PC upgrade suggestions - need some advice

james73

james73

james73

Associate
Joined
14 Jul 2005
Posts
94
Hello all.

A few months ago I started the long process of upgrading my ancient PC. When I say
ancient, I really mean it - the cpu is an AMD Athlon XP 3200+ and the motherboard
is an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe with 2Gb PC3200 RAM, and a ATI Radeon X1950 Pro GPU.


I bought a 120Gb Samsung 840 EVO SSD drive and two 2Tb Western Digital HDDs.
In order to use the WD drives as per my longer-term plan, I had to buy a cheap PCI
RAID card, so they are in RAID1 - the ASUS board only has two SATA connectors.
I also had to buy two SATA-IDE convertors to use my two DVD-R drives. So, my
current hard drive configuration is as follows:

Samsung EVO SSD
C: - 60Gb Win7
D: - 60Gb WinXP
------------
2 x WD 2Tb HDD in RAID1 (VIA VT6421A PCI card)
E: - 650Gb "Data"
F: - 250Gb "Programs"
G: - 1Tb "Games"
------------
Y: - DVD-R
Z: - DVD-R


My case is a 12-year old Chieftec Tower case, which I've recently changed from
beige to black. It has 6 case fans, 3 front and 3 back.


Very recently, I've just managed to get a new graphics card for a great price, it's a
Radeon Sapphire HD 7970 Vapor-X 3GB GDDR5. So, I'm looking for advice on which
CPU, mobo and RAM to buy. Ideally, I'm looking for value for money, "bang for buck"
as it were.


Currently I'm thinking of:

CPU - AMD FX-8350
Mobo - ASUS M5A97 EVO R2.0
RAM - 16Gb (but I dont know which type to get)
CPU cooler - ??? (no idea here, but the stock cooler looks a bit basic to me)


Requirements:
  • The mobo must have at least one old PCI slot for my current soundcard. I'm a
    bit of a hi-fi nut and my current Creative sound card produces very good results
    when I record directly from my vinyl set-up to the PC, and I'm a pupil of the school
    of "if it aint broke, dont fix it..."
  • Whilst I'm not an up-to-date gamer, I still want the PC to handle recent games
    without any major hassles. My current monitors max. resolution is 1280x1024 and I'm
    not planning to upgrade it anytime soon, so bear that in mind.
  • I do a lot of photo, video and sound editing, so that's why I'm looking at 16Gb of
    RAM. I also want to do more Virtual PC work, so the more RAM the better.
  • Despite the name of this forum, I'm not really into overclocking components,
    especially the CPU. :p


Can anyone give a few pointers on the choices I've suggested above?

Also, will my current RAID1 configuration transfer ok to a new mobo or am I looking at
major headaches on the horizon? The PCI SATA card I'm using just now is a VIA VT6421A
chipset and is working perfectly, but I've never moved RAID drives over from one controller
to another. Obviously, the VIA VT6421A PCI card will be sold when it's no longer needed.



Thanks in advance
James H
 
Last edited:
The 8350 is'nt worth the extra over the 8320. You will need to check the clearance in your case to see if the cooler will fit.
In regards to raid, sorry, can't help you there.

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £99.95
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED316GM1600HC11DC01) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte 970A-UD3P AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £67.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £19.99
Total : £287.88 (includes shipping : ).

 
martinoheat said:
Do you have a budget in mind?
Click to expand...

Well, I suppose the components I've listed hint at the sort of budget I have in
mind. But, I'm open to suggestions if you think it would be better if I pushed the
boat out a bit further? I also dont mind buying a motherboard, for example, and
then waiting until next pay day to buy a CPU, etc. As I said, I already have a new
graphics card, and it's sitting in it's big shiny box looking at me as if it's someone
elses christmas present!

I'm not a "fan boy" of any particular brand of CPU for example, but it just seems to
me that AMDs top CPUs are offering a wee bit better value for money for someone
like me with the requirements I have. :confused:



James H
 
Thanks for that, Idleman.

