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[Exploding8]

So I'm upgrading my 5 year old desktop and I'm looking for some feedback on my upgrade choices. I'm mainly upgrading because I want to max games again but I also ordered an Oculus Rift DK2

Currently I have:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66ghz processor overclocked to 3.33ghz
EVGA X58 3x SLI Intel X58 chipset motherboard
6gb DDR3 1333MHz Ram (3 2gb sticks)
Nvidia GTX 275 896mb GPU
1000W power supply
500gb HDD
Windows 7

For GPU I was considering the GTX 780 for a while but I hadn't realized I only had 6gb of RAM, so I'm looking at the GTX 770 now to stay within budget and save some money, specifically the Asus GTX 770 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3F7CFK/?tag=neogaf0e-20).

For RAM I'm looking at replacing the 3 2gb sticks with 2 4gb 1600 MT/s sticks (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00683X4PQ/?tag=neogaf0e-20)

And I'm looking at adding a 120gb SSD for faster boot-up and faster load times in games I decide to install on it. (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A1ZTZOG/?tag=neogaf0e-20)

I should be able to get all this for about $400 which is good to me (getting most of it used), getting a 780 would bring that to about $600-$650 which makes me feel uneasy. So yeah, any feedback / suggestions / things to consider before I pull the trigger?

 

[Ashhong]

Fuuuuuuuck someone help!

I just installed intel rapid storage drivers according to the ssd tweak link in the op

Now my windows won't load! I get stuck at the windows flag and sometimes it says overclock failed. I changed it back to default but still the flag

Ahhhhhhhhhhh if I have to reinstall this shit imma be so angry

 

[kennah]

Get a 780. Stick with your 6 gigs of ram for now and get the SSD.

By the time anything requires requires more than 6 gigs of RAM, we'll be well into the DDR4 generation.

 

[Ashhong]

Crisis averted. Was able to use my Windows USB stick to access startup repair and restore to before I had installed it. It must have created one when I installed it because I had just deleted all of my system restore points earlier.

I would not recommend that anybody not using RAID install Intel Rapid Storage Tech.

 

[kharma45]

So I'm upgrading my 5 year old desktop and I'm looking for some feedback on my upgrade choices. I'm mainly upgrading because I want to max games again but I also ordered an Oculus Rift DK2

Currently I have:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66ghz processor overclocked to 3.33ghz
EVGA X58 3x SLI Intel X58 chipset motherboard
6gb DDR3 1333MHz Ram (3 2gb sticks)
Nvidia GTX 275 896mb GPU
1000W power supply
500gb HDD
Windows 7

For GPU I was considering the GTX 780 for a while but I hadn't realized I only had 6gb of RAM, so I'm looking at the GTX 770 now to stay within budget and save some money, specifically the Asus GTX 770 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3F7CFK/?tag=neogaf0e-20).

For RAM I'm looking at replacing the 3 2gb sticks with 2 4gb 1600 MT/s sticks (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00683X4PQ/?tag=neogaf0e-20)

And I'm looking at adding a 120gb SSD for faster boot-up and faster load times in games I decide to install on it. (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A1ZTZOG/?tag=neogaf0e-20)

I should be able to get all this for about $400 which is good to me (getting most of it used), getting a 780 would bring that to about $600-$650 which makes me feel uneasy. So yeah, any feedback / suggestions / things to consider before I pull the trigger?

Get a 780. Stick with your 6 gigs of ram for now and get the SSD.

By the time anything requires requires more than 6 gigs of RAM, we'll be well into the DDR4 generation.

plus you need triple channel RAM on your system and moving to 2x4GB is no good.

 

[AstuteClass]

plus you need triple channel RAM on your system and moving to 2x4GB is no good.

Hey man. I sent you a PM but I can ask here. That Hyper X 16GB RAM you recommended uses 1.6v which flagged as incompatible on PCpartspicker due to Haswell having a max of 1.5v.

