Seeking advice on how to upgrade

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robotdinosaur

Honorable
Jul 9, 2013
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Hi there. I am looking to upgrade my girlfriend's gaming pc soon. Her pc has a 2nd gen i5, 8gb RAM, 500gb HDD, and a GTX 460. I believe the video card and HDD are most in need of update. So, I've got some questions about what I should do.

I will probably upgrade the GPU and SSD at the same time. Is this a bad idea? How big of a hassle is it to do a clean install of Windows 7 on a new SSD? I doubt its beyond my/our capabilities but I've never done a clean install of Windows on a new drive in a rig that already had Windows installed on an older HDD. I just don't wanna get in over my head as I am fairly inexperienced with this.

I am looking into the Radeon R9 series and I've never owned a Radeon video card before. I figure this is the best time to switch to AMD Radeon since I will be doing a clean install of Windows and will need to get new graphics drivers anyway. So, how do you guys like your Radeon R9 series GPUs? Care to recommend a model for me? They all seem really competitively priced and appear quite powerful from my limited perspective.

Thanks for your help!
 
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coastie65

coastie65

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May 26, 2010
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Hi. The GPU is a good one for sure. Just make sure you have the PSU for it. With what is in there at present, I suspect you do. As for the SSD, shouldn't be a problem. With the SSD it may go a bit faster on the install then on an Hdd ( did on mine ). If and when you decide to upgrade the processor, bite bullet and get a new socket 1150 Motherboard and 4th gen Haswell or whatever follows ( depending when and if that is done ). Going to the third gen Ivy Bridge will not be worth it performance wise. As someone above stated, I did clone my Hdd to my SSD. Samsung has a very good utility for that included with their SSD.
 
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robotdinosaur

Honorable
Jul 9, 2013
5
0
10,510
Thank you for all your responses. I won't be upgrading the motherboard/CPU until DDR4 RAM is a thing. She will be playing FFXIV, Borderlands 2, Dark Souls II, Smite, and some other games that are less demanding. I'd like to find a card that will be able to run games that are released by the end of this year at high settings. I believe the PSU is 550W or 600W, I will have to look to be sure.

I am trying to find the SSD for ~$100 (should be easy!) and the budget for the new GPU is $300, but I'd like to spend less than that unless I am getting a huge performance boost or great deal for that money.

She will be using a single 1080p IPS monitor with this PC.

I still have the original Win7 installation disc and product key but if there is a simple way to move the OS from the 500gb HDD to the new SSD then that is awesome because I am most concerned about a smooth transition to the new SSD.

Thanks again for all your responses.
 
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ksham

ksham

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Mar 29, 2013
8,398
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DDR4 isn't very special. Games are not RAM-sensitive.



Please do check and provide brand and model. Wattage means very little. Build quality and ampere rating on the +12V rail is more important.



Samsung 840 EVO 120GB.



Okay. That's fine, but I'll await your answer to the PSU before answering this one. I don't want to suggest something that the PSU cannot handle.



Yes; as I already mentioned, there are cloning tools that can do it. :)
 
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