Sonic 295 Posted February 17, 2011 With my recent and currently unsolved freezing problems with my PC, I started to think that maybe it was time for an upgrade. Its almost link this a sign that I need to move forward or something. Every 2 years since 2004 I used to buy new parts and start with new system, last upgrade was back in August 2008. I'm not 100% decided if I will go ahead and started buying stuff just yet but here's what I'm looking at so far.... New Parts Motherboard: Asus P7H55-M/USB3 Motherboard, Socket 1156, 4xDIMM DDR3, PCIe-16, 1xPCI, 2xPCIe-1, 10xUSB2, Audio, VGA, HDMI, 8xSATA, uATX CPU: Intel Core i3 540 Clarkdale 3.06GHz 4MB 73W LGA1156 RAM: Corsair XMS3, CMX6GX3M3A1600C9, 3x2GB, DDR3-1600, PC3-12800, CL9, DIMM GPU: EVGA nVidia GeForce GTS450 Super Clocked 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E Reused Parts PSU: 500w Silverstone (Might get a new PSU though) HDD: Western Digital 640 GB SATA2 ODD: LG DVD/RW with Lightscribe Monitor: LG Flatron W2252TQ 22" LCD (Widescreen) Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Cordless MX3000/MX620 Mouse Speakers: Altec Lansing 2.1 OS: Windows 7 Home Premium x64 So any comments, suggestions and feedback. Have I made the right choices for the new parts. Not having followed any PC hardware news for the last 2 years has really made it hard for me to decide what I want. And as I noted, do I need to upgrade the PSU, is my current 500w Silverstone enough for the planned new system. This PSU is just over 3 years old now. But I'm thinking the combo of the new motherboard and GPU will need more that 500w. Share this post Link to post
Malevolence 6 Posted February 17, 2011 (edited) New Parts Motherboard: Asus P7H55-M/USB3 Motherboard, Socket 1156, 4xDIMM DDR3, PCIe-16, 1xPCI, 2xPCIe-1, 10xUSB2, Audio, VGA, HDMI, 8xSATA, uATX CPU: Intel Core i3 540 Clarkdale 3.06GHz 4MB 73W LGA1156 RAM: Corsair XMS3, CMX6GX3M3A1600C9, 3x2GB, DDR3-1600, PC3-12800, CL9, DIMM GPU: EVGA nVidia GeForce GTS450 Super Clocked 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E I have a better recommendation, hope you don't mind seeing this. Motherboard: Purchase the newer P57 motherboards, LGA1155. Be careful of the recent news on the flaws/recall issue across the previous batch of all motherboards. Be sure and buy the newer batch. CPU: Purchase the newer 2nd generation Intel Core i_ series, I guess for your case a Core i3 or Core i5 should suffice. GPU: Purchase the newer Nvidia GeForce GTX 560Ti, or wait for the upcoming Nvidia GeForce GTX 550Ti, probably around from late this month to next month. You may check with my links buttons (at my sig) to verify certain details. Edited February 17, 2011 by Malevolence Share this post Link to post
Doctor Destiny 41 Posted February 17, 2011 Sonic, you can ignore Malevolence. He doesn't understand the concept of "budgets." That said, your choices are just fine. That power supply should work just fine even with that GTS450. I run a GTX460 with a 550W so you should be just fine with the mid-range card. Share this post Link to post
Sonic 295 Posted February 17, 2011 Yeah Malevolence, while I do appreciate your advice, I do shop for parts based on on a budget. Since I won't be doing much gaming I'm not fussed about the video card. A general formula I've used over the years is key brands (ASUS, GigaByte, Corsair, EVGA, Leadtek, Western Digital), as in I tend to favour these over others. Cost of each part, the cheaper the better I say but I can always push it a little higher. The video card I'm looking at is around $200 NZ, I can't justify spending $500 on something that I really don't need. Share this post Link to post
Chronojam 3 Posted February 17, 2011 The last time I upgraded, a couple years ago, I went with a pair of open-box second-line nVidia graphics cards. I got them for about a third of the normal price, the SLI'd them up for better performance than the first top-performance card I was looking at. Now and then I'll run things on my TV with one, and play a game with the other dedicated. It's pretty nice. The board supports tri-SLI for future upgrades. Of course, not all games will support 2x SLI or 3x SLI but it's become a lot more common and driver updates have improved speed and compatibility a lot. And it cost me like $60 instead of $200, so I feel like I came out ahead. Just something to think about, if you can find a good deal and your motherboard will support it. Don't forget to plan out the case, and maybe get some extra, longer, cables for hooking things up. Share this post Link to post