 

[adamantypants]

Crisis averted. Was able to use my Windows USB stick to access startup repair and restore to before I had installed it. It must have created one when I installed it because I had just deleted all of my system restore points earlier.

I would not recommend that anybody not using RAID install Intel Rapid Storage Tech.

I'm sure it has its uses, but any time I installed any programs from Intel, I just get issues. Save for the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. That's actually kinda nice to use.

In fact, I don't like installing most programs other than drivers for my hardware. Every time I try using a hardware manufacturer's program it utterly fucks something up that ends up taking hours to track down.

 

[xBladeM6x]

There is no such thing as a "SATA 3" cable, just a SATA cable.

But... but then why does it say SATA I, II, III? Brain, hurts. Damn you computer parts. :l

 

[kennah]

But... but then why does it say SATA I, II, III? Brain, hurts. Damn you computer parts. :l

SATA1 - first generation cable, has weak connector.
SATA2 - second generation cable, slightly reinforced connector.
SATA3 - third generation cable, has retention clip, slightly thicker.

That's it. They all run at the same speed, because guess what - it's just copper wire man...

 

[Ashhong]

I'm sure it has its uses, but any time I installed any programs from Intel, I just get issues. Save for the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. That's actually kinda nice to use.

In fact, I don't like installing most programs other than drivers for my hardware. Every time I try using a hardware manufacturer's program it utterly fucks something up that ends up taking hours to track down.

I'm not sure why it broke it. I am 95% positive that when I was running windows 8.1, I installed intel rst and had no issues. Oh well, lesson learned.

Now to figure out what this "unknown device" is in my computer properties. Does anybody have experience with asus z87 boards? Seems like a common thing but I'm having issues when installing ACPI drivers

 

[appaws]

Ye olde CM 212+ is finally retired...It's almost 3am here and I just finished putting together my first ever WC loop. Used an XSPC kit that I got for $250, plus some blue Primochill tubing. Thought I would post a couple of pics in case anyone is interested.

It was pretty easy to do, all in all. The printed instructions were shit, but there are so many good videos on Youtube that it really didn't matter.

I'm bummed about the way the loop crosses up over the CPU Block, but that is temporary because I have an EK waterblock coming for my GPU later this week and I'm gonna have to redo everything anyway.

 

[Erekiddo]

Still pretty new to the PC scene, had my setup since August. I'm starting to notice some higher end games not running as well as I'd like, so I'm looking for a recommendation on good upgrades.

Current:
Processor: Intel Core i5 4570 3.20 GHz
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance
Motherboard: ASUS Z87-C
Video Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB
OS installed onto a 120GB SSD, everything else between a 1TB and 3TB drive.

I'm eventually looking to move up to i7, as it seems my motherboard can support it. Will it support the latest GTX card? Any other upgrade routes I can go?

 

[AstuteClass]

Ye olde CM 212+ is finally retired...It's almost 3am here and I just finished putting together my first ever WC loop. Used an XSPC kit that I got for $250, plus some blue Primochill tubing. Thought I would post a couple of pics in case anyone is interested.

It was pretty easy to do, all in all. The printed instructions were shit, but there are so many good videos on Youtube that it really didn't matter.

I'm bummed about the way the loop crosses up over the CPU Block, but that is temporary because I have an EK waterblock coming for my GPU later this week and I'm gonna have to redo everything anyway.

God damn I'd love to one day have the skill to build my own custom water cooling. But baby steps... for now I'll be happy when I finish my first ever build in a couple of weeks, that'll include an all in one water cooler that I simply bought and had no part in putting together! lol

 

[kharma45]

Hey man. I sent you a PM but I can ask here. That Hyper X 16GB RAM you recommended uses 1.6v which flagged as incompatible on PCpartspicker due to Haswell having a max of 1.5v.

You can just run it at 1.5v at say 1600MHz or probably 1866MHz. The 1.6v is just to hit those top end speeds.

 

[phxxBullet]

Still pretty new to the PC scene, had my setup since August. I'm starting to notice some higher end games not running as well as I'd like, so I'm looking for a recommendation on good upgrades.

