Need help re upgrading

[Abertil]

Hi!

I'm about to upgrade my system and is looking for some ideas how to "think" about it.

Background: last week our village - in southern Sweden - was subject to a thunderstorm and the main part of my computer equpment was dead afterwards (modem, router, printer, screen and two PC:s - desktops). Now, one of the PC:s, which I recieved in late November 2007 and which is built to be used by Photo/Video-enthusiasts, currently is at the company (local) who built it - I call them company A - and yesterday I was told that the PSU, mobo and the graphic card was gone (thank God the HDDs were OK!).

Well, the insurance company will pay for the repair of the damages (minus some deduction). However, I plan to take advantage ot the oppurtunity to upgrade the computer (I will of course pay for the upgrade myself). The guys at company A certainly have their ideas about what to upgrade and looking at the newest catalogue from the company where I purchased the PC (a photodealer which work with this company A to specify the Photo/Video PC:s), I note that there are a lot of updates (mobo, CPU, memory, graphic card etc). Beeing a newbie in this field I would appreciate some advice from people which are not involved in the process.

I'm thinking of upgrading incrementally. To start off - I'm happy with the current PC but upgrading some at this moment would probably cost less than waiting for, say, another year. First of all, thinking of the motherboard and the CPU - is there any benefit to upgrade the mobo and the CPU (in this case perhaps from Core 2 Duo to Core 2 Quad - or perhaps another Core 2 Duo), would I notice any difference (currently I'm mostly dealing with photoediting - tiff.format - and soundediting but looking towards video-editing as well)? Re PSU and graphic card I have no idea - maybe I will add extra HDDs, can "present" PSU handle that without problems? Re memory: I don't think that's a problem as they are rather cheap these days (talking bout DDR2). I'm tempted to put in a Blu-Ray burner, primarily not for viewing films etc but for burning backups.

Of course I have to make the final decisions myself how to deal with this upgrade - the company A will build it - but any suggestions re how I "should think" are very much appreciated.

Sorry for the lengthy post.

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My current spec:
• ATX CoolerMaster Mystiqe Black
• Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 1333MHz socket775
• CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz 4MB Cache 1333MHz FSB socket775
• Memory 2GB DDR2 PC6400 DIMM
• HDD 320GB Hitachi SATAII 16MB Cache 7200rpm
• HDD 500GB Hitachi SATAII 16MB Cache 7200rpm
• DVDRW - Samsung 18x SATA black
• CardReader USB 2.0 Intern / All In One
• Firewire IEEE1394 PCI 3port
• GraphicCard Leadtek GF8500GT 256MB PCIe DDR2 DVI/HDTV
• PowerSupply Nexus NX 8050 500W Modular
• Windows XP Pro OEM SP3 Swedish


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Spec for one of the newer PC:s:
• Cooler Master Mystique 631 silver (silenced with a "dampingcarpet")
• Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 S775
• Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 2,4GHz, 2x4MB, 1066MHz, S775
• Memory (2) DDR2 1GB PC6400 Original DIMM 240-pin, 800Mhz
• Memory (2) DDR2 512GB PC6400 Original DIMM 240-pin, 800Mhz
• HDD 250GB Hitachi S-ATA II, 7200rpm, T7K500, 8MB Cache
• HDD (2) 750GB Hitachi S-ATA II, 7200rpm, 7K1000, 32MB Cache
• Diskdrive 3.5'' AT, Silver, 1.44MB
• Blu-Ray LG GGW-H20L black, SATA
• Cardreader Silver USB 2.0 intern 3.5´´, All in 1
• Firewire 800 B+A PCIe, 3port, 2 IEEE1394b & 1 IEEE1394a with cable
• Graphic Card LeadTek Geforce 9800GTX 512MB GDDR3, 2xDVI, HDTV
• PowerSupply Ipower Extreme 600Watt
• Fan (2) ADDA 120mm 16dbA
• Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2B Swedish
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In a another model (cheaper) they have used almost the same components except for the mobo, HDDs (500 GB instead of 750 GB) and an ordinary DVD-burner instead of Blu-Ray. The mobo used in this case:
• Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 P35/DDR2/LK/GBLAN
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[luke992006]

get a 2x1gb kit instead of that stuff (to have dual channel working you need two of the same sticks in two slots)
dude you don't need three hdd's (if you really need a lot of space just get the two 750gb's)
drop the blu ray drive (why do you need it?)
get a 4850 instead of the 9800gts
get a 650tx from buy.com

