Upgrade Advice

aparmar

aparmar

aparmar

Associate
Joined
17 Mar 2020
Posts
7
Hi Everyone,

I'm here to get some upgrade advice :) Or whether I should invest in a new PC.

Current specification:

COOLERMASTER ELITE 335 ATX ,
2 x 12cm Case Fan,
INTEL CORE I7 950 (3.06GHZ, 8MB L2 CACHE),
Xilence 600W DUAL 12V RAIL SLI Ready Power Supply,
Standard Heatsink & CPU Fan,
ASUS P6X58D-E MOTHERBOARD,
3 x CORSAIR 2GB PC12800 DDR3 1600MHZ RAM ,
Kingston 64GB SATA SOLID STATE DRIVE,
SAMSUNG 1500GB SATA HARD DRIVE,
SAMSUNG BLU RAY READER / DVD +/- REWRITER,
CNM LIFESTYLE INTERNAL CARD READER,
IIYAMA (E2407HDS-HD) 24 INCH WIDESCREEN TFT,
MICROSOFT 64BIT WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM,
XFX ATI RADEON HD 5870 1GB XXX PCI E GRAPHICS CARD,

Usage:
- Hobby of photography editing/slideshow (hence thinking of RAM upgrade when 100+ photos being edited)
- Other basic application usage for running large Excel
- Separately, also running NAS Box/Plex
- Option to get into Gaming - I'm not currently doing this

Budget is flexible - if the cost goes too high, then perhaps a new PC.
~£100 new Monitor from what I could see, I'm unsure on Memory cost and whether I should upgrade to Win 10. Perhaps a Budget of £300-£400 for an Upgrade, depending on the feedback?

Upgrade options:
1. Upgrade Memory
which memory would be compatible?

2. Add a New Monitor to have both running at the same time
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/acer...een-led-backlit-gaming-monitor-mo-14g-ac.html

3. Should I upgrade to Win10?

Thanks - appreciate any help and advice on this one.
 
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You'll need to upgrade to Windows 10 for the following, but you can find keys online for £5-10 if you shop around.

I'd recommend something like this:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £388.92 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

Reuse the rest of your components. If you want to get into gaming you could add a better GPU down the line if/when you save up a bit more, the above build is more than capable in that regard while also offering a very big improvement for pretty much all other usage. I've included a PSU upgrade as the one you're using is on the old side and was more of a budget unit even when it came out. If you can stretch your budget I'd recommend getting a larger SSD.

Here's an alternative build:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £392.87 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

Comes with a 500GB NvME SSD, slower RAM and CPU although still a huge jump over what you're currently using. I'd recommend shopping around for the 2600 as you should be able to find one for £100 or so.

The second build is probably your best bet unless you're willing to stretch your budget a little more.
 
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Gray2233 said:
Definitely the cheapest option if you can find one of those old Xeon's cheap, I'd recommend getting a new heatsink to go with it.
Click to expand...
You would be suprised but they actually run cooler than the i7 quad cores even when overclocked at same speed and voltage. For 4ghz a hyper 212 would be more than enough, stock and the Intel heatsync would be fine.
 
Hi Guys - thanks you so much.

I'll take a look at both of your suggestions.

@Gray2233 - both of your upgrade suggestions look attractive. Looks like I'll be near enough doing a complete build, which have not had the chance to do.. yet!

@Joxeon - this sounds the most straightforward, as long as I can source the parts. I'll have a hunt around, unless you know a good site?

Also - sites for Windows Keys.. I'll search for those too.
 
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Looking into the New PC option - obviously overstretching the budget!

I tried to capture all components. How does this system look?
What else would be needed?
Cables?
Sound Card - or would there be onboard one available?
Webcams look all sold out on Overclockers.

At this price, is it better to get a package deal on a PC, rather than buying individual components?

BB CODE
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £2,773.56 (includes shipping: £26.34)​
​
 
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive
HD-23Y-SA
£110 (incl. VAT)
£85 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
AC-000-AC
£8 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
TP-Link Gigabit PCI Express Network Adapter (TG-3468)
NW-100-TP
£11 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
There's a bit of imbalance there, a number of items which cost more than they need really.

Does the software you use, use a lot of cores/threads?

AMD is the way to go at the moment unless there's something very specific you need that Intel offers.

For the money you're looking to spend we can likely fit a better build and a healthy monitor upgrade compared to an old entry level TN panel.

If you don't want to build yourself we can spec you a set of components which you can ask OCUK to build for you, so you'll get full warranty etc through them.
 
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Software - yeah, it can max out all 8 cores - so I end up slowing down / using smaller batches.. i.e. working around it.

Ah, okay - I thought I'd give it a go :)

Let me know what you think in terms of items to change around.

Appreciated!
 
Times have changed and it's now AMD which is the go to option at the low end and the high end.
For that sort of cash you could get a 24 core threadripper although you might not need that many cores but even amds desktop CPUs go up to 16 so plenty of options available, if your spending £600 on a Gpu then you really want a monitor which is 400+ to see the benefit.
 
Here's an idea:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £2,303.63 (includes shipping: £20.82)
​

The case choice is in part due to you specifying an optical drive, I'm not sure if that's absolutely necessary for you but if not I'd switch to a different case.

Honestly you'd probably be fine with a 3700X for £260, but you've a healthy budget and obviously you like to keep your hardware for very long periods of time so I've specified the 3900X. You could also spend the extra on the 3950X and still be under your initial specifications budget.

Much better monitor than the one you've been looking at which will do justice to your GPU selection.

If you really need a card reader you're probably better off grabbing an external one you can just plug in via USB as and when needed.
 
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Thank you so much for this - fantastic! Now, I know what I'm aiming for in terms of New PC Build.

Optical Drive/Card Reader - I'll take this into consideration.
 
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