Current:
Processor: Intel Core i5 4570 3.20 GHz
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance
Motherboard: ASUS Z87-C
Video Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB
OS installed onto a 120GB SSD, everything else between a 1TB and 3TB drive.

I'm eventually looking to move up to i7, as it seems my motherboard can support it. Will it support the latest GTX card? Any other upgrade routes I can go?

Best would be to just upgrade the GPU. Do you have a K model of the i5? Then you could OC it a bit. But overall, there isn't much increase of performance between i5 vs i7, at least for gaming.
The CPU is still fine, as is the ram. What PSU do you have? You can install whatever GPU you want, up to the Titan, but you'll need to check if your PSU can handle it.

I'm going to be like everybody else and recommend an SSD and Windows 8.1 from Softwareswap reddit (unless you already have that).

This coming from someone who was asking and asking cause he had so many problems with Windows8, and even went back to 7?

What should I monitor to see what is causing the leak? I'll give 8 another day or two, and then I'm going to 7. The OS itself is fine for the most part. Just these issues

I am now installing my drivers in Windows 7 as we speak.

This ain't a good recommendation then.

 

[Erekiddo]

What PSU do you have? You can install whatever GPU you want, up to the Titan, but you'll need to check if your PSU can handle it.

600W Corsair CX

 

[L.O.R.D]

hi , i have question for grounding a laptop
my bother just bought a new laptop after 6 years
its asus N550JV

if you noticed , this a full body aluminum casing
its very nice , but touching it , you can feel static electricity all the time
how to ground it ?

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

Just how bad was the reference 290?

I have the chance of buying a reference model from a friend for cheap but I heard they run 95 degrees and have to throttle down thus losing performance.

What kind of performance delta is there between a reference 290 and one that has a custom cooler.

 

[jfoul]

Newegg Refurbished/Open Box

$343.99 - PowerColor R9 290

 

[jfoul]

Just how bad was the reference 290?

I have the chance of buying a reference model from a friend for cheap but I heard they run 95 degrees and have to throttle down thus losing performance.

What kind of performance delta is there between a reference 290 and one that has a custom cooler.

If you're getting the reference card for cheap, just put an after market cooler on it and you shouldn't experience throttling. The reference 290 goes for roughly $250 on Ebay. I wouldn't pay more than $235 for a reference 290 locally.

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

He wants £190 for it which isn't too bad, it still has warranty so I don't want to pull it apart to put a cooler on.

I have Crossfire 7850 that I'm fed up of so I was just wondering if throttle the 290 will still be faster.

 

[michaelius]

Just how bad was the reference 290?

I have the chance of buying a reference model from a friend for cheap but I heard they run 95 degrees and have to throttle down thus losing performance.

What kind of performance delta is there between a reference 290 and one that has a custom cooler.

Ask him how many coins he have mined with it

 

[cyen]

He wants £190 for it which isn't too bad, it still has warranty so I don't want to pull it apart to put a cooler on.

I have Crossfire 7850 that I'm fed up of so I was just wondering if throttle the 290 will still be faster.

I think that for 190 is a good price, you can break even or getting a few pounds for selling your 7850´s.

You can do a manual fan profile to mitigate throttle if noise isnt a problem for you .

 

[TheLegendOfMart]

Ask him how many coins he have mined with it

None, he bought R9 295x2 so is selling his original 290.

I think that for 190 is a good price, you can break even or getting a few pounds for selling your 7850´s.

You can do a manual fan profile to mitigate throttle if noise isnt a problem for you .

Ok great, thanks.

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

You can raise the fan speed to prevent throttling.

However even with throttling a 290 is faster than 7850 Crossfire.

 

[phxxBullet]

600W Corsair CX

That should be able to handle a GTX 780 without problems. There isn't much headroom though, so OCing anything in your rig would be a bit risky I believe.

