Computer Questions.

[Cory Wolfe]

My PC is sluggish. It was fast back in 2006. My question is this: Is it worth trying to build it up to today's standards or am I better off buying a new PC/Mac?

And just for fun:

[daves87rs]

CHeaper just to buy new.

DEpends on what you plan to use it for though.

[loki]

um... processor.. it's a lga 775, so you could potentially upgrade to a core processor... not i3 i5 or i7,

so potentially , if your bios caould be upgraded you could upgrade to ...something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116265&cm_re=lga_775-_-19-116-265-_-Product

if your graphics are hella slow and want to upgrade to the newest, a radeon 5450 would cost you ~50 - $70 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=5450&x=0&y=0

or even a 4350 would proly be 1/2 that.

it's by no means a lost cause but for ~$70 to .. say 150, you could majorly upgrade. provided a bios upgrade for "wolfdale" core chips is available.

and ddr2-533 should be quite cheap. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000147%201052308477&Description=ddr2&name=2GB%20%282%20x%201GB%29&ActiveSearchResult=True

2x1gb sticks for as cheap as another $40.

[PurdueGuy]

The ratings in your first screenshot pretty much tell the story: your processor and hard drive are pretty decent, but your graphics & ram aren't so great. My advice:

+ max out your ram (2gb) with the fastest interface speed your mobo will support

+ new graphics card (~$150 card should do wonders over what you have)

+ consider Win7 64bit

No need for a whole new computer IMO - you've got some core components that are quite decent, and with a minor investment the computer should be excellent for all but the latest games or heavy video editing for a few more years.

*edit*

Just noticed your graph with photoshop. I'd do the above (at least the ram & graphics card), see how it does, then consider a better CPU that'll fit your mobo (plenty of options).

Edited February 10, 2010 by PurdueGuy

[Intrepidation]

That computer's got some life left in it it, although only being able to expand to 2 gigs is lame. That's why I hate prebuilt PC's. Building a PC is pretty easy and fun, you may want to look into doing that and pricing out the parts.

[FAPTurbo]

As a short term solution, turning off Windows Aero and going with the 'classic' style should help mitigate some of the sluggishness.

Upgrading the RAM is the first thing you should consider, because the performance boost will be noticeable, and it should alleviate the slowness of running Photoshop and an OS like Vista. I'd even recommend downgrading to Windows XP if you have a copy around.

A graphics upgrade would also help, but you'd have to make sure your power supply would be capable of running a half decent card. The power supply should have a sticker on it that indicates the wattage, but you'll have to open up the PC's case to check.

[Intrepidation]

His problem as far as Ram goes it it indicated it's expandable two 2 gigs...2 gigs was a lot...in `06... =/

[Intrepidation]

On a side note, the Windows Experience thing is fun.

Curse you HDD for lowering my score. Next up is an SSD when they come down in price and go up in capacity.

[PurdueGuy]

On a side note, the Windows Experience thing is fun.

Curse you HDD for lowering my score. Next up is an SSD when they come down in price and go up in capacity.

I think it's going to be most reasonable to do do a hybrid HD setup for a while - SSD for the OS & program files, standard style HD for most of the files. I haven't gotten to that point yet, but am so badly wanting to. I did do a RAID10 setup with 4 750gb Caviar Black drives though, and got a nice boost in my score over my old RAID1 setup. Every little bit helps, as I do HD video editing on a regular basis, which depending on what aspect of that I'm working on will max out the processor (core2quad), ram (4gb, hoping to double that sometime soonish), or hard drives.

Interestingly, some of the cheaper SSDs don't outperform a high rpm platter style hard drive in every aspect. There's a nice article on Tom's Hardware about it. The Intel SSD and one other (kingston? I forget) blow platter HDs out of the water, though.

[Z-06]

On a side note, the Windows Experience thing is fun.

Curse you HDD for lowering my score. Next up is an SSD when they come down in price and go up in capacity.

