Upcoming PC Upgrade - In Need Of Suggestions.

Z

zoobooboozoo

New Member
Hi all,

My 4.5 years old PC kinda died on me,
and it was a limiting DAW back when it worked perfectly so I decided to upgrade my system.
I'm a musician and use the PC as a DAW - for recording, producing etc.

I'm pretty low on funds, so I figured I can stick with my
1. old case
2. PSU(520W)
3. Graphics card(Nvidia 9500GT) [or use intel graphics that will come with the new CPU]
4. Hard Drives
5. Burner, Screens, Keyboard etc...

and just buy a new MotherBoard, CPU, and RAM.
What would you suggest to get for a budget of about 350$-400$ ?
 
Might have a hard time fitting the old case connectors to a new mobo.
The ps is long in tooth so best to replace that.
 
Yes but how old is it? without a number and not knowing how hard it was used, the bugger could have aged more or less. PSU's dont last forever and its a 'better safe than sorry' scenario.
 
please give me the make and model of your psu. if you say its only a year or a bit more, than it should be alright, but knowing the make and model is important, so please provide that info, and ill post a motherboard, cpu and ram combo. how much ram was being used before when you would work on projects and add effects and all that. some peoples work when creating media (video, music, ect) use mroe ram than others. if your not sure, then thats alright.

as far as the case goes, it should be alright. i havnt seen the plugs on cases change in a very long time when it comes to audio and usb. the only problem i can see is if it were a dell case, or, with the power, reset, hd and power led plugs, but even then, we can help you repin them where they need to go. its not too hard.
 
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because of your budget, id say go with socket fm2. you will be able to get more for your money this way.

this will cover your cpu/gpu 3.8Ghz and can be overclocked, and the gpu is better than any intel graphics currently.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113280

motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128566

ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231627

comes to $367 - $15 promocode = $352

or you can try intel, but you would either have to go over budget by about $25, or go with 8 gigs instead of 16. but it would be an i5 3570k cpu which would kick the apu around since they are both quad cores. one is right at the low end of your budget, the other is right at the peak of your budget with an i5 and 8 gigs of ram, or go to $425 or so, and you can have the i5 and 16 gigs.
 
yeah, i was wondering about that, because i know people that have used well over 8 gigs when creating and editing music and other things, but then i seen people use under 8, so thats why i was asking the OP how much his system was usualy using when he did his audio work. the sooner he responds, the sooner we can help him
:good:
 
Yea. I will have way more than i need but i didnt really budget myself like that, though if they do decide on 8 gig, they could probably fit a SSD in the budget...id recommend that bigtime.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775
CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131832
Mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148486
RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121632
GPU

It comes out to about 440, but may perform a little better gpu wise than the AMD variant due to discrete, but it may not be that huge of a diff, just wanted to throw an alternative, but i would use that ram with the AMD build.
 
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the OP has no need for a discreet graphics card. a 7770 is complete overkill for him as he will never use it. the speed of the ram is 1600mhz that youlisted. i believe 1866mhz is the minimum one should run with a fm2 socket, since the graphics rely heavily on the performance of the systems ram. and the cpu, although it is an i3, it is still a dual core, and music creation and editing benefits from more cores. the fact that the i3 is stuck at stock speeds, makes it less desirable compared to the apu i linked, as it is stock at 3.8Ghz, and can overclock to 4.2Ghz on stock everything, even cooler, and is a quad core, so it would be the better cpu for his needs, easily. and it falls $50 under his max budget, to where as intel will put him right at 400 which is his top end, but will get him into a i5 3570k, and 8 gigs of ram. personaly, id either go with the apu set up, for 350, or get the i5 and board and 8 gigs of ram for 400. no point in getting an i3 with a 7770. complete waste of money for what the OP wants to do with his machine
 
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Here's my current system:

PC:
CPU: Intel Core2 Duo E7300 2.66GHz
PSU: Core Elite ATX-520W
M-Board: Gigabyte G31M-S2L
RAM: 2X2GB DDR2 400Mhz
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9500GT
Hard Drives: Western Digital: 1TB Black(WD1002FAEX), 500GB Green(WD5000AACS), 160GB(WD1600ADFD)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit

Audio Hardware:
External Audio Interface: PreSonus FireBox
Amplifier: InterM PA-2000a
Mics: Shure SM57 & KSM27
 
kdfresh09 said:
the cpu, although it is an i3, it is still a dual core
Click to expand...
Well, 3220 is 4 threaded. But here's what I'm thinkin'.