 

[LilJoka]

That should be able to handle a GTX 780 without problems. There isn't much headroom though, so OCing anything in your rig would be a bit risky I believe.

There's plenty of headroom. I ran a 4960x @ 4.5ghz and an overclocked GTX 780 1250/7000 on a 620w Seasonic M12II.

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

Nvidia has upped the clocks on the Titan Z.

The TDP seems to be 375watts, which is why it's clocked so low (base 705MHz). But the cooler can handle 450watts (albeit at 2700RPMs on the fan), so if Nvidia gives some wiggle room on the TDP limit setting this might be a pretty fast card.

http://videocardz.com/50408/nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-z-first-performance-figures-leak

 

[cyen]

Nvidia has upped the clocks on the Titan Z.

The TDP seems to be 375watts, which is why it's clocked so low (base 705MHz). But the cooler can handle 450watts (albeit at 2700RPMs on the fan), so if Nvidia gives some wiggle room on the TDP limit setting this might be a pretty fast card.

http://videocardz.com/50408/nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-z-first-performance-figures-leak

Even with boost clocks it will not be enough to beat a 295x2 gaming wise. They should have went with a similar cooling solution of 295x2, specially if you take in account that this card costs 3k while the AMD offering costs half the price.

 

[TekGryphon]

SATA1 - first generation cable, has weak connector.
SATA2 - second generation cable, slightly reinforced connector.
SATA3 - third generation cable, has retention clip, slightly thicker.

That's it. They all run at the same speed, because guess what - it's just copper wire man...

I'll be damned.

8 AM and I feel like I already learned enough today to warrant heading home and crawling back into bed.

 

[thematic]

SATA1 - first generation cable, has weak connector.
SATA2 - second generation cable, slightly reinforced connector.
SATA3 - third generation cable, has retention clip, slightly thicker.

That's it. They all run at the same speed, because guess what - it's just copper wire man...

ummm... what??

 

[cyen]

I'll be damned.

8 AM and I feel like I already learned enough today to warrant heading home and crawling back into bed.

This is wrong mate:

SATA revision 1.0 - 1.5 Gbit/s - 150 MB/s
SATA revision 2.0 - 3 Gbit/s - 300 MB/s
SATA revision 3.0 - 6 Gbit/s - 600 MB/s

 

[LilJoka]

This is wrong mate:

SATA revision 1.0 - 1.5 Gbit/s - 150 MB/s
SATA revision 2.0 - 3 Gbit/s - 300 MB/s
SATA revision 3.0 - 6 Gbit/s - 600 MB/s

He is on about the cables, which are all as fast each other...

You are on about the Ports themselves.

 

[cyen]

He is on about the cables, which are all as fast each other...

You are on about the Ports themselves.

My bad then. My apologies.

 

[TTUVAPOR]

Man, that was $549...! If I were you I would return that and get that money. You could build the entry level build in the OP and it would be WAAAAAY better than that...and upgradeable over time. It's really easy to put together a PC...if you can put together legos, you can do it no problem.

We would help you here if you needed it. People from this thread even would help you in person if you live nearby!

Question: Do you think I could just buy a new processor for my current PC as long as its compatible with my mobo?

Found this great youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPB3HcMjf2E&hd=1 After watching it, you're spot on, it looks pretty easy to put together.

After putting a PC together, would you simply just pop in a windows install disc and it would install the OS automatically?

 

[phxxBullet]

There's plenty of headroom. I ran a 4960x @ 4.5ghz and an overclocked GTX 780 1250/7000 on a 620w Seasonic M12II.

Well PSU ≠ PSU, and afaik the Corsair CX hasn't that much power on the 12V rail, and it's overall not as strong as your seasonic one.
Nonetheless, as I said, it will handle a 780 without any problems. Just wasn't sure about how much headroom there is for OCing.

Question: Do you think I could just buy a new processor for my current PC as long as its compatible with my mobo?

Found this great youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPB3HcMjf2E&hd=1 After watching it, you're spot on, it looks pretty easy to put together.