Idleman said:
The 8350 is'nt worth the extra over the 8320.
Click to expand...
Really? Why not?



Idleman said:
You will need to check the clearance in your case to see if the cooler will fit.
Click to expand...
It's an old case, but it's a damn big case. I'll check this out. I used to hate fans that were all multi-coloured
as they seemed to be poorly manufactured. Things seemed to have changed for the better. :)



James H
 
The 8350 is slightly better than the 8320. In most benches it wins, but not by much. AMD state it is 7% better, not really worth an extra £30. Performance and cost ratio, I think the 8320 offers better value.
 
Idleman said:
The 8350 is slightly better than the 8320. In most benches it wins, but not by much. AMD state it is 7% better, not really worth an extra £30. Performance and cost ratio, I think the 8320 offers better value.
Click to expand...

And also with the press of a button you could overclock it beyond a stock 8350 (like I have :) )
 
Thanks for all the replies.

Whilst I think Idlemans suggestion of the Gigabyte 970A-UD3P AMD 970 Mobo vs my
own initial choice of the ASUS M5A97 EVO R2.0 Mobo has given me something to think
about, I forgot to ask about a new PSU. :rolleyes:


Bear in mind it'll need to power:

5 x 80mm case fans
1 x 120mm case fan
1 x AMD CPU (assume AMD FX-8350)
1 x Mobo (assume Gigabyte 970A-UD3P)
2 x SATA DVD-R drives
2 x SATA3 2000Gb Western Digital HDDs
1 x SATA3 120Gb SSD Drive
1 x Radeon Sapphire HD 7970 Vapor-X 3GB GDDR5 Graphics card



Thanks in advance - again...
James H
 
Just to update this thread (for anyone who cares)...

After a lot of humming and hawing I decided to go down the Intel road rather than the
AMD Socket AM3+ - I've read a lot of people, especially on this forum, point out that it's
a dead end of a product line. That put enough doubt in my head for me to jump ship, as
it were.

I've managed to get an i5-4670 and an Asus Z97-A for significantly less that they're being
sold on OC.

I've identified the Raijintek Themis CPU cooler and the Corsair CX 750W PSU as my
next purchases in the next few days. I've seen the PSU cheaper elsewhere but OC seem to
be just about the only place selling the Raijintek CPU coolers. Worth an email to OC to see
if they'll match the cheaper price?


That only leaves RAM. I originally wanted 16Gb but I might drop that down to 8Gb for the
moment as that would save me £60-70 in the short term. Any suggestions for a good match
for this motherboard?


So, that's almost all new parts bought. Along with my 1xSSD boot drive, 2x2Tb data storage
SATA3 drives, my Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty soundcard (which is staying
firmly in place) and the Radeon Sapphire HD 7970 Vapor-X 3GB GDDR5 GPU I bought already, I
reckon it's looking like a decent modern PC. Certainly more modern than my current AMD Athlon
XP3200+ based computer!


Any thoughts/hints & tips on the parts I've purchased?



YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £163.99
1 x Asus Z97-A Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £106.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 750W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020015-UK) £65.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler PWM - 120mm £19.99
Total : £366.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
Last edited:
Also the CX750 isn't a great PSU. Get either the EVGA G2/SuperFlower series, the CX series don't really have great internals compared to the slightly more expensive SuperFlower made units

Something like the Golden Green 550/650W or the NZXT Hale 550W would be excellent
 
pastymuncher said:
Should have got a 4670K. You can't overclock the one you have and you wasted money on a Z97 board when a H81/B85 board would have done the job at £60 cheaper.
Click to expand...

1. I'm not planning to overclock.

2. I got the Z97 board for £80, not OC's price of £107. I needed two old PCI slots on whichever
board I chose. Also, previous experience with Asus boards tipped the balance that way.
 
