Time for an upgrade?

I’ve got a PC that’s—well, at least seven years old—and I’m thinking about maybe upgrading it. Since I don't know much about this stuff, I'm hoping you guys can throw some suggestions my way. Is there actually anything worth upgrading here, or am I better off just buying a new machine?

Here’s what I’m working with:
Intel Core 2 duo E6550 Gigabyte P35-DS3
Gigabyte P35-DS3, s775
ASUS EAH3850/HTDI/512
DDR2 PC6400 Kingmax x4
Samsung HD321KJ 7200 + WD Caviar Green, 5400
Chieftec 550W
DVDRW NEC AD 7173A
Midi Chieftec DG-01BD-UW w/o P

Mainly, it's used for browsing, working in Adobe Photoshop / Illustrator, the occasional game (Hearthstone, emulators), and trying my hand at digital drawing with a tablet. I say "trying" because there’s at least a second or two of lag after every stroke with my Bamboo tablet. Maybe a better graphics card wouldn't be a bad idea so things don't stutter so much in Photoshop or when using the tablet—if that's even the issue.

I plan on installing Windows 7 on this. I’d prefer to buy parts from Micro Center, but I suppose I could survive using another shop if needed.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

You have to keep in mind that we're looking at a pretty old machine here—motherboards don't really support Socket 775 processors much anymore. If you're truly set on upgrading this specific build, I’d suggest hunting down a quad-core processor on eBay. Just let me know where you're located and what kind of budget you're working with?

You could definitely hang onto the case, the power supply, and your hard drives, since you’d have plenty of room to swap out everything else. Ultimately, it all comes down to what kind of budget you're working with.

Just let me know what your absolute ceiling is for this build. Then we can figure out if we're going full-on brand new everything, or if we follow Kimberly Gomez34's advice and just hang onto some of the old gear while we upgrade the rest of the setup.

Carl Nguyen2 said:I’ve got a PC that’s—well, at least seven years old—and I’m thinking about maybe upgrading it. Since I don't know much about this stuff, I'm hoping you guys can throw some suggestions my way. Is there actually anything worth upgrading here, or am I better off just buying a new machine?

Here’s what I’m working with:
Intel Core 2 duo E6550 Gigabyte P35-DS3
Gigabyte P35-DS3, s775
ASUS EAH3850/HTDI/512
DDR2 PC6400 Kingmax x4
Samsung HD321KJ 7200 + WD Caviar Green, 5400
Chieftec 550W
DVDRW NEC AD 7173A
Midi Chieftec DG-01BD-UW w/o P

Mainly, it's used for browsing, working in Adobe Photoshop / Illustrator, the occasional game (Hearthstone, emulators), and trying my hand at digital drawing with a tablet. I say "trying" because there’s at least a second or two of lag after every stroke with my Bamboo tablet. Maybe a better graphics card wouldn't be a bad idea so things don't stutter so much in Photoshop or when using the tablet—if that's even the issue.

I plan on installing Windows 7 on this. I’d prefer to buy parts from Micro Center, but I suppose I could survive using another shop if needed.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Quite simple: small upgrades make a massive difference.

Pick up a used Q8 or Q9 series processor on eBay for about $200.$133

Grab a used graphics card from eBay for around $500$200 and you have a functional machine—something like a 7770, 7790, 6870, etc.

Everything will run reasonably well. That Intel socket 775 generation is quite impressive; even today, those processors hold enough power. Keep in mind that almost any of them can be aggressively overclocked with ease.

$333 The upgrades I mentioned would work wonders. You could also pick up an SSD for maybe $100 and everything will fly.

Overclocked quad-core 775 series chips still handle modern games and newer graphics cards without much trouble.

An overclocked Q6600 is barely even faster than my G1840... and you can pick one of those up for $90 bucks. Honestly, you might want to think twice before jumping into a Q6600OC upgrade... especially since the condition of that motherboard is super sketchy. Age really does play tricks on hardware.

I was stuck in the exact same spot once. I was running an E7200, but I ended up selling everything off to switch over to a G1840, and man, I have zero regrets about it.

Linda Morgan74 said:An overclocked Q6600 is barely even faster than my G1840... and you can pick one of those up for $90 bucks. Honestly, you might want to think twice before jumping into a Q6600OC upgrade... especially since the condition of that motherboard is super sketchy. Age really does play tricks on hardware.

I was stuck in the exact same spot once. I was running an E7200, but I ended up selling everything off to switch over to a G1840, and man, I have zero regrets about it.

Agreed, better to ditch a decade-old platform entirely rather than sink more money into it.

