Upgrading Computer Questions/Compatiblity

wirey856 · May 21, 2015

Hi, I have an Inspiron 546 desktop computer I have used at home for 5 years or so. I am wanting to use it more for work, particularly to run a design program. The program puts out recommended specs
Processor: Intel Core i7 or AMD equivalant
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 or ATI Radeon HD 6950 or better
Recommended to have a solid state drive to make experience "more enjoyable"

The Inspiron currently has
Processor: AMD Phenom 9650 Quad-Core 2.30Ghz
Memory: 8GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce GT220
655GB HDD

My first question is if I wanted to replace my graphics card, Processor, & HDD for SDD, are the requirements too out of reach for my motherboard/power that I would end up pretty much replacing everything?

Also, I think my motherboard only supports 1.5gb/second if I upgraded to a SDD.

Archgaull · May 21, 2015

The PSU will most likely be too little, prebuilt desktops have have tiny PSU's to cut down on costs.

wirey856 · May 21, 2015

Archgaull :

Looks like my PSU is a LITEON, Model PS-5301-08 DC output 300W

What else would i potentially have to replace?

Archgaull · May 21, 2015

That has to be replaced definitely.

Honestly, you may be better off just making an entirely new computer, what is your budget?

wirey856 · May 21, 2015

Archgaull :

I was thinking less than $600. I've never built one before. What would one cost for the specs I listed? Could I get close?

Archgaull · May 21, 2015

EDIT: It seems that Xeon doesn't have hyperthreading, and since I couldn't find one with hyperthreading for the same price, I just opted for a i5-4460

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($31.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Micro Center)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $606.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-21 17:43 EDT-0400

Tchota · May 21, 2015

Made some changes to Archgaull's build: better GPU(you can find cheaper GTX 960, but not better than the one in this build), PSU, cheaper SSD, better case (support longer cards), and removed CPU cooler since you will not overclock with that CPU:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($166.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($63.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($46.76 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Enermax Thorex ATX Mid Tower Case ($35.10 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.10 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $609.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-21 18:54 EDT-0400

If you can increase your budged at least to 681$ you would get an amazing performance increase at gaming
:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($166.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($63.00 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($46.76 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X OC Video Card ($259.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Enermax Thorex ATX Mid Tower Case ($35.10 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $680.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-21 18:40 EDT-0400

HDD
- As Archgaull implicitly suggested, you can go with one SSD and keep your current HDD, but if storage space is more important for you now you can drop the SSD and go with http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex

Btw, do you need a OS?

Archgaull · May 21, 2015

Actually, avoid the Kingston V300 SSD. It's problems and issues are well known, which is why I skipped it. I went for the 750ti as he didn't say he was gaming, he's using it to run a design program, which is why I used the 750ti. It's better than the recommended specs, but still a budget.

Tchota · May 21, 2015

my bad, you0re right, I didn't payed due attention to OP's post.

wirey856 · Jun 3, 2015

Thank you both for your input!

I don't need an operating system or optical drive as I already have have them covered. I think I decided to spend a little more to get the 250gb SSD which will fit most everything I need and I have a couple external HD for storage I won't need to access that often.

I'm not planning on overclocking so would I need the CPU cooler? From some other threads I've read it looks like the consensus is you don't need one if you don't overclock but some say the cooler the better. Your thoughts?

Here is what I was coming up with.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $590.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-03 10:07 EDT-0400

Archgaull · Jun 3, 2015

Looks good.

Tchota · Jun 3, 2015

What programs do you use with your work?

You can get hyper-threading by paying a bit more, and changing some of the components you have:

Cheaper motherboard, but very good quality (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2383252/motherboard-tier-list-h81-chipset.html), changed ram so you can have one slot free to upgrade later to 16gb, changed PSU to one that is cheaper but probably better: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-VP450-Power-Supply-Review/1487/8); changed case to one cheaper (because of promotion);

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($241.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-E34 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($101.87 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($139.99 @ B&H)
Case: Enermax OSTROG ATX Mid Tower Case ($33.75 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($32.42 @ Amazon)
Total: $647.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-03 12:43 EDT-0400

with rebates price goes to 625$

To lower your costs you can change the SSD to:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sandisk-internal-hard-drive-sdssdhp256gg25
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sandisk-internal-hard-drive-sdssda240gg25

And the case:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xion-case-xon310bk (only shot GPU, like the one you selected)
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cougar-case-mg100

EDIT: the aftermarket cooler is only really needed when overclocking, but if your work puts a constant stress on your cpu it might give you some problems with temps. And the higher the temps are the lower the components live tend to be.

If, for example, your CPU start getting constantly close to 80ºc you should get a better CPU cooler. But you can wait and see. Most likely you wont need it. But it will depend on many factors, specially the stress you put on your computer and the temperature of the environment where your computer will be.

wirey856 · Jun 3, 2015

The Program that requires the most is a 2020 Design v11.

http://www.2020spaces.com/forums/topic/2020-desing-system-recommendations/#post-30840
http://www.2020spaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2020Design_SystemRecommendations_V11_20150409.pdf

It doesn't create a constant stress on the system. But when I do use it I am creating renders, sometimes 360 degree that eat up some time, and on my current laptop, make it impossible to do anything else while it creates them.

Tchota · Jun 3, 2015

unfortunately I couldn't find any info about that program, how well it works with each type of CPU.

From similar programs it seems that the most important features of a CPU are: been Intel »» number of physical cores »» speed »» number of threads/virtual cores

But this can change from program to program, from one version to another version, and between type of job you can do with them (see how different is the performance of the FX-9590 from this two benchmarks:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-4790k-i5-4690k_6.html#sect0
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-fx-9590-9370_6.html#sect0

This bech also reflects the importance of speed and number of physical cores: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-5960x-5930k-5820k_7.html#sect0

This next review might help you, since you can see the difference in performance between many tasks you might do (by clicking on each option that you can find under the graphic related to Agisoft PhotoScan v1.0), and check which type of cpu performs better at those you need the most (but, again, its a different programs from the one you mentioned, and results might be different between them):

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7963/the-intel-haswell-refresh-review-core-i7-4790-i5-4690-and-i3-4360-tested/3 (this review does not reflect AMD cpus performance since they used low mid-end CPUs from AMD)

Both speed and number of cores seems to be very important, but:

1 - If you dont want to overclock your CPU, you should go with the E3, specially because its the CPU that is more similar to the i7 recommended for 2020 Design. Plus an i5-4690k would require a more expensive motherboard and a good cooler, which can increase the total cost in 60$, which would put you in a budget where you could buy an i7.

2 - If you dont mind overclocking, you should try to check with the owners of that software if they can tell you which would be better, an i5-4690k overclocked to 4.5 - 4.7 GHZ or an E3-1231v3, and how big would be the difference between them.

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