But somehow it doesn't fit in my (affordable) dream PC. But I will NOT rule it out. I will take both i5 and i7 consideration. Because of the price reduction factor, I will buy a new PC only after jan-feb of the coming year.

[RadioActive]

Hmm. I know i5 would b good. But somehow it doesn't fit in my (affordable) dream PC. But I will NOT rule it out. I will take both i5 and i7 consideration. Because of the price reduction factor, I will buy a new PC only after jan-feb of the coming year.

Well, if you can't afford the i5 then I suggest you stick with option number 2, it's still a pretty decent configuration, I should know ;)

[DKT27]

No no. By affordable, I mean, I have two type of dream PCs. One is the one that is affordable to me and another one is not affordable. i7 fits into my affordable list. But I'm not full happy to add i5 to it as I have not done proper research on it. By not affordable dream pc, I mean Xeon processor, etc. ;)

[tonyblair]

Target :Upgrading my system.

My situation:

I m not a gaming person,but would like to enjoy some of them after i get one of these,but not like a hardcore gamer.I want a upgrade which wont choke on more than 1 OS's,and would let me play games smoothly like the Need for Speed Shift,and let me install and check out and test all the software i want.

My approach will be this:

The products available in the market for upgrading could be divided in 5 classes:

1- Very high end: New products, highest power and rocket prices (Marketing beacon)

2- High end : high power and where the companies makes the maximum profit

3- High tech : These products are the (old) high end of the last 6 months to 1 year old

4- Middle tech : These are the products really needed by 70% of the consumer.

5- Low tech : old Products in stock

If I do not want to loose my money and get 2 times more than my real need.

I will choose the 3rd class products (I called it High tech).

I will choose These manufacturers : Intel, Asus, Nvidia, Corsair

and upgrade my PC with the following components.

CPU :

1st choice : INTEL Core 2 Duo E8400 (Socket 775) this is more than enough.

Motherboard:

1st choice : ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo (LGA775)

Graphic card:

1st choice : GTX260 (896 Mo DDR3, PCI-Express 16x)

Memory :

PC2-6400 (800 MHz) DDR2 4Gb (if your OS is a 32bit, your system will only see and use 3Gb)

You have to switch to a 64bit OS to be able to use more than the 3Gb limit of memory.

Hard Disk:

SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.12 - 1 To SATA (Cache 32 Mo) 2 of them if possible.

Power Supply: (The most important component, but always neglected)

CORSAIR HX750 - 750 Watts (higher price then the TX, but it deserve it)

I am sure I will be happy every day with my upgrade. The extra money I saved in not buying i5, i7 Quad core, GeForce 28x, DDR3

I will put it in the bank (account with interest ) and wait 1 year. I am sure I can upgrade again my PC using that extra money saved

with the " i5, i7 Quad core, GeForce 28x, DDR3" now downgraded from the Very high end and high end segment to the high tech class

(now affordable).

[HX1]

@ heath

yeh..ur rite...it choking while in normal use was actually a overstatement.i take care of the PC through Defrag and all the thing u guys have suggested in the past..

but i mean even MS Word 2007 becomes usable after 40 seconds of the double click :lol: ,i cant play cool new games like these guys are playing,and i want to put atleast one Virtual OS,i would instal 7 at boot and XP inside VM,and i want to learn to make cool 3D things,and put heavy software and play around with it,who knows i might like that.. :D

I m getting a chance and want to avail so that i can do things i have not done before,without worrying about the recourses :)

Thanks for the advice ^_^

Have you checked for driver updates for your North and South Bridge Chipsets..( VIA..or whatever it is that yo have? ).. Sometimes these kinks can be worked out by getting the right drivers...I had one that was doing that.. and it went right to immediate response after addressing the drivers issue.. 40 seconds is way to long even on a single core 1.7 GHz.. Celeron.. ( POS for any of those who don't know )

How much RAM and Video do you have?

[karachidude]

Target :Upgrading my system.

My situation:

I m not a gaming person,but would like to enjoy some of them after i get one of these,but not like a hardcore gamer.I want a upgrade which wont choke on more than 1 OS's,and would let me play games smoothly like the Need for Speed Shift,and let me install and check out and test all the software i want.

