upgrades

[circusslaughter]

I am going to upgrade my 500gb HDD with a 2tb SSHD, would i still want a SSD? Or would a regular 2tb hdd with a 60gb or so ssd be better?

Also i probably won't but if i did could I upgrade my AMD 6300 to a 8320? Would it be worth it?

Is win 7 worth an upgrade win 8?

I can't do anything for 2 months.

Just sounds like a new build would be cheaper.

 

[Dr-Kiev]

Use small SSD for booting partition and big HDD drive for the rest content. Tranfer all "cash" files to the HDD. In this case SSD will live longer.

 

[lehtv]

circusslaughter as always, we need info on what you do with your PC. If all you do is play minesweeper, then obviously none of the upgrades are going to matter.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Try to answer these questions. It'll help us help you.

A SSD will be faster that a caching solution. Since most things will either benefit greatly from being on an SSD (game loading times, OS boot times, application loading times) or not at all (MP3s, videos), you're generally better off with a smallish SSD (120GB) and a HDD big enough for your media needs.

 

[circusslaughter]

So what's the difference in a SSHD and having a HDD and SSD?

I have over 1,000 songs on my computer and 20 games or so.

I know my HDD needs to go because Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache is no longer cutting it with everything I do.

If I am playing games like Payday 2, GTA IV, Team Fortress, and idk what I play a lot of stuff. I have a lot of games off steam and I have a lot of games off of Big Fish, would it be worth trying to upgrade my 6300 to a 8320 or would that make no difference in game performance? I am using a 7950 3GB graphics card. How hard would it be to upgrade a CPU and would it be cheaper to just build a new pc?

 

[lehtv]

An SSHD has a tiny SSD inside which it uses as a cache where it places the more frequently used files from the HDD for quicker access. The performance improvement is there but it's not as fast as installing the OS on a separate SSD.

I have over 1,000 songs on my computer and 20 games or so.

The songs wont benefit from being installed on an SSHD. Generally, you can load media files from a 5400 RPM hard drive and it'll be just as responsive as loading them from an SSD.

The games would definitely benefit from being installed on an SS(H)D.

The SSHD is a compromise which allows a greater quantity of data to benefit from SSD-like speeds, but limits those speeds when compared to a real SSD. If you can afford it, I would recommend a 2TB hard disk and a 256GB SSD to get the best of both worlds: media files on the HDD, and Windows, Program Files plus (the majority of) games on the SSD. If that's too expensive, then I'd probably just get a 2TB HDD and a 120GB SSD, and only install a couple games on the SSD. But I wouldnt fault you with going for the SSHD route, as long as you also buy a separate SSD for your operating system.

would it be worth trying to upgrade my 6300 to a 8320 or would that make no difference in game performance?

No point in doing that upgrade. Gaming generally doesn't benefit from having more than four processor threads, and your CPU already has six threads. You would not see any performance improvement. There are some games like Crysis 3 and Battlefield 4 MP that do benefit from a great number of threads, they are also CPU intensive enough that upgrading to Intel would make more sense than upgrading to an octocore FX.

What's your motherboard? Is your FX-6300 overclocked?

 

[circusslaughter]

Umm it's a Asus m5a97 r2.0 I think. No, I don't overclock. Don't know how.

I am planning, when I buy my new hard drive, upgrading to win 7 pro for xp mode.

I know I am using a pretty good graphic cards, is it getting the best use it can in my system?

My boot is roughly 3 minutes because my hdd is full so it's not caching, I guess.

 

[circusslaughter]

I play crysis 3

 

[circusslaughter]

I think intel would use up my whole budget. Going to have $500 in March. I want to get the SSHD and win 7 pro. So pretty sure Intel isn't in my future.

 

[circusslaughter]

Those two things would put me at $240 and to upgrade to Intel need a new board and cpu. If I was doing that, I would just build a new system.

Oh and the mouse and keyboard I'm getting is $160 or so

 

[mfenn]

You can edit your posts rather than posting 4 times in a row.

Anyway, it's definitely not worth upgrading to Windows 7 Pro from some other version for XP Mode. There are plenty of free virtualization programs out there like VirtualBox which will do the same thing. Keep in mind that you can't really play any 3D games inside a VM with XP Mode or VirtualBox.

I would personally not bother with an SSHD. Given the price difference between the 2TB Seagate Hybrid drive and a normal 2TB 7200RPM drive, you're paying $40 for an 8GB SSD, which is a terrible value. A real 60GB SSD like the Kingston V300 is only $63.

