PC upgrade time? PC 4 years old.

supersunbird

supersunbird

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So my current setup is 4 years old. I generally use it for browsing and media consumption and the odd game or 2

Currently got (as from Speccy):

CPU - AMD Athlon II X3 460 (that's a 3.4GHz Tri-core)
RAM - 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 669MHz (9-9-9-24) (it is 1333MHz RAM so I don't know why Speccy says it running at 669MHz)
Motherboard - ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 (AM3R2)
Graphics - Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6570 (1GB DDR3)
OS HDD - Western Digital 1TB with the OS on a 300GB partition
PSU- 650W Antec

I'm considering an upgrade so it easily gets me thought another 4 years, and here is what I'm considering:

CPU - AMD FX-8320 (3.5GHz Octacore with 4GHz turbo) - R2278.86
or
AMD FX-8350 (4GHz Octacore with 4.2GHz turbo) - R2822.64
The 8350 is comparable with the Intel Core i5 4590, while the 8320 lags its slightly


RAM - 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 - R1735.08
or
32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 - R3470.16
32GB is probably overkill right?


Motherboard - ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 (AM3R2)
Keeping the motherboard, still being sold and can support the intended CPU and RAM, might need BIOS update


Graphics - Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6570 (1GB DDR3)
Keeping the graphics card for now, can always upgrade later easily enough


OS HDD - Adata Premier Pro SP600 512GB SSD - R2635.68
Will keep My Documents and media content on my 1TB and 2TB drives


PSU- 650W Antec
This PSU should be up to the task


Will this be enough to take me to 2020?

Which ones of the ORs would you pick?
 
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8GB of RAM is plenty, don't see why you need more based on your usage.

CPU: FX-8350

Someone will be along shortly with SSD advice I suspect. 256GB might suffice in your scenario.
 
Definitely get an SSD for your OS drive, it will make a huge difference to your experience.

Takealot has some nice specials if you care to browse around
 
Thanks Ponder and wabbit:

So 16GB RAM should definitely be enough. I can sometimes opens tons of tabs in Chrome and IE for quite a while so that eats up my RAM at times (here's looking at you Chrome).

Using 232GB of my 300GB OS partition already (OS, steam and applications and such).

Running Win7 Home Premium. Have Win7 running on my laptop with the WD dual drive and the 120GB SSD portion flies, OS boots up real nice and applications load so quick.
 
RAM - 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 669MHz (9-9-9-24) (it is 1333MHz RAM so I don't know why Speccy says it running at 669MHz)
Click to expand...

DDR = Double Data Rate, Speccy is showing the ram's true frequency, doubling it then gives you your effective frequency.
 
supersunbird said:
Thanks Ponder and wabbit:

So 16GB RAM should definitely be enough. I can sometimes opens tons of tabs in Chrome and IE for quite a while so that eats up my RAM at times (here's looking at you Chrome).

Using 232GB of my 300GB OS partition already (OS, steam and applications and such).

Running Win7 Home Premium. Have Win7 running on my laptop with the WD dual drive and the 120GB SSD portion flies, OS boots up real nice and applications load so quick.
Click to expand...

I moved steam off my SSD, does not really make a difference in speed.
 
There's no point in having 16GB of RAM. 8GB is more than enough, even for gamers. You'd be better off using the money for the extra 8GB for a SSD, 256GB is plenty enough for applications and game storage. Your PSU is nice and strong no worries there. GPU as you said you can upgrade later. I agree with Ponder, get the FX-8350. But please, don't get 16GB of RAM. For what you do on your computer you will never utilize the 16GB, not even the 8GB. I have 8GB and even when I game it uses like 5.5-6GB max.
 
I've already decided to get the Adata Premier Pro SP610 512GB SSD which is just R150 more, much better write speeds.

But really can't think of what else I can use the RAM money to boost my performance in any other area, except maybe another HDD maybe. And currently my RAM usage is sitting on 5.33GB...
 
supersunbird said:
I've already decided to get the Adata Premier Pro SP610 512GB SSD which is just R150 more, much better write speeds.

But really can't think of what else I can use the RAM money to boost my performance in any other area, except maybe another HDD maybe. And currently my RAM usage is sitting on 5.33GB...
Click to expand...

What are your main applications that you use daily? If Chrome eats into your RAM usage, consider the addon called The Great Suspender that pauses inactive tabs to free up some memory.

Just a thought :)
 
I have an old Q9550 quad core with 8GB DDR800 RAM and a HD5850. It's 6 years old now, so definitely showing it's age. Just can't afford to upgrade right now :(
 
genetic said:
I have an old Q9550 quad core with 8GB DDR800 RAM and a HD5850. It's 6 years old now, so definitely showing it's age. Just can't afford to upgrade right now :(
Click to expand...

I could actually just upgrade the SSD and actually save a bundle, it's not like I'm actually being constrained by my current system besides the HDD, maybe you can also upgrade to a SSD? Does your current system constrain you?
 
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supersunbird said:
I could actually just upgrade the SSD and actually save a bundle, it's not like I'm actually being constrained by my current system besides the HDD, maybe you can also upgrade to a SSD? Does your current system constrain you?
Click to expand...
No, it's actually very speedy with Win 8.1, but I'm sure an SSD would make a world of difference. That would be my next purchase.

I play the odd game or two and it still keeps it's head above water at 1080p.

I'd like to do a full upgrade soon, but for my current use for it, it still beats many i3 and some i5 setups.
 
genetic said:
No, it's actually very speedy with Win 8.1, but I'm sure an SSD would make a world of difference. That would be my next purchase.

I play the odd game or two and it still keeps it's head above water at 1080p.

I'd like to do a full upgrade soon, but for my current use for it, it still beats many i3 and some i5 setups.
Click to expand...

Your CPU beats mine in all the benches

Maybe I'll just go SSD for now. The only "slowness" I experience is when restarting the PC after loadshedding, even if it was Hibernated.
 
supersunbird said:
Your CPU beats mine in all the benches

Maybe I'll just go SSD for now. The only "slowness" I experience is when restarting the PC after loadshedding, even if it was Hibernated.
Click to expand...
An SSD is the only future proof component you can buy. It's the best investment. Anything else will be locked to a certain socket set or chipset. (Think DDR2 for instance)

I'd get the SSD :)
 
I'd also get the ssd first.

And upgrade to a better platform later. I'd say GPU should be your next upgrade.
 
AlexGouws said:
Holy crap. What " browsing and media consumption and the odd game or 2" do you use it for?! That seems very high. I only get that when I game.
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