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Upgrade E8400 system vs build a new one

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I’m trying to decide if I should spend a few hundred bucks upgrading my current PC, or just wait another 6 months and build a brand new system. My current thinking is that since I’m not doing bleeding-edge activities (my gaming is mostly games that are a few yrs old, some non-HD video editing, photo editing using Photoshop Elements, web and word processing), that perhaps upgrading is the way to go. Building a brand new system might be expensive overkill for my purposes. But I thought I’d ask around first!

My current system is:
E8400 Wolfdale
2 GD Corsair DDR2 RAM
Gigabyte P-35 DS3L mobo LGA 775 socket
I’m about to upgrade to a Sapphire HD5570 w 1 GB DDR3 RAM
Win XP SP3
Corsair 620W PSU
Antec P.180 case

At least, I want to upgrade to Win 7 Home Premium or probably Pro 32-bit (I’m worried about compatibility of 64-bit, and to install more than 4 GB RAM, I’d need a new mobo). Will putting in another 2 GB or RAM help much? With 1 GB of video RAM, I’d only be able to use 3 GB max I think.

So my upgrade option is Win 7 at $140 for Pro, plus another $45 for 2 more GB of DDR2 RAM = less than $200. If I go this route, will I be kicking myself in 6 months? I’m thinking that, for my purposes, I’ll be fine with this upgrade for another year or two. What say ye?

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Homebuilt system Master

I was running Windows 7 - 64bit on an old ASUS socket 939 motherboard. I seriously doubt you'll have problems running Windows 7 Pro - 64 bit on your system. Given that, a 4GB RAM upgrade and a new graphics card; I'd say you'll do fine until your next system build.

-Wolf sends
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Homebuilt system Authority

If what you've got is working for you, keep it! Plus, shortly here new goodies are coming from both AMD and Intel, and that might/should shove prices of current offerings down. Besides, if you're running 2-3 year old games, the E8400 is the best thing you can get (short of a quad at those speeds)
Homebuilt system Authority

OP you have a decent system that will get better if you overclock the crap out of it. That being said it is getting old. I would save money for a complete upgrade rather than put money into an old system that just gets more and more obsolete. Thats my opinion anyway. I have a very similar system but for the last year I have kept upgrades to things I can move to a new build.....GTX460, Windows 7, SSD and my Monitor.
Homebuilt system Expert

anort3 said:
OP you have a decent system that will get better if you overclock the crap out of it. That being said it is getting old. I would save money for a complete upgrade rather than put money into an old system that just gets more and more obsolete. Thats my opinion anyway. I have a very similar system but for the last year I have kept upgrades to things I can move to a new build.....GTX460, Windows 7, SSD and my Monitor.



Well, the 64bit OS is going to be an expense either way. He'll need it for the new system anyway.

The real "throwaway" expense here is $40 for more RAM that won't be any use on a future system.

Okay, so I purchased OEM version of Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit and another 2 GB of Corsair DDR2 800 RAM for about $145. I also had to buy newer versions of Photoshop and Premier Elements and Sound Forge Studio, so my upgrade wasn't exactly dirt cheap. But I am persuaded that this is my best strategy - for my needs - and it will serve me well over the next 1-2 years.

BTW, I had concerns about compatibility of 64-bit with some games and software, but I think my fears were overblown. I'm only using 4 GB RAM on my upgraded system, but at least I'll be able to use all 4 GB of it.
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