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My old desktop was a build from ages ago and upgraded many times but is now very outdated and it's been more problematic lately too.

So, being that I havent been up on newer desktops in ages, what would you do, buy a new one or upgrade again?

By upgrade, I mean motherboard, cpu, HDD, memory and OS (Win7). My monitor's still good.

Not too worried about my video card either, could still use it. Power supplies also OK (newer), at least for what I now have.

I don't need the best state of the art stuff, not into the latest games anymore either.

I'm not sure a newer motherboard will even bolt into my case?

So, what would you guys do, buy?

Any ideas, suggestions welcome and I'm asking here because I respect your opinions.

Any ATX or Micro-ATX will should work in your case.

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K $219

The box heatsink that ships with the I5 isn't that good. I highly recommend this one: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 $29.99

Motherboard: I'd get the P67 Chipset: MSI P67A-GD55 $129.99 after rebate. The Z68 Chipset will also work. I like MSI boards right now but ASUS and Gigabyte also make good boards.

Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $54.99 Any DDR3 1333 or 1600 will work but you need to install them in pairs. ALSO, don't buy ram with tall heatsinks. Your CPU heatsink won't clear them.

Hard Drive: If I were building new, I'd use an SSD as the boot and a normal Hard Drive for storage, games, etc.:

SSD: Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F120GBGT-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III $99 after rebate (Thanks FP)

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB $119

If your power supply is running your video card, you should be okay as long as it has the connectors for the motherboard.

Considering the number of good components, I'd build your own. Err's suggestions are fine. Though if you aren't planning on playing newer games, you could go with a much cheaper motherboard & processor package.

If you wanted to go a bit cheaper, the Intel I5 2400 (NO K) is $30 cheaper. It will run the same as it's "K" brother but you can't overclock. Also, here is an ASUS Z68 for $109 after rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131781

Thanks for the info guys. Actually, my HDD is good too and and have an external one of equal size (1 TB) to copy everything to. I think I'd be ok with a new CPU, mobo, memory and OS.
I'd kinda like a smaller case too as the one I've got is a beast.

If you plan on changing cases, then you may just as well go micro ATX. Though, they tend to get tight if you have higher end video cards.

Waiting for the money tree to mature a bit but I think it'll happen.
So, is it worthwhile to opt for an i7 cpu for a few more $$ or is the i5 more than enough?

any interest in a Q6600 system? i have one sitting in a closet that isn't doing anything. it's an HP system with a few things missing (i'll keep the drive out of it...add your own). i used it previously for a download/nzb machine. pretty basic system. if interested, i can get the exact specs and pics for you. even if you just want parts out of it...i will toss the rest.

The i7 isn't a huge speed leap vs. the i5. Maybe 10-20%, but in games it can be less than that depending on the game.

The Q6600 is still a strong processor if overclocked.

Honestly, unless you intend to use your PC for serious video transcoding, there is no benefit of a Core i7 over a Core i5.

Update:

I've purchased (and received) the items above as suggested by Err (thanks btw), I5 cpu (better OC one), MSI mobo, memory. New mid ATX case too as my current old beast has seen better days.

I was initially thinking of re-using my 1TB SATA internal HDD that's now several years old (and being used in my current system) but considering the hassle factor (which is likely), maybe I should just simplify things and get a new internal HDD, at least for booting instead? I'm hoping my video card and PS will be OK but...?

Anyway, I've never used anything like this before:

Hard Drive: If I were building new, I'd use an SSD as the boot and a normal Hard Drive for storage, games, etc.:

SSD: Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F120GBGT-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III $99 after rebate (Thanks FP)

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB $119

..but could then still keep and use my present 1TB HDD.

Can Err or anyone here explain what's involved with this option?

I want this build to be as easy, hassle-free as possible as my last build wasn't too much fun.


One more Q, what's wrong with the included OEM I5 cpu fan, heatsink? I opened it this morning and to me, it looks adequate.

Yeah the new SSD would be the C drive and then you just install your old Mechanical drive as the secondary and it will pop up as some other letter. Best thing to do is install the SSD and leave your old one out. Install windows and get the OS all settled in. Then add your old drive and it should show up.

make sure that your ssd is big enough to handle windows and whatever else you want quick access to. I had a small (64mb) - with an I5 system I booted in like 7 seconds - but I ran out of room on the drive. Windows puts lots of stuff on the OS drive. It was a major hassle to get enough of it off so that I could clone it to a clean 500MB - now I just use 2 of those. The SSDs are very fast and have come down a lot in price - got bought mine 2+ years ago.

With prices what they are I would get no smaller an SSD than 128Mb.

As Pugsley said, ONLY connect the SSD to install the OS so there's no confusion. You can add a secondary drive later after the OS is installed.

Save all your data to a secondary 1Tb or bigger spinning hard drive. So for instance if you have a huge library of Divx videos they should be on the spinning drive.

If you are one of those people who has a huge number of files in your personal folders (My Document, My Music, etc) then you should relocate your personal folders to the spinning drive. This isn't hard, and I can post some instructions if you need them, or you can Google them.

To make things simple I would not use your old drive as the secondary. Spinning drives are cheap. Keep the old drive as an archive backup and put it in a safe deposit box or fire safe. Order a new 1Tb or larger drive.

If you REALLY need to save money and want to use the old drive, keep in mind there is still an operating system on it and that could cause problems. At the very least you want to make the boot partition on it non-bootable, and delete or rename the Windows folder.

I'd really recommend going with a new drive and copy what you need from the old one so you don't bring a lot of excess baggage with you, and as I said that old drive makes a dandy archive backup.

If you're a STEAM gamer, you don't have to install Steam on the C drive. My Steam folder is over 300Gb so it's on my secondary drive, not my SSD. ALSO no need to re-download all your games. You can copy your old Steam folder to any drive or sub-folder you want, then download and run the Steam installer, and instead of the default install folder, select where you copied your old Steam folder.

Ill have to remember that about the steam thing. I have a single 1tb drive but its partitioned 100G C and 900 D. I have been thinking of doing a SSD for the OS for some time now but didn't what to mess with my steam install if I didn't have to. But that makes it simple. Steam is already installed in a non-stock location and all i will have to do is do the same thing again and it will all work out. Sweet.