My approach will be  this:

The products available in the market for upgrading could be divided in 5 classes:

1- Very high end:   New products, highest power and rocket prices  (Marketing beacon)

2- High end        :  high power and where the companies makes the maximum profit

3- High tech       :  These products are the (old) high end of the last 6 months to 1 year old

4- Middle tech    :  These are the products really needed by 70% of the consumer. 

5- Low tech        :  old Products in stock 

If I do not want to loose my money and get 2 times more than my real need.

I will choose the 3rd class  products (I called it High tech).

I will choose These  manufacturers  : Intel, Asus, Nvidia, Corsair

and upgrade my PC with the following components.

CPU : 

1st choice : INTEL  Core 2 Duo E8400 (Socket 775)  this is more than enough.

Motherboard:

1st choice : ASUS  P5Q Pro Turbo (LGA775)

Graphic card:

1st choice :  GTX260 (896 Mo DDR3, PCI-Express 16x)

Memory :

PC2-6400 (800 MHz)  DDR2  4Gb (if your OS is a 32bit, your system will only see and use 3Gb)

You have to switch to a 64bit OS to be able to use more than the 3Gb limit of memory.

Hard Disk:

SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.12 - 1 To SATA (Cache 32 Mo)    2 of them if possible.

Power Supply:  (The most important component, but always neglected)

CORSAIR  HX750 - 750 Watts (higher price then the TX, but it deserve it)

I am sure I will be happy every day with my upgrade. The extra money I saved in not buying i5, i7 Quad core, GeForce 28x, DDR3

I will put it in the bank (account with interest ) and wait 1 year. I am sure I can upgrade again my PC using that extra money saved 

with the " i5, i7 Quad core, GeForce 28x, DDR3" now downgraded from the Very high end and high end segment to the high tech class

(now affordable).

Hello Tony,

Ur advice is appreciated ^_^ .I have decided to take ur advice.Thank u :)

OK.ok...since most of my friends including Lohengrin,Tony Blair,heath and shought, here agree that i dont need a Quad core and it would be wasting money,I WONT BE BUYING IT ,i wll just go with CORE2DUO,the best one,and buy the motherboard that MARA & Tony suggested. :D

I think it is important,that we take advice from people around us,and then agree with what the majority advices,and especially when most people recommending know more than me. ;)

Yes know that i m not buying Quad,i can use the money to increase my RAM to 3GB,get a gud PSU and a gud casing,it would have been very difficult to manage if i was buying the Quad. :lol:

Thanks for ur kind advices everybody.much appreciated :)

[karachidude]

@ heath

yeh..ur rite...it choking while in normal use was actually a overstatement.i take care of the PC through Defrag and all the thing u guys have suggested in the past..

but i mean even MS Word 2007 becomes usable after 40 seconds of the double click :lol: ,i cant play cool new games like these guys are playing,and i want to put atleast one Virtual OS,i would instal 7 at boot and XP inside VM,and i want to learn to make cool 3D things,and put heavy software and play around with it,who knows i might like that.. :D

I m getting a chance and want to avail so that i can do things i have not done before,without worrying about the recourses :)

Thanks for the advice ^_^

Have you checked for driver updates for your North and South Bridge Chipsets..( VIA..or whatever it is that yo have? ).. Sometimes these kinks can be worked out by getting the right drivers...I had one that was doing that.. and it went right to immediate response after addressing the drivers issue.. 40 seconds is way to long even on a single core 1.7 GHz.. Celeron.. ( POS for any of those who don't know )

How much RAM and Video do you have?

I think my drivers are upto date cause i installed a month and a half ago,then updated,and then checked with Driver Genius,if any driver needed to be upgraded,it only showed update on GIGA BIT LAN..lol..