Velociraptors can help too. That is one helluva machine. Any overclocking?

[loki]

The ratings in your first screenshot pretty much tell the story: your processor and hard drive are pretty decent, but your graphics & ram aren't so great. My advice:

+ max out your ram (2gb) with the fastest interface speed your mobo will support

+ new graphics card (~$150 card should do wonders over what you have)

+ consider Win7 64bit

why does he need a ~5750 radeon?!!! he's lived with an "x200" which was like a radeon 9000 i think. base model from the past 2 years would be more than5x faster, easy.

BV, do you play new games? if you don't you absolutely don't need a $150 graphics card. plus a "cheap" one will not strain your power-supply. a 5350 maxes out at like 15W...? that's nothing. more ram won't increase it anything noticeable.

so... just ram and a video card... ~$90. or a whole new one for at least $400. for pretty much barebones, or an e-machines. lol

[loki]

Velociraptors can help too. That is one helluva machine. Any overclocking?

you guys care to measure your e-pean elsewhere?

[Intrepidation]

I think based on what your computer is and how limited it is, if you'd can afford it he'd be better off building a new computer that can be upgraded more easily in the future.

I priced out a build for you on newegg. All of those parts I've personally bought and can attest to with the exception of the video card (the 9800 GT I bought for mom was a different brand that's unavailable right now).

The cooling fan, motherboard, processor and Ram are what I use in my own rig, that PSU actually generates 50 more watts than mine. The only noticeable difference is that I have a GTX260 Superclocked Edition. Unless you plan to do hardcore gaming though a 9800 GT will be more than sufficient (it scores 6.9 IIRC just to give you an idea)

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=11430811

Total: $769.89

[Intrepidation]

Velociraptors can help too. That is one helluva machine. Any overclocking?

I had actually wanted to get a Samsung Spinpoint F3EG...but they were out of stock so I went with the Western Digital Caviar Black.

I've done some overclocking via AMD OverDrive The core clock currently at 2831.7 MHz. Haven't gone to crazy with it. It's at 44.6° C with Firefox, Windows Live, Overdrive, and The Sims 3 running. Normally idles around 28° C at level 5 overlock.

[loki]

what kind of budget you thinking of BV?

[FAPTurbo]

If you're willing to shill out some cash, then there's plenty of good deals to be found.

Subtotal is $450.95, and then there's $40 worth of rebates too.

Keep in mind that a couple of these are combo deals, and may not last more than a few days. But you'll get an idea of what you can get for a reasonable sum of money. The CPU has four cores which Photoshop will love.

Throw in your current hard drive and DVD drive, and add a copy of Windows and you'd be good to go. Even if you want to play a modern game, you'll be able to on reasonable settings and resolutions.

Edited February 11, 2010 by FAPTurbo

[Cory Wolfe]

BV, do you play new games? if you don't you absolutely don't need a $150 graphics card. plus a "cheap" one will not strain your power-supply. a 5350 maxes out at like 15W...? that's nothing. more ram won't increase it anything noticeable.

so... just ram and a video card... ~$90. or a whole new one for at least $400. for pretty much barebones, or an e-machines. lol

Not at the moment. However, when I can't play NFS Porsche Unleashed (circa 1999, FYI) with it freezing on me, it sort of makes you avoid getting anything newer. I can think of a few games I wouldn't mind buying, such as NFS Shift.

I think based on what your computer is and how limited it is, if you'd can afford it he'd be better off building a new computer that can be upgraded more easily in the future.

I priced out a build for you on newegg. All of those parts I've personally bought and can attest to with the exception of the video card (the 9800 GT I bought for mom was a different brand that's unavailable right now).

The cooling fan, motherboard, processor and Ram are what I use in my own rig, that PSU actually generates 50 more watts than mine. The only noticeable difference is that I have a GTX260 Superclocked Edition. Unless you plan to do hardcore gaming though a 9800 GT will be more than sufficient (it scores 6.9 IIRC just to give you an idea)

http://secure.newegg...Number=11430811

Total: $769.89

Thanks. Doable, though I'm not sure what I actually want to spend. That'd be entire tax refund right there.