Shivy011 said:
Also the CX750 isn't a great PSU. Get either the EVGA G2/SuperFlower series, the CX series don't really have great internals compared to the slightly more expensive SuperFlower made units

Something like the Golden Green 550/650W or the NZXT Hale 550W would be excellent
Click to expand...

Do you think a 550W PSU would be enough for all the components I have? Remember, I've got 6 case fans to power as well as all the parts.
 
Just to close this off, I finally got my RAM and the system is now built.

- Asus Z97-A mobo
- Intel Core i5-4670 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor
- Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler
- TeamGroup Elite Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Radeon Sapphire HD 7970 Vapor-X 3GB GDDR5 GPU
- SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" PSU

- Chieftec Dragon Full Tower Case
- Microsoft USB Comfort Mouse 4500
- Microsoft PS/2 keyboard

Drives
Samsung EVO SSD
C: - 60Gb Win7
D: - 60Gb Win??
------------
2 x WD 2Tb HDD in RAID1
E: - 650Gb "Data"
F: - 250Gb "Programs"
G: - 1Tb "Games"
------------
Y: - DVD-R
Z: - DVD-R


I got the TeamGroup Elite RAM for £80 new, so that was another saving, and
so I pushed the boat out a bit and went for the 650W PSU. After an embarrassing
noob mistake earlier (see the Motherboards section...) everything is up and running
and it's an amazing difference from what I was using just yesterday. I've just
put the side back on the case and the CPU is now sitting at 25-27°C with the
Raijintek Cooler fan only spinning at around 550RPM. My old faithful AMD Athlon
would be sitting at around 40°C (stock cooler) on a mild night like this.

Yet to test the CPU and GPU of course, but that'll happen soon. I did have the
idea of putting the 64bit version of XP on my D: partition (for one thing, I've
never used it) but it seems like a right rigmarole with the Z97 chipset so I might
just settle for a light install of Win7.

And to answer a question I asked at the start - setting up the RAID1 configuration
wiped out all data on my two WD drives. Bit of a ****er that, but transfering the
data back onto this rig is somewhat quicker than backing it up on the old one.


Thanks to all who offered advice. See you in another 10 years. :D
 
james73 said:
Thanks to all who offered advice. See you in another 10 years. :D
Click to expand...

Not quite 10 years, but not that far off either.... :D


Looking for some more good advice.

Parts I will be replacing

- Asus Z97-A Motherboard
- Intel Core i5-4670 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor
- Raijintek Themis Black Heatpipe CPU Cooler
- TeamGroup Elite Black 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz
- SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" PSU
- Boot drive - Crucial MX500 1TB SATA SSD (will likely keep this as a backup drive)

Parts I will be keeping for now

- Radeon RX5700 GPU
- Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Soundcard
- Data drives - 2 off Crucial BX500 2TB SATA SSD in RAID1
- Chieftec Dragon Full Tower Case (with 6 case fans)



In terms of a new CPU I've decided I'm going to buy either a i5-13600K or a i7-13700K (I'll decide in due course) so my options will be dictated by this decision.



CPU cooler - I need an air cooler for the 13600K/13700K as there's nowhere to fit a water cooler unit in my case despite it's large size. It has no top vents either, so air cooling only.

Boot drive - I want a 1TB NVMe Gen4 SSD. I know there's lots of options at similar price points here so I think I can pick one myself but always open to suggestions.

Motherboard - Socket 1700 DDR5-ready board, (obviously) must fit all the components I have and the new ones to come and have RAID on board, etc. My last two boards have been ASUS and whilst I'm not a fanboy or anything, I'd be quite happy to have another BUT other suggestions welcome.

RAM - I want DDR5, 2 x 16GB. Not sure about speeds, will depend on CPU + motherboard I assume.

