Compare current pc to future build?

[smoove7]

I wonder if there is a site out there that I could plug in my current pc info and then plug in what I am going to build and it will tell me how much better the new one will be than the old one? I guess it is weighing the cost vs performance gain. In case there is not a place to compare, I wil list specs and future ones here and see what the masses think.

Currently:

MOTHERBOARD: ASUS M3A AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz

CPU COOLER: Zalman CNPS9700

MEMORY: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) 4 GIGS TOTAL

VID CARD: GEFORCE 9600GT



I will be going up to:


MOTHERBOARD: EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX X58 SLI LE Intel Motherboard

CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core

CPU COOLER: SAME AS NOW ( but with an adapter so it will fit the new processor)

MEMORY: Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

VID CARD : SAME AS NOW

So basically those are the parts I want to upgrade which are looking at around 700 dollars on newegg. Is the performance gain worth 700 bucks and if you have an idea, how much faster will the pc be for example 50%?

I mainly use the PC for all the adobe CS4 production premium bundle including Photoshop, premiere pro and media encoder. But not much for gaming which is why I am keeping the video card I have, because the games I play do fine with this card. I just want faster encoding times overall plus some new toys to plug in.

BTW is it ok that I continue to use the Zalman that I have or should I move up to a V8 or something like that?

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

for the i7 920 I would get a newer cooler. the v8 is ok but for that money I would use the corsair h50 if you have a 120mm rear fan. This site might help you guage your performance gain
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18448/12
while it doesn't have your exact cpu you should be able to guess where it would lie and see how it fares.

I would consider a p55 based core and a core i7 860. it would actually be faster and you won't need the x58 chipset's added pci-e lanes as your not running sli, crossfire or extreme RAID setups.

 

[smoove7]

That is true I am not going to be running sli or crossfire. I did mess with the thought of getting two 500 gig hdd's and running raid 0 but I have heard that is good for what I am looking to do but also that you should not do that as well. Maybe just personal preference. Any thoughts?

The 860 is faster than the 920 according to that link, thank you for that tidbit. I guess I just look at well 920 is a higher # so obviously it is faster but that is not always the case I see. Thank you for showing me that.

Then I see this link and scratch my head, it gets confusing:

www.tomshardware.com/forum/266032-28-tomshardware

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

If you going to run a RAID the onboard controller will be fine. You won't see much difference between a x58 chipset or p55 for 2 HDD in RAID 0. I did forget about the tripple channel memory on the x58, but if you do go with a x58 board you will need 1 more stick of RAM to take advantage or it. (you only have 2 listed.)

I guess if it we're me I would still go with the p55. Even if it results in slightly lower performance there will be more affordable upgrade options for the board as time goes on. The x58 will have the first 6 and 8 core cpus but unless your will to pay 1000 dollars for them...it's a moot point.

It's a tough call. but you should be happy with your upgrade which ever way you go.

 

[smoove7]

Thank you so much for your help. So if I go with the x58 I would need 6 total gigs of memory. I am not sure which way to go but its fun figuring it out. I think right now I am looking about about 80 to 100 dollars difference when adding up CPU and Motherboard for each processor. Plus needing a 3rd stick of memory for x58 to use triple channel which is another 40 bucks. I will think it over and see where I end up.

In your opinion should I look into raid 0 or just stay with one hdd? Is it that big of a difference?

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

If you can get a good SSD and a single 1-2TB drive. (more reason to save money with the p55 build) RAID 0 doesn't have a huge impact unless you really are stressing the HDD (like benchmarks, server apps, and multiple read and write operations) . I've run RAID 0 for boot and the boot times vs. a single drive setup we're about the same for me. I hear it's because windows has to load the RAID drivers. Also with RAID 0 people always suggest running a 3rd drive as a backup.

The intel RAID controller can run different RAIDS over partitions. So the ideal setup would be 2 x 1TB drives. Setup 1 500GB RAID 0 array FIRST. then use the remaining disc space to setup a 750GB RAID 1 array. You would store finished projects in the RAID 1 portion. Keep in mind that a 2 disk RAID 0 doubles the chances you will have a HDD failure. Also make sure to disable indexing on the raid 1 in windows.