Rebuilding HP Pavilion Elite m9517c

[dalv]

Hi guys,

I am a graphic designer (using mainly Adobe CS6), musician (Reaper with lots of vst plugins).

My HP Pavilion Elite m9517c computer died a couple of days ago (apparently the power supplied died and somehow damaged the motherboard... I changed the power supply, but can't load Windows...)

I've started looking for a new computer, but I have been out of the loop for some time and I am clueless as what to get.

I will be reusing parts of the old computer (hard drive, keyboard, mouse, tablet, monitors) and my budget is $500-550. My dilemma is: should I buy a new system, like:

HP Pavilion p7-1287c Intel Core i5-2400 Quad-Core 3.10GHz (http://www.ecost.com/p/8049022)

or rebuild the current one? I have not done that before, so I am a bit hesitatnt, especially after reading some bad experiences with defective motherboards, etc.

Anyway, here are some new parts I compiled:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yZVX

Your help and ideas for building/buying one will be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

 

[g-unit1111]

The bad thing is those HP cases use proprietary form factors that make upgrading incredibly difficult or near impossible in some cases. You won't be able to use a liquid cooler and you'd probably have to go mATX if it fits the dimensions. The bad thing is most pre built systems from HP and Dell are crap compared to what you would get if you built it yourself.