I use only 1GB RAM,but know i have taken the majority advice and will go with Core2duo,and increse the RAM to 4GB as Tony Blair suggested,so that i can go to 64bit architecture whenever i want...oh goody...i can now also buy a gud graphix card now,i have never had those.

thanks

[HX1]

Just is still odd to me that the processor isn't fast..I mean its almost twice that of what I have now and I have 5-10 sec opening of Word.. and most other Office Products..I have 2GB of RAM though...but its only a laptop . so I don't know..64 MB video.. which I thought was odd.. because I used to think that processing video was one of my bottlenecks.. ( which it is ) but.. I do know that if you have a 32 MB chip on your board it will adversely effect you performance..even processing time, and will steal RAM from other applications..because it can be shared in some cases..

But anyway.. just a thought..

[RadioActive]

Core 2 Duo is a decent CPU but I don't suggest you buy because it's a dead end, you won't be able to upgrade it.

Getting an AMD makes more sense simply because you will be able to get a nice CPU if you decide you upgrade, keep that in mind because if you get a C2D system now you might regret it in a year or so.

Oh, and I just checked newegg.com and it seems the Phenom II X4 940BE (169$) costs about the same as the E8400 (168$)! But if the prices are different in your country then there are alternatives and I can help you pick one if you need so.

Edit: and if you wanna save some cash then you might wanna consider the Phenom II X2 550BE it's pretty cheap (102$) and delivers a very decent performance.

[karachidude]

Core 2 Duo is a decent CPU but I don't suggest you buy because it's a dead end, you won't be able to upgrade it.

Getting an AMD makes more sense simply because you will be able to get a nice CPU if you decide you upgrade, keep that in mind because if you get a C2D system now you might regret it in a year or so.

Oh, and I just checked newegg.com and it seems the Phenom II X4 940BE (169$) costs about the same as the E8400 (168$)! But if the prices are different in your country then there are alternatives and I can help you pick one if you need so.

Edit: and if you wanna save some cash then you might wanna consider the Phenom II X2 550BE it's pretty cheap (102$) and delivers a very decent performance.

ok check out from this link the prices of processors and Motherboards here on the left hand side under standard PC's.

ok.i have taken a look at AMD AM2 PHENOM 64 X4 9950 (2.6Ghz),its cost 1500rs more here but its a Quad core,but the cache size is not written.What do u think about it.

And suggest me a Motherboard in the 8000 range,i cannot go beyond that.

Edit:The AMD Quad u mentioned is 22500 here,even more than the Intel Quad Q955O with 12mb cache at 2.83Ghz(20500)

9950 is 65 nm arch,and only 4mb cache.

thanks man

[RadioActive]

Core 2 Duo is a decent CPU but I don't suggest you buy because it's a dead end, you won't be able to upgrade it.

Getting an AMD makes more sense simply because you will be able to get a nice CPU if you decide you upgrade, keep that in mind because if you get a C2D system now you might regret it in a year or so.

Oh, and I just checked newegg.com and it seems the Phenom II X4 940BE (169$) costs about the same as the E8400 (168$)! But if the prices are different in your country then there are alternatives and I can help you pick one if you need so.

Edit: and if you wanna save some cash then you might wanna consider the Phenom II X2 550BE it's pretty cheap (102$) and delivers a very decent performance.

ok check out from this link the prices of processors and Motherboards here on the left hand side under standard PC's.

ok.i have taken a look at AMD AM2 PHENOM 64 X4 9950 (2.6Ghz),its cost 1500rs more here but its a Quad core,but the cache size is not written.What do u think about it.

And suggest me a Motherboard in the 8000 range,i cannot go beyond that.

Edit:The AMD Quad u mentioned is 22500 here,even more than the Intel Quad Q955O with 12mb cache at 2.83Ghz(20500)

9950 is 65 nm arch,and only 4mb cache.

thanks man

Ok, after taking a look at the website you gave me, here's what I think:

CPU:

AMD Phenom II X3 720BE (16900 RS)

or

AMD Phenom II X3 710 (14700 RS)

Motherboard:

ECS A780GM-M3 (7200 RS)

These are the items I picked that were available at the site you gave me and all should fit fine into your budget while delivering a decent performance.

PS: don't pay THAT much attention to clock vs clock or cache vs cache because it's not always that simple ;)