Lokasenna
Posts: 9297
Joined: 3/3/2012 From: Iowan in MD/DC Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58 Not $500, no, if you need a CPU and a graphics card and RAM all three. For sure under $1000 if you want mid-range on those three, especially the graphics. Probably even $750. But if you buy a CPU and new RAM you almost certainly want a new mobo too. If it goes it can take your new CPU or RAM with it. If you need a tower and power supply add a couple hundred there. I would pop for a full sized tower as Jocke says. So much more room for air and extra components. And they last a long, long time. I wouldn't be concerned about motherboard failure from age - it'll either fail during its useful lifetime or it won't. In my experience, mobo failures happen sooner rather than later. If it hasn't failed by now, it likely won't. I do recommend getting a new one if you are significantly upgrading your machine, however. It's likely that at 5+ years old your existing motherboard will not be able to fully support any/all of your new CPU, RAM, or video components and may cause a bottleneck in performance. Motherboards are relatively cheap. When I upgrade, I typically buy models that are a year old or so. I think last time I spent $600 to upgrade CPU, RAM, video, and mobo. I usually look for a video card in the 200-250 range, and CPU in the 75-150 range. Mobo then tends to run 70-125, and RAM usually about 100. If I were upgrading right now, I'd shoot for the 200-250 video card, 75-150 for the CPU, and then get 16GB of RAM in 4x4GB sticks. I would then have to make sure that the mobo would support 4x4GB chips, but that would be my main requirement for it. I also always buy an aftermarket heatsink and fan for the CPU. The stock ones just aren't worth anything unless you're running the computer for office use only. For any kind of gaming, get a Zalman or CoolerMaster aftermarket model. It costs about $50, but it's very worth it. quote:
ORIGINAL: BBfanboy quote:
ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58 Not $500, no, if you need a CPU and a graphics card and RAM all three. For sure under $1000 if you want mid-range on those three, especially the graphics. Probably even $750. But if you buy a CPU and new RAM you almost certainly want a new mobo too. If it goes it can take your new CPU or RAM with it. If you need a tower and power supply add a couple hundred there. I would pop for a full sized tower as Jocke says. So much more room for air and extra components. And they last a long, long time. Didn't know about the failing motherboard possibly frying the CPU and RAM! My thought has always been that it makes no sense to buy great modern RAM and CPU and then throttle its performance by sticking it on an old mobo with limited clock speed and paths. If I were forced by budget to choose which components to get, I would get a good motherboard first. Any kind of motherboard or PSU failure (or hiccups...) can cause frying. I've had a motherboard kill a RAM stick before when the slot it was in was damaged from undue pressure on the RAM stick from the CPU heat sink.
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