After putting a PC together, would you simply just pop in a windows install disc and it would install the OS automatically?

You put the CD in, it loads some stuff, then you chose with HDD you want the OS to be installed on (a simply click) and then you press start. It'll install and load everything, reboot 2-3 times by itself and then you just have to install drivers. Which is like installing a browser or any other program. Downloading -> installing -> rebooting computer -> done.

Also, as I said, I'm sure you got an AMD Phenom II x4 965 (since you said it runs at 3,4 ghz and you didn't OC), which is still enough for games. I got one too, it hardly ever goes over 70% useage.

 

[TTUVAPOR]

Well PSU ≠ PSU, and afaik the Corsair CX hasn't that much power on the 12V rail, and it's overall not as strong as your seasonic one.
Nonetheless, as I said, it will handle a 780 without any problems. Just wasn't sure about how much headroom there is for OCing.


You put the CD in, it loads some stuff, then you chose with HDD you want the OS to be installed on (a simply click) and then you press start. It'll install and load everything, reboot 2-3 times by itself and then you just have to install drivers. Which is like installing a browser or any other program. Downloading -> installing -> rebooting computer -> done.

Also, as I said, I'm sure you got an AMD Phenom II x4 965 (since you said it runs at 3,4 ghz and you didn't OC), which is still enough for games. I got one too, it hardly ever goes over 70% useage.

Interesting! Makes me want to go buy all the parts now lol. I could see how it would get addicting to build a PC and continuously work to get great performance. The youtube vid I linked really showed the simplicity of it. I would need to get some good screw drivers, the ones I have are probably too large on the heads to fit some of those tiny screw heads.

Thanks for your advice! I think my next steps will be to get a couple graphics cards to increase my performance on my current machines. Perhaps this summer though I can save up enough money to build my own rig.

 

[TheD]

SATA1 - first generation cable, has weak connector.
SATA2 - second generation cable, slightly reinforced connector.
SATA3 - third generation cable, has retention clip, slightly thicker.

That's it. They all run at the same speed, because guess what - it's just copper wire man...

I have a ton of cables with retention clips from before SATA3 was a thing.

 

[phxxBullet]

Interesting! Makes me want to go buy all the parts now lol. I could see how it would get addicting to build a PC and continuously work to get great performance. The youtube vid I linked really showed the simplicity of it. I would need to get some good screw drivers, the ones I have are probably too large on the heads to fit some of those tiny screw heads.

Thanks for your advice! I think my next steps will be to get a couple graphics cards to increase my performance on my current machines. Perhaps this summer though I can save up enough money to build my own rig.

It really is addictive. It makes a lot of fun, you'll start to get more experience with every step you take, you'll want to get more knowledge about everything and sooner or later you'll find yourself spending hundreds of bucks on rigs even though you don't "need" to haha.

But still, you should return your wife's rig and go start to build one on your own. Not only do you have fun while doing so, it will even save you some money, which can be used for YOUR rig

 

[dancrane212]

When I first built my machine in 2010 I made a couple 'rookie' mistakes that I'm now trying to correct and, hopefully, take advantage of. What I'm thinking of doing is taking the motherboard + RAM out of my current machine along with the processor I used in this machine before I upgraded it and placing it in a smaller case for use with my television as a HTPC/SteamMachine along with a low power video card. I do not do a significant amount of gaming on my desktop and the little I do is usually with games that I would much rather play on a television. This 'new' PC would allow me to do that along with streaming the more resource intensive games from my main PC.

My current machine consists of a micro-ATX motherboard , which caps me with DDR2 RAM(which I only got bought 4 gigs of at the time). This is the biggest hurdle for me as I now use a significant amount of RAM intensive applications and 2x4 gig DDR2 is very expensive (MB only has two RAM slots). I replaced my old processor with this one as I was starting to get into overclocking at the time and I wanted an processor better suited to it.

