PC upgrade shopping - tight budget edition

[JohnOC]

Its getting to be time for brain surgery on my desktop PC.

It currently has:
- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9300 @ 2.50GHz
- 8GB RAM (DDR2-800)
- ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series
- An SSD system drive
- Windows 7 64 bit (I'm considering win 8.1 so I can re-use the 7 license on a gaming pc for the kids)

I'm pretty sure my next value/dollar performance upgrade is a CPU/mobo/RAM upgrade.

I'd like to keep it under $300. Closer to $200 is better.

[strike]Here's what I have so far.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/22q6RB[/strike]

The i3 Intel option, 16GB:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YLQfkL

$400 budget i5 intel option, 16GB:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4cZZrH

$500 budget i7 intel option, 16GB
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KCxbdC

Benchmark results for existing and each option:

cpumark1.JPG

cpumark2.JPG

[Greg]

That's rough. At that budget, I'd be tempted to pick up a used Lynnfield (or maybe Sandy Bridge) MB/CPU combo from someone who's upgrading.

Sadly, the FX-4300 (from 2012) isn't really an upgrade from my own Phenom II X4 955 (from 2009). It benchmarks a tiny bit higher in single-core is a wash in multicore benches (Phenom II actually wins some multicore benchmarks), and supposedly overclocks slightly worse.

Even if you insisted on something like the FX-4300, for another ~$5 you really want the FX-6300 instead.

[JohnOC]

I figured a modern-generation multicore processor was within my budgetary reach, and probably a decent upgrade in power from an Intel Core-2 from 2008.

I don't plan to overclock, I just want to kind of clear the decks for the next generation of upgrades. An AM2+ motherboard will leave me room to grow into all the current and probably another generation or two of future AMD chips. Whereas my current motherboard is pretty much capped out, lacks USB3 and has SATA3.0 not SATA6.0.

I'm also looking at more than doubling my memory bandwidth, going from dual channel DDR-800 to dual channel DDR-1866.

[Greg]

I figured a modern-generation multicore processor was within my budgetary reach, and probably a decent upgrade in power from an Intel Core-2 from 2008.

Well that's just it- a quad core AMD FX-series isn't really a modern-generation multi-core processor. Oh sure, it's an in stock SKU, but when it loses in performance to a retired AMD product from 2009... Which is kind of why AMD is dead, except for people looking for absolute bargain-basement price/performance (because while AMD has crappy performance they're also really cheap) and people looking for vast numbers of cheap cores.

You can actually do better on price/performance (and *absolute* performance!) buying a used 2-generation old Intel system (except for warranty). And compared to the 4300 you'd want to step up to the 6300 to get more basically free cores.

I don't plan to overclock, I just want to kind of clear the decks for the next generation of upgrades. An AM2+ motherboard will leave me room to grow into all the current and probably another generation or two of future AMD chips. Whereas my current motherboard is pretty much capped out, lacks USB3 and has SATA3.0 not SATA6.0.

I'm also looking at more than doubling my memory bandwidth, going from dual channel DDR-800 to dual channel DDR-1866.

On a system performance level, I don't think the theoretical memory bandwidth or SATA burst speed increases are going to get you all that much. And that's a fairly large amount of money to be spending just to get USB3.

[Greg]

Wanted to add, I really don't want to sound too negative. I have a system that is roughly in the same ballpark as yours:

AMD Phenom II X4 955
16GB RAM
ATI 5770 video
256GB Seagate SATA Linux system drive (most of my personal data is on a file server)
256GB Seagate SATA Windows system drive (for the occasional gaming session)

I've been looking at potential upgrade paths for a bit over a year now. Nothing is compelling, and worth the expense (with one exception, get to that in a bit). AMD CPU's are weak and not any, or enough, of an upgrade over what I already have to be worth it - AMD is really stuck in a time warp when it comes to their top-end CPU performance... they're still partying like it's 2009. Intel was rather more attractive (and future-proof) in terms of performance, but to get an improvement enough to really appreciate would involve cost that I really *wouldn't* appreciate.

So I just bought an SSD, it'll become my Linux system disk. If I like it I may get another to continue dual-booting Windows, on SSD. (I already have Windows VM's for casual use/testing, not for gaming.)

Since you've already done that, you've got no low-hanging fruit at all.

My suggestion is, if you really want to upgrade you might as well up your budget (double?) a little and make it a more substantial one. (Hint: I7-4790K, unless you must have 6+ cores or quad channel memory it crushes EVERYTHING, and is only $249 at Microcenter. I5-4690K is similar except no HT and clocked a little lower, and it's $179 at Microcenter. 16GB of RAM is $150 or less, and pick a motherboard there are bazillions at every feature level.)

[JohnOC]

You can actually do better on price/performance (and *absolute* performance!) buying a used 2-generation old Intel system (except for warranty).

I assume you mean core-i-something series processors, then. There is nothing worth buying to fit in my current LGA775 motherboard. I haven't really followed hardware since I picked out the core2 quad when it was basically brand new. Can you suggest part numbers, the processor generation codenames aren't really searchable or meaningful for me.

I'd prefer to buy new hardware, I've never had a good experience getting secondhand unless I was getting a complete system hand-me-down (and usually I was the one giving away a used system hand-me-down.)

It looks like the 'standard' i-series are on LGA1100 sockets, and motherboards for those sockets support anything in the series. Whats the value proposition of getting something like an H97 chipset motherboard with an i3 now, and upgrading the RAM and processor later to an i5 or i7?

Is the Haswell i3-4160 a good performance upgrade from a Q9300?

It looks like I can do this for about the same budget.

[Yogimus]

go to tom's hardware, check the heirarchy charts, and start picking parts 3 rungs down.

[Yogimus]

1. What is the purpose of the PC?
2. WHat is the budget?
3. What can I transfer over/cannibalize out of the old rig?

[Kommander]

I have been thinking of doming something similar. My computer is older than either of yours I think, with only 4GB of ram. Additionally my HD is beginning to fail. My conclusions were similar to Johns that for about $300 to $400 one could get a pretty good MoBo/RAM/Processor set up. With another $50 for a new HD and $200 for a vid card I would have basically a new computer but funds for even just a HD upgrade to keep things chugging alone are not really forthcoming.

[Odahi]

Yes, but take a look at the options in a laptop for your same $650. If you already have the monitor, mouse, and keyboard, that $650 will buy a pretty decent machine, with all new parts...
Here's something I just found:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... _-34300666

Core i5, 6GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Win 8.1 No optical drive, and it's not a speed demon, but it's a starting point. You could get an even better deal if you don't mind buying a refurb. External DVD drives can be had for under $20, and even a nice one won't set you back more than $40-50.