PC Upgrade advice needed

[monel]

Hi,

any and all advice much appreciated.

I currently have a Phenom X4 system running at 2.2ghz, which I purchased 15 months ago.

I'm thinking of getting an SSD drive, more ram and probably another sata hard drive also.

However, I'm thinking should I just purchase another motherboard and CPU? I want to tighten up my Photoshop experience and maybe audio/video editing too.

The reason I'm hesitant to just get a whole new system is that I'm thinking the longer I wait, the more prices will drop. Also, I have recently installed a very good PSU, a new drive and other parts in my current PC.

Any tips or advice?

[briareos_kerensky]

The more you wait, newer and more powerful hardware will come out, rendering "old" components less appealing. If you want a new piece of hardware, buy it now unless something completely new (you can afford) comes out within a month, or you'll play the waiting game forever.

The Phenom X4 is a good CPU, keep in mind that Photoshop really benefits of extra RAM and extra HDDs where to swap, like most (if not all, not much experience with audio editing) Adobe applications.

[monel]

I see your point about the waiting game. The only reason I don't want to go for a totally new system is the recent changes I've made to my current one.

Is there a brand of SSD drives you would recommend?

My motherboard was apparently designed with overclocking in mind, but I have never done it before and am a bit reluctant.

[briareos_kerensky]

I have two OCZ drives in my PC and I'm pretty happy, but soon OCZ will distribute the new Vertex 3 with the new SandForce controller...early benchamrks are impressive, this is one piece of hardware I'll wait for, though its price will be quite high.
Right now I'd reccomend a OCZ Vertex 2 or a Crucial C300 if you mobo supports SATA III.

[monel]

Thank You b.k, your advice has been very helpful to me lately.

Unfortunately, I doubt my mobo supports sata III, but OCZ seems a good choice according to you.

[abigsmurf]

I would say that upgrading from that CPU & mobo setup at the moment won't be great in value for money terms.

Changing it to a sandy bridge core i7 would get a notable improvement but really I'd say you shouldn't need to upgrade until the generation of CPUs after that.

More ram and an SSD would definitely benefit you more, especially for photoshop. DDR3 will probably stick around for a while so they should be fine when you need to swap out the motherboard and CPU.

[monel]

Thanks for all the advice, I should pay you guys for the help.

Any recommendations on blu ray burners? I have a lot of music I've ripped to flac that I need to backup, I don't trust hard drives for long term storage.

I've always liked Liteon but I have no knowledge of blu ray and the performance of current writers.

[Rep]

The original Phenom X4 series were pants, the Phenom II X4 however are a different story. At 2.2gig It sounds like one of the older ones, you should be able to pick up an P II. X4 940 fairly cheap now, it's unlocked multiplier so extremely easy to over-clock.

[monel]

A few more questions, if any kind souls wish to anwer-

Is AMD always the budget choice? I've seen some places say an Intel setup is better for audio software tools.

Apparently the Sandybridge motherboards have issues which won't be fixed until later this year?

How come audio people advise the mobo has no onboard sound card?

Most importantly, Aria sell pre-overclocked bundles, but doesn't overclocking reduce the lifespan of a PC?

Wow, purchasing Mobos and CPUs is a minefield, so much choice which is bewildering is you aren't a hardware type of guy.

[eastyy]

got to admit installed a ssd drive (cheapest intel value one) and even that runs so much faster then what i am used t. Have heard about those hybrid drives which have a small amount (about 4gb of ssd space) and it uses the ssd space for programs mostly used like windows

i agree though the phenom x4 is fine (checked the benchmarks not a huge difference in that and the phenom 2)

also what model is your current motherboard ?

[monel]

Um it's an Nvidia Hybrid SLI 8100, I needed a system fast a while back, popped into Maplins, bought the only decent one they had in stock, the Phenom bundle.

Problem is, the 2.2ghz speed seems slow when I see much faster systems on sale. I will never use it for PC gaming besides emulation though, and audio/graphics/video editing.

[eastyy]

did here there were some problems with the new sandybridge and there was a story about lots of them having to be returned

did a google on your motherboard said its ddr2 memory

might want to see about bundles like this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/produc...d=43&catid=339

[Kongster]

The fixed Sandybridge chipsets should be hitting retail around late March/ Early April.

The I5-2500k represents the best bang for buck in my opinion.

[briareos_kerensky]

Apparently the Sandybridge motherboards have issues which won't be fixed until later this year?

It's a bug in the SATA controller of the 6-series chipset, integral part of the Sandy Bridge architecture. The bug is limited to the 3Gbps ports linked directly to the chipset, 6Gbps ports and any additional controllers mobo manufacturers might implement won't suffer from this bug.
All major mobo manufacturers alredy announced recall plans but right now I wouldn't buy Sandy Bridge systems: the bug doesn't make systems unuseable or instable, just slower, but you have to ignore an average of 4 SATA per mobo.

[monel]

Guys, do overclocked systems have a shorter lifespan?

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it.