So, I just gotta mention—a buddy of mine was running a Q6600OC with a liquid cooling setup and an MSI 260 x 2, while I’ve just got my G1840 paired with a standard 260. We both jumped into Grand Theft Auto V using the exact same settings, and honestly? The difference was barely anything—like, maybe 3 fps. Just a tiny little nudge.

Look, grabbing a brand-new rig isn't a bad move at all, but let's be real... your bank account is probably going to make the final call here.

Linda Morgan74 said:An overclocked Q6600 is barely even faster than my G1840... and you can pick one of those up for $90 bucks. Honestly, you might want to think twice before jumping into a Q6600OC upgrade... especially since the condition of that motherboard is super sketchy. Age really does play tricks on hardware.

I was stuck in the exact same spot once. I was running an E7200, but I ended up selling everything off to switch over to a G1840, and man, I have zero regrets about it.

First off, the G1840 is a solid chip, but an overclocked Q6600 offers a slight edge, not to mention the Q9 series with that massive cache.

Personally, I’d rather someone $333 rebuild a PC from scratch than buy everything all over again. A friend of mine uses a Q8300 paired with the same GTX 660 I have, and there is absolutely zero difference in performance. I'm currently on an i3 from the 1150 generation.

Man, I remember this guy had a Q6600 clocked at 3.1GHz... but once he tried hitting 3.15, the whole thing just started crashing and the temps went absolutely insane.

Look, an ocat G3258 isn't a bad way to go, but honestly? It’s a much pricier route. Plus, you’d need a specific motherboard for that, and an H81 just won't cut it.

I'm based out of Washington, D.C. The thing is—I don't really have a solid sense of price-to-performance ratios, so I'll probably just base my decision on whatever you guys suggest. I don't know... how does a $300–$450 budget sound? I might be able to stretch it a little further in a month or two, but I can't go overboard.

If you're looking at
AMD, then here’s what I’d suggest:
an i5 6402p
For the motherboard, it really depends on how much you want to spend, but I wouldn't go lower than an ASRock H110M-DGS.
Grab 8gb ddr4 and you should be fine.

Also, don't skip the SSD—you can always add one later if things are tight right now, but maybe aim for something like a 240gb $167 drive. Just a heads-up: Best Buy has a pretty weak selection and some pretty high prices when it comes to SSDs, though their other components are decent. If you're sticking to a budget, I'd probably start with this one.

Linda Morgan74 said:Man, I remember this guy had a Q6600 clocked at 3.1GHz... but once he tried hitting 3.15, the whole thing just started crashing and the temps went absolutely insane.

Look, an ocat G3258 isn't a bad way to go, but honestly? It’s a much pricier route. Plus, you’d need a specific motherboard for that, and an H81 just won't cut it.

Isn't it just about bumping up the multiplier on a G 3285?.. any decent motherboard should be able to handle that... and then there's the power jump from 50W to maybe 100W... regarding the CPU draw...

Yes, you can definitely hit 4.2GHz on an H81 board even with just the stock cooler—though, obviously, it all comes down to the silicon lottery. I actually saw a post on a forum once where someone managed to push 4.4GHz on an H81 chipset

Kimberly Gomez34 said:If you're looking at
AMD, then here’s what I’d suggest:
an i5 6402p
For the motherboard, it really depends on how much you want to spend, but I wouldn't go lower than an ASRock H110M-DGS.
Grab 8gb ddr4 and you should be fine.

Also, don't skip the SSD—you can always add one later if things are tight right now, but maybe aim for something like a 240gb $167 drive. Just a heads-up: Best Buy has a pretty weak selection and some pretty high prices when it comes to SSDs, though their other components are decent. If you're sticking to a budget, I'd probably start with this one.

It doesn't have to be AMD, but that's where I usually shop because their service is reliable.

Is there really no motherboard out there that could accommodate DDR3 alongside the rest of these parts? I'm just asking, since from what I gather, there isn't a massive performance gap between DDR3 and DDR4.

Why bother with an SSD if my current drives are working just fine?

You're making me consider waiting a few more months—either to bump up the budget instead of buying everything piecemeal, or perhaps to wait until a decent pre-built system comes along. 😁

It doesn't really make sense to grab a DDR3 board for a Skylake build when the price difference is basically non-existent.

Go with an SSD—it’ll make the whole PC feel way snappier. I'd suggest putting all your apps on there and just using the HDD for bulk storage.

Maybe holding off for a better GPU would be worth it, but since that isn't your main priority right now, it actually lines up pretty well with upgrading everything else.

This model is actually cheaper than the Kingston one, by the way.

Honestly, if you're looking to upgrade for tasks like Adobe Photoshop / Illustrator, an SSD is hands down your most critical component.

At this rate, you’re probably going to end up talking him into buying an i5 paired with a 380x just to settle it. 😬