- Jun 2, 2013
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She has an old, AMD Quad core PC that she's had since 2009, and she's about ready to kick the buggy, constantly freezing to the curb -- or actually the closet. We've been working on trying to fix its problems for a while now -- about as long as I've known her, and we're unable to diagnose it too easily, due to some restrictions.
So, she wants to switch to intel, and more specifically, she'd really want to go overkill, and get an i7. We need to put together a few parts for under $600. We have the GPU, DVD drive, RAM, Hard drive, and Power Supply.
She wants to get the very best that she can, but this is coming out of her own pocket, so she can't afford much. Right now, we're looking at this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YmTzhM
With these being what we're looking at, in terms of motherboards: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z77ag41 and http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z75pro3
I'll update this thread, if the update becomes unnecessary, but as of right now, it is.
Note: she does a lot of multi-tasking -- several tabs on chrome, including videos, drawing in art programs, with many layers, and plenty of effects, while on Skype, with music playing, and on a game in the background. (and she needs to use wifi.)
The game can be any game, really, but might be World Of Warcraft, Borderlands 2, or GTA IV.
(She also needs enough power to run PhysX, though the CPU shouldn't really affect that, when using a nVidia card?)
We're thinking about either upgrading her hard drive, or adding in a solid state drive, but that may make it a bit too complicated, so that's not a huge concern. Also, while she won't overclock on her own, and I'm not in a position to do it for her, we'd prefer a board with auto-overclocking features, so she can get a bit more squeezed out, but if not, we can always overclock down the road, when it's more readily available (we want to keep from upgrading for as long as possible)
Edit: forgot to mention that the case isn't set in stone, either, and she wants one that's easy to use -- looks take a back burner to this end, though LEDs are preferred, if possible. And if there's any case that is any less likely to shock, that's second only to cost.
Anyway, any help will be appreciated, and feel free to change anything, but do keep in mind her requirements.
Update: I'm fairly certain that the PSU is a Thermaltake TR2 TR-600, and the GPU is a MSI GTX 660.
We have 4x2GB DDR3 DIMMs. and the desktop we've upgraded with this is an HP Pavilion Elite e9220y
If we could diagonse it properly, we'd might stick with it and upgrade, but we are having far too much trouble with that, besides, she'd be too worried about bending pins whin putting in the AMD CPU. (though I have tought her how to put on thermal paste, and she's better than me at it
)
And as far as cooling is concerned, she is in New York (state, not city) and without reliable cooling, so her room can get rather hot, so we want to be safe.
So, she wants to switch to intel, and more specifically, she'd really want to go overkill, and get an i7. We need to put together a few parts for under $600. We have the GPU, DVD drive, RAM, Hard drive, and Power Supply.
She wants to get the very best that she can, but this is coming out of her own pocket, so she can't afford much. Right now, we're looking at this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YmTzhM
With these being what we're looking at, in terms of motherboards: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z77ag41 and http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z75pro3
I'll update this thread, if the update becomes unnecessary, but as of right now, it is.
Note: she does a lot of multi-tasking -- several tabs on chrome, including videos, drawing in art programs, with many layers, and plenty of effects, while on Skype, with music playing, and on a game in the background. (and she needs to use wifi.)
The game can be any game, really, but might be World Of Warcraft, Borderlands 2, or GTA IV.
(She also needs enough power to run PhysX, though the CPU shouldn't really affect that, when using a nVidia card?)
We're thinking about either upgrading her hard drive, or adding in a solid state drive, but that may make it a bit too complicated, so that's not a huge concern. Also, while she won't overclock on her own, and I'm not in a position to do it for her, we'd prefer a board with auto-overclocking features, so she can get a bit more squeezed out, but if not, we can always overclock down the road, when it's more readily available (we want to keep from upgrading for as long as possible)
Edit: forgot to mention that the case isn't set in stone, either, and she wants one that's easy to use -- looks take a back burner to this end, though LEDs are preferred, if possible. And if there's any case that is any less likely to shock, that's second only to cost.
Anyway, any help will be appreciated, and feel free to change anything, but do keep in mind her requirements.
Update: I'm fairly certain that the PSU is a Thermaltake TR2 TR-600, and the GPU is a MSI GTX 660.
We have 4x2GB DDR3 DIMMs. and the desktop we've upgraded with this is an HP Pavilion Elite e9220y
If we could diagonse it properly, we'd might stick with it and upgrade, but we are having far too much trouble with that, besides, she'd be too worried about bending pins whin putting in the AMD CPU. (though I have tought her how to put on thermal paste, and she's better than me at it
)And as far as cooling is concerned, she is in New York (state, not city) and without reliable cooling, so her room can get rather hot, so we want to be safe.
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