If you're willing to shill out some cash, then there's plenty of good deals to be found.

Subtotal is $450.95, and then there's $40 worth of rebates too.

Keep in mind that a couple of these are combo deals, and may not last more than a few days. But you'll get an idea of what you can get for a reasonable sum of money. The CPU has four cores which Photoshop will love.

Throw in your current hard drive and DVD drive, and add a copy of Windows and you'd be good to go. Even if you want to play a modern game, you'll be able to on reasonable settings and resolutions.

That sounds doable, as well.

[FAPTurbo]

I'm actually surprised by the price for what you'd be getting. It's not top of the line, but then it sounds like you don't need it to be.

Btw, DF's computer is soooooo Windows 98.

Edited February 12, 2010 by FAPTurbo

[Intrepidation]

[Z-06]

Not at the moment. However, when I can't play NFS Porsche Unleashed (circa 1999, FYI) with it freezing on me, it sort of makes you avoid getting anything newer. I can think of a few games I wouldn't mind buying, such as NFS Shift.

Dude, that one cannot run on Win XP, so forget running on the Vista. The game used to run fine with PII, 32MB RAM and 4MB video card of my uncle's computer in 1999 but it does not run on my Dual Quad Cores, 16GB and dual FX3800 video cards at work because it is not meant for it.

BTW, the best NFS period. It burns me as I had to throw the CD away after all my computers went to XP.

[Cory Wolfe]

It seems to do alright with Vista. Just freezes every now and then.

[Intrepidation]

That is your computer telling you that the integrated graphics suck.

[Cory Wolfe]

So. I have a few specific questions.

• How salvageable is my processor?
• Is it possible to keep my existing case, optical drive, media reader, etc. and still upgrade my core components?
• What all could potentially be salvaged overall?
• Does anyone have any freebies?

[FAPTurbo]

Your CPU is a 'Socket 775' and there are a lot of motherboards that you can buy that will support it. It IS somewhat limited by a 533MHz Front Side Bus, but that shouldn't be too big of a deal for your purposes.

What you can salvage:

CPU

RAM

Hard Drive

Optical Drive

Media Reader

As for your case, you MIGHT be able to re-use it. However, a new motherboard may not fit in it, because the pre-drilled holes in the MoBo may not match with the pre-drilled ones in the case, making attachment impossible. Your best bet is to go with a new, solid, basic case that has good airflow. Reputable brands like Antec, Cooler Master, NZXT, and Thermaltake often have rebates, or combo deals on their cheaper cases.

The thing here is that keeping your CPU and buying a new motherboard won't really help you too much, unless we're certain that your current motherboard does not support PCIe x16.

You'll want to first open your computer, and look inside at the motherboard. If it has a slot like yellow one, second from the right (as pictured below), then you have other options.

If you don't have a PCIe x16 slot, then a new motherboard will likely be desirable in order to upgrade your graphics. However, it'd likely make more sense to just build a new system.

If you do have one, then all you would likely need to do is buy a new power supply, and a video card, maybe a stick or two of RAM, and then you'd be OK for a while longer.

[daves87rs]

Ouch.....

[Cory Wolfe]

Pictures tell the story. Opened up my case for the first time in a long while. It's dirrrrrrtay.

Randomly, I've been looking around. What are your opinions on the Intel Core I5 750 2.66GHz processor? What about the ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics card?

[FAPTurbo]

Thanks for the pictures! That is indeed a PCIe x16 slot, so you can add a new GFX card in there. It might be an older version of PCIe x16, but it should be fine. However, your power supply likely won't handle a decent card, so you'd need to upgrade it, if you were to add in a new GFX card.

The i5 750 is a great CPU, but it will not work with your computer. The reason is that the i5 series' socket has 1156 pins, whereas your cpu has 775. So they're totally different platforms, and incompatible.

