upgrading 1st gen Dual-Core...

[Hinansho]

Hey all I was thinking of upgrading my rig soon as my current build is in it's 12th year of service(remember when dual core was new and people were excited about vista?). I've done minor upgrades to ram, gpu, and added an SSD since but am finally wanting to rebuild the guts.

I plan on keeping the case(antec900) and ssd(kingston hyperx 64gb) that I currently have but want something that'll give me a little more eye-candy when playing WoW(at least high settings). I also have an extra copy of Windows 7 Ultimate that I will be installing.

My budget is >$1000 and this is what I came up with. Any advice to improve it will be greatly appreciated(especially if it lowers the price^^).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500 AT Ball Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($177.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: OCZ Fatal1ty 550W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $846.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-29 05:15 EDT-0400)

[slasher0161]

16gb or ram in 4x4gb sticks intentional? Also if your using a rig that old I think even 8gb of ddr3 you will have a hard time chewing up. Don't know anything about that cpu cooler to be honest so can't give input there, not sure I would go for a gtx 660 at the moment either I would be inclined to go for a 760 with a bit of a budget push (if you drop the second lot of ram that would be almost bang on the difference).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500 AT Ball Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($177.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: OCZ Fatal1ty 550W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $848.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-29 05:29 EDT-0400)

[Hinansho]

Sweet, thanks for the input. As for the cooler I just picked one that had good reviews and a good price. And yea, the double ram was a mis-step. Doing some more research now as I don't know how I overlooked the 7xx series.

[Killora]

What do you intend to do with the computer? If gaming ( i assume so ) what games do you play and at what resolution?

[chazus]

I don't know why we're looking at an i5-4430 and $180 motherboards, honestly. This build is not only $50 cheaper, but will perform significantly better. It'll give you the room to get a bigger SSD because a 64gb is honestly claustrophobic these days.

PCPartPicker part list
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G45 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($103.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($58.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $794.40

[Hinansho]

What do you intend to do with the computer? If gaming ( i assume so ) what games do you play and at what resolution?

Just running Wow at better resolutions. Currently I can turn view distance to good and textures to high(with everything else at low) and get ~55-65 fps in the outside world, but frame rate drops significantly in raids. I'm not looking to pump 120fps out of Elegon or anything, but I don't want to play it at 3-7 fps anymore(somewhere around though 30-40fps would be amazing).

Outside of Wow all I do on my pc is write and publish, so nothing really demanding there.


Also just realized, Chazus is a fellow Las Vegan... Enjoying the heat? and thanks for the build, looking into it right now.

[chazus]

Also just realized, Chazus is a fellow Las Vegan... Enjoying the heat? and thanks for the build, looking into it right now.

All I can say is 'ugh'. Even with the AC blasting, driving from Summerlin to Henderson every day is brutal.

[slasher0161]

I don't know why we're looking at an i5-4430 and $180 motherboards, honestly

Good point there I was sleep deprived as hell yesterday and for some notion was looking for a nice z77 board for a 3570k... Yea sorry OP about that one.

[Deleted]

Why a z87 for a cpu with a locked multiplier? Or didn't haswell come with them cheaper motherboards

[Klutzington]

I don't know why we're looking at an i5-4430 and $180 motherboards, honestly. This build is not only $50 cheaper, but will perform significantly better. It'll give you the room to get a bigger SSD because a 64gb is honestly claustrophobic these days.

PCPartPicker part list
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G45 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($103.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($58.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $794.40

I agree with this build entirely, except you really should invest in an SSD. You might think they aren't needed, or are overly hyped... well they aren't. An SSD is like going from a 256k modem to broadband... and then raiding on that connection.

[chazus]

I agree with this build entirely, except you really should invest in an SSD. You might think they aren't needed, or are overly hyped... well they aren't. An SSD is like going from a 256k modem to broadband... and then raiding on that connection.

He already has an SSD.... but its only 64gb. I would definitely want more, but if he has enough room for 64, and doesnt need more, no point in upgrading.

[Klutzington]

He already has an SSD.... but its only 64gb. I would definitely want more, but if he has enough room for 64, and doesnt need more, no point in upgrading.

Ah, didn't read that.. my bad. I agree, though, buy a larger SSD imo.