Barebones i7 build

galvo_clare

Hi

Some years ago (2012 - I've just looked it up) I built an i5 based machine for my office and it's done a great job for me.
Still going strong but wondering how easy/cheap it would be to upgrade to an i7, while keeping as much hardware as possible from my existing machine.
I'm ok for monitor, drives etc.
The only thing missing from my existing PC is front mounted USB 3.0 sockets and I'd like those. If possible also, an SD card slot.

Any suggestions welcome

1. What is your budget? Flexible but nothing outrageous

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Office Suite, Indesign and Photoshop CC 2014, maybe a little light video editing, Visual Studio 2017

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Yes, SSD boot drive and HD for storage. Probably need new case for usb 3.0 ports

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080] [No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] No

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No] Yes

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser] Bank transfer/CC

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days] No great hurry

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Clare - but should be OK

K.O.Kiki

Since it's from 2012, I'm guessing you've an i5-2500 (K?).

CEX do i7-3770 for 90eur . For an overclockable 3770K, you'll need to hit eBay.

Skinflint lists only 42 cases with 2x USB 3.0 & cardreader built in. I'd say, just get a USB card reader.
Don't forget that your motherboard might not have USB 3.0 capability, so you might need an add-in card.
What PSU do you have currently? Consider upgrading if it's noisy/wasn't high-end when you bought it.

galvo_clare

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I’d reckon on changing the motherboard too, the power supply and the case too.
Can’t remember what motherboard is in there now but it has usb 3.0 but only at the rear which isn’t ideal.
I can repurpose the existing PC as it’s going well and was good quality at the time. I’m sure I could swap over the PSU but I’d still have to get one if I wanted to reuse the i5. I’d keep the motherboard and i5 in the existing case for convenience.

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Since it's from 2012, I'm guessing you've an i5-2500 (K?).

CEX do i7-3770 for 90eur . For an overclockable 3770K, you'll need to hit eBay.

Skinflint lists only 42 cases with 2x USB 3.0 & cardreader built in. I'd say, just get a USB card reader.
Don't forget that your motherboard might not have USB 3.0 capability, so you might need an add-in card.
What PSU do you have currently? Consider upgrading if it's noisy/wasn't high-end when you bought it.

TerrorFirmer

Switching to an i7 on a new platform would involve new board, CPU and ram, so 'cheap' unfortunately doesn't come into it - you would be looking at around 600 at a bare minimum (cheap board, 8GB + i7-8700, new case).

The only cheap way to do it is get an i7-3770 as outlined above, still an excellent CPU and very cheap.

With regards front USB3.0, you can get a decent quality hub that you can mount at the front/top of your case for about 30 euro that connects to one of your rear ports.

Or you can get an internal card with a USB3 header that would connect to the USB3 on the front of a new case for about the same, if you want to get a new case to transplant stuff into.

Impossible really to advise without knowing your budget. 'Nothing outrageous' can mean 200-2K depending on the person

galvo_clare

Yes, I’ve already gone down the hub route. Not ideal but it works and I’m using an external card reader.
I suppose I was hoping it could be done for around the €500 mark. Maybe unrealistic.
There’s nothing much wrong with the i5 so I have the option to keep as is.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Switching to an i7 on a new platform would involve new board, CPU and ram, so 'cheap' unfortunately doesn't come into it - you would be looking at around 600 at a bare minimum (cheap board, 8GB + i7-8700, new case).

The only cheap way to do it is get an i7-3770 as outlined above, still an excellent CPU and very cheap.

With regards front USB3.0, you can get a decent quality hub that you can mount at the front/top of your case for about 30 euro that connects to one of your rear ports.

Or you can get an internal card with a USB3 header that would connect to the USB3 on the front of a new case for about the same, if you want to get a new case to transplant stuff into.

Impossible really to advise without knowing your budget. 'Nothing outrageous' can mean 200-2K depending on the person

galvo_clare

Ok, I've just checked and I have an ASROCK Z68 Pro3 Gen3 Motherboard with an i5 2500K chip.

From what I can tell, it supports 2nd and 3rd gen i7 CPUs so that i7-3770 referred to should slot in perfectly - what kind of performance step up could I expect?
I presume I'd have to make some adjustments in the BIOS. Any other potential issues?

[Edit]
Just looking around it doesn't look like the performance step up is worth it.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Switching to an i7 on a new platform would involve new board, CPU and ram, so 'cheap' unfortunately doesn't come into it - you would be looking at around 600 at a bare minimum (cheap board, 8GB + i7-8700, new case).

The only cheap way to do it is get an i7-3770 as outlined above, still an excellent CPU and very cheap.

With regards front USB3.0, you can get a decent quality hub that you can mount at the front/top of your case for about 30 euro that connects to one of your rear ports.

Or you can get an internal card with a USB3 header that would connect to the USB3 on the front of a new case for about the same, if you want to get a new case to transplant stuff into.

Impossible really to advise without knowing your budget. 'Nothing outrageous' can mean 200-2K depending on the person

ED E

If your current box is running on spinning rust that would be BY FAR the most logical upgrade path.

galvo_clare

ED E wrote: »

spinning rust

Sorry???

ED E

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive

galvo_clare

ED E wrote: »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive

Ah, get you now. No, my system drive is an SSD. I have a rust drive for storage alright.

TerrorFirmer

galvo_clare wrote: »

From what I can tell, it supports 2nd and 3rd gen i7 CPUs so that i7-3770 referred to should slot in perfectly - what kind of performance step up could I expect?
I presume I'd have to make some adjustments in the BIOS. Any other potential issues?

[Edit]
Just looking around it doesn't look like the performance step up is worth it.

You don't have to do anything, just drop in the CPU.

Single core performance is somewhat better, but in any app that can use multiple cores/threads, the i7-3770 will be a major step-up.

It's also significantly faster in games, though not sure if that's at all relevant.

i5-2 or i5-3 series CPU to an i7-3770 is a big jump, unless you're exclusively using software that relies heavily on just raw speed from one or two cores.

It's also a bad time to buy Intel CPU's, pricing has increased significantly recently due to lack of stock.

AMD Ryzen is also a viable alternative, something like a six-core 2600X, B450M mobo, 16GB DDR4 + new case would be easily done within your budget.

However, if your software relies heavily on core speed, fast-clocked Intel is still the best option.

galvo_clare

I went for the i7 from CEX. I'm happy with the stock speed. For €90 it should give me some boost and I'll get a few more years out of it.
I tried a media dashboard that worked off a motherboard header but it turned out my board didn't have the required header.
I've now ordered one with a PCI-E card so hopefully that should work.
Between those two mods I'll get what I want, albeit not the latest tech, but for small money.

Thanks all for the advice.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

You don't have to do anything, just drop in the CPU.

Single core performance is somewhat better, but in any app that can use multiple cores/threads, the i7-3770 will be a major step-up.

It's also significantly faster in games, though not sure if that's at all relevant.

i5-2 or i5-3 series CPU to an i7-3770 is a big jump, unless you're exclusively using software that relies heavily on just raw speed from one or two cores.

It's also a bad time to buy Intel CPU's, pricing has increased significantly recently due to lack of stock.

AMD Ryzen is also a viable alternative, something like a six-core 2600X, B450M mobo, 16GB DDR4 + new case would be easily done within your budget.

However, if your software relies heavily on core speed, fast-clocked Intel is still the best option.