Upgrading slightly outdated build

[cantputt04]

So I am thinking of upgrading the build in my signature (E8400, P5Q-E, HD 4870, etc). When I built it, I built it to be future proof, more or less, hence the beefy PSU and all. Of course, this was right before Nehelam hit so I guess I was a little impatient. Anyway, about 7 months later I enlisted in the Army and left for basic and all that good stuff, leaving my precious new build at home. To see that it wouldn't go to waste, I gave it to my older brother who is currently in his last year of college for video editing, videography, things of that sort.

Fast forward to today, I am coming off a tour of duty over seas, and tax season is abound. I'm feeling that I want to give back to my older brother for being as supportive as he has been. I know that he's been having issues with Adobe Premier not working up to the speeds he desires. So, I want to newegg him some parts so he can upgrade for better editing performance, as well as gaming performance

He's only got a 22" monitor, and it's not 1080p so the resolution isn't horribly big. I'm thinking an upgrade of the GPU, and another 4GB of ram. For the 775 socket, there really isn't any upgrades he could feasibly get, but he does have an after market cooler that I might suggest he try overclocking a bit, in case it's the CPU that's holding him back.

Now, problem is, I don't really use adobe premier, so I don't know what kind of system resources it uses the most, whether it be GPU acceleration, Vram, RAM, CPU, or whatever. Whatever it uses though, I'd like to upgrade.

I was thinking getting him a Radeon HD 6870 and possible more RAM. Problem is, newegg doesn't stock the Ram I used (Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX), so I don't know what to do there to be honest Would the HD 6870 be held back too much by the E8400 do you think? Or would anyone else know how best to upgrade this machine besides what I've suggested?

[jdeb]

You are better off with NVIDIA graphics cards with Adobe Premiere. They are the supported cards for that application. You could really boost some performance by using a workstation card but unfortunately they do not game well at all. So with that being said and your desire to use the system for gaming as well, going with a GTX 470 will garner a better experience in both applications.

EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB
Newegg.com - EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Adding additional ram by itself will not help a great deal but if you decide to upgrade, use the same memory. I would add the GTX470 and see if this satisfies your needs and go from there. The upgrade path would be a quad core and additional memory but I think you will be pleasantly surprised by just the addition of the GTX470

[Khalil]

Adobe Premier is heavily reliant on CPU, the 8400 is a great processor however by changing video cards you will see little to no improvement.
If you more Adobe Premier performance you might consider going to a Q9650 Quad Core but that is kinda expensive for what it is.
If you don't mind replacing motherboard, ram and CPU and want to stay with Intel I recommend going with the 1156 platform and getting an i5-760 but depending on your budget you can go as high as the i7-870. If you give us an idea about how much you want to spend on the upgrade it might help us give you better advice!

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by Khalil Adobe Premier is heavily reliant on CPU, the 8400 is a great processor however by changing video cards you will see little to no improvement. If you more Adobe Premier performance you might consider going to a Q9650 Quad Core but that is kinda expensive for what it is. If you don't mind replacing motherboard, ram and CPU and want to stay with Intel I recommend going with the 1156 platform and getting an i5-760 but depending on your budget you can go as high as the i7-870. If you give us an idea about how much you want to spend on the upgrade it might help us give you better advice!

I do not agree. The NVIDIA card drivers are optimized for Adobe premier and would make a noticeable difference within that application. Would a quad core serve him better? Perhaps, but by simply adding an approved adobe card which he needs anyway will more than likely satisfy his needs. If he was building from scratch, that would not be the CPU recommendation.

[Khalil]

Even though the nVidia card might be approved a processor is what premier relies on most for working., the 4870 is overkill for Adobe Premier. I use Premier on my own 24 core video/audio rig, I am using a $150 ATI FireGL video card.

[cantputt04]

I was afraid of that actually. I'm kicking myself now for not waiting for Nehelam like I should have The only thing I'd be worried about is my older brother's ability to actually replace a motherboard I mean, it's easy, disconnect everything, remove it, put new one in, reconnect everything and such. I'm not home otherwise I'd do it for him.

The most I'd probably want to spend is around 450-500, just for CPU Motherboard and Ram. But then I'll want to throw in a new GPU too just because The 4870 only has 512MB of VRAM though, which is kinda low these days. But since that's overkill anyway I think I'd be ok with it. So yeah, cpu mobo and ram it is then

[glc]

If you are going to upgrade the mobo/CPU/ram, I'd probably go Sandy Bridge.

[cantputt04]

Indeed. I was looking over prices of 1156 boards and 115 boards, and they're really more or less the same. The cheapest Sandy Bridge right now is like, 180 or so? More or less the same price I'd pay for a 1156 i5 but without the power.

Then I got to thinking, to aid him in piecing this build together (because I do worry about him removing an entire motherboard in a case that is kinda crammed (no modular psu), maybe I'll get him another case to migrate everything else into and leave the old mobo / CPU / ram in the Antec 900, this way I can use that later as a project PC (or a linux box!). This, to me, seems like a pretty decent idea. Might also throw in a mid range NVidia card as well so I can keep my 4870

Might also want to keep my PC Power and Cooling 750W PSU... So Ok, now I'm thinking, I'll get him a micro-ATX board, mATX case, Sandy Bridge, 4GB DDR3, ~500W power supply, and possibly the new GTX 560 (coming out here in a few days, should be cheaper than a 6950). That one might be over kill, but I just worry about the heat and power consumption of the 470. Then again, it'd be a real solid rig though... Heheh, now this'll be my own little project to teach my older brother to build computers from half way around the world lol

[glc]

I would not put that big a video card in a mATX case.