With a $500 budget and your current setup in mind, I would get:

i5 4670K + GA-Z87M-D3H combo $328
Crucial M500 120GB $95
Toshiba 7200RPM 2TB $80 AP
Total: $503 AP

 

[lehtv]

Excellent picks mfenn.

circusslaughter if you factor in what you'd get for selling your current motherboard and CPU, you would be able to get a 250GB SSD. And if you don't do overclocking, don't get the 4670k, get a Xeon. It's 4C/8T instead of 4C/4T which helps a bit games like Crysis 3, but compared to 4670k, the fact that it isn't overclockable makes it slower for <4 thread games.

Xeon E3-1230 V3 $245 shipped @superbiiz
Gigabyte H81.Amp-UP $82 shipped @newegg

And if you do do overclocking, you could just spend less and get a good CPU cooler for your FX-6300 for overclocking it to 4.5ghz or thereabouts. Provided your PSU is up for it. The M5A97 R2.0 is a decent overclocker. But 4670K would still be quite a bit faster, especially OC'd.

 

[circusslaughter]

Well I am getting a different OS because my uncle, tech guy for 25 years, said the version of win 7 I have won't be able to transfer to a SSD or SSHD. So there's that reason. I also don't have ability to add a ssd and hdd because I don't have enough cords to connect two drives, forgot tech names grr. That's $140 of my $500 if I get the SSHD. Then add $100 for OS, Leaves me $260 so probably won't upgrade to Intel.

And I'm a brand snob so want my hard drive Seagate or WD.

Or I can get a 2tb HDD for $95+OS for $100, equals $195. Leave me $200 because I'm getting a K70 keyboard and DeathAdder mouse.

Plus all these prices change in March.

 

[Cerb]

So what's the difference in a SSHD and having a HDD and SSD?

An SSHD has some flash it sets aside for commonly-used or small-access blocks, it's very small, and shares IO with the 'pure' HDD part. They are much more expensive than the $10 more they should be, for so little flash, too.

With the SSD and HDD, everything but 'slow' data (IE, music, movies, documents, games that aren't disk-limited) goes on the fast RAID-0-like flash array in the SSD. Access to the HDD is not in competition with it. So, where you would often have several HDD accesses to open a file, you just get the one HDD access to open the file (disclaimer: gross simplification), and all the program loading, and settings loading, that takes some seconds normally, all comes off the SSD, which is really fast at it. Since so little of the IO that might slow you down normally is happening on the HDD, caching for the HDD generally won't net you much, if anything.

IoW, with an HDD and SSD, it's not like having a piece of data, or whole program, on the HDD, means using it slows everything down to the same speed as if you only had an HDD.

If I am playing games like Payday 2, GTA IV, Team Fortress, and idk what I play a lot of stuff. I have a lot of games off steam and I have a lot of games off of Big Fish, would it be worth trying to upgrade my 6300 to a 8320 or would that make no difference in game performance? I am using a 7950 3GB graphics card. How hard would it be to upgrade a CPU and would it be cheaper to just build a new pc?

Upgrading the whole PC would be wasting money, unless you had someone to sell/give your current one to, or had something else in mind for it to be re-purposed for, IMO (IoW, as a net cost of $300, with no gain from your current parts, not worth it by miles...but if you need another PC anyway, or will sell what you have, it could be worth it). An FX-6300 is a nice budget gaming CPU, and you'd not get a substantial improvement with an 8320.

An i5 would be a good bit faster, but worth $300 that could go elsewhere, compared to what you have? I'm not so sure. If you like the grip of the DeathAdder, and don't like the mouse you have now, that will make a much greater difference than a bit more CPU performance will, at a fraction of the cost. I don't think a keyboard will improve your gameplay at all, but a good keyboard does improve the overall experience of using a PC.

IMO, get a 240GB M500 ($150) or 256GB Sandisk Ultra Plus ($155), and a bigger HDD. Then, reload Win 7 to the SSD (with no HD connected until after the install), copy all your current HDD's files to the new HDD, and go from there.

Well I am getting a different OS because my uncle, tech guy for 25 years, said the version of win 7 I have won't be able to transfer to a SSD or SSHD. So there's that reason.

If the license you have is an OEM license, he's wrong:
http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/pages/licensing_faq.aspx#fbid=iOLLiA4azV-

Generally, an end user can upgrade or replace all of the hardware components on a computer&#8212;except the motherboard&#8212;and still retain the license for the original Microsoft OEM operating system software. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created. Microsoft OEM operating system software cannot be transferred to the new computer, and the license of new operating system software is required. If the motherboard is replaced because it is defective, you do not need to acquire a new operating system license for the PC as long as the replacement motherboard is the same make/model or the same manufacturer's replacement/equivalent, as defined by the manufacturer's warranty.

If it is an upgrade license, then I'm not sure. That might require an install of the older OEM- or retail-licensed OS first, and that could become annoying enough to shell out another $100 . HDD failures are pretty common, as is running out of space, so they do not tie it to the storage device it is on.

