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Upgrade help needed

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Hi folks,

I have a computer I upgraded several years ago - possibly 4 or 5. My primary use is for Lightroom 3.6 soon to be LR4 and Photoshop 3. I have started to have some issues and decided this might be a good time to upgrade my MB CPU and memory all of which have become inadequate to the task of editing really large photo files in RAW format. I expect to add video editing in the future. I also keep a lot of pages open when on the internet.

My current rig is a
Antec Tower and Antec PSU 550W both about 9 years old
Core 2 Duo E6400 @2.13Ghz
Conroe 65nm
Ram 4GB DR2 pc6400
Intel Motherboard LGA 775
HD 2 Seagate barracuda 1TB 7200 Sata 3
Video EGA Gforce GTX 560 - overkill for this current rig but may suit a new build
two 27inch monitors at 1900x1200 HDMI
Win 7 home soon to be Win 7 Pro

I want to continue with Intel and believe my primary needs to be MB CPU and RAM
I expect to spend $500 but I am flexible depending on your advice. I suspect the PSU may need an upgrade. I use Newegg for my parts. I ran a few tests on their configurator and the recommendations were 500+W
I want this build to last 3 or more years. I am not up to date on latest iterations of CPU from Intel and looking at CPU and MB's at Newegg is daunting without knowing what to look for.
I would like to consider an SSD for the OS, Pshp an and LR. I don't know if it is better to put only the OS on an SSD. Advice is welcome. LR and PS are the only programs I would consider putting on the SSD with the OS.
PS and LR are memory hogs and I want a minimum of 8 megs and may go to 12 or 16 if the budget allows.
I need heat sink advice as well.
I have a Micro ATX MB now but assume the Tower can handle ATX as well. Should I research this further?
Thank you considering my questions

Pat

More about : upgrade needed

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Not that I'm an expert on building a PC, but I was at a Core2 Quad, and just got parts to do an upgrade build (and having trouble - First time).

I wanted a PC to last a few years like you. I on the other hand does not use PS or LR.. so my this computer was a over kill for me.

i5 2500k
Asus P8z68-V LX (there are few verison of this mb) - Microcenter has a deal if you buy the CPU, the mb is $50 off. This board along with this CPU allows OC.
16gb of DDR3 133 (PC-10666) - great rebate, price after rebate $30
new decent power for would say around 600-750W, if you add on Graphics card. around $80-$100.

The CPU from Microcenter is $179.99 +MB $69.99=$250, which will get you more then enough to a good PSU, RAM (you may go with faster RAM).
They also have the cooler Master Hyper 212 cooling system for $30-$10(rebate)=$20.
If you have a full or Mid tower, you ATX should fit. look inside your box, if you see room on the bottom of the box. you should be ok. I had the same thing on my.

These are what I got, I'm just an average user, so your needs is a little different. You may even go with i7 if you do alot of Graphics. This seems like a good deal to me.

Quote:

I want to continue with Intel and believe my primary needs to be MB CPU and RAM
I expect to spend $500 but I am flexible depending on your advice. I suspect the PSU may need an upgrade. I use Newegg for my parts. I ran a few tests on their configurator and the recommendations were 500+W


Yes - you can reuse as many parts as you'd like to save money. Upgrading your motherboard, CPU, and RAM should be sufficient enough.

Quote:
The CPU from Microcenter is $179.99 +MB $69.99=$250, which will get you more then enough to a good PSU, RAM (you may go with faster RAM).


Not everyone has a Microcenter available so that's not always an option.

Quote:

I would like to consider an SSD for the OS, Pshp an and LR. I don't know if it is better to put only the OS on an SSD. Advice is welcome. LR and PS are the only programs I would consider putting on the SSD with the OS.


An SSD is definitely a good idea - but you'd be wise to get that after you get your build up and running. I use and HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend the Crucial M4: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Quote:

PS and LR are memory hogs and I want a minimum of 8 megs and may go to 12 or 16 if the budget allows.
I need heat sink advice as well.


You need 8GB for sure - 12GB is only advised for triple channel X58 systems (which are being phased out) and you only need 16GB if you work with large files - on a gaming system that's not necessary.