PSU - My current SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" PSU has been fine the entire time I've had it, but I'm thinking it's now about 8 years old and I think replacing it during this big upgrade might be a wise move. I was thinking of a 750W or 850W unit but, again, there's so many options at this price point. I have 6 case fans so need a PSU to account for them. They're all molex connectors from memory although I do have extension leads and molex to SATA power adaptors.

Possible PCI SATA card - I have the 2 SATA SSD data drives, but I also have a DVD drive, an old 2TB HDD inside the case that I use to back up my data, a 4TB external HDD that is also connected via a SATA cable out the back of the case also for backups, and I'll probably keep my current 1TB SSD boot drive for now. The need for a PCI SATA card will depend on the motherboard chosen as I know some current boards only have 4 SATA ports whereas others have 6.


Any advice greatly appreciated!

:)
 
Last edited:
james73 said:
Not quite 10 years, but not that far off either.... :D
Click to expand...

Welcome back :cry:

james73 said:
Boot drive - I want a 1TB NVMe Gen4 SSD. I know there's lots of options at similar price points here so I think I can pick one myself but always open to suggestions.

Motherboard - Socket 1700 DDR5-ready board, (obviously) must fit all the components I have and the new ones to come and have RAID on board, etc. My last two boards have been ASUS and whilst I'm not a fanboy or anything, I'd be quite happy to have another BUT other suggestions welcome.

RAM - I want DDR5, 2 x 16GB. Not sure about speeds, will depend on CPU + motherboard I assume.

PSU - My current SuperFlower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" PSU has been fine the entire time I've had it, but I'm thinking it's now about 8 years old and I think replacing it during this big upgrade might be a wise move. I was thinking of a 750W or 850W unit but, again, there's so many options at this price point. I have 6 case fans so need a PSU to account for them. They're all molex connectors from memory although I do have extension leads and molex to SATA power adaptors.

Possible PCI SATA card - I have the 2 SATA SSD data drives, but I also have a DVD drive, an old 2TB HDD inside the case that I use to back up my data, a 4TB external HDD that is also connected via a SATA cable out the back of the case also for backups, and I'll probably keep my current 1TB SSD boot drive for now. The need for a PCI SATA card will depend on the motherboard chosen as I know some current boards only have 4 SATA ports whereas others have 6.
Click to expand...

From what I can gather you need, ideally:
A 1 lane slot, at least 2 slots away from the graphics card, for your sound card (or a 16 lane slot that can support a 1 lane card), without taking lanes from SATA or M.2.
M.2 slots which don't steal SATA lanes and vice versa
6 SATA unimpeded ports

If there are only 4 SATA available then you need another usable PCI-E slot for the add-in card.

Starting with the Asus Z790-P (I think this is the cheapest Z790 board OCUK have):
- Good: Primary PCI-E full-length slot (16 lane) is unaffected by anything
- Bad: The first PCI-E 1 lane slot is too close to the graphics card to be usable.
- Bad: The first PCI-E 4 lane slot is too close to the graphics card to be usable.
- Good: The second PCI-E 1 lane slot is usable for your sound card.
- Good: There are two PCI-E full-length slots (4 lane) which are usable for a SATA or PCI-E M.2 expansion card.
- Good: M.2 slot 1 to slot 4 are not impacted by the use of any PCI-E slot or SATA port.

So, the Z790-P appears to be suitable for you. I guess the next question is: once you add the cost of the SATA card, is there a cheaper motherboard with 6 SATA?

The ASRock Z790 Riptide has 8 SATA (!?) and a baby PCI-E 1 lane at the bottom of the board for your sound card. MSI Z790-P has 6 SATA and you could use the bottom full-length slot for your sound card.

Cooler: if it fits, maybe the Scythe FUMA 2 (£60)?

PSU: I'd go with the Phanteks AMP 750 (£110) or 850 (£130).

SSD: WD SN770 1TB (£70).

Memory: 32GB(2x16) Corsair Vengeance 5600 C36 XMP 3.0 (£159).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom