[SOLVED] What to upgrade or should I get a new computer?

[AZ Artist]

Running Windows 10 Home on a 2009 Dell XPS 9000 with an Intel Core i7-950 processor (8MB l3 Cache 3.06GHz). 12MB DDR3 SDRAMM at 1066 MHz with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 Graphics card. Two 640GB Hard Drives at 7200 RPM.

I do serious digital photo restoration and digital painting. Lately PhotoShop, Painter and ON1 Resize seem more sluggish than I remember, and sometimes when working on a large image, my computer really revs up noticeably and loudly.

Dell told me to buy a new computer, but I'm wondering if I upgraded the graphics card and brought my memory up to 16GB if that would make a noticeable difference. Also considering switching to solid state drive(s). I would appreciate any advice you can give me on whether or not to upgrade or go new.

 

[Finstar]

You could get by with just a gpu upgrade.
I'd still suggest a whole new pc though.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Depends on the budget.

The I7 950 is still a decent lower-end CPU.


I would upgrade ram to 16gb, get an inexpensive sata ssd, and then swap the GPU out for something better.

If you have a larger budget, I would swap platforms.

What psu do you have.

 

[AZ Artist]

Depends on the budget.

The I7 950 is still a decent lower-end CPU.


I would upgrade ram to 16gb, get an inexpensive sata ssd, and then swap the GPU out for something better.

If you have a larger budget, I would swap platforms.

What psu do you have.

Budget not an issue but I don't want to spend more than I have to (like for Apple products) to get a system that won't make me wait for anything.
I don't know exactly what the power supply is without opening the case, but my paperwork says it's 475 watts.
What should an "inexpensive" sata ssd cost? approximately?

 

[AZ Artist]

You could get by with just a gpu upgrade.
I'd still suggest a whole new pc though.

Do you have suggestions for the gpu upgrade?

 

[Finstar]

Do you have suggestions for the gpu upgrade?

Depends on how much power you need. Even a GT 1030 would be an upgrade.
I'd however suggest going for something at least on the level of a RX 570.
If you need cuda acceleration then a GTX 1660 or higher.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/x7s8TW/msi-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-4gb-video-card-gtx-1050-ti-4gt-oc
GTX1050ti GPU.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mdc48d/crucial-bx500-240gb-25-solid-state-drive-ct240bx500ssd1
Crucual BX500 240GB

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4nbp99/patriot-memory-psd316g1600kh
16GB 1600mhz DDR3

 

[Third-Eye]

I would just buy a new system, because the money spent upgrading such old hardware would be close to half what a new system would cost and may not actually fix the slowness. However, an SSD upgrade usually fixes a lot of slowness issues on old computers.

That motherboard and CPU support memory in triple channel mode, which likely means that the system is running 3 memory modules and 16GB won't work if you wanted to keep triple channel mode. So your only real options for upgrading ram is to get either another triple channel kit or buy 3 individual modules of the same model as what you have or as close as possible.

I have no idea if the motherboard allows for memory overclocking or xmp configs, but you might be able to take advantage of faster ddr3 1600 ram. That would mean completely replacing what you already have with either 3 or 6 new 4GB ddr3 1600 modules with 9-9-9-24(or 28) timings.

 

[Elvis Hbpbgrtnk]

It also depend on if picture programs use more graphics card or processor. Also, if sizes of pictures get huge that can be factor.

 

[vMax]

Going new would be a great option as you now get a huge amount of performance from today's CPU's and GPU's, especially with AMD and the work they have done with Ryzen. The performance uplift from what you have now would be huge and productivity especially across your use case with digital restoration across Photoshop, ON1 and Lightroom would be significantly enhanced. Right now you can buy a fairly decent foundation PC with a 8 cores 16 threads CPU like the 3700 matched to a set of 32GB DDR4 3600MHz RAM and AMD RX 5700 for around $1K provided you have the SSD/HDDs.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8Fv6Mc

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($329.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard ($199.00 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 5700 8 GB Video Card ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply
Total: $1027.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-16 07:30 EDT-0400

Or save even more by dropping down to the Ryzen 3600 with its 6 cores and 12 threads and going for a lower end GPU like the RX 570 or even a GTX 1050Ti which would still be a huge improvement saving around $300 and bring you in the $700 range.

finally you would have an upgrade path and it would see you through the next 5 + years...at least.