One upgrade, one new PC, $1200 - what to do?

[karossii]

Okay, so my current rig is in my sig; I want to upgrade it. Not sure what all I should do, no specific needs to upgrade it, I just have a few extra bucks, and I *want* to do something for myself.

Also, my wife has been without a PC for a couple years now. She uses my 18.5" Toshiba laptop semi regularly, her little chromebook (not quite a laptop or netbook) by default, and is just lacking her own true computer.

I was going to throw together a PC for her several months ago from my previous PC's components, but... well, something wasn't working. And I never have had the time to fully troubleshoot, but given that the newest components of that old PC (at least the newest components which didn't find their way into my current rig) are around 4 years old, I decided to just wait until I could afford to build her a decent rig. I do have a new case with a 400W power supply in it for her rig. She doesn't game at all, no serious PC work; just a daily surfer, plays lots of internet flash/silverlight games, and wants whatever she does to be fairly instantaneous but more importantly, highly reliable.

So, I am thinking about 40/60 split on the dozen Benjamin's or so I want to spend. $500ish for a new system for her, $700ish for one or more upgrades to my rig.

Assuming you would be doing this, what would you do (and why)?

 

[EarthDog]

Give her what you have and build new (3570K/Z77 mobo/7950/2x4GB DDR3 1600/ etc).

OR - for your sig rig I would get....7950/GTX670, and an SSD for your OS and smoe major apps.

 

[karossii]

Give her what you have and build new (3570K/Z77 mobo/7950/2x4GB DDR3 1600/ etc).

OR - for your sig rig I would get....7950/GTX670, and an SSD for your OS and smoe major apps.

LOL, I had just come back to edit my initial post and add that possibility in - giving her my rig and building a new one for the full $1200...

 

[Knufire]

2500K is a little much for a daily driver.

Definitely go with high end GPU/nice big SSD and a low end machine for her, and you'll still have money left over.

 

[Hilight]

Knufire suggested a pretty nice upgrade for you and buildout for your wife, but you might want to add an inexpensive SSD to your wifes build for a nice bump in perceived system speed

Here is a 60GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD for $64 at newegg that would do well as a boot drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227725&name=Internal-SSD

 

[karossii]

Okay, so I have gone over a ton of options, and think I have come to a decision. Two new PCs, more or less ground up, and my current rig becoming a dedicated HTPC (instead of as it is now, a mixed use HTPC/Gaming Rig/Work Rig)... I am also adding about $500 to the funds, looking for $1750 or less now.

so for my wife's rig, the following was suggested...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1076940
I am also considering this...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1076957

Would it be worth the extra $30 to have an A8-5600 vs. the A6-5400? Either $120 or $150.

For her rig, I have the case & PSU, a monitor and keyboard & mouse, and I will throw in one of my current drives (probably a 600GB) and add in a smaller system SSD now or later depending on final budgeting. She will get my 8GB (2x4GB microcenter brand) of RAM.

I have a source for 4 sticks of 8GB (ea) ram, for $20 each... I figured two will go in my current rig (becoming the HTPC) and 2 in my new rig. $80 total. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144546

I have a source for a Silencer MkIII 1200w PSU for ~ $240. That will be in my new rig. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703037

That is $470 total so far. I want a thermaltake level 10 gt snow case for my new rig; that will be around $250 more, $720 total. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133192&name=Computer-Cases

A pair of 256GB Samsung 830 SSD's will be $340 more, $1060 so far. One for my new rig and one for my wife's rig. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147164

$450 for a 4GB GTX670 brings the total to $1510. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130785

So with $240 to play with for both mobo and processor, I am looking at a core i5 3570; with a gigabyte z77 mobo ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128545&name=Intel-Motherboards ) - which looks like about $300 or so bundled from microcenter; meaning I either need to up my budget a bit, or cut out the second SSD for now.

Thoughts/suggestions? Am I overlooking anything, missing something, or making any bad choices?

 

[Knufire]

That's some massive overkill...xD.

Honestly, a 3570K isn't any big step up from a 2500K. You'd honestly get the same performance jump by just adding a better video card to your current system and building another low powered/small/quiet system for HTPC purposes.

 

[karossii]

What would you recommend instead, then?