Going from OEM to custom, what can I take with me?

[CaGeRit]

After reading around and re-evaluating my situation I've decided that the sheltered life of OEM computing does not hold the same promise for advancement, upgrading and geeky fun than going custom.

In three months I will be receiving my christmas bonus which I predict to be between 2 and 3 grand. This money will first and foremost be put towards getting a custom gaming computer up and running, what ever is extra (and there will be extra, I doubt I'll need more than $1000 for this) will go towards savings.

At the moment I am starting my research on available components, mainly motherboards as I plan on re-using my i7-975ee CPU. However a mobo + CPU a computer does not make. The purpose of this thread is to figure out what I can rip out of my current machine to be reused in the new one. I kinda figure this is pretty elementary, but it does save me from those "Why isn't this working?" issues later down the line when I throw it all together.

A non-organized list:
PSU
HHD
Graphics card (Nvidia GTX 260)
Sound Card (Soundblaster something, not sure if this is really needed, most mobos seem to have an integrated card)
CD Rewritable drive
Ram (2 sticks of 1gig DDR 3 channel ram)
And of course if I'm missing something please do tell.

Thanks in advance and pardon my ignorance.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

PSU is probably underpowered, and of poor quality - thats the norm for OEM. If pull the brand and model info off the sticker, we can confirm thats the case. I'd plan on pitching the PSU unless we find something surprising in there.

HDD you can reuse. If its an SSD you can really reuse it, if its an HDD, you can use it as a secondary storage drive. You should plan on getting an SSD for the OS drive of your new PC.

GTX 260 is passable as a gaming card now I think, but will leave you behind modern times. An upgrade there will give you major punch in your gaming experience.

Sound Card - Your new motherboard will come with onboard sound thats probably as good or better. I read recently someone believing their soundblaster card gave better sound, so I'd hang onto this until you compare it with the onboard sound of your new mobo, then I'd expect I'd probably pitch it - hang on and decide for yourself though first hand.

CDRW - reuse.

RAM - sell it, put money towards a new 3x2GB set (or bigger)

CPU - I would consider selling it, and buying something of the Ivy variety, because the platform a 975EE gives you is slightly dated to build around. Sticking with the CPU isn't a terrible idea, but it might limit the features and stuff available on the motherboard you go with. I'd compare features on a board for that platform, and for Ivy, and see if there's anything there that matters to you. I'm not that familiar with 975s/980s, never looked into getting one so I'm not sure how on target I am on this one.

This is a start for you at least!

 

[Knufire]

975/980s are decent gaming CPUs. If you have one, it's not really worth upgrading to Ivy Bridge, BUT you have to pay for a new motherboard. Since it's such an old platform, unless you get a really really good deal on a used board, it's just not worth the cost of a new board.

IMO, you have two options, run CPU/Motherboard until Haswell comes out (Q2 2013) or just go to Ivy Bridge since you have the cash. Both are equally valid options, it depends on whether you think you'll have the cash at that later time.

 

[CaGeRit]

I'm not worried about the cpu, the i7-975 seems to handle everything I throw at it with the dell mobo. As for the Haswell, it looks nice and all, but seems to be overqualified for my needs. I'm sure I can get an old lga 1366 mobo with decent specs at a discount since the 1366 is a dead socket these days.

The PSU will be going as it has just enough connections for this motherboard. Just wanted to see if I could keep it around if I wanted to build something else.

I'm keeping the RAM for the sole purpose of having extra RAM lying around. I will probably use it for ram tests and building on that, if the installed RAM bites the dust I would like to be able to turn the machine on.

The GTX 260 will also be on the way out after I get this machine running, I'm not sure what I'll go to. I still need to figure out how to look at CPU-Mobo-GPU interactions so as to get a card that will be able to keep up with todays games without overtaxing the cpu. Or in short I don't want to have a GPU that is slowed down by my CPU, I want a balanced setup.

Really this thread is to make sure dell hasn't done any software/driver sneakery to prevent swapping out parts in their machines. I've heard somethings about that.

Also in a completely unrelated note does a Dell XPS 600 Renegade have any sort of collectors value? I know its completely outdated (pentium D processor, Series 7 Nvidia GPUs, quad SLI-ed for what it counts), but I think its kinda cool to have a machine that MSRPed at 10k back in 06.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

The PSU could be kept around for something else. Powering accessories, or a secondary rig you aren't worried about. The older OEM PSUs get, the more likely they are to go - I just wouldn't plug anything of value into it unless you check the sticker, and find its good.

Keeping the ram isn't a bad idea, but with a 3x2GB set, the chances of frying all 3 sticks at once is rather low so a backup likely isn't needed even if you were really in a pinch - it will run single or dual channel until you get the bad stick RMA'd.

The 975EE won't hold anything back, you could go all the way to the top end on the GPU side of things. Any mobo would do as well as far as not holding you back, so long as it has PCIe 2.0 x16 or better for the GPU connection. Hope that helps your decision making - seems like GPU choice is pretty much down to whatever your budget may be. I never go top end personally, because I'm too cheap, and if buying smart you can get a near top end card without paying the flagship price, and OC it to the same or better performance.

There isn't anything about your parts that make them unswappable. The only thing Dell could lock down is the mobo, and thats always trash from OEM for OCing because the BIOS doesn't expose any reasonable amount of options.

Thats a pretty cool Renegade, quad-SLI from 06 is neat. A 7800 GT went for $30 on ebay in the past month, looks like they are more likely to move around the $10-20 price point. The GTX models are in a similar price point. If you parted it all out, after costs you might clear $100 or better. If it runs, may hold more sentimental value.