Would replacing my motherboard in my current machine to be able to get 8-16 gigs of DDR3 RAM be worth it even though my processor would be a couple years old? What kind of issues could I run into during the upgrade (Reinstalling/Relicensing Windows)? I was under the impression that you should usually start from scratch instead of upgrading a major component like your motherboard but with my home purchase right around the corner I will need to make as many concessions as I can for some time. I figure, if this works out, I'm able to kill two birds with one stone.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[phxxBullet]

When I first built my machine in 2010 I made a couple 'rookie' mistakes that I'm now trying to correct and, hopefully, take advantage of. What I'm thinking of doing is taking the motherboard + RAM out of my current machine along with the processor I used in this machine before I upgraded it and placing it in a smaller case for use with my television as a HTPC/SteamMachine along with a low power video card. I do not do a significant amount of gaming on my desktop and the little I do is usually with games that I would much rather play on a television. This 'new' PC would allow me to do that along with streaming the more resource intensive games from my main PC.

My current machine consists of a micro-ATX motherboard , which caps me with DDR2 RAM(which I only got bought 4 gigs of at the time). This is the biggest hurdle for me as I now use a significant amount of RAM intensive applications and 2x4 gig DDR2 is very expensive (MB only has two RAM slots). I replaced my old processor with this one as I was starting to get into overclocking at the time and I wanted an processor better suited to it.

Would replacing my motherboard in my current machine to be able to get 8-16 gigs of DDR3 RAM be worth it even though my processor would be a couple years old? What kind of issues could I run into during the upgrade (Reinstalling/Relicensing Windows)? I was under the impression that you should usually start from scratch instead of upgrading a major component like your motherboard but with my home purchase right around the corner I will need to make as many concessions as I can for some time. I figure, if this works out, I'm able to kill two birds with one stone.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Well, it would be possible to upgrade the motherboard and buy a DDR3 kit, but as you said, your CPU is a bit old too, so you might think about upgrading this too.
Of course you'll see a difference in games (and even other stuff) between 4gig DDR2 and 8/16gig DDR3.

 

[riflen]

We'll have boards supporting SATA Express arriving in the weeks to come. It's essentially 2 x SATA 3 interfaces in one connector, allowing up to 2GBytes/Sec.
There are no commercially available drives yet though. =(

 

[dancrane212]

Well, it would be possible to upgrade the motherboard and buy a DDR3 kit, but as you said, your CPU is a bit old too, so you might think about upgrading this too.
Of course you'll see a difference in games (and even other stuff) between 4gig DDR2 and 8/16gig DDR3.

Yeah, my biggest concern is that I'll limit myself by getting a motherboard that supports my current processor and end up in a similar situation in a year or two when I go to upgrade my processor.

 

[bennycash]

I hate to ask this again but yesterday I bought an i5-4670K for $189.99 at Micro Center without knowing there was a combo deal for an ASRock Z87 Extreme4 mobo for $114.99, which would save me $30 I believe. Micro Center said they'd honor the deal and I am thinking about going to get it for my first build and as I'm trying to save as much money as possible I figured this is a great deal for a good mobo and I already saved quite a bit on the CPU. So, what do you think, should I go for it? Or try to get a cheaper mobo with the same qualities?

 

[TTUVAPOR]

It really is addictive. It makes a lot of fun, you'll start to get more experience with every step you take, you'll want to get more knowledge about everything and sooner or later you'll find yourself spending hundreds of bucks on rigs even though you don't "need" to haha.

But still, you should return your wife's rig and go start to build one on your own. Not only do you have fun while doing so, it will even save you some money, which can be used for YOUR rig

She likes hers too much lol. As for mine though, I think I may modify mine a bit, definitely a new graphics card and another 2GB stick of RAM. From there I'd like to maybe get a new case for it or at least a new side door where I can have better airflow going. It'd be nice to get a new CPU fan for the processor too.

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

http://blog.nzxt.com/2014/04/29/introducing-the-h440-special-edition-colors/

My bland+shitty white edition gets here tomorrow. Fuck you, NZXT

 

[Soodanim]

A friend is in the market for a low end machine. I've told him the advantages of building one, but I'm only clued up when it comes to higher end parts.

