OT What is better upgrading parts by parts of a desktop or getting a new one?
Sfariah D
Posts: 26,140
My computer is about five years old Would it be better to update it piece by piece or just save up to get a new desktop computer?
If it is to update, what parts can be updated and what should be updated first?
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When you have a limited income it depends really if you want to spend a small amount at a time, or save up a 4 figure sum to get the new one.
It also depends on the system you have at the moment and whether it can be upgraded.
To find out if your system can be upgraded and what is available click on the Scan Your System button on this page and it will give you the answer. I know it is UK based but that wont matter as you can take a note of the items and google for them. I have used it quite a few times over the years.
http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/index
You can save money by replacing the motherboard by buying a bundle which includes it, the processor, fan and memory.
Something along these lines.
http://www.dabs.com/category/components-and-storage,motherboards-and-processors,self-build-pc-bundles/15005
I've done it three or maybe four times over the last twenty years or so :)
It really depends on how it was put together in the first place. Mine in a off the shelf box, with most things built in. Upgrading it would basically be hanging a new chandelier in a haunted house.
At 5 years old, I'd hazard a guess and say no, it's not worth upgrading. I've looked at a few box stores, and can basically double the power of my current machine for less than $500. Having had Hard drives and power supplies fail, I wouldn't bother saving a 5 year old machine.
But end of the day, it's your money.
It really depends on how it was put together in the first place. Mine in a off the shelf box, with most things built in. Upgrading it would basically be hanging a new chandelier in a haunted house.
At 5 years old, I'd hazard a guess and say no, it's not worth upgrading. I've looked at a few box stores, and can basically double the power of my current machine for less than $500. Having had Hard drives and power supplies fail, I wouldn't bother saving a 5 year old machine.
But end of the day, it's your money.
I have to admit that only one of my machines, since I first upgraded to a windows PC, has been an off the shelf machine. It did help having teccies in the family. The last two I have saved up and had them built by a specialist company. The last one has just finally died and not worth upgrading after 8 years, this one is 2 years or so old and should do for a while. The one that has just died did 6 years of hard work and then served as a spare machine till just a week or two ago.
My method has been get a year or two behind cutting edge machine, then in a year or two upgrade memory and graphics card, then repeat in another year or two.
The middle step helps give your machine a good boost, and you overall save money.
Memory and graphics cards are fairly reliable upgrades -- anything more than that, IMO, isn't worth it unless you really like tinkering with hardware.
I am thinking of getting a laptop computer that is if my Budget coach allows it.
What are good specs for a laptop that does 3d?
It probably depends on a number of factors.
If the cost of the components individually were the same as the cost of the components when purchased together and no purchasing mistakes were made, then of course it would be cheaper not to purchase pieces you already have that still work. For example I'm not going to purchase a new case, power supply, graphics card, DVD drive, hard drive, and removeable drive bay over and over every time I want a new motherboard if I can still use the old ones, that would be a horrible waste of money. (&cdemerit;, I've been lucky and have never had a power supply or drive fail, although other stuff often does. I've never replaced a power supply, and the disks just go obsolete by becoming too small compared for my needs.)
Of course, if you can get an entire new computer with all the above parts for less than the cost of just the motherboard (or whatever you are replacing) then by all means go for it. I haven't priced things recently, but while this sounds impossible, it is true that purchasing a brand new UPS with a brand new battery really WAS cheaper than purchasing just the battery by itself (no joke, apparently replacement batteries are a bit overpriced), so it may be possible.
But, of course, it's not quite that simple. Often upgrading one thing requires upgrading other parts. I don't think I've ever been able to actually buy JUST the motherboard, because the processor standards have changed so I needed a new processor, and usually the memory as well. So these three items, for me at least, are always a group that needs to be replaced together. The way the CPU heat sink is attached also changes so you might need to replace that too (I took the mildly risky move of just strapping the old one on with a zip-tie. Looked horrible and if it broke it would have been expensive, but it worked; the computer still works and ran fine until it became obsolete with zero zip-tie breakage.) . Your old cards, drives, keyboard, peripherals, and power supply may or may not work with the new motherboard, although these change less often. I had to purchase one keyboard. I had to make the transition from IDE to SATA drives only once, and don't remember but probably had to purchase an extra graphics card at least once. I also had a removeable drive bay that for reasons still unknown simply didn't work with the new PC despite there being no obvious reason why, but I just swapped two of them between two PCs to get them both to work. However that's another part that MIGHT need to be upgraded if you didn't have that option, and points out that something unexpected that SHOULD be compatible and require no change may still need to be repurchased.
