PC Upgrade Ideas

Hi there!

After about five years of making small tweaks here and there, I think it's finally time to overhaul this old rig.

Here is my current setup:

Motherboard and CPU:

- ASUS Prime B75, Intel Panther Point B75
- Quad-core Intel Core i5-3450, 3400 MHz

Graphics Card:

- Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4

SSD:

- OCZ-ARC100 250GB

Power Supply:

- 650W

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I actually picked up the GPU and the power supply last December, and my monitor is still fantastic.

What I'm really looking for is a high-quality case—ideally one with a side window, since my current one is just a cheap, tiny thing. From there, should I add a new 2TB HDD to run alongside my existing SSD where the OS lives, or would it be smarter to just grab another SSD?

Also, since the motherboard is getting pretty dated, I’d love to upgrade that as well.

My budget is roughly $600.

I plan on shopping at Best Buy since they offer the option to pay with a Denny's card over 24 monthly installments.

I appreciate any advice you can give me!

You’d only really need another SSD if your current one is maxed out and you have specific programs (or maybe games) you want to move over to solid state storage.

There isn't much point in upgrading the motherboard since you won't find an LGA 1155 socket anymore, and I guess you wouldn't see much of a benefit from a different board anyway.😉

The total with SSD would run you just a little bit more than $667.

EDIT:

Seagate Barracuda 7200 ST2000DM001 (3.5", 2TB, 64MB, SATA III-600)
Phanteks Enthoo Pro Black window Midi-Tower case without PSU, P/N: PH-ES614P_BK
2x BitFenix Spectre 140mm fan - white (BFF SCF 14025WW-RP)

+ if needed:

SanDisk X400 256GB SSD, 2.5” 7mm, SATA 6 Gbit/s, Read/Write: 540 MB/s / 520 MB/s, SD8SB8U-256G-1122

Total: $740 on financing through Wells Fargo - no SSD included$503

You can't really use the 5.25" cage (for optical drives) if you go with those 2x140mm fans, because you'll probably end up mounting both of them on the front panel.

I've got a similar board. It’s already rocking USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps, so honestly, there isn't much you're going to gain by upgrading.

That sounds like a plan! I’m definitely going to grab the case first, and then I might just pick up an extra SSD while I'm at it. It's all about the gaming experience for me. With a new Battlefield title on the horizon, I've got my sights set on Hitman. Honestly, once you spend a year running Battlefield 4 off an SSD, there is absolutely no going back to a standard hard drive.

So, what do you think? Should I go with another 250GB SSD, or would it be smarter to just jump up to a 520GB model?

I get it—the smaller one is obviously easier on the wallet. But I’m curious from a compatibility standpoint.

It also just occurred to me: maybe I should invest in some decent cooling? I've always just stuck with those basic, entry-level setups.

I noticed liquid cooling is being recommended for $200, and I've heard that's really the gold standard for this specific tier right now.

You’re totally overdoing it at this point!
I mean, if you ask me—and I'm definitely just a total amateur here—the only real upgrades you actually need are the drive and an SSD. Everything else feels like way too much... maybe?

You aren't actually going to gain anything from water cooling. Since you can't overclock the CPU and the motherboard isn't built for it anyway, it feels like a waste of money.

The case, fans, SanDisk X400 256GB, and that 2TB HDD should be plenty. As for the i5 3450 and GTX 970 combo, I guess the power levels are perfectly balanced.

Who would have guessed? After all this time, I’ve still got a solid machine on my hands. For now, I think I'll leave everything exactly as it is—with the obvious exceptions of a fresh case and an SSD.

Thanks so much for all the advice. 🙂

Right now, you can snag a Fractal R4 case at a really great price

Also, if you're stuck without an HDD, maybe consider picking up a 480-525GB SSD instead? If you're planning to run games off it, it makes much more sense. Honestly, why even bother with an HDD? Are you just running out of storage space for everything else?

Kimberly Gomez34 said:Right now, you can snag a Fractal R4 case at a really great price

Also, if you're stuck without an HDD, maybe consider picking up a 480-525GB SSD instead? If you're planning to run games off it, it makes much more sense. Honestly, why even bother with an HDD? Are you just running out of storage space for everything else?

Actually, yeah, I don't even really need an HDD. I've already got a 2TB external drive, so I'm not sure why I was thinking about spending money on an internal one... I think I'll just pick up a 520GB SSD and keep the 250GB one I currently have. That way, the old one handles the OS and programs, and the new one can be dedicated entirely to my games.

This one is the 525GB model. This would be the more budget-friendly 480GB option.

I picked up a new Fractal case and a 480 GB SSD today. I’m feeling good about the upgrade, but I’ve hit a bit of a snag. When I open up This PC on Windows 10 to check out my hardware specs, things look a little strange. I can see my original 240 GB SSD and an external 2TB hard drive clearly enough. But then there are these two extra drives labeled E and F. Drive E shows 135 GB used out of 175 GB, and Drive F shows 249 GB used out of 289 GB. To make matters worse, I have an old 500 GB internal hard drive that isn't showing up in the list at all.

I am honestly a bit stumped here. I decided to run Aida to get a better look at my system specs, and the software clearly lists both of my installed SSDs along with that 500 GB hard drive. If the software sees them, why aren't they appearing in the file explorer?

Just to add to the confusion, when I actually click into those E and F drives, they are filled with files, and there is even a Windows folder sitting at the bottom. My main Windows installation is currently running on the C drive.

What steps should I take to get everything organized and visible where it belongs?

So, was your HDD split into two partitions before you did the upgrade? 😉

I honestly can't say for sure, since I haven't really messed with it in probably two years. I actually powered it down back when I first picked up an SSD because I was running low on connectors. But could it be possible? Absolutely. That just brings up a different question, though: if everything is working correctly, why on earth isn't this new 480GB SSD showing up?

My bad, totally missed this part about the second SSD 😁

Did you check via Disk Management? Take a look there—it’s probably showing up as "Not initialized" or something similar, so you'll likely just need to format it...

Yep, I just pulled up Disk Management, and it’s showing 447GB as unallocated.

So, how do I fix this? It won't let me just format it because that option isn't even there, and my computer isn't recognizing it at all.

new partition

Yeah, you're gonna need to go in and Create partition

I did it! I finally pulled it off. Thanks so much for all the help. 👍