Need of an Upgrade or a New PC??

[mechoger]

Hey Everybody,

I wanted to know if I need to just upgrade a few parts of my computer or if I needed to purchase a new PC. The main use of the computer is editing with Photoshop and Dreamweaver which I would want a computer that can handle both of these with ease, meaning it would handle all the tasks of both within a click and not need much loading time (Which takes probably a few seconds with doing certain tasks that shouldn't be taken that much, and freezes every once in while for about a minute, which can be really irritating). I also like to have many tabs in Firefox (at the moment, if I have many tabs open, the computer begins to lag a little).

The specs of current computer:
- Windows XP (only because my computer handles xp better than windows 7, but would like to be able to use seven, fans seem to freak out with 7)
- CPU Type: AMD Athlon XP, 2200 MHz (11 x 200) 3200+
- Motherboard Name: Asus A7V8X-LA (Kelut) (3 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DDR DIMM, Audio, Video, LAN, IEEE-1394)
- System Memory: 448 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM) **it seems graphics card uses 64mb of memory**
- Video Adapter: VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP (64 MB)
- Disk Drive: WDC WD5000AAKS-00A7B0 (465 GB, IDE)

So do I need an upgrade or in need of a new pc?

Thanks.

[mattaggie]

build a new one. How much money do you want to spend?

[jdeb]

I agree. I would not put any money into it.

[mechoger]

About what price range would I be looking at for a computer that will be able to use all these programs at once with no performance drop? I would also prefer a pc that will handle the future programs of Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Autocad.

[jdeb]

I would say around $800.00 to $1000 for a solid tower. The programs you listed do not require huge amounts of GPU and CPU power. I think a sandy bridge or AMD quad build would do the build nicely.

Here is a quad build for $940.00

The case may seem like overkill but it does give you the opportunity for future expansion and it has front USB3.0. The video card is an entry level workstation card to give you nice visuals on drawing in 3D (Cad) but it will not game very well. 8 GB of ram is becoming the standard these days so if you can spring for it, do it now.

ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 $149.99
Newegg.com - ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz $158.99
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX

Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $89.99
Newegg.com - Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT51264BA1339

ATI 100-505606 FirePro V4800 Workstation Video Card $159.99
Newegg.com - ATI 100-505606 FirePro V4800 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Workstation Video Card

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB $89.99
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

LITE-ON Black 24X CD/DVD Burner $19.99
Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - CD / DVD Burners

Antec SONATA IV Black 0.8 mm SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 620W Power Supply $169.99
Newegg.com - Antec SONATA IV Black 0.8 mm SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 620W Power Supply

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $99.00
Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - Operating Systems

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If that is too much money you could go replace the board, memory, hard drive, case and power supply to this... $724.00

BIOSTAR A770E3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138179

Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $44.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134810

COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2 $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119106

Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371031

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136319