It is also possible that you could purchase incompatible parts by accident, and thus spend more money than expected. I would have done that exactly once to date, although I got lucky that time and the company I was purchasing my parts from pointed out my error prior to purchase.
Everyone always tells me I should OBVIOUSLY build my own machine and I'm throwing money away buying a packaged machine.
Then I start looking at websites to try to make sense of what I'd have to do, get lost even trying to get to step one, contemplate the chance of disaster... and hey, Dell account it is.
When is Windows 10 officially coming out.
Sometime in June or July
How old is the computer you want to upgrade? If it's older than five years, junk it, it's not worth the trouble.
It is about five years old as I got it in Spring 2010
BTW, not sure how others feel, but I personally would never buy a laptop if it was going to be my only (or main) computer and was going to be used for my 3d work flow.
If you live in the US here is where I've bought my last 4 computer. You can completely customize it with whatever you want. Even the brands of the hardware going into it. http://www.computerlx.com/products.aspx?category_ID=138
Since I am often on the road, a good laptop every couple years is a necessity. My laptop is my primary computer at the moment, with a Win8 tablet as my backup.
Of course, if you're comfortable doing remote desktop work, then it's less necessary to have a good laptop.
And if this were my job, not a hobby, then a good desktop would be necessary.
This is a living for me. I'm disabled and can't work outside the house so we had to come up with something. We replace computer ever couple years cause of the demands of certain programs requiring more.
Building nowadays is a lot easier than it was in the past. Motherboards are different, cases are different, not as many single wires to mess with. It's almost fool proof.
The primary thing is that you don't try to shove an AMD CPU onto an Intel board, and vice versa. lol
There are still issues with CPU socket differences for various Intel chips as well as AMD chips.
Nothing is foolproof. Never underestimate the level of fools out there.
I'm a computer guru been working electronics my whole career and I get confused about CPU sockets, bus speeds, card socket types, memory speeds, GPU options.
My advice, if you don't need a Ferrari, then consider a Buick or Toyota or BMW.
You can order customized machines from Dell and also from HP. You'll pay top price but you'll pick from a limited menu of compatible options.
Off the shelf is possible but most off-the shelf department store models are Chevy's or Yugos.
Also, if you look at HP, find the HPs with Intel chips (Buick) not AMD (Yugo). God, I don't know why HP got in bed with AMD.
However, price is a first estimate of features & quality. $400 = Yugo; $600 = Buick; $800 = Lincoln; $1000 = Mercedes; $2000 = Bentley.
For our type of graphics you want at least quad-core CPU, 8-16GB RAM, 2TB+ storage, USB3, 500W+ powersupply. Expect to pay at least $600 but be prepared for $800+
True. Been building them myself for the last 18 years or so.
I guess when I stop to think about it from the numbers perspective, it can be pretty daunting, but completely doable. Just understand that learning it won't be overnight.
When in doubt, just ask. There are quite a few of us around here that can tell you whether components you've picked will work together or implode.
Depending on the build, you're going to want higher than a 500 watt PSU. A single Nvidia Titan requires a 600+ PSU and pulls 250 watt of that on its own. That doesn't even go into the +12v amp requirement on the rails (higher single is better than lower multiple).
Vaskania: That's the point, you people always seem to discount the learning and constant refreshers needed to be familiar with such things!
Do you rebuild your car engine and grow all your food? :)
Dell used to be good about letting you order what you want. For some stupid reason they removed most of the controls they used to have, and now you can only get one of a small number of packages.
HOWEVER, they bought Alienware, and if you get an Alienware machine you still get a lot of options to choose from (at least for now... mutter)
I used to go Dell, but what I found on my last big buy was that there really wasn't much of an upgrade option after 5 years - and then it died on me. I used to build my own, but the last one of those was in 1999 when a dual P3-450MHz system was hot stuff. So I mined the collective brain trust here and elsewhere, speced out a system, ordered the components - and had my local repair shop do the build and OS install (I'm not a static-sensitive component friendly guy).
