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| Thread ID: 135680 | 2013-11-30 09:26:00 | Advice on a non gaming upgrade | boonrider (17200) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1361227 | 2013-11-30 09:26:00 | Hi all, I've been meaning to upgrade my PC for some time, but every time I look into it I get overwhelmed and put it off . . . . so I thought i'd ask for some help from the experts! I have built a PC before . . . . in 2006 . This is pretty much still the PC i'm using today (new monitor) but it slows to a crawl with any real multitasking . I used to be a PC gamer, but I now I play a bit of 360 and that's about it . I use my PC for surfing the net, managing media and a bit of work (office etc) . Gaming is really not the focus . So i'm looking to upgrade my motherboard, CPU and RAM and i'm also thinking of getting an SSD . I intend to keep my case, PSU, keyboard, mouse, monitor (new) and storage drives which are: - Dell U2312HM Monitor - 23" 1920 x 1080 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II Mid Tower case (can fit up to ATX) - Coolermaster 500W PSU (Not 100% on model) . - Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200rpm HDD - Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse - I'm not really on a tight budget, but I don't see great benefit on spending a lot because I don't think my needs demand it! I don't intend to purchase a discrete GPU because I think integrated graphics will do . Here are the main questions i'm toying with: 1) AMD or Intel? I understand intel CPUs better, I find the AMD lineup some what more confusing . 2) If I go intel, how much would I benefit from an i5 over an i3? 3) If i'm not really gaming, how much impact does the graphics have on 'productivity' performance? 4) Would there be any benefit of an A series AMD APU over a Core i3/i5? 5) Will an SSD make a significant difference? I guess once i've narrowed down AMD vs Intel, then i'll start thinking about specific CPUs, motherboards etc and I may have some more questions . For anyone that takes the time to reply, let me say thank you in advance! |
boonrider (17200) | ||
| 1361228 | 2013-11-30 10:07:00 | If you're not gaming then 1) doesn't matter, 2) doesn't matter, 3) doesn't matter, 4) no real benefit, but 5) yes, SSD's are great even for non-gamers :) | Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 1361229 | 2013-11-30 10:38:00 | SSD will give better performance. As for the i3 - i5 general mucking about you wont notice, but start "pushing it" a little and you will see the difference. From experience, I've built hundreds of Computers, and if there were two computers identical in every way but one has a i3 and the other i5, the i5 is better when doing some tasks, its better to buy the i5 up front than wish you had later on. |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 1361230 | 2013-11-30 10:56:00 | I have two main machines, my gaming one with an i7 3770 and my everything else machine with an i3 3220. Outside of gaming its hard to tell the difference between the two. both have 8Gb of RAM and run windows 8.1 - seriously hard to tell the difference. Even when it does come to gaming my i3 machine has a decent graphics card and can handle most of them pretty damn well. Having said all that, in another 6 years when you are in the same situation again an i5 quad core will no doubt be faring better than an i3 and the price difference isn't that big if it's the only change you make so it's a might as well decision rather than a need to do it one. I'd say go the i5, it's less likely you'll regret more power than you need than not enough. Or get a 6 core AMD of some description, it's possible the higher core count will pay off in the long term. Considering how long it's taking for Quad core to become a necessity on the desktop though I wouldn't worry about it too much. I prefer intels CPUs for the moment myself though. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1361231 | 2013-11-30 18:19:00 | If you're not gaming then 1) doesn't matter, 2) doesn't matter, 3) doesn't matter, 4) no real benefit, but 5) yes, SSD's are great even for non-gamers :) +1 |
pctek (84) | ||
| 1361232 | 2013-11-30 19:49:00 | Hey, Thanks heaps for your replies. So it's a 50/50 split between doesn't matter and go for the i5! The SSD gets the nod. So if I go down the path of a socket 1150 Intel CPU, i've got to pick a motherboard. Is there any benefit for me to go with an ATX or a microATX? I assume I mostly pick on price (i'll look through the feature set too). |
boonrider (17200) | ||
| 1361233 | 2013-11-30 21:52:00 | I've had a go at putting together a parts list. I'm really interested in any thoughts, changes, criticisms etc. pricespy.co.nz |
boonrider (17200) | ||
| 1361234 | 2013-11-30 22:22:00 | If your building a pc for general use you want it to be as small as possible so you may even want to consider an itx board. | Slankydudl (16687) | ||
| 1361235 | 2013-11-30 22:28:00 | As per the top post, i'm intending to reuse my current mid tower case, so the overall physical size isn't going to change. | boonrider (17200) | ||
| 1361236 | 2013-12-01 02:14:00 | yeah but if your looking to save money and you don't need the expansion slots then it shouldn't matter. | Slankydudl (16687) | ||
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