Major upgrade time

Yammer · 27 Oct 2012 at 18:03

I bought an OC Titan Lite (Asus P5Q Deluxe & Core2 Duo E7300) about 4 years ago, and it's been a really good computer, especially since installing Windows 7. But now it's starting to show its age with some of my more CPU-intensive software.

I'd be tempted to buy a whole new computer again, except there's lots of good stuff in the box, like 4 WD Caviar Blacks (3 in a RAID 5 set), a Radeon HD5670-1GB, and 4GB of Corsair Twin2X running happily at 1GHz.

Unfortunately, I haven't kept up with technology and don't know where to start. I've read the forum stickies, but I'm still unsure of where to aim. I was looking to replace the motherboard and CPU with an i7 combo, but I don't know if I can use the RAM, or if the PSU can cope (650W I think), and there seems to be lots of different i7s to choose from :confused:

I'm not a gamer. I mainly use the computer for Adobe Photoshop/Bridge/Dreamweaver and Sound Forge. It spends a lot of time processing high-res images and sound files. I don't know if I need to get a faster graphics card too, or whether the 5670 is good enough for my needs.

Can anyone spare a couple of minutes to set me off on the right foot, please?

RJC · 27 Oct 2012 at 19:00

I suspect your ram will be DDR 2 which wont run on new systems.

The 650w PSU will be fine which I think Ocuk used OCZ PSU.

I have done a quick spec below but have included a 560TI gpu which your software might be able to use CUDA cores.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £239.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti-448 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £25.99 (£51.98)
Total : £533.35 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Yammer · 27 Oct 2012 at 19:12

Brilliant! Thanks. That's just the sort of help I need.

RJC said:
I suspect your ram will be DDR 2 which wont run on new systems.

Yes, it is. DDR2 PC2-8500C5 (XMS2).

Another question, if I may: how easy is it to move the system drive over to a new mobo/CPU these days? Assuming I have enough PNP driver support built-in, will the activation just fail, or is it easy enough to get M$ to reactivate it? It's an OEM copy of Windows 7 Pro 64bit.

RJC · 27 Oct 2012 at 19:25

Yammer said:
Brilliant! Thanks. That's just the sort of help I need.

Yes, it is. DDR2 PC2-8500C5 (XMS2).

Another question, if I may: how easy is it to move the system drive over to a new mobo/CPU these days? Assuming I have enough PNP driver support built-in, will the activation just fail, or is it easy enough to get M$ to reactivate it? It's an OEM copy of Windows 7 Pro 64bit.

No probs,

Ideally I always do a fresh install, but you may get away with not doing a fresh install.

Being OEM you should buy a new license, as OEM is tide to the first system installed / activated on but many people have changed and activated without issue.

Yammer · 28 Oct 2012 at 11:29

If I'm replacing the motherboard/CPU/RAM, but keeping the chassis/drives/displays/peripherals isn't it technically still the same system? I know that latterly Windows has been designed to detect if it's been cloned onto another computer, and that such a major upgrade might be detected as foul play, but I'm guessing that Microsoft would appreciate that a box of old components in the attic doesn't need a software licence?

Anyway, £530 is a bit more of a spend than I'd anticipated, although it looks just the job. I had the nagging feeling that it wouldn't be a straightforward upgrade, much like my last from P4 to Core2 requiring a completely new computer.

I'm clearly getting old. Motherboard/CPU upgrades used to be a piece of cake. :^)

stulid · 28 Oct 2012 at 11:32

Win7 OEM is tied to the motherboard.

Yammer · 28 Oct 2012 at 11:38

stulid said:
Win7 OEM is tied to the motherboard.

Oh, bugger. More expense ... and a full system install. This Core2 Duo is looking faster all the time.

areksnumbr1sxylady · 28 Oct 2012 at 12:46

Yammer said:
I bought an OC Titan Lite (Asus P5Q Deluxe & Core2 Duo E7300) about 4 years ago, and it's been a really good computer, especially since installing Windows 7. But now it's starting to show its age with some of my more CPU-intensive software.

I'd be tempted to buy a whole new computer again, except there's lots of good stuff in the box, like 4 WD Caviar Blacks (3 in a RAID 5 set), a Radeon HD5670-1GB, and 4GB of Corsair Twin2X running happily at 1GHz.

Unfortunately, I haven't kept up with technology and don't know where to start. I've read the forum stickies, but I'm still unsure of where to aim. I was looking to replace the motherboard and CPU with an i7 combo, but I don't know if I can use the RAM, or if the PSU can cope (650W I think), and there seems to be lots of different i7s to choose from

I'm not a gamer. I mainly use the computer for Adobe Photoshop/Bridge/Dreamweaver and Sound Forge. It spends a lot of time processing high-res images and sound files. I don't know if I need to get a faster graphics card too, or whether the 5670 is good enough for my needs.

Can anyone spare a couple of minutes to set me off on the right foot, please?

Try intel xeon 1230v2, unless your software uses CUDA and not AMD equivelient I would suggest on getting 7850 2gb.