Computer upgrade time!

Japhir

Hi Guys,

I know there are far too many threads like this in GD, but I thought getting the most up-to-date info might overcome the inconvenience of a new thread.

So I've had my current PC for about three years now, and I'm currently looking into getting an upgrade of some sorts. I heard some friends of mine talk about the new SSD's, and how they improve PC performance drastically, and thought I'd come here to ask for some upgrade advice!

Here are my current PC specs:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (C1) 2.83 GHz, 1333 MHz, 12 MB, Boxed
RAM: Kingston HyperX Dual Channel 4 GB, PC8500, 1066 MHz, Kit Of 2
Motherboard: Asus P5Q SE PLUS
Videocard: Asus EN9800GT/HTDP/1GD3 1024 MB
Harddrive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1 TB, 7200 Rpm, 32 MB, S-ATA II/300
Monitor:LG LCD Monitor W2261VP 21.5 Inch
CD/DVD-drive: Samsung SH-S223B/BEBE S-ATA
Mouse: logitech MX518
Keyboard: logitech K200

I'm willing to spend around €200,- (or ~250 USD) on parts that will improve the performance of my PC. I mainly use it for studying (word/excel kind of stuff), photography (Lightroom/PS), gaming and whenever I find time 3d art (3ds max, Zbrush etc.)

I am considering either a new SSD to increase speed and create an extra backup location (first save to SSD and dropbox, then save to normal harddrive), or possibly an extra monitor, or anything that might make my PC experience better.

Kind regards,

Japhir

glottis8

I think the only thing that i think hurts your performance is your Processor... you change your mother board and a new processor and you should be set for a while... but that is more than 250 dlls for the set. Newegg has good deals..maybe you can find a combo for both.

CrazyButcher

dont think its worth to invest into the cpu, only for powersaving, but not for perf, while not the latest game:
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/screenshots/original/2010/03/BC2-CPUs-1680.png

SSD will probably help most with everyday tasks, a new graphics card could also help for fancy gaming, I would wait for a Nvidia Kepler-based to come in the price range you are looking for (probably GTX 660). System as such looks pretty good still.

legal blah: I work for nvidia

Andreas

Yeah I would agree with Crazy, if that's what you use the PC for, no use getting a new processor, should be fine for those tasks. I'd say go for an SSD and nice card too.

Snader

SSD for sure. A 64 or 128GB drive, and keep the rest in the bank. Then upgrade the GPU when you really can't play the latest games anymore. Maybe even hold out till the next console generation hits + half a year for the GPU prices to drop accordingly.

Japhir

Thanks for the response guys!

So what sort of SSD would be fitting? On a dutch hardware site they recommend the "Samsung 830 series 128GB" for their high-end gaming system. It has a reasonable price, so what do you guys think?
[newbquestion]Will it even fit my motherboard?[/neewb]

Blaizer

If you change the cpu, you will need to change the mobo, and the memories aswell, so it will cost you more money.

My brother bought an i7 3770k with a good mobo and 16gb ram, but as a new computer. He has a q9550, 8gb ram (same brand and 1066mhz as yours) and asus p5q... and the perfomance working under windows.. err is the almost same as with the new computer. The difference is only applying filters in photoshop, compressing files, rendering, etc. but it's not a great jump for a standard use.

If you want better perfomance i think you may have 2 options:
- to buy a ssd for you SO and common apps (the other day i saw an offer of a Crucual 256gb M4 SSD for less than 150 euro in spain)
- or to buy a new nvidia card. The gtx 670 oc is almost like a 680 and works very well with modo and all the 3d apps.

Japhir

I got the samsung 830 128GB, but didn't get it in the mail yet. Now I need to figure out whether I want to wipe my HDD and place all my files in there in a more logical order, or just let them sit there .
Thanks for the advice everyone!

almighty_gir

Japhir wrote: »

I got the samsung 830 128GB, but didn't get it in the mail yet. Now I need to figure out whether I want to wipe my HDD and place all my files in there in a more logical order, or just let them sit there .
Thanks for the advice everyone!

i got my SSD, disconnected my regular HDD (as it had windows on it), and installed Windows on the SSD.

then after installing drivers etc. i moved over all the files i wanted saving to the SSD, wiped the hard drive, then moved them back and made them more organised.

i tried click/dragging some programs from the old HDD to the SSD, but it didn't seem to like it. said the "side by side configuration" was borked, so i had to do fresh software installs.

overall it went pretty smooth though...

i did have to send a fuck-ton of files to my girlfriends laptop as well though, i've got like 90GB of por... reference images haha.

almighty_gir

if they won't ship it to NL for whatever reasons, get it shipped to me with the cheapest possible delivery, and i'll personally mail it to you (recorded/secured etc).

well, that's if you feel the need to.

