Upgrades for a PC - asking for a friend

[Uggorthaholy]

Long story short - girl I work with wants to buy upgrades for her BFs computer.

He currently has -

AMD Athalon II X4 645
Gigabyte ud3 mobo
Geforce GTS 450
4GB ram
630w PSU

On a $400.00 budget, I'm thinking the wisest upgrades would be getting an 1155 mobo and an i52500k
He does have a custom heatsink for his current processor, but I'm just thinking that the best upgrade would be that combo.

If not, then a seriously EASIER upgrade solution would be the GPU.

Was wondering if I could get some thoughts on this as well.

Thanks!

[DeltrusDisc]

If he gets a new mobo and CPU then he'd need to get a new version of Win7.... provided he's not a 21st century pirate. :P So that might be pushing it.

I have a feeling a GPU upgrade would be pretty nice though... GTS450 isn't even really a gaming dedicated type of graphics card. Get him a 560 Ti or 570 and maybe use what's left, depending on what you get, for some other nice additional thing. :P

---------- Post added 2011-06-28 at 02:16 AM ----------

Also, the GPU he currently has, while bottle-necking his current CPU no doubt, would severely bottleneck a 2500K setup, I assure you.

[Uggorthaholy]

Since she was in the market for $400, I figured maybe even a ram and GPU bump would be just as nice without the hassles of mobo/cpu being brand new

RAM

I was leaning in the direction of telling her to go with a 560ti, overclocked factory by Gigabyte

GPU

[DeltrusDisc]

Or this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565&cm_re=twin_frozr_ii-_-14-127-565-_-Product

I have it, I loooooove it.

RAM is probably good. Would he be adding this RAM to his current 4GB? Unless he has Win7 Pro, his computer will only recognize up to 8GB.

[Darkelementz]

4GB is plenty of RAM. I'd personally go for the 1155 and i5 2500K since that will be better longer. GPUs drop in price every time a new series comes out

[Uggorthaholy]

Only issue is then the new copy of 7.
I would imagine replacing it - no idea what copy of windows he is running.

Either way, I will give her suggestions.

PS - is that really true that if he trades out his mobo he'll need a completely new copy of windows?
No way to contact microsoft and say "hey, I bought a new motherboard for my pc"?

[DeltrusDisc]

From what I've learned, getting a new motherboard, is essentially to Microsoft "getting a new computer." =/

[Uggorthaholy]

OK, next question.

He doesn't believe in overclocking because "it's an easy way to fry a board"

Since its a BF of a friend, I won't even SUGGEST trying to teach him the nuances of overclocking.

Is the i5 still that much of an upgrade in this instance if he won't OC?

[DeltrusDisc]

lol, boy he needs to get with the times. ;p

But yeah, the i5-2500 un-OC'able version is still a much better, stronger, faster processor regardless.

Though I honestly think a new GPU will do him better.

[notouching]

If you have a retail copy of windows worst case you have to call M$ and have them clear the key. If its oem then ya he will need a copy.

[Uggorthaholy]

Yes, yes, he certainly does.

She's going to check and see if his 4gb ram is currently 2X2

If it is, I'll tell her to grab the 2X2 version of the GSKILL Ripjaw, to bring him to 8gb (cheap upgrade) and the 560ti

Would make for quite the b-day present - I know I would be thrilled!

---------- Post added 2011-06-27 at 10:45 PM ----------

PS - the 560ti should fit in a case that is 19X7X16, correct?

He doesn't have the case model, bought it prebuilt, so that's the best we could do for measurements.

[OhpUldum]

You don't need a second license of Windows to swap out your motherboard. There is a really good chance that it will ask you to reactivate the license since one or more pieces of hardware has changed, but you just install your new motherboard drivers then activate online by retyping the product key code. You can do that on an OEM or retail copy of Windows.

Also in my experience going from Intel to AMD and vise versa usually means either a repair installation of Windows or a format and reinstall. Only cross that bridge if you have an issue booting into Windows after the swap. I run into this issue all the time with older XP systems so I am just assuming issue carries over for Vista / 7 systems.

[praze]

To curb some of the misinformation here...

Windows 7 "Pro" is not the version that allows for increased memory recognition, it's more-so the 64-bit versions that do that. 32-bit versions support up to 4GB of ram, while Windows 7 Basic x64 supports 8GB. Windows 7 x64 Home Premium Supports up to 16GB, and Pro/Ultimate supports up to 192GB.

I've replaced many motherboards using the same OEM copy of Windows and even if it does have an issue, a quick automated phone call always solves the issue. I would avoid using the same Windows installation though, as the amount of dead registry entries and driver fragments alone will make the new setup prone to performance issues. I always say start fresh with every build as you want to get the purest performance possible from your new hardware.

On that note, both upgrades suggested here will see some remarkable improvements. I wanted to say the MoBo/CPU upgrade is going to achieve the highest performance gain since the AMD processors have been so disappointing as of late. The big thing to note with that upgrade is the fact that WoW does a rather poor job of multi-threading. The new generation of Core i processors see that a program is only using 1 or 2 cores and it overclocks them while keeping thermals down. WoW is all about clock speeds, and these new intel cpu's are beastly for it.

The GPU/RAM upgrade is appealing because he's no doubt bottlenecking his performance with his RAM, but the CPU will hold his GPU back at this point. Even in DX11, WoW is very old-school when it comes to graphics work-load.

Hope this helps!