Replace that cheaply made, not having the watts it says it has, expired 1 yr warranty power supply. With this good yet budget friendly unit that altho says 430w, produces more amps reliably and has 3 yr warranty. PS is very important. If it goes, it can take out your new hardware.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

This cpu with its built in gpu, paired with 1866 memory.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1201719

Maybe this mb. Don't know for sure without knowing what case you have, and whether or not a ssd for os/programs will fit the upper end of the budget.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131883

What case is it? And is size a concern?
 
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Size is not a concern.

I'm not sure what case is it. there's no model number or anything similar on the case.

A real dilemma is whether to go amd or intel, most ppl suggested i5, but there's some, like you, suggesting amd.
I think that's the no1 question for me to solve...
I think a good L3 Cache is important for my kind of uses(music editing)
 
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kdfresh09 said:
the OP has no need for a discreet graphics card. a 7770 is complete overkill for him as he will never use it. the speed of the ram is 1600mhz that youlisted. i believe 1866mhz is the minimum one should run with a fm2 socket, since the graphics rely heavily on the performance of the systems ram. and the cpu, although it is an i3, it is still a dual core, and music creation and editing benefits from more cores. the fact that the i3 is stuck at stock speeds, makes it less desirable compared to the apu i linked, as it is stock at 3.8Ghz, and can overclock to 4.2Ghz on stock everything, even cooler, and is a quad core, so it would be the better cpu for his needs, easily. and it falls $50 under his max budget, to where as intel will put him right at 400 which is his top end, but will get him into a i5 3570k, and 8 gigs of ram. personaly, id either go with the apu set up, for 350, or get the i5 and board and 8 gigs of ram for 400. no point in getting an i3 with a 7770. complete waste of money for what the OP wants to do with his machine
Click to expand...

Sure its a dual core with better IPC and its hyperthreaded, there would be marginal gains going with more expensive 1866 with looser timings... as far as im concerned. The 7770 would probably be a better option due to dedicated memory, do the onboard chips feed off the system ram? regardless i just feel in the long run, would be a better solution as you wouldnt get locked into a no upgrade path scenerio, as the i3 can go to a i5 or i7 as budget allows.
 
i5 is overkill and uses up over 1/2 the budget. i3 3220 or A10 is plenty. I don't think L3 will factor much if any and processor speed would.

ATX mb would be better but we don't know if it will fit w/o knowing the case. Can you post a pic or 2 of it?
 
Current case I have:
IMG_0001_1.jpg

IMG_0002_1.jpg

another case I have lying around:
IMG_0003_1.jpg

IMG_0004_1.jpg
 
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zoobooboozoo said:
Hi all,

My 4.5 years old PC kinda died on me,
and it was a limiting DAW back when it worked perfectly so I decided to upgrade my system.
I'm a musician and use the PC as a DAW - for recording, producing etc.

I'm pretty low on funds, so I figured I can stick with my
1. old case
2. PSU(520W)
3. Graphics card(Nvidia 9500GT) [or use intel graphics that will come with the new CPU]
4. Hard Drives
5. Burner, Screens, Keyboard etc...

and just buy a new MotherBoard, CPU, and RAM.
What would you suggest to get for a budget of about 350$-400$ ?
Click to expand...

Since video isnt a big deal with what your doing, I would spend my money getting a better system and use the hardware you listed except the power supply and get these. Comes to around 350 without rebates.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128519
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231468
 
1) amd vs. intel: I heard that amd create more heat, and require more fanning(is that a word? :P) and more power, that's not ideal for a quite music editing PC, so maybe it's not the best idea for me?

2) if I will choose intel when it comes to the mobo, the differences I see are mainly in features like pci slots and stuff like that, is there any differnce in actual performence?

here are some of the mobos that were suggested to me:
Gigabyte Z77x UD2h
GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155
"gigabyte or asus b75 mobo"
ASUS P8Z77-M LGA 1155 Intel Z77
 
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