Japhir

I can't order the one in your thread, it seems like its a lot faster than the one I ordered already... I could still cancel my current order (within 8 days) but I think this superdeal is out of stock already.

almighty_gir

yeah they're getting more this week (i think this evening actually), i called them yesterday about getting a second haha. i guess it really is a good deal!

it's up to you though man, whether to risk it or not. the package itself is really light, i've got books that are heavier, so shipping to holland shouldn't be "too" much. and legally speaking, if you place an order while it's not in stock, they have to honour that price when it comes back into stock, regardless of whether the sale has ended or not (UK/EU law).

Japhir

Damn it looks like I'm too late, it says it's now up for £89.12 Ex VAT or £106.94 Inc VAT, which is quite a lot more expensive.

I just found out that the site I ordered from has a lot of bad reviews regarding delivery . Looks like i'll have to wait for a long time. The site said it'd deliver within a working day, but haven't had an update/response in 5 days now. Don't buy from the dynabyte wehbshop if you're in the Netherlands!

Japhir

So even though I'm too late for that sick order, I still decided to cancel my order with Dynabyte. They did not send me any message for 5 days while on their site they listed it should be at my place the next day.

So I'm thinking I might buy my SSD at an actual computer store nearby. But this leaves me an other option to choose a different product. Is the speed difference between the drive you proposed, alimighty_gir, worth the money?

I'll take a look at the other thread now .

Target_Renegade

Looking at your setup, and what I'm looking to do - does anyone know if having the same motherboard and graphics card brand, improves performance at all? Was thinkning of doing the same because it seems like logically it should - like an armour bonus. Seems like the components would get along better.

almighty_gir

Japhir wrote: »

So even though I'm too late for that sick order, I still decided to cancel my order with Dynabyte. They did not send me any message for 5 days while on their site they listed it should be at my place the next day.

So I'm thinking I might buy my SSD at an actual computer store nearby. But this leaves me an other option to choose a different product. Is the speed difference between the drive you proposed, alimighty_gir, worth the money?

I'll take a look at the other thread now .

well... i always knew the speed difference would be big, i've been on SSD machines before and they're always "snappy".

but for me it was always about price per GB of space. i knew i wanted ~120gb, as it is literally just for the following:

• Operating System
• 3ds max
• zbrush
• photoshop
• game i'm playing RIGHT NOW (the rest are archived on the big HDD).

i kind of always hoped they'd come down to at least the 1.5GB/£1 mark, that to me would be "reasonable". so of course when this drive comes to almost 2GB/£1 then yeah, it was an instant buy!


now, i have 8GB of ram already, it runs at 2100mhz and it's quality stuff. i've thought about getting 8GB more for a while too... but then, honestly i don't think that would make the computer snappier than it already is. 8GB is more than enough for what i do, and increasing it won't make anything load faster, as it still has to buffer the files from the HDD to the ram in the first place.


so yeah, in terms of speed upgrade, it's the most noticable thing you can do. and if you feel you can justify the expense, then go for it. but if you're sitting on the fence about it, wait for the next killer deal and jump on it man.

Japhir

Yeah I know the speed boost from simple HDD to SSD will be tremendous, but is the speed difference between the different types of SSD noticable?
The samsung 860 128GB has a HDD reading spead of 550 MB/s, and writing at 320 MB/s, while the SSD you posted has them listed as 555 and 510.

almighty_gir

honestly? i don't know.

read reviews i guess. i imagine the difference between read speeds is completely un-noticeable while the write speeds is "slightly" faster.

but then it's 2ms, which is like blinking an eye, so i really doubt you will notice.

Snader

A regular HDD is generally 50-75 MB/s read/write ( http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/3.5-hard-drive-charts-2008/Average-Read-Transfer-Performance,658.html ) so even the 'slow' 320 write speed is a good several times faster. You'd notice the difference between 300 and 500 MB/s but not as much - still worth it, though. The difference between read speeds of 550 and 555 is negligible.

You should take a look at http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/cat/674/solid-state-drives.html#filter:XYzLCoMwEEX_ZdYiiYnPDxC6KBTsrnQhcQop8UFioSD-eyexYmk2wz3n5i7w0NbNF6sVXnWP5_YN1fAyJvoXetjFaDu0tUbTQQWT1U8HX9iMdibWOkVk8l_DHhdsj36FU3JqtJtM9-CVpIAG1YxdM6E6dQ6qG-S0lqQC7mSJ1trMaMkswEWS-Nv7JWBxIcqCyRzWCDgrg_GzkDF6tLL1JAsxlDJxtIjHR4uzELeW_GklAa_rBw for some good prices. I've selected some settings to boil them down to a handful of decent choices, but you can tweak to your own wishes, of course.