Newbee wishing to upgrade and confused.

[Rich9778]

I don't game, have never overclocked, we basically search the net, videos /photoshop Excel and Word. Im SICK of my ACER AMD 5600 with Vista acting like a slug and I wish to upgrade. I now have a grand daughter and videos are VERY important too me. Was thinking of a Mac due to their reputation of videos/graphics etc but I can't justify that expense at the moment.

I like the i-7 950 which is on sale at Microcenter; I'm sure its overkill but I can buy it for the same price as the i-5. If the I-5 is better for me I am open minded.

Please advice me to which motherboard, power supply and memory that will last since the unit runs 24/4. I usually overkill with systems so they will not keep me waiting, I thought AMD had the same terminology as Intel when I bought this from Circuit City, but it seems its slower than my Intel Pent 4 using XP, which is still lightning fast compared to this thing!

BTW, this is a Great site! Very fortunate to have such a site like this...... and I wish to thank those in charge for keeping this site so well ran so people like myself can obtain such wonderful information and advice.

Sincerely
Rich

 

[lothdk]

Hi and welcome to Toms.

While the i7 950 is a great CPU and you are right, it is likely overkill, it will cost you quite a bit more than going with an i5, as the motherboard is more expensive and the ram, if you want to utilize the triple channel that the i7 9xx series support, will be as well.

You can shop around for better deals, but this is what I quickly put together from Microcenter.

Core i5 760 Processor Boxed $170

P7P55D-E LX LGA 1156 P55 ATX Intel Motherboard $115 AR

XMS3 4GB DDR3-1333 (PC-10666) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules) $40 AR
or if you are going to do a lot of video editing
XMS 8GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10666) CL9 Dual channel Desktop memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules) $80 AR

Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7,200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM $60

512-P3-1242-LR NVIDIA SuperClocked GeForce GT 240 512MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.0 x16 Video Card at $40 AR this is a good deal for what you need.

380 Watt EarthWatts EA-380D Green ATX Power Supply $52

Add a DVD or bluray, Windows 7 64 bit (I guess Home Premium for your usage) and a case to your liking, and you should be all set.

Edit: if you can wait until April, you will be able to build on the new Sandy Bridge platform (2nd generation of icore CPUs from Intel that is replacing the current LGA 1156 platform (i3, i5 and i7 8xx series)).

 

[batuchka]

Err hard to recommend if u did not elaborate on usage but since Microcenter is an option

office/net and light games
$96 X4 640 + Biostar A780L3G
HD 4830 or better

games + light workstation functions and taking advantage of USB/SATA 3.0
$190 965BE +MSI 870A-G54
768M GTX 460 or better

games + heavy workstation functions and taking advantage of USB/SATA 3.0
1090T + MSI 870A-G54 $240
HD 6870/GTX 560 or better

Link to bundles
http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

 

[wribbs]

I'd like to see you add a SSD drive to that and I'm not thrilled with the idea of a 380watt power supply @$52 for the system above but I have no alternative to offer. Also I see no reason you need to spend $115 for the above mobo, maybe lothdk has a reason but I'd be happy with this.
Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2V LGA 1156 Intel H55 mATX $60 AR

 

[geekapproved]

For your usage, the i7-950 just isn't justifiable even at MC prices. I'd go with a much cheaper Athlon II x4/mobo combo.