Hello,
I have been doing ongoing research the last couple of months on the ideal new build for mostly CAD (AutoCAD, Revit, maybe Inventor and/or SolidWorks, possibly some future need for rendering, etc.), multitasking with internet browsing, music/video streaming, Excel, Word and other programs in the background; maybe for playing games as well. Here is my current setup:
CPU - Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0 ghz (Windsor dual core)
Motherboard - Asus M2N-VM DVI
RAM - 4 X DDR2 1 GB 400 MHZ
VIDEO CARD - NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT
CASE - NZXT mid tower
HDD - Western Digital 500 GB
600 Watt Power Supply
Windows XP Professional - 32bit
I had been considering building an entirely new Intel-based system from the ground up, centered on the i7-2600K, new case, new everything - a $1,300-1,500+ investment more or less. I realized that I can't really justify a need for such a system at the moment (given the uncertain times we live in). My current setup works adequately, it does have a problem/gets slowed up by large AutoCAD files, and if I have too many other apps like Google Earth open in the background, it freezes up entirely on occasion, necessitating a restart.
Like I said, I had been considering an entirely new, relatively expensive build sometime early next year. Then I thought maybe just upgrading this one a little for the time being would suffice, and wait another couple years for Haswell or something. I looked at the max CPU that my current board would support, dead-end there. Then I thought about replacing the motherboard, CPU, and RAM, keeping the power supply, case, 7950GT and 500 GB HDD. The Phenom II X4 965 BE keeps rearing it's head as one of the cheaper ones ($120-$130) out there for how much quad-core, unlocked performance it offers. I would pair it with probably this board- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138283 - or something similar in features and price (I can make do with 1333 MHZ limited RAM). Add in a cheap 8GB RAM set for $40-$50, and I figure it would be like a new, much faster system for around $250 tops.
So, given the Phenom II's price/performance, would that make sense? Is that processor going to be end-of-life soon, and not available as new for much longer? I know that my all-new build thinking centered on Intel, but I have done some comparisons, and to get down in the price range currently offered by the X4 965 BE would be like some of the more basic i3's, which don't offer the same overclockability. Thoughts?
Edit: I would probably also purchase Windows 7 64 Professional, and either another separate HDD to run the current Windows XP when I need to access my 32bit programs (AutoCAD 2004, 2010) -or- run Windows 7 64 in 32bit mode (I have heard this was possible, but I am not sure how it works) when I need to run those programs, 64 bit mode for any new programs I intend to use. So, if I upgraded the OS, then the whole rebuild would be more like $500, still pretty cheap, non?
I have been doing ongoing research the last couple of months on the ideal new build for mostly CAD (AutoCAD, Revit, maybe Inventor and/or SolidWorks, possibly some future need for rendering, etc.), multitasking with internet browsing, music/video streaming, Excel, Word and other programs in the background; maybe for playing games as well. Here is my current setup:
CPU - Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0 ghz (Windsor dual core)
Motherboard - Asus M2N-VM DVI
RAM - 4 X DDR2 1 GB 400 MHZ
VIDEO CARD - NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT
CASE - NZXT mid tower
HDD - Western Digital 500 GB
600 Watt Power Supply
Windows XP Professional - 32bit
I had been considering building an entirely new Intel-based system from the ground up, centered on the i7-2600K, new case, new everything - a $1,300-1,500+ investment more or less. I realized that I can't really justify a need for such a system at the moment (given the uncertain times we live in). My current setup works adequately, it does have a problem/gets slowed up by large AutoCAD files, and if I have too many other apps like Google Earth open in the background, it freezes up entirely on occasion, necessitating a restart.
Like I said, I had been considering an entirely new, relatively expensive build sometime early next year. Then I thought maybe just upgrading this one a little for the time being would suffice, and wait another couple years for Haswell or something. I looked at the max CPU that my current board would support, dead-end there. Then I thought about replacing the motherboard, CPU, and RAM, keeping the power supply, case, 7950GT and 500 GB HDD. The Phenom II X4 965 BE keeps rearing it's head as one of the cheaper ones ($120-$130) out there for how much quad-core, unlocked performance it offers. I would pair it with probably this board- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138283 - or something similar in features and price (I can make do with 1333 MHZ limited RAM). Add in a cheap 8GB RAM set for $40-$50, and I figure it would be like a new, much faster system for around $250 tops.
So, given the Phenom II's price/performance, would that make sense? Is that processor going to be end-of-life soon, and not available as new for much longer? I know that my all-new build thinking centered on Intel, but I have done some comparisons, and to get down in the price range currently offered by the X4 965 BE would be like some of the more basic i3's, which don't offer the same overclockability. Thoughts?
Edit: I would probably also purchase Windows 7 64 Professional, and either another separate HDD to run the current Windows XP when I need to access my 32bit programs (AutoCAD 2004, 2010) -or- run Windows 7 64 in 32bit mode (I have heard this was possible, but I am not sure how it works) when I need to run those programs, 64 bit mode for any new programs I intend to use. So, if I upgraded the OS, then the whole rebuild would be more like $500, still pretty cheap, non?