Budget: £300-400, UK.
Main Use: Football Manager 2014, Portal 2 (probably) and general usage (office programs and accounting software).
Monitor Resolution: 1080p. He needs a new monitor, and he's after about 21" or so. Edit: monitor price not included in budget!
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: 60fps would be nice for the games, but it isn't essential. The two games don't require a lot (FM2014 spec, Portal 2 specs) but only mention minimum specs, not recommended.
Looking to reuse any parts?: Nope. All new.
When will you build?: The sooner the better.
Will you be overclocking?: No.

I don't know whether to choose i3 (+low end GPU?) or APU. I don't even know whether to say 4 or 8GB of RAM, because I don't know what his accounting software will be like. 8GB could see him through for a long time.

 

[TheRagnCajun]

When I first built my machine in 2010 I made a couple 'rookie' mistakes that I'm now trying to correct and, hopefully, take advantage of. What I'm thinking of doing is taking the motherboard + RAM out of my current machine along with the processor I used in this machine before I upgraded it and placing it in a smaller case for use with my television as a HTPC/SteamMachine along with a low power video card. I do not do a significant amount of gaming on my desktop and the little I do is usually with games that I would much rather play on a television. This 'new' PC would allow me to do that along with streaming the more resource intensive games from my main PC.

My current machine consists of a micro-ATX motherboard , which caps me with DDR2 RAM(which I only got bought 4 gigs of at the time). This is the biggest hurdle for me as I now use a significant amount of RAM intensive applications and 2x4 gig DDR2 is very expensive (MB only has two RAM slots). I replaced my old processor with this one as I was starting to get into overclocking at the time and I wanted an processor better suited to it.

Would replacing my motherboard in my current machine to be able to get 8-16 gigs of DDR3 RAM be worth it even though my processor would be a couple years old? What kind of issues could I run into during the upgrade (Reinstalling/Relicensing Windows)? I was under the impression that you should usually start from scratch instead of upgrading a major component like your motherboard but with my home purchase right around the corner I will need to make as many concessions as I can for some time. I figure, if this works out, I'm able to kill two birds with one stone.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Make sure its an M3+ socket Mobo with BIOS support for a M3 socket chip (your current processor). That should work out ok for you, although generally I like to go clean slate when its time for a new mobo.

 

[LilJoka]

A friend is in the market for a low end machine. I've told him the advantages of building one, but I'm only clued up when it comes to higher end parts.

Budget: £300-400, UK.
Main Use: Football Manager 2014, Portal 2 (probably) and general usage (office programs and accounting software).
Monitor Resolution: 1080p. He needs a new monitor, and he's after about 21" or so.
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: 60fps would be nice for the games, but it isn't essential. The two games don't require a lot (FM2014 spec, Portal 2 specs) but only mention minimum specs, not recommended.
Looking to reuse any parts?: Nope. All new.
When will you build?: The sooner the better.
Will you be overclocking?: No.

I don't know whether to choose i3 (+low end GPU?) or APU. I don't even know whether to say 4 or 8GB of RAM, because I don't know what his accounting software will be like. 8GB could see him through for a long time.

Yeah that budget is really pushing it when you include a monitor, heres a config to start with:

You could go with AMD APU setup like you say as well. This config might be more powerful than needed. Also its not nice to cheap out on monitors as its something you dont buy everyday. The config lets you upgrade to any GPU you would like in the future, can upgrade the ram to 4x4GB and the CPU up to a Haswell Refresh i7. You can save more money if you want to limit the upgrade path, and you can always go second hand, which for this budget id highly recommend.

Also im not sure on the 750Ti specifically, but isnt nVidia starting to bundle Watch_Dogs with some of their GPUs? May want to wait that out if it taks interest. If your building it for him you might want to take advantage of it if hes not interested lol.

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

No Watch_Dog with 750/Ti, unfortunately.