Worth building new system?

[unusedprogram46]

NOTE: This system is NOT for gaming. I used to be a gamer but no longer. I mainly use video converters, watch movies/shows, listen to music (beginner audiophile), and use a large amount of storage (approx 600gb). I do still overclock.

main apps: firefox, zune, photoshop cs4, flash cs4, aiseesoft total video converter (recommendations for a better converter for multithreads would be nice too), media player classic

CURRENT SYSTEM:

e8400 stock freq, stock fan (I do have a spare Zalman CNPS9700)
four 1gb pc2-6400 OCZ Reaper RAM
asus p5q deluxe
msi 3870 512mb (will be taken out and replaced with a passive cooled msi 4350 512mb)
x-fi oem
seagate 250gb SATAII
WD 250gb SATAI
Thermaltake 750w modular
20x dvd burner
750gb external
antec 900 (top and back fan at lowest setting, the rest are not connected)
g11 keyboard
mx518 mouse
vx922 19" 2ms 1280x1024 LCD
sennheiser hd595 'phones
vista ultimate x64

POSSIBLE NEW SYSTEM:

Phenom II x4 810 (would like to push it as far as I can with stock cooling)
2x2gb gskill pc3-10666
MSI 790GX-G65
msi 4350 512mb (or possibly onboard)
HT OMEGA CLARO Plus+
150gb velociraptor (for boot)
2x250gb seagate
640gb wd
20x dvd burner
Thermaltake 750w modular
antec p182
logitech ultrax keyboard
logitech g5 mouse
ASUS VW246H 24" 2ms 1920x1080
sennheiser hd595 'phones
vista ultimate x64

I have money to burn (not more than these specs tho)...but will I see a big difference in performance with this config? That's the big question. I know some of the components (such as the sound card and monitor) will make a rather large difference...but the speed...I need to know if there will be a noticeable difference in average performance compared to my current system.

Thanks kiddies.

 

[gkay09]

Well NO...I dont think it is worth to go for an entire new system...
Better off you buy a Core2Quad like the Q9550 for now and overclock it...It will certainly increase the system's life for 1+ years...So save the money and get an i7 later...That will be a better upgrade than this...

 

[Outlander_04]

+1 for gkay's suggestion

replace the e8400 with a 45 nm intel quad
and get the bigger monitor

and optionally replace the internal hard drives . Not with raptors though . They are not much faster than the latest WD black series or Samsung drives and hd speed wont affect encoding to any great degree .

 

[gkay09]

+1 for the Non-Raptor suggestion...
You can try the RAID 0 on the 250GB Hdd with an additional sata2 250GB...It will give comparatively high performance
But better of buying the WD Black drives...

 

[xthekidx]

+1 again

The system you have now is very good, in some apps (especially ones that are not coded for multithreads) your new setup would be a step backwards from your current setup. The HD 4350 is a slow GPU...I would just stick with your current one unless the noise is really getting to you or something from the fan...at least get something that will be able to play a low end game if you were to get the urge (better to have it and not need it than wish you had it) like a passively cooled 4670 or 4750 when it comes out.

Maybe consider getting 2 WD3200AAKS drives in Raid 0, that will be faster than the Vraps and give you much more storage capacity, for a cheaper price.

 

[unusedprogram46]

Yes...the noise is getting to me unfortunately. Never used to bother me until I built a new system for a family member. I'm not exactly sure what you would consider low end games but if I did have "the urge" I would play games such as AoK (in other words cpu heavy games). I doubt that card will have trouble since it ran fine on my old Dell's 4mb onboard video.


Thanks to all of your suggestions here is my revised upgrade list:

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB
ASUS VW246H Black 24" 2ms
Antec P182
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
HT OMEGA Claro Halo

Which totals out to be a little over 1 grand.

Jesus. I think that's why I thought I needed to build a new system. If I was spending 1 grand on upgrades...but the upgrades will last for at least a couple years. Except for the quad-core...that'll be the first one out.

But now...would it better to buy the WD6401AALS or two WD3200AAKS in RAID 0?

 

[gkay09]

Well if sound was your major concern, then try adding sound absorbing foam to the existing case and change the case fans to these...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185004

And keep the existing graphics card and change the VGA cooler to this...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186016

And adding 2 HDDs, will only produce more noise...So better off with a single HDD...

 

[daship]

I've used lots of WD 640s and I have yet to see one that makes any noise at all.

 

[xthekidx]

+1 on the passive cooling for VGA.

I don't think two 320gb drives will be very loud, especially inside of the P182. The Caviar Blues aren't as loud as the Blacks I don't think (could be wrong about that though...I have one in a system I just built and I can't hear it, only think I hear is the CPU fan). Two 320's in raid will be noticably faster than the 1 640 caviar black drive though.

Edit: Ok so now that I am thinking about it, I am sure the 320gb Caviar Blues (WD3200AAKS) is quieter than the 640gb Caviar Black (WD6401AALS). Here is my reasoning: The 640gb caviar black consists of two 320gb platters, these platters spinning is what makes noise in the HDD. The 320gb drive only has 1 320gb Platter, so it has half the moving parts, so it has lesss noise potential. So I would definitely go for the two 320gb drives instead, since you want speed and seem to be able to cope with the price difference of 2 320 drives vs 1 640gb drive.