Upgrade computer or replace?

Just got a 7D and am going to have to upgrade my PC. Yikes what big RAW files....

Built my first and only PC 6 years ago; has had one motherboard upgrade. Its compenents:
Kingwin KT-24 case
Enermax Noisetaker (500W estimate)
P4P800e deluxe; 3 Gig RAM (4 years old)
All in Wonder Video Card 9600XT
70GB WD Raptor (only 4 years old)
Standard DVD/burner

Would you reteain the power supply, case and hard drive, DVD drives in an upgrade project, or is it time to just move on to another box/system? I'd like to get an i7 caliber processor, motherboard and 8Gig RAM. Can I leave my video card alone? Would you use the Raptor or replace? I don't have any idea whether the power cables etc. will work with the newer mb's........ and I don't know if the Raptor and PS are close to dead.
Thanks

Depending on your budget, I'd probably stick with all new components! Technology has come so far in the last few years that keeping anything on your old to install into a new may prove to be a bad thing!!

You could keep the case, but everything else probably including the power supply will need to be new. You might be better off buying a case with a decent PS fitted, as sizes of components like the motherboard may have changed in that time. They may not have to, I have no idea really.

mpstan wrote in post #11154064
Just got a 7D and am going to have to upgrade my PC. Yikes what big RAW files....

Built my first and only PC 6 years ago; has had one motherboard upgrade. Its compenents:
Kingwin KT-24 case
Enermax Noisetaker (500W estimate)
P4P800e deluxe; 3 Gig RAM (4 years old)
All in Wonder Video Card 9600XT
70GB WD Raptor (only 4 years old)
Standard DVD/burner

You will be able to keep the case, although the new generation cases are usually better built and with better cooling.
If your video card is PCI-e you will also be able to keep it, although I think most of the 9600s will be AGP??

Definitely replace the power supply, even if you can get adapters to make it work with new board, it is of an age where its life expectancy is getting shorter and shorter. Last think you want is a new system destroyed by a failing power supply.

Your DVD burner may, or may not work. I've had limited success getting older ones to work on new systems.
Usually it's easier to just buy a new eSATA one. Again, they are quieter and more reliable than they were 6 years ago, and for $20 it's more than worth the cost.

Here are the components that may have some value (except PS it sounds):

case: http://www.newegg.com …aspx?Item=N82E1​6811170013

video card: http://www.newegg.com …aspx?Item=N82E1​6814102352

PS: http://www.newegg.com …aspx?Item=N82E1​6817103446

As for a new system, I was thinking about having a 120GB SSD and two 1TB internal drives mirrored RAID 1; i7 processor on a new board, and approx 8GB RAM.

Maybe use my case, video card (but not power supply?) unless I'm being silly doing so. Can I make some use of my old Raptor? I own a retail version of XP Pro; don't know options yet but will either buy upgrade version or full retail. Thoughts?

Thank you.

mpstan wrote in post #11154064
Just got a 7D and am going to have to upgrade my PC. Yikes what big RAW files....

Built my first and only PC 6 years ago; has had one motherboard upgrade

That part of the statement says about all of it. If it's 6 years old then it really doesn't owe you anything. But to break it down:

The case is just a hunk of metal and depending on it's design and if you have any attachment to it, then you decide. I have seen people spend +$200 on a case, so if it's a really good one then keep it.

The power supply probably doesn't have the correct connectors on it for the current generation of motherboards. I doubt it has esata power plugs either.
The memory is probably DDR at best. So no current processor will support it.
The video card most likely is PCI or AGP. won't fit in the PCI express slots.
DVD burner is getting old and they sell for $20 so why not get new.

So that leaves the Hard Drive. Well, it probably contains data so you might as well keep it around. You can use it on your new system and have it for a scratch drive for Photoshop.

I would suggest that you just keep your old computer complete and just reformat the harddrive then donate it to a school or a shelter. It's of no real use to you but someone else probably would get some use out of it.

Matt.

Based on what you say I'd get the most benefit from my present components by keeping them intact, donating them as a complete system(sans the Raptor) and getting at least a tax deduction. There is also an original Samsung 160GB in the case so it would be good to go.

Next step: figuring out what I want. Won't spend over $2000. Programs I plan to use right away: MS Office Word and Excel, probably Outlook; Digital Photo Professional (Canon), Lightroom 3; a web browser and that's about it.

I still haven't ruled out a Mac but I don't know how much of a pain it would be to change over. I assume that for $2000 I could do either well...... gotta keep digging.....

Thank you for your succinct thoughts Matt.

mpstan wrote in post #11157474
Based on what you say I'd get the most benefit from my present components by keeping them intact, donating them as a complete system(sans the Raptor) and getting at least a tax deduction. There is also an original Samsung 160GB in the case so it would be good to go.

Your video card is AGP, so your left with just keeping the case.

I was in a similar position when I built my current rig, and opted to start completely from scratch and then keep the old rig as a back up.
It sits in the bottom of a cupboard, but has been useful once when my motherboard died. While the back up isn't much good at processing photos, it at least kept me connected to the net and I could email customers etc, letting them know there was a delay.

I'd start from scratch. use the old system for something else or donate it like you said.

Your planned system looks good, i7, 8GB RAM, SSD for OS drive, use SATA DVD drives, buy a good case and quality PSU around 500-550W. Won't need much for a GPU, something like an ATI 5450 or nVidia equivalent is more than enough unless you plan to game (doubt it based on your current rig). Don't forget about a good screen! IPS is the way to go.

If you decide to go the MAC route you still may want to build your own and do a hackintosh. Otherwise an i7 iMAC would likely be the way to go.

If your Raptor is SATA II, just keep it and use it as a boot or scratch disk.

You will need a 64-bit OS to use 4GB or more of RAM.

You just took me back to the college days. I remember overclocking a P4 2.4 Ghz on that board...that was a beast

To answer your question, you can keep the case if you like it but all other components should be replaced.

Thanks everyone for your input; I'm pretty set on building my own at this point. Right now I'm trying to plan a high end machine that will run PS efficiently although for now I will only have DPP and LR. Price is secondary, I just want to build as good as I can and keep it under $1500.
Still trying to answer some fundamentals:

I9xx or I7xx? which top 3-5 boards should I be considering from each type?

Top five video cards I should consider, no gaming (hundreds of choices?)

Modular PSU or not, thinking about the 550-700 Watt range

Nice case with some USB ports on top..... Antec 600 perhaps

Will probably have an SSD and secondary 1TB HD; 6 or 8 GB RAM

I doubt you'll need more than 500W...

I would go ahead and get 2 HDDs. Use the second one to back up your data and make a bootable clone of your boot drive.

I had almost the identical system to you. Asus P4P800 with 4Gs ram.

I just built a new tower with 16g ram, i7-870, 64g ssdd, and Windows 7-64bit.
Technology has really improved since I built my last tower. Go for it!!!!

DigitalSpecialist wrote in post #11184067
I had almost the identical system to you. Asus P4P800 with 4Gs ram.

I just built a new tower with 16g ram, i7-870, 64g ssdd, and Windows 7-64bit.
Technology has really improved since I built my last tower. Go for it!!!!

Jim do you mind sharing your build?

Toxic, thank you for your thoughts. You are probably right, I should be happy with a 550-600W PSU. Do any of you have the modular type?