Time for an upgrade, or do i start fresh? HELP!

Should i upgrade or re-build from scratch?

  • Upgrade with new parts

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • Scrap it and build fresh

    Votes: 4 66.7%

  • Total voters
    6

LoGiKaL

New Member
Hey everyone, I built my first desktop back in 2009 for around 1000$ it was a great source of pride and has been my baby for years, providing me with endless gaming entertainment. But unfortunately it's now outdated and painfully slow. My girlfriend is constantly whining about how loud the fan is, the case is falling apart with only a few usable USB ports left.

Now my question is, is it worthwhile to upgrade or should I just trash it and build new? Is anything worth keeping, power supply maybe? I'd like to save some cash if its a possibility.

Running Windows 7

AMD Phenom 2 x4 955 Processor with 3.2 gz

500GB HD

4 MB ram

Geforce GTX 650 Ti (Upgraded since original build)

ASUS DRW-24B1LT Drive

Can't remember my power supply currently but i can have a look soon, if theres any specs I'm missing that are needed to help with decisions please let me know what they are and how to obtain them.

I really only play league of legends these days which seems to run just fine, basic operations are incredibly slow now though. I'd like to be able to run newer games as they come out, have a computer that doesn't feel sluggish as hell, reduce noise from cooling, and definitely replace the case.

Can someone with some more knowledge give input on my situation? Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
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voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
Your motherboard is most likely socket AM3. I'd say upgrade, as those are dead sockets these days and you can get much better performance from something new.

If you don't want to invest into a new CPU and motherboard, I'd get a 256GB SSD and upgrade to 8GB of RAM, and maybe a new case if the one you have is crap. That will breathe some new life into it for a cheaper than new price.
 

LoGiKaL

New Member
Sorry, thought i had included that, my motherboard is an
ASUS-M4A785TD-V EVO.

Ok thanks voyager, well I'm definitely considering upgrading everything, just wondering if anything is worth keeping pretty much. TBH i knew nothing about SSD until you mentioned it and i did some research, sounds like I'd definitely like to upgrade my HDD aswell.

From what you've suggested, I could get the best bang for my buck and meet my goals with a new case, motherboard, processor, ram and SDD. Seems to me like that wouldn't be too bad.
 

m3incorp

New Member
Start fresh....everything you have has seen it's day. I can see the smile on your face when your computer boots in seconds off an SSD. The only thing I would consider keeping (Maybe Windows 7, though I've gotten used to Win 8.1), slap that 500GB Hard drive into an external, surely it is not SATA 6, and the DRW drive, (since you already have it...almost everything is downloaded these days, but you will need it to install Win 8.1 :) on your new SSD).
 
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LoGiKaL

New Member
Alright well im definitely getting an SSD, do i need to make my old HD an external or is that just a good option for portability? There is room for more than one HD in a case correct?

Just browsing processors and it seems like i can get a decent x4 AMD processor at around 100$, I've noticed intel is alot more expensive than AMD. Is there much of a difference when it comes to performance?

So I believe I'll be purchasing a new case, ram, SSD, motherboard, processor. Ill keep my old power supply, vid card and put my old HD and DRW into the new case or possibly an external. I'm buying from Canada, and in the past found memoryexpress to be the cheapest, is there a better option.

Again, any input is greatly appreciated!
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
To be honest, the quad-core AMD you've found is likely the FX-4300 and whilst it is decent for the money, it's not really a huge upgrade from your Phenom II X4 955. You'd be better off spending a bit more and getting an FX-6300 or an FX-8320 if your budget can stretch that far.

What case do you currently have?

You should be able to put two drives in your existing case. I'm not sure why m3incorp recommended putting the HDD into an external enclosure - to save money and just for convenience I'd just leave it in the case connected to SATA to be honest unless you need a portable hard disk. Same with the DVD drive too.

Check whether the RAM is DDR2 or DDR3 too. It should be DDR3 but it may be DDR2 (not sure if Phenom IIs and AM3 worked with DDR2 or not - it's been a while!) If it's DDR2 you'll need to replace it with DDR3. Make sure you get RAM with the same frequency and timings that you already have too.
 

LoGiKaL

New Member
I believe my case is an AZZA orion 201 (I don't remember exactly but just found it on their website, mine could be an older model). I'm definitely purchasing a new case though as the USB ports are dead and the fans very loud. Found it to be a very cheaply made case from the start.

The processor i found http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX53537
it wasn't necessarily one i plan on buying. I'm going to start pricing out things now and see what I'm willing to spend, just seems like if i want something that appears to be much of an upgrade from my current processor im going to need to spend $200+.

I believe i will just move my HD and DRW into the new case and get a SSD for my boot drive.

The ram i have is 4gb DDR3 currently, but it seems fairly inexpensive to upgrade to 8gb so i may do that aswell. Thoughts?

