Upgrade Suggestions for This System

[wkent]

Hello,

This is what I built in 2009:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P
WD 640GB Black (x2)
Mushkin DDR2____8192MB usable
Corsair HX620
HP W2207 Display
ATI Radeon HD 4670...Ice Q Turbo
Antec P182? Case (it's big)
Windows 7 Home Premium X64

I don't do gaming...
Don't play with OC
Photo editing(not video) and CAD applications...yes

Looking for a decent improvement in performance for good 'bang for the buck'.
All suggestions greatly appreciated...

Thanks,


Will Kent

 

[HiTechObsessed]

Well photo editing and CAD would greatly benefit from a CPU upgrade and a RAM upgrade at least. What kind of budget were you looking for? Can get you some options.

 

[HiTechObsessed]

This would be a tremendous upgrade from what you have now, and leaves you room to put in 16GB more RAM in the future if needed:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($153.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $533.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-23 15:22 EST-0500)

 

[wkent]

This would be a tremendous upgrade from what you have now, and leaves you room to put in 16GB more RAM in the future if needed:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($294.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($153.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $533.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-23 15:22 EST-0500)

Hello HTO,

Thanks very much for your help.. and the $500 budget is reasonable for me.
What do you think about my power supply, graphics card, and display?

 

[HiTechObsessed]

It's a fine display, it's not too much under 1080p. My wife has a 1680x1050, and it's nice.

That PSU is good, as long as it's still working for you lol The good thing about the i7 is it's not nearly as power hungry as the AMD side, so you should be good even with PSU degradation.

Your graphics card could be better, but you'll see the most improvement from the CPU and RAM upgrade. The RAM will be over twice as fast, and the CPU will blow you back into your chair

If you can spare a little more change, a new GPU would definitely benefit you though. It's just not top priority for your purposes.

 

[wkent]

It's a fine display, it's not too much under 1080p. My wife has a 1680x1050, and it's nice.

That PSU is good, as long as it's still working for you lol The good thing about the i7 is it's not nearly as power hungry as the AMD side, so you should be good even with PSU degradation.

Your graphics card could be better, but you'll see the most improvement from the CPU and RAM upgrade. The RAM will be over twice as fast, and the CPU will blow you back into your chair

If you can spare a little more change, a new GPU would definitely benefit you though. It's just not top priority for your purposes.

HTO,

Thanks again...! You've saved me a ton of research time.

 

[HiTechObsessed]

No problem man, glad to help Enjoy the upgrade