My gal friend wants a new PC ...

[voyager1]

When I did my last home-built [i7-920, ASUS P6T Deluxe V2] I gave my old home-built [P4-630, ASUS P5AD2-E Premium] to her.
At the time, it ran circles around her old PC.
Now, they've just upgraded her computer at work and she's complaining about how slow the P4 630 is.
I don't blame her.
After all, I did my up grade because I thought it was slow.

I've OC'd the i7-920 to 3.8GHz
Added:
USB 3.0
2 more SATA II ports
and other items filling all the add-on slots.
A new Corsair Graphite 600T case
SSD for OS drive that is faster than a platter HDD, but still not as fast as it could be with SATA III.

It looks to me that putting these add ons onto the MoBo will require a new CPU / MoBo build as LGA 1366 is getting old now.

I have been hungering for a i7-3930k for months now, but haven't been able to justify the cost vs gains.
There aren't that many apps that can utilize that many hyper threaded cores.
In fact, I have only a few that can use the 4 hyper threaded cores I now have.

So, I'm thinking of holding off for a while yet on my upgrade, and building her one based on a i7-3770k on an ASUS LGA 1155 board.

Any thoughts on my potential up grade and the build I'm thinking of for her?

 

[2wenty]

What is the intended use for the computer?

 

[pyster]

First thing I would do is slap an SSD into her current machine and see if she is happy with it. The ssd can be moved to the new machine later.

Depends on what she does with the machine and her desires. These days I tell any looking to build a machine for themselves to check tomshardware builds. I generally also tell them if they dont have $500 to spend on a machine they may want to check their prioritizes, or looks to see if they can scavange parts from other people. I dont a lot of my hardware to my friends after I am done with it.

 

[voyager1]

@2wenty

For myself:
Graphics
Video
Light gaming
dual monitors

For her:
Graphics
Word processing
wireless and wired peripherals

Other than longevity, those are the main considerations for now.

@pyster

When I added the SSD to mine, I also added one to hers knowing that it wouldn't make much difference.
The P5AD2-E Premium is a SATA I board.
When I upgrade hers, the SSD will be moved over.

I always end up using much of my old build in the new one.
Usually all that is new is CPU, MoBo and Memory.
Although, for hers I have some value DDR3 left over from the memory up grade I did for mine.

 

[smeezekitty]

Have you considered the I5 3570. Cheaper than the I7 but still better than your old I7. Also if you get the K you should be able to OC to 4.2GHz

 

[SvRommelvS]

Smeeze, he lists "Graphics" as the primary purpose of the machines. If he means graphics design, an i7 is preferable for a good percentage of the software. Really, a Xeon with ecc buffered memory might be the correct choice but the request seams focused on a consumer-grade machine rather than a workstation.

 

[voyager1]

@ smeezekitty & SVRommelvS

For mine I would stick with an i7
But, for hers an i5 might be workable

Per this:
http://ark.intel.com/compare/65523,65520

Cache, hyper threading and price are the primary differences.

 

[SvRommelvS]

Google whichever software she uses to see if it benefits from Hyper-threading. If it does not then grab an i5, pocket the difference and take her out to dinner.

 

[littleleo]

I would find out what has she got at her work? If you know that then you can be sure to build her a home machine that will keep her happy. If they are using i3s at work build her an i5-3550 unless your going to over clock the do the 3570K. If they are using i5s build her an i7. I think going from a p4-630 to an i5 will seem like a major improvement for her.

 

[voyager1]

OK I'm getting there as to what I'll be doing for hers.
She has an i5-3470 with 8GB RAM.

I'm going to go with the i5-3570k on an ASUS P8Z77-V board.
With only having to purchase the CPU and board it'll only cost about $400* through Amazon with free shipping.
We live in Alaska, shipping costs are an important consideration.
With the SSD moved over she'll be blown away by how fast it boots.

After I see how well hers works, I may be able to make a decision on mine.

Edit:
* That'll be $450. I will have to buy RAM. The memory I have is not on the P8Z77-V qualified vendors list.