New computer build with some old parts, guidance needed please

My wife has a computer that has a mother board and processor that is limiting. I want to do some upgrading to her computer such as new HD's (SSD and HDD), Mother board and processor. I will also need at least one new fan for the case, it doesn't work all the time.

She has a good tower, mouse and keyboard, dvd rom, card reader, power supply, 16 mb of RAM and an amd radeon 6670 video card that I want to use with the new build. I will be picking up a new 24" asus monitor as well.

She does TONS of multitasking with sometimes hundreds of internet tabs open between chrome and firefox and a lot of other applications such as multiple spread sheets, word docs, dropbox, 30+ outlook emails open at the same time and other applications. She doesn't do any video/image processing or play games. There is no changing her habits with all of the open items, I have tried before. Most of the time she has many of these thing open to go over with me and sometimes I don't have time for days on end to review it with her (work, play, kid stuff).

What kind of build will be able to easily handle her "computing style" and work with the components that we already have? I want to future proof this for at least 3-5 yrs.

We need more info. Tell us about the RAM, the Motherboard and the CPU she now has.

A quick and effective way of communicating more specific info about your present hardware is to download and install a free program called "CPU-z". Run it and then post back with attached images of these four CPU-z tabs: CPU, Motherboard, Memory and SPD.

To attach images with your posts just click on the Go Advanced button at the bottom of any new post. Then find the paperclip tool at the top of the advanced window and click on it. That will open up a file browser for finding your stored images and uploading them.

A great image capture program comes with the later versions of Windows from Vista on. It's called "Snipping Tool". You can crop the images before saving them so as not to include a lot of unwanted desktop real estate. Snipping Tool is found in Windows Accessories.

Also, what kind of budget are you working with for this upgrade?

i was getting Malware warnings with that program that you posted. Hope this works.
I am not sure how much on this budget, this is not a pro gamer set up or anything, but I want to be able to do all the multitasking that she does

Yep, that'll do. But if you download CPU-z from a safe website then it should not be seeded with malware. Usually, the author's website for downloading the program is safe: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

Sourceforge.net is also a safe place to get a lot of great freeware.

With the kind of use your wife is putting the system to there are two important variables: 1. lots of memory, which she already has and 2. a fast CPU with many cores. A lot of programs cannot take advantage of a CPU with many cores but multitasking can do that as then it becomes the task of the OS. Windows itself is wel multi-threaded and it can take advantage of lots of cores.

So my recommendation for you is to go with an Intel I7 which has four physical cores and has something called "hyper threading" (HT) technology which kind of turns the four cores into eight, four physical cores and four logical cores. Because of HT the I7 is a considerably more powerful processor than the I5 which doesn't have HT. Your will also need an appropriate motherboard. However, you can reuse your current memory.

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116987 or if you want to overclock the CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157501


I would also strongly urge you to consider getting a fairly large SSD to replace the conventional hard drive. Samsung Evo 840 seems to be the way to go for best combo of price and performance. SSD's are the single most bang for the buck performance improvement out there.

And if you will be overclocking the CPU then you would want to invest in a good aftermarket CPU cooler to handle the extra heat produced by overclocking.

Thanks for the feed back.

I was thinking about going with at least a 256 gb SSD, if not 512. I have a 128 Evo in her set up now that is just too small and a 256 Evo in my set up that seems to be a good fit for me using 145 gb.

Would her video card be salvageable or doesn't it play nice with that mother board?

I won't be overclocking, I don't know much about that and don't want to ruin the hardware.

Would it be okay to use an older CPU that may be a little more cost effective? I picked up an I7 for my rig about a year and 1/2 ago for around $200. I believe it was the older model then and the new one just came out. At the same time I don't want to be sacrificing multitasking performance for a few bucks.

The video cared in your wife's computer will play just fine with the new motherboard.

You can pick up a used I7 for less, probably $200 or less on ebay, especially if it is one of the older socket 1155 models. In that case you would need to go wit a socket 1155 motherboard instead of a socket 1150 board. Socket 1155 is older technology but still relevant. Socket I7 CPUs with the "k" at the end of the model number have unlocked core speed multipliers and are coveted by overclockers for that reason. They are more expensive.

Don't cut corners on the motherboard, however. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293R Stick with Asus, ASRock and Gigabyte. Stay away from Biostar, MSI, ECS and other brands.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...811?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3398c0695b

Best price used I could find.

Another option would be to go with AMD. Not quite the performance as the higher end Intel stuff we've been looking at but probably a significant step up from where your wife is now and it sounds like the following combo would be withing your price range.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131874

And, no, I would not feel good about running the FX-6300 on her present MSI motherboard. I'm afraid the power draw of the CPU would make the board unstable under load or at least shorten it's life. MSI and FX 6 or 8 core CPUs are not good matches.