Thanks for the post spirit, appreciate the help!
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
This was really the only benchmark I could find comparing your Phenom to something similar to the 860K (had to use a 750K because Anandtech haven't benched the 860K): http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1284?vs=88

I know there are only two benchmark results comparing them but there is barely any difference between the two. Makes me think it might not be worth the $100 upgrade to be honest.

Compared to the FX-4300, it's still not much better than your existing Phenom: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/88?vs=700

And then even compared to the hex-core FX-6300 it is kind of hard to justify the upgrade cost, even if the FX-6300 is faster: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/88?vs=699

You're going to need to get an FX-8320 to really see a performance increase from your Phenom II X4 955, I think.

I would buy a new 8GB kit. Make sure you check what speeds your board can support - get 1600MHz or 1866MHz if your board can support it.

Your machine will be fast enough with the SSD and new RAM. See how it goes with the Phenom but you will need to spend more than $100 on a new CPU to see a performance difference worth upgrading for, I think.
 

LoGiKaL

New Member
Ok great, it's excellent to see some actual benchmark comparisons between the chips thanks!

I can get a FX-8320 for $189 which isn't out of my budget http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX42095#Continue

I believe I will be going with the Corsair Vengance 8gb kit
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX35115

A for a motherboard, i have to admit I don't know a whole lot about them. Just browsing i found these 2, large price difference. But from a performance perspective, what will the increased cost actually get me?

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX52112
vs
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX47975


For my SSD, my options are
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX52522
vs
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX53808


And finally for cases i believe i will be going with
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX31654

So, looks like my upgrade will run me 600-700$ depending on motherboard choice, which is right around what I was hoping to spend. As far as price goes, is there a better option for me to purchase from? I built my current desktop through memoryexpress, so naturally I just thought to use them again.

Spirit, you seem to be alot more knowledgeable than me here, do you see any compatability issues with the new parts? Am i missing anything?

Thanks again for your time and help guys, very much appreciated!!!
 

C4C

Well-Known Member
Both those motherboards are the wrong socket (LGA1150 & FM2). You need to search for AM3+ motherboards. :)

Try looking at Samsung Evo SSD's too. and also search other sites such as Newegg and Amazon. They'll have a better selection.

A tool we use is PCPartPicker.com (compiles all parts you choose, matched to the lowest priced retailer)
 

LoGiKaL

New Member
First off, PCpartpicker.com is amazing!
Looks like it`s saved me at least 100$ and made things alot easier :D

So this is what I believe i will be purchasing, hopefully this link works!
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/L9xWCJ

I'll move over my current corsair 750w power supply, ASUS Geforce GTX 650 TI card, DRW drive and hard drive for additional storage.

Doesnt look like I`ll have any problems, anyone else see anything I'm missing?

C4C, between these 2 SSD its about a 30$ price difference but specs seem to be on par. Is there a difference if any between samsung and sandisk besides name?

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/sandisk-internal-hard-drive-sdssdhp256gg25
vs
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e250bam

Thanks!
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
It looks like a nice build! :good:

On the SSD front I've personally used SanDisk and Samsung a lot. I prefer the Samsung SSDs, they're faster than the SanDisk ones I have but those SanDisks are a few years old now.

You can see the comparison between a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256GB and a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB here: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/736?vs=1396

They are both very fast so on this occasion I'd say look at the benchmarks and see what represents better value for you but I've loved all of the Samsungs I've owned (840 EVO, 850 EVO and 850 Pro - all 250GB or 500GB).

We don't have any results for the Ultra Plus drives yet, but if you look at my Crystal Disk March benchmark thread you can see real-world scores from our users here at computerforum.com and you can see that Samsung SSDs dominate the leaderboard and are much faster than the (old) SanDisk Extremes I benchmarked: http://www.computerforum.com/224966-drive-speed-thread.html#post1895877
 
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LoGiKaL

New Member
Ok thats great to know, thanks spirit! I'm going to go ahead with the samsung over the sandisk SSD. I'll be ordering my parts tomorrow!

As far as OS goes, i have my windows 7 disc from this current computer. Will i be able to re-install it on the new build or am i going to have to purchase a new OS?
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
$189 is REALLY steep for a 8320, where are you buying from or where do you live?
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
As far as OS goes, i have my windows 7 disc from this current computer. Will i be able to re-install it on the new build or am i going to have to purchase a new OS?

You should be fine if the key hasn't been used/activated for a while. If it fails to activate over the internet just use the telephone activation and it will work fine. :)
 

m3incorp

New Member
You should be able to put two drives in your existing case. I'm not sure why m3incorp recommended putting the HDD into an external enclosure - to save money and just for convenience I'd just leave it in the case connected to SATA to be honest unless you need a portable hard disk. Same with the DVD drive too.

You are correct. I don't know why I was thinking it was much older non-SATA hard drive.
 

LoGiKaL

New Member
Alright, everything has been ordered now just playing the waiting game. Huge thanks to all of you for the help with this, verrry much appreciated! :D
 
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