Mid-Tower Internals Upgrade (for Windows 8) - In need of advice/suggestions.

FuzzDesign

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Apr 17, 2009
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18,510
Good day, Tom's Hardware world.
My PC recently experienced error 0xc0000221 and I've decided this is a good point to move up to Windows 8 from Vista. In my last thread it was suggested that I need only replace my CPU, Mobo, and RAM and that it was in my best interest to purchase a SSD.
That thread has been lost to the nether, as it's listed as Answered.

At any rate, here is my current setup from 2009:

Tower: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037
CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003 (Takes up a huge amount of interior space, but as long as it does the job...)
HD(x2): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371017
Graphics card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150359

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Made a quick shopping list (Tried to stick to products with plenty of good reviews) with the intent of not having to replace these parts for a good long while

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128591 (PCI Express 2.0 x16 (My current card) supported, but room to grow)

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116899

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231416

SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W01AZ5378

Any and all assistance/advice on parts is greatly appreciated! This will be my first time upgrading rather than building from scratch.

USE: I don't do a whole lot of gaming anymore, but when I do have a few moments I'll always crank the settings as high as I can. Typically my PC is used for photo editing.


When installing new parts/Windows, should I be worried about losing files like photos and music on my second hard drive? I only use it for file storage.
 
Solution
Looks like a great setup. It should last you quite some time, especially with the unlocked i5 CPU (the K after the numbers 4670 indicate its the unlocked version of the chip). You will be able to overclock it in the future when requirements become greater. Your motherboard allows up to 32GB of RAM, which should be on par for the the future with the other components, and seems of high quality.

I don't really know how well your GPU performs, but these new components would be able to much outperform your current GPu. On the other hand, it sounds like you don't do much gaming and I would think the 4890 should perform quite well for photo editing, and mild gaming.

My only suggestion would be to go with the 250GB SSD...Unless you are under...
Looks like a great setup. It should last you quite some time, especially with the unlocked i5 CPU (the K after the numbers 4670 indicate its the unlocked version of the chip). You will be able to overclock it in the future when requirements become greater. Your motherboard allows up to 32GB of RAM, which should be on par for the the future with the other components, and seems of high quality.

I don't really know how well your GPU performs, but these new components would be able to much outperform your current GPu. On the other hand, it sounds like you don't do much gaming and I would think the 4890 should perform quite well for photo editing, and mild gaming.

My only suggestion would be to go with the 250GB SSD...Unless you are under a tight budget. I also don't know how many programs you use. But I will be going with the 250GB version of the Samsung SSD you have listed when I upgrade here soon. The reason being, I think that 250GB's will hold my OS and all the programs I will put on the computer over its life. Although I tend to have many programs. Also Windows 8 seems to use quite a lot of space compared to previous windows OS(I think it was around 40GB or so on my computer with the 8.1 upgrage). Either way this rig will be a world of difference over your old one.
 
Solution
Yea that seems pretty nice for the price. I would make sure to go with a card that had 2GB on board memory for future proofing purposes. The one you have listed has an option under the price that lets you select amount of memory, in this case it is only $20 more than the 1GB card. Also make sure to look at the benchmarks of any GPU because some will have 2GB and might not be able to utilize the 2GB of memory. GPU's seem to follow the rule of "you get what you pay for" quite closely.
 

FuzzDesign

Distinguished
Apr 17, 2009
7
0
18,510
Allllrighty!
Thank you again, RookieOfTheYear.
I've bumped up to a different GPU for the moment after reading more reviews, but think I've got everything pretty set.
Just need to head home and measure the space available. Gotta make sure that the larger GPU will fit.

Final (unless measurements force otherwise) upgrade/supplies build:

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128591
(SATA 6GB/s. Hope my two 3GB/s HDDs can keep up.)

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150686

SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147248
SSD Mount: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994085

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231416

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116899
CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099
Thermal Compound: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020