Is this the same one? http://www.microcenter.com/product/434176/Core_i7-4790K_40GHz_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processor

Replacement said:

Is this the same one? http://www.microcenter.com/product/434176/Core_i7-4790K_40GHz_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processor

Click to expand...

Great price! Yes, that's the "k" version with unlocked core speed multiplier. If you ever change your mind and want to overclock that's a nice feature to have but if you don't want to overclock it's the same as the non k version.

P.130 bios would need to be installed on the motherboard I recommended in post #5 to work with the CPU you reference in post #10 so if it came with an earlier bios out of the box it would need to be updated or it might not work with the Haswell CPU you reference at microcenter. That is not difficult to do but you would need an earlier model socket 1155 CPU to do it. The CPU you reference at microcenter is the latest itteration of Hawell, the Haswell "refresh" they call it. It's supposed to run cooler but that's about it and there are mixed reports from users as to whether it actually does. Apparently, it's kind of inconsistent.

trents said:

P.130 bios would need to be installed on the motherboard I recommended in post #5 to work with the CPU you reference in post #10 so if it came with an earlier bios out of the box it would need to be updated or it might not work with the Haswell CPU you reference at microcenter. That is not difficult to do but you would need an earlier model socket 1155 CPU to do it. The CPU you reference at microcenter is the latest itteration of Hawell, the Haswell "refresh" they call it. It's supposed to run cooler but that's about it and there are mixed reports from users as to whether it actually does. Apparently, it's kind of inconsistent.

Click to expand...

So will the linked CPU work with the motherboard in post #5? (I am not sure about the socket thing). I know just enough to assemble and follow simple installations.

Yes, it will work. I think I said that but you might first have to "flash" the bios with an update which may be a problem unless you have an older socket 1150 Intel CPU laying around.

I don't mean to sound rude or condescending but does any of that make sense to you? I linked another board later (the Asus one) that would not require that. Are you familiar with the term "bios"? Bios updates are easy to do if you already have a working system. They supply new information for motherboards to be able to properly recognize new CPU models within the same socket family. Both AMD and Intel turn out new CPU models over time and if the CPU post dates the bios version of the motherboard it likely won't work properly. Bios updates correct that issue. But if you don't already have a CPU that does work on that motherboard it's not the way to go. Since with your wife's system she is changing the motherboard as well you probably would want to go with the Asus board I linked.

No offense taken, I know that I am pretty green when it comes to computers and I appreciate all the help you have provided so far.
I don't have old hardware where I could update the the newer bios so having a motherboard that works with the linked CPU right off the bat would be preferred.
Will the Asus board accept the video card? How do I know if a video card will work on a certain motherboard?
I found this combo of mobo and cpu, what are your thoughts on it? I want to be able to have 2 (maybe even 3) monitors connected for multitasking reasons.
http://cart.microcenter.com/cart.aspx?RedirectUrl=http://www.microcenter.com
ASRock Z97 Extreme 4 LGA 1150 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz LGA 1150 Boxed Processor for $334

Replacement said:

No offense taken, I know that I am pretty green when it comes to computers and I appreciate all the help you have provided so far.
I don't have old hardware where I could update the the newer bios so having a motherboard that works with the linked CPU right off the bat would be preferred.
Will the Asus board accept the video card? How do I know if a video card will work on a certain motherboard?
I found this combo of mobo and cpu, what are your thoughts on it? I want to be able to have 2 (maybe even 3) monitors connected for multitasking reasons.
http://cart.microcenter.com/cart.aspx?RedirectUrl=http://www.microcenter.com
ASRock Z97 Extreme 4 LGA 1150 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz LGA 1150 Boxed Processor for $334

Click to expand...

I am so jealous of people who live near Microcenters. That board is HIGHLY recommended and you're getting it with the CPU for the price of just the CPU where I live. JUMP on it.
The idea of having 2 or 3 monitors is possible but for gaming you'll want to do it off your GPU(S) not off your integrated.

Replacement, any PCI-e video card will work in any motherboard with a PCI-e slot. And every aftermarket motherboard manufactured in the past 10 years or so has a PCI-e slot. No problem there.

The combo you list is a good price if the price you quote is for the motherboard and the CPU together. But again, we are back to the problem with that board needing to have the p1.30 bios installed in order to recognize the chip. If you can get the Microcenter techs to check that out before you take the board home then go for it. They might even update the bios for you if necessary and if they would do it for no charge then it would be a very good buy. Are they selling this board and CPU as a combo? If so, I would press them on that and the need to have the CPU work with the board out of the box for you. Do you get what I'm saying?

Yes they are selling it as a combo at the price stated above. I will bring the Bios issue to their attention and see how they handle it.
Thanks

Agree with above. Just get MC to install the new bios for you on the board before you take it home.