[cantputt04]

Er, by mATX case, I meant mid size. Was eyeballing the Antec 300 actually... I don't mean like, a small case, just one not as big as the Antec 900 that also won't cost as much. Cooler Master seems to have a ton of cases in the 50-75 dollar range. That's about where I'm looking for a case. Judging from the size of the GTX 470 relative to the 570, I think the GTX 560 would probably be the same size as the 470, which would fit just fine in an Antec 300. I think...

[glc]

That should not be a problem. Also look at the Coolermaster CM690.

[Khalil]

The CM690 is a great case, great price and the quality is very high for the price

[cantputt04]

So I think I'm just gonna put together a whole new system and take back my old one

Newegg.com - Antec Six Hundred Black Computer Case - $65 after MIR

Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA-500D Green 500W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - $50 (someone please verify this for me)

Newegg.com - ASUS P8H67-M EVO LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - $135, cheapest micro that allows turbo boost

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500 - $210

Newegg.com - A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1600GB2G9-2G - $45

Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $260

If I throw in an optical drive it'd come out to 800 even. Look good? Not too sure on the Power supply... but it's on sale, and is Antec... that GPU only consumes like, 230W at full load. I figure the entire rest of the system couldn't use up the rest... but would it be worth it? I really do like that price.

[cantputt04]

Sorry for the double post, I think the edit button ran away...

Anyway, new PSU:

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

Decent MIR on that one. I think it all looks pretty good. Might throw in a WD green for storage (reusing old hard drives and such).

EDIT: Actually I'm just going to use the old PC Power and Cooling power supply.

[birddog_61]

Originally Posted by cantputt04 Newegg.com - ASUS P8H67-M EVO LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - $135, cheapest micro that allows turbo boost .

Unless I am mistaken the h67 supports turbo boost just fine, which means you can get this board for $99.
Newegg.com - ASUS P8H67-M LE LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

If I am correct the h67 does not allow memory OC but will still allow you to change multipliers with an unlocked CPU.

[Nuclear Krusader]

I'd still go with the 470 for Premiere. Adobe is using the CUDA technology, that's why ATi cards are not "supported".

[glc]

ATI cards are "supported" - but no GPU acceleration. You need Cuda for that. Heck, even an old weak GF 7300 is "supported".

[Nuclear Krusader]

True. Well, the 560 has CUDA as well, maybe Adobe just needs to finish testing the new video cards and update their list of certified cards.

[cantputt04]

Hmm. I'm thinking dropping it down to the 460 or 465 and making it the 2600 instead (more CPU = better Premier?)

The only reason I had the EVO was because it itself advertises turbo boosting. I'm just afraid I wouldn't be able to get the turbo'd numbers. Not really into over clocking it (it's my brother's after all). So here's the updated build.

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - ASUS P8H67-M LE LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600

Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 996770

Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Comments before I hit the order button?

[Nuclear Krusader]

The 465 is a joke. If you're dropping down go for the 460. Overall, Adobe CS is very CPU-dependent, but now they also require GPU acceleration. Stick with nVidia, on account of the CUDA technology.

Speaking of which, G directed me to this nVidia page this morning. Looks like there're a lot of their GPUs that have CUDA cores.

[cantputt04]

Good to know about the GPU acceleration with the CUDA cores. I think the 560 has more than the 460, so ultimately I think that would be the better investment. Plus the i7 will give more CPU power, and since that mobo only has 2 DIMM slots, 8GB of RAM will have to do. Also, I like Mushkin for some reason. I hear they make excellent memory. That particular set is 1.5V, 9-9-9-24, which fits perfectly into Sandy Bridge unless I'm mistaken.

[Nuclear Krusader]

8 GB is more than enough for now. And as long as your CPU is quad-core, even the i5 can handle CS5 no problem.

[cantputt04]

Indeed. The main reason for 8GB now instead of just 4 is because of the 2 slot restriction. (Literally) no room for future RAM improvements lol But 8GB should be excellent. Plus I hear Premiere likes Hyperthreading, hence the bump up to i7. Looks like a solid build to me, I'll be putting the order in tomorrow.

EDIT: So ok, I plan to use old hard drives with pre-installed Windows and everything. What should I be aware of when switching all the hardware over? As in, currently Catalyst drivers are being used for an ATI card, the new one will be NVidia. There will also be motherboard drivers installed that won't be needed anymore. How should I go about making the switch to make everything as easy as possible?

[David M]

You said "with pre-installed Windows."

Windows will need to be reinstalled in order to work with new motherboard. You will then want to update Windows (if you are getting an internet connection). If any of the Win7 drivers are incompatible, then you will need to install the drivers that are compatible from the driver disk that came with your motherboard. You then install your old software to what is now your new C: drive or a data drive and then transfer over your old files and folders to your reinstalled software. The only exception to when you probably don't need to do this is when you have the same chipset again. Your new chipset is different.

[cantputt04]

Good call. Could I uninstall / reinstall just using the windows CD or do I also need to reformat?

[glc]

Windows 7 appears to be a lot more forgiving than XP was when you move a drive. It may just boot up fine and go through a bunch of found new hardware routines. If not, a reinstall over the top should take care of it.

HOWEVER - a reformat and reinstall will ALWAYS result in a cleaner installation.

[cantputt04]

Would Vista be as forgiving?

[Nuclear Krusader]

Probably. Only one way to know, right?

[cantputt04]

Indeed. Might just get a Windows 7 upgrade disk and have a clean install anyway... Or just a whole new license so I can keep my Vista for future use :3

[Nuclear Krusader]

An OEM version will do.