Since the original question was, in part, about upgrading, let me chime in with my two cents worth in that regard. If you buy a computer today with the idea that you can breath a little new life into it by upgrading it as time goes on, you need to specifically buy one that is conducive to that. There is a certain amount of guesswork involved, of course, since the technology can change quickly. The socket in your motherboard may not support any processors on the market later, for example. In order to truly future-proof your computer, you pretty much need to be prepared to buy at least some used components when the time comes. This doesn't apply to everything, since video cards, for example, have used the PCIE bus for years and are likely to do so for years yet, so they should just plug right into an older motherboard. So if that is your plan, you need to base your current purchase on that premise. Buy a decent case and power supply that is likely to outlast your internals and probably will still be useful for your next new build. Lots of room for extra drives, long video cards, etc., lots of surplus power and plenty of connectors. Maximize your options.
Now, if you want an OEM or off-the-shelf computer (not a custom build), you are not going to be even offered the options I've mentioned. Everything is designed to work with that computer as configured, from the case to the power supply to the motherboard to the video, with limited if any options to upgrade. Want a laptop? Make certain you get one that will last and has sufficient performance to last you as long as you plan on owning it, because upgrade options are next to zero, and the few possibilities that do exist usually involve dismantling almost the entire thing. Not worth it.
So there's my opinion. If you want upgradability, select and buy your parts carefully and put it together yourself or have someone do it for you. If you are happy to use the computer for several years and replace it when you need something better, buy off-the-shelf (applies to desktops as well as laptops).
I know there is a way to convert a windows box into a Linux box, but is there a way to turn a linux box back to a windows box?
honestly it's a peace of mind thing. If you feel comfortable doing it it's like knowing how to fix a transmission without going to a mechanic or jumping on stage with your guitar to jam a 12 bar blues song with your friends band, but not knowing how to do those things and it will go badly (car stuck on the interstate or angry crowd whipping bar pretzels at your head respectively) the same applies to building your own machine: In some cases the bridge between what you pay for what you get is getting blurred. A company that makes high end reliable machines are getting parts way cheaper than you are so your not saving as much as you might think you are building and your entire machine is supported.
Tech support for a machine with mix and match parts is tricky and requires a lot of forum searching and a lot of parts sitting on your desk, lots of RMA's and overseas support who may not understand you especially when you raise your voice.
I have friends who bought vintage muscle cars because they wanted to do the whole "real man" trip and had no idea you spend your weekend tuning these things up and if you don't know what your doing your going to have a huge oil stain on your garage floor and they could have just bought a new car that's just as fast (ugly, but better handling)
I build computers (I fix cars and play guitar too btw) but there are things I don't know how to do and there is no shame in saying "I bought a Dell" or "I bought an iMac" if it does what you need it to do.
BTW Upgrade or new: if you machine is 5 years old the only thing you should keep is your HD as a backup. Strip the computer down and use it in your render farm but if you have the cash to go new, go new. What's the point of a brand new GPU in a 5 year old Mobo that has restrictions on all newer technology?
Layers of this would become tentative points of failure. This is what hard drive with dedicated partitions or additional dedicated hard drives excel at doing without introducing potential disasters.
One consideration is in determining what reasonably can and/or cannot be updated on your system.
A lot of laptops and all-in-ones aren't really intended to be easily upgradable, other than adding memory or swapping out a hard drive and with some machines even those can be uphill battles.
A good rule of thumb is that, when you buy a desktop (assuming that this is what you're looking at), the hardest things to upgrade are the motherboard and the processor... unless you have skills in this area or know someone who does. All of the other components of a desktop are easily swappable by most consumers (that's you). So, always get the best motherboard/processor that you can as you can always upgrade most other parts as you go along.
Beyond that, I would recommend that you consider what you want to upgrade that can be easily upgraded:
If you want more speed and processing power then you can get a noticeable bump from increasing memory (max it out, if you can). DAZ Studio is a memory hog so the more memory that you have will make a difference. Beyond that, swapping your main drive for a SSD can also work wonders.
However, as stated above, if you've gotten to the point that your PC is still just too slow for your needs even after you've done everything that you reasonably can to improve it, and at five years that may or may not be the case, then you might start shopping around.
"Your computer will only be as fast as it's slowest component."
-Buddha (or Yoda, I forgot which)
I'm reminded of a nice couple I met on an airplane (I'm a very chatty person)... they were shipwrights. IE: repair/build ships.
Their business... well, there's a fair number of folks who buy used yachts with the idea that they will 'work on it' as a project. And then discover that it's WAAAAAY more work than they expected, and requires skills they don't have...
So this couple basically stepped in to all those moneypit scenarios to help.