Upgrading advice

[JammyCreedog]

Hello all.  The last few days i've been arguing with myself on how I should go about upgrading my main desktop pc.  This pc is shared between myself and my dad.  I mainly game and stream media, my dad mainly does email and accounting software.  For starters, the system began its life 6 years ago as a basic Dell XPS 8500.  Current specs are as follows:

Intel Core i7 3770

2TB Seagate Baracuda

2 x 4gb kit (8gb) ddr3 1600

EVGA 600 B1

Gigabyte GTX 1070 FE

Single 90mm exhaust fan

Full of dust since it lives under the desk

 

I know that there are lots of area to improve upon, so my question is, where should I start?

I'm leaning towards getting an SSD first to speed up boot times and improve the general feel.  Any good models you'd recommend under $120 US.

More ram would be nice, but the sytem usage is only hovering around 3.9-4.1 GB and i'm not sure investing in a dead platform is a good idea.

A new case would be nice but i doubt the oem h77 board is standard size.

[MandoPanda]

@JammyCreedog I was in an identical situation to you before I moved out!

 

That tower is a great candidate for upgrades. Is your whole budget 120 USD? If so, definitely go for the SSD first and foremost. It will speed up your system all' round.

 

Unfortunately, a 2tb SSD would be too expensive, so I recommend buying this EVO and then reinstalling Windows. Getting a fresh install of Windows will help speed up the computer too. Make sure you have everything backed up, and your father is onboard with the upgrade before you do it.

 

RAM is always a good option, just make sure to match the frequency.

 

I wouldn't worry about a new case, but it looks like your motherboard is a Micro ATX, so you could move it into a new case if you want. I don't see any need for this though.

 

What did catch my attention is your power supply. It's on the low end, and I wouldn't be comfortable running my 1070 on it. You could get this Corsair and the SSD and be right about at your budget.

 

Go ahead and blow the dust out of the computer and the heat sink while you're at it.

[Cereal5]

Buying more RAM won't help you unless you actually run out of it while in use.

Samsung's 860 evo is a great SSD. the 500GB is ~$85 and the 1TB is ~$160, +/- $5. Those are always recommended to "revive" an older system.

After that I would do a CPU/board upgrade. Probably something around a Ryzen 2600(X) or i5 8600(K) is a good route to go. But if you just get an SSD now you can wait for Ryzen 2 which is supposed to launch sometime mid 2019. So then you can either upgrade to that or pick up a Zen+ chip cause they will likely go down a bit in price.

 

Also I'd get a 120 or 140mm intake fan for some better airflow. Your 1070 FE will appreciate it.

[grss1982]

10 hours ago, JammyCreedog said:

Hello all.  The last few days i've been arguing with myself on how I should go about upgrading my main desktop pc.  This pc is shared between myself and my dad.  I mainly game and stream media, my dad mainly does email and accounting software.  For starters, the system began its life 6 years ago as a basic Dell XPS 8500.  Current specs are as follows:

Intel Core i7 3770

2TB Seagate Baracuda

2 x 4gb kit (8gb) ddr3 1600

EVGA 600 B1

Gigabyte GTX 1070 FE

Single 90mm exhaust fan

Full of dust since it lives under the desk

 

I know that there are lots of area to improve upon, so my question is, where should I start?

I'm leaning towards getting an SSD first to speed up boot times and improve the general feel.  Any good models you'd recommend under $120 US.

More ram would be nice, but the sytem usage is only hovering around 3.9-4.1 GB and i'm not sure investing in a dead platform is a good idea.

A new case would be nice but i doubt the oem h77 board is standard size.

Motherboard seems to be standard uATX design: https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dell xps 8500 motherboard&qs=n&form=QBIR&sp=-1&pq=dell xps 8500 motherboar&sc=8-24&sk=&cvid=193512EBF7D24B1FA87EFA444984A671

 

But your main problem in moving to a new case is the front panel connectors since Dell does it differently.

 

An SSD upgrade will boost performance.

 

In terms of gaming performance that really depends on what games you play on this rig.  Just to give you some performance numbers check out the review by Hardware Canucks wherein an i7-2600k is paired with a 1080 Ti and then compared to an i7-8700k with the same card: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=hardware+canucks+1080ti+2600k&FORM=HDRSC3

[JammyCreedog]

9 hours ago, grss1982 said:

Motherboard seems to be standard uATX design: https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dell xps 8500 motherboard&qs=n&form=QBIR&sp=-1&pq=dell xps 8500 motherboar&sc=8-24&sk=&cvid=193512EBF7D24B1FA87EFA444984A671

 

But your main problem in moving to a new case is the front panel connectors since Dell does it differently.

 

An SSD upgrade will boost performance.

 

In terms of gaming performance that really depends on what games you play on this rig.  Just to give you some performance numbers check out the review by Hardware Canucks wherein an i7-2600k is paired with a 1080 Ti and then compared to an i7-8700k with the same card: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=hardware+canucks+1080ti+2600k&FORM=HDRSC3

Thanks for that.  I also watched the ryzen 7 1700 vs i7 2600k and in gaming its basically a wash.  Since I don't do anything that would leverage 8 cores/ 16 threads, there's little point in upgrading my whole platform at this time.

I do have a 250gb samsung 850 evo sata m.2 drive i bought a while ago that's just sitting in my room.  Has anyone tried one of those m.2 to 2.5" sata adapter enclosures? Like this one. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6V84GH9574&ignorebbr=1

Edited October 30, 2018 by JammyCreedog
link for product