ATI's 5750 is one of their midline cards. It's not terribly powerful, but if your needs are more modest, it's pretty good. However, an ATI 4850 is generally equal in power, and can be had much cheaper. The main difference between the 4800 series, and the 5700 series is that the 5700's can run DirectX 11. From what I've seen so far, upgrading for DX11 is not worth it at this time. The 5700's are more power efficient too, but you'd still need to upgrade your power supply, regardless.

Edited February 20, 2010 by FAPTurbo

[Intrepidation]

I think your best bet would be to build a new computer and start fresh. You can probably carry over the drives, but that's about it, and all that's worth keeping.

Trying to add onto a handicapped system like that wouldn't be very cost effective, and wouldn't net huge performance upgrades (you're still limited to the CPU you have and 2 gigs of Ram).

[Cory Wolfe]

I wasn't really asking about those in order to upgrade mine... More or less for general building/buying purposes. I was looking at some of the available machines and figured I'd ask the worthiness of those two aspects.

[FAPTurbo]

What machines did you have in mind? Something with an i5-750 will be very, very powerful.

[Cory Wolfe]

I was looking at This, specifically.

[Drew Dowdell]

I think that machine will suit you just fine.

[Drew Dowdell]

Pictures tell the story. Opened up my case for the first time in a long while. It's dirrrrrrtay.

Randomly, I've been looking around. What are your opinions on the Intel Core I5 750 2.66GHz processor? What about the ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics card?

Well... step 1: Stop using your CPU fan as an ash tray.

[FAPTurbo]

That Gateway is a good machine. However, the power supply is limited, so if you decide you want to upgrade your graphics later on, you'll be in a similar boat as you are now.

This pre-built machine may be worth a look. The graphics card is much more powerful than the 5750, and the liquid cooling is interesting.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229169&cm_re=cyberpower_pc-_-83-229-169-_-Product

Now, while I know I'll sound like a broken record here, I'd suggest investigating the 'do-it-yourself' option. It's not terribly complicated, and seeing as you're tinkering with a Vee Dub, assembling a PC, and getting it up and running will be a piece of cake in comparison.

For the same price as that Gateway, you can actually get a considerably more powerful computer. Or, you can get similar specifications for cheaper. For example, I quickly pieced together on newegg.com, an i5-750 system with a 5770 and a 1TB Hard Drive for $914.92; that doesn't include the 90 bucks in rebates. You could save even more money if you go with an AMD platform, which will get you a CPU faster than the Intel i5-750 for cheaper.

The benefits of building your own are that you can cherry pick components that are tailored to your use, and you get top shelf components. If problems with components arise, then you are covered by warranties, and you can get support from the manufacturers.

A few of us have built systems like siegen, Dodgefan, PurdueGuy, JamesBond and myself, so you'll have plenty of 'local' help if you're willing to build your own.

[Intrepidation]

Build it yourself is the way to go.

[Cory Wolfe]

How trustworthy is Passmark Benchmarks? They have a bunch of comparisons for CPUs, Graphics cards, hard drives, etc.

[FAPTurbo]

It's just a benchmark program, and some of the results are a bit strange. Also, programs like Passmark are 'synthetic' and don't often reflect real world performance.

If you're interested in a more complete analysis, then Toms Hardware's review of the i5-750 has a couple pages devoted to productivity applications, media, and synthetics.

Toms Hardware

Hardware Canucks' review that has the i5 750 is also fantastic.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/22151-intel-lynnfield-core-i5-750-core-i7-870-processor-review.html

I should mention that you have to step back from the benchmark bars, and look at the numbers. While in many cases, AMD's CPU's may trail, the difference is often down to seconds, or few frames per second. In turn, AMD's options are cheaper than Intel's, so you have to weigh between dollars saved vs seconds saved/smoother gaming.

Edited February 22, 2010 by Captainbooyah