Try this combination:

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3H - $159.99
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - Intel Core i5-2500K - $229.99
Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - $34.99
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600MHz 1.5V - $44.99

Total: $469.99

And then your PSU will definitely need upgrading - if you can squeeze it in your budget maybe try something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... -*Or this* - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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thanks for the feedback. I checked the box and there is a lot of room for the ATX form factor. I may postpone the SSD until a little later and concentrate on the CPU and memory. LR and PS are such memory hogs I will go for 16 megs and see if I can get to I7 quad core. I may also bump the budget to $600.

Regards,

Pat


SkyDragon8 said:
Not that I'm an expert on building a PC, but I was at a Core2 Quad, and just got parts to do an upgrade build (and having trouble - First time).

I wanted a PC to last a few years like you. I on the other hand does not use PS or LR.. so my this computer was a over kill for me.

i5 2500k
Asus P8z68-V LX (there are few verison of this mb) - Microcenter has a deal if you buy the CPU, the mb is $50 off. This board along with this CPU allows OC.
16gb of DDR3 133 (PC-10666) - great rebate, price after rebate $30
new decent power for would say around 600-750W, if you add on Graphics card. around $80-$100.

The CPU from Microcenter is $179.99 +MB $69.99=$250, which will get you more then enough to a good PSU, RAM (you may go with faster RAM).
They also have the cooler Master Hyper 212 cooling system for $30-$10(rebate)=$20.
If you have a full or Mid tower, you ATX should fit. look inside your box, if you see room on the bottom of the box. you should be ok. I had the same thing on my.

These are what I got, I'm just an average user, so your needs is a little different. You may even go with i7 if you do alot of Graphics. This seems like a good deal to me.

Thank you for the feedback. I am going to definitely get 16 meg of ram. I will put the SSD off for a while and using your recommendations bumping the mem to 16 and adding the Corsair TX750 I am at $615 at Newegg. I need to research Microcenter. I understand you think it is better to get the rig up and running with my current HD before adding the SSD. Any thoughts on having more than the OS on the SSD?

regards,

Pat

g-unit1111 said:
Quote:

I want to continue with Intel and believe my primary needs to be MB CPU and RAM
I expect to spend $500 but I am flexible depending on your advice. I suspect the PSU may need an upgrade. I use Newegg for my parts. I ran a few tests on their configurator and the recommendations were 500+W


Yes - you can reuse as many parts as you'd like to save money. Upgrading your motherboard, CPU, and RAM should be sufficient enough.

Quote:
The CPU from Microcenter is $179.99 +MB $69.99=$250, which will get you more then enough to a good PSU, RAM (you may go with faster RAM).


Not everyone has a Microcenter available so that's not always an option.

Quote:

I would like to consider an SSD for the OS, Pshp an and LR. I don't know if it is better to put only the OS on an SSD. Advice is welcome. LR and PS are the only programs I would consider putting on the SSD with the OS.


An SSD is definitely a good idea - but you'd be wise to get that after you get your build up and running. I use and HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend the Crucial M4: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Quote:

PS and LR are memory hogs and I want a minimum of 8 megs and may go to 12 or 16 if the budget allows.
I need heat sink advice as well.


You need 8GB for sure - 12GB is only advised for triple channel X58 systems (which are being phased out) and you only need 16GB if you work with large files - on a gaming system that's not necessary.

Try this combination:

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3H - $159.99
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - Intel Core i5-2500K - $229.99
Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - $34.99
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600MHz 1.5V - $44.99

Total: $469.99

And then your PSU will definitely need upgrading - if you can squeeze it in your budget maybe try something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... -*Or this* - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

padraigm_02 said:
Thank you for the feedback. I am going to definitely get 16 meg of ram. I will put the SSD off for a while and using your recommendations bumping the mem to 16 and adding the Corsair TX750 I am at $615 at Newegg. I need to research Microcenter. I understand you think it is better to get the rig up and running with my current HD before adding the SSD. Any thoughts on having more than the OS on the SSD?

regards,

Pat


How much RAM you get mainly depends on if you're going to be gaming or not. If it's a gaming build then all you need is 8GB. If you're using your system for other stuff 16GB is fine. You'll probably never use all 16GB anyways.

Having your SSD on the OS is great, that's mainly what I do and run everything else off the second, third, fourth... hard drives. It's worked incredibly well that way. The other day I had to reformat and reinstall Windows and the entire installation and reformat took literally 10 minutes - I was back up and running and I didn't lose a bit of data.
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