[Abertil]

Thanks luke992006 for your comments - I will take them into consideration. Re Blu Ray drive: yeah, btw I learned that the specs aren't finalised yet so it may be a little early to get one.

[luke992006]

the specs aren't finalized 0.o?

[Abertil]

Oops - English is not my mother tounge..

Reading you comment again:

get a 2x1gb kit instead of that stuff (to have dual channel working you need two of the same sticks in two slots)

As for now I have 2*1GB and plan to upgrade to 4*1GB - max. OK?

[luke992006]

Oops - English is not my mother tounge.

no no, that's not what i meant. I meant that as far as i know the specs of blu ray disc's and drive's are finalized, but you could be right.

Yes that is ok, 4gb can still go into dual channel

What are the components right now, just everything on your first list except with me recommended component?

[Abertil]

Re Blu Ray: To be honest, I frankly don't know, but according to many people at various forums they advise to wait until the specs are finalized.

As said before: due to the thunderstorm they - ie Company A - had to exchange:
- PSU (same as before)
- Motherboard (a newer version)
- GraphicCard (same as before)

Re my upgrade I reasoned as follows:
Use of PC - mainly photoediting, soundediting and I'm planning to begin to edit videos. No gaming and no overclocking!
I ended up with:
- A new CPU -- Intel Core 2 Quad 9300 2.5 GHZ
- More memory - 2*1 GB



So my current spec reads:
• ATX CoolerMaster Mystiqe Black
• Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 1333MHz socket775
• CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad 9300 2.5 GHz 4MB Cache 1333MHz FSB socket775
• Memory 4*1GB DDR2 PC6400 DIMM
• HDD 320GB Hitachi SATAII 16MB Cache 7200rpm
• HDD 500GB Hitachi SATAII 16MB Cache 7200rpm
• DVDRW - Samsung 18x SATA black
• CardReader USB 2.0 Intern / All In One
• Firewire IEEE1394 PCI 3port
• GraphicCard Leadtek GF8500GT 256MB PCIe DDR2 DVI/HDTV
• PowerSupply Nexus NX 8050 500W Modular
• Windows XP Pro OEM SP3 Swedish

Company A is right now awaiting OK from the insurance company, after that they will fix my PC (which means there is some room for alterations!). However, I hope to have it on Friday this week.

Our oldest daughter - which lives close to Company A (Gothenburg-area) - will pick up the PC. Then she will drive by car to Jonkoping - about 140 km northeast from Gothenburg. There we will meet (we will have to drive ca 120 km south) and "exchange". During this week, one of their kids - the youngest, a boy at 8 1/2 yr - has been with us (grandparents).

[luke992006]

Intel Core 2 Quad 9300 2.5 GHZ

-haven't heard much about this cpu but the q6600 is cheaper (since your not ocing that.1ghz more will not be noticeable)

Check out ste's psu guide in the hardware stickies index thread, pick a psu from it. (550vx would be a good choice now that you aren't getting a higher end gpu)

[Abertil]

Check out ste's psu guide in the hardware stickies index thread, pick a psu from it. (550vx would be a good choice now that you aren't getting a higher end gpu)

- Thanks for the tip! Seems my current PSU (Nexus) belongs to the category " Absolute Low End Builds or You're A Cheapskate."!

I've looked both for Corsair models 550VX and 520HX (which is among "Ste's Picks") - seems both of them are available here in Sweden. May be I'll get one - hope I manage to install it!