I also don't have ability to add a ssd and hdd because I don't have enough cords to connect two drives, forgot tech names grr.

Y-cables are the solution, and they are cheap, especially if you get one that doesn't end up incurring added shipping costs:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st?ke...011&amp;sort=price

 

[circusslaughter]

My keyboard is crap. It's super old and I hate it. My current mouse it super old.

I have the OEM but it's whatever. I could just have 3 hard drives xD not going to make him change if he doesn't think he can because he is the one with almost 30 years experience with hardware and software.

I have been wanting to an Intel build for a year but like I said I have a extreme tight budget in March because of bills but I do think such a high end graphics card on a budget CPU is a total waste, my opinion. But the keyboard and mouse are going to cost me $180 or so what exactly could I get for a intel i5 build on a $320-400 budget, nothing because I would need OS (win 8), hard drives, CPU, motherboard, a low end graphics card for my 6300 build, PSU, and ram.

 

[lehtv]

If you have the OEM license, you can transfer it to a different drive, this is a fact. Doesn't matter what your uncle says. I've done it myself, moved from a 5400RPM HDD to an SSD and it worked fine. It even worked when changing motherboards, I had to go through a short automated activation process via the phone; you'll be able to use your OS license even if you upgrade to an Intel board.

 

[Torn Mind]

OEM installations are tied to the motherboard. The hard drive is not a part of the motherboard.

 

[circusslaughter]

So yeah guess don't matter on transferring it huh?

Do they have I5s with mobos?

 

[lehtv]

Do they have I5s with mobos?

Huh? Are you talking about combo deals? mfenn posted one, but it's the 4670K and you said you don't OC. I'd rather get the Xeon.

 

[circusslaughter]

I don't understand overclocking or how to do it so no I don't overclock and don't plan to. I just like building pcs, haha

 

[lehtv]

A mild overclock on Intel processors: set voltage to manual offset +0.005, change turbo multiplier to 40-42, whatever is stable. That's it. For bigger clocks, more sophisticated fine tuning comes into play, but it's not fundamentally different... they're just settings in the BIOS, switches you flip and sliders you adjust.

But not everyone has to OC

 

[circusslaughter]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-22136941-L04D

Is this a good HDD, I have enough to get it now because it's on sale for $60.

Or I have a $120 budget, what 2tb or bigger HDD can I get that's a really good brand (not Toshiba)?

 

[lehtv]

That's a hard drive designed for video storage, it's slower speed (but a bit quieter) than a normal 7200 RPM hard drive. And it looks like it's $80, not $60. This is $60: Seagate ST1000DM003 7200RPM 1TB

This for 2TB: Seagate ST2000DM001 $90. It's pretty much the only reasonable choice besides Toshiba... WD doesn't offer a 2TB drive in the Blue lineup and the Black drive is almost twice the cost.

 

[raildogg]

It all depends on what you do. I don't play the latest games at this time so I would be very hesitant to upgrade from a FX-6300 since that is a very good processor. Not sure what kind of usage you need. Get an SSD instead or some other component that is holding you back if you feel slowness in general usability. I seriously doubt the FX-6300 is holding you back in a big way in either gaming or general use.

Not to sound too intrusive (and I'm sorry if I do), but would you spend $500 so you can play a game a few percentage points better? If it's important to you to be able to do so, then go ahead and do it.

 

[BertolomeoDiaz]

i´d stick to the fx 6300, too
if you upgrade that, go intel, but i don´t think it´s necessary
with any luck, there might be another generation of cpus coming for socket am3+ mobos,
that might be worth an upgrade then (i´m hoping for it)
i´d wait until then,
if it doesn´t come, you can still go intel or whatever am4 cpus come instead, should they be a winner

hd 7950 is a good match for fx 6300
you might want to try to oc it to 4000MHz or 4200MHz, its as easy as it gets with fx cpus,
there are also tons of "how to do" threads and videos out there, easy to find

as for sshds, i rather like them, (have 2 momentus xt) but it depends on whether the extra performance is worth it in your eyes
it´s a big improvement over hdd (especially boot, program start), but it doesnt come close to real ssd.

i consider ssd + sshd optimal, should the ssd not be big enough for all programs,
second best: ssd + hdd

no ssd at all: i couldn´t stand it, if you ever tasted the feel of an ssd, you can never go back to operating system on hdd (not without being annoyed, anyway)

as for windows: i recently built a new pc and moved my win 7 from amd to intel mobo, (amd pc got a new win8.1)
didn´t even know that was a legal problem until now, but it worked fine (would have done it differently, had i known)
no complaints from microsoft, when i entered the product key and started updating
conscience wise i´m ok, built one new pc, got one new windows, shouldn´t be microsofts concern, which of my windows copies i run on which of my mobos

if you keep your mobo, and you still have the key, it should be just fine both practically and legally