Upgrading a 2007 Build

[AMM]

So I think it's finally time I take the plunge and replace the motherboard and processor combo that I've had since 2007.

The core of the system is a socket 775 Kentsfield Core 2 Quad Q6600 sitting in an Abit IP35 Pro motherboard. Now since the initial build I've upgraded from 2Gb to 4Gb of ram, and from a Geforce 8800 GTS to a Radeon HD 6970 back in 2011, along with countless incremental hard drive upgrades, but only to add storage never making the jump to SSD.

This is all sitting inside an Antec P180 case, with an Antec Trupower 650W PSU.

This drives my main monitor which is a 24" Samsung SyncMaster 245b at 1920x1200.

My everyday use is quite varied, from gaming, to watching HD video, work related computations in Matlab, to amateur dabbling in programming. And I tend to dual boot Windows 7 64bit with some flavour of linux that I'm experimenting with. I tend to have a bazillion browser tabs open at a time, so I've been feeling the strain quite recently with my 4Gb. After some really sluggish performance recently in everyday OS tasks I did a bit of a cleanup and optimised startup programs and background services, which at least feels like it has had an effect, but I think the biggest limitation is my 5 year old processor.

To save costs I'm thinking of upgrading only the motherboard, CPU and RAM, probably to an Asus P8Z77-V LX, Intel i5 3570K, and 8-16GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz. I'd keep the rest of the build above and put it all back in my current case. My main questions are, should I also be looking to get an SSD to round it all off, if so, what kind, and is there anything particularly problematic with the above idea?

Thanks in advance for any replies and advice.

[JustAnEngineer]

It's time for the SSD, as well. Aside from the improvement in boot speed, everyday computing will feel snappier, too. Since you're going to be doing a new OS installation anyway, you might as well put the SSD in at the same time. You can easily fit your Windows installation and most-used programs on a 120+ GB SSD. Any SSD is going to be much faster than the hard-drives that you're used to. Samsung is a solid choice for a reasonable price.

Other than that, your reasoning and choice of components look sound to me.

Intel Core i5-3570K

Asus P8Z77-V LK
or ASRock Z77 Pro3
or Asus P8Z77-M Pro

CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo

2x8 GiB of PC3-14900 / PC3-15000 or 2x8 GiB of PC3-12800 DDR3 memory that runs at CAS 9 at 1.5 V or less.

The CPU cooler isn't strictly necessary. The stock Intel heatsink and fan are adequate if you don't overclock and they're about as noisy as your Radeon HD6970.

[Mentawl]

Yup, looks good. Definitely would go for an SSD too if you're rebuilding - Samsung or Crucial probably best. I'm partial to Crucial mostly because they have a prominent 0800 UK-based customer support number and an office/warehouse very close to me .

I would consider getting 2x8GB of RAM now, if only because it's reasonably cheap at the moment and because you could switch to VMs to get your Linux fix, if you wanted!

[AMM]

I'd be inclined to overclock if I got the unlocked CPU, so what would be my best bet for CPU cooler? I'd prefer to stick to just air, and noise isn't much of a concern.

[anotherengineer]

Hows that mobo holding up? I am looking for an LGA 775 mobo

Also, if you are running 64-bit OS and things like matlab and a 'bazillion' tabs, I think 8GB or 16GB or ram and an ssd would be very noticeable.

For the SSD, is where I tend to be not too cheap (since it is your data, OS, etc. and main performance booster.

Usually 256GB range gives the best performance overall performance/dollar, and if you go Samsung I would go with the pro version, I also am very happy with my Plextor M3S 256GB, which has toshiba toggle nand, I think you would have to get the plextor M5Pro, if you want the toggle nand now.

[AMM]

So in the end I went with the 3570K, 16 Gb (2x8Gb) of Corsair Low Profile CL9 1600MHz, the Asus P8Z77-V, a Samsung 250GB 840 Series SSD, and a Coolermaster Hyper 212.

They should arrive tomorrow, I will report back how the build goes!

[Khali]

You'll enjoy the upgrades. I recently did a new build using the same processor and the V-LK motherboard. The V-LK seems to be the choice for a budget motherboard. If you have never used a SSD before be ready to be amazed. You will love the fast boot up time. No more sitting around waiting for windows to load.

[derFunkenstein]

Man that's a killer system in its own right, and then compared to the Q6600 setup it'll be pretty astounding.

[AMM]

Well it's all up and running, and with a stable (as of about 3 hours of Prime95 testing) overclock to 4.5Ghz.

I cannot quite comprehend just how quickly this thing can boot now.