do i need a new pc?

[Tilt090]

my current system is a dg45id with q6600 and 4 gb ram 22inch lcd win7 x64. do i need a new system?

what new productive or creative stuff can i do with a new pc?

my main use at the moment is non gaming related.

[Vice]

The Q6600 you have can do every task a modern CPU can do. Just slower.

In my opinion you don't need a new computer, especially if you don't already have a task in mind that you need more performance in.

[Manarift]

your fine as is for now but upgrading will help with future upgrades and also new computers have better energy saving compared to older ones

But for you id say a i5 3450 ivy bridge 8gigs of ddr3 ram and a 560ti graphics card would just be fine for ya and z77 motherboard

[Miuku.]

I doubt he's going to save enough energy to warrant buy a multi-hundred machine.

[Tilt090]

its never been this long a gap between upgrades... but oh well if this is fine thats ok.. maybe i'll ask again in a year then.

[Wakers]

your fine as is for now but upgrading will help with future upgrades and also new computers have better energy saving compared to older ones

But for you id say a i5 3450 ivy bridge 8gigs of ddr3 ram and a 560ti graphics card would just be fine for ya and z77 motherboard

What? :D

He just said he's not doing anything gaming related - so why on earth would he need a single one of the components you just mentioned? That's complete overkill and a waste of money if you're not going to do anything taxing on your machine.

[Manarift]

What? :D

He just said he's not doing anything gaming related - so why on earth would he need a single one of the components you just mentioned? That's complete overkill and a waste of money if you're not going to do anything taxing on your machine.

It future proofs a pc for years to come :)

[Lunfai]

What? :D

He just said he's not doing anything gaming related - so why on earth would he need a single one of the components you just mentioned? That's complete overkill and a waste of money if you're not going to do anything taxing on your machine.

He might happen to start using his machine for Maya, 3DS Max, Photoshop (Large files) or any other Adobe product. It's a good thing to have a powerful machine if you want to try something new, but your current machine is limiting your creativity.

But if you're not going to be going close to those programs, then don't bother with upgrading the whole machine. If it feels slow then think about some minor upgrades like attaching a SSD drive or a hybrid XT- momentus drive, and you'll notice a performance increase in boot-up times and program opening times. Also adding more ram might become useful as it's cheap to-do-so, but 4GB sounds just about right, if you're not doing anything: overkill.

[Tilt090]

He might happen to start using his machine for Maya, 3DS Max, Photoshop (Large files) or any other Adobe product. It's a good thing to have a powerful machine if you want to try something new, but your current machine is limiting your creativity.

But if you're not going to be going close to those programs, then don't bother with upgrading the whole machine. If it feels slow then think about some minor upgrades like attaching a SSD drive or a hybrid XT- momentus drive, and you'll notice a performance increase in boot-up times and program opening times. Also adding more ram might become useful as it's cheap to-do-so, but 4GB sounds just about right, if you're not doing anything: overkill.

pretty good sugestion on momentus, didnt know it existed! ill be picking that up.

what about the photoshop? i just do 2d photo/video editing for now. you have something in mind for upgrading that?

[Lunfai]

pretty good sugestion on momentus, didnt know it existed! ill be picking that up.

what about the photoshop? i just do 2d photo/video editing for now. you have something in mind for upgrading that?

Photoshop is mostly CPU/Ram + GPU (if you use CS5+), so if you're working with huge files, upgrading your ram to 8GB might be ideal. If you're video editing I strongly suggest you upgrade your CPU and RAM, I can't suggest anything right now because it depends on your budget, you might have to replace your motherboard.

[GreenInspiration]

if you do Photoshop and video editing new system will help a lot.

[inactive]

The Q6600 you have can do every task a modern CPU can do. Just slower.

In my opinion you don't need a new computer, especially if you don't already have a task in mind that you need more performance in.

that sums it up.

and since the OP has at least 4GB of RAM your general system performance should be good and that CPU is not bad especially since it's quad core.

i suspect you will probably be good on that system for a while yet and worst case upgrade the RAM from 4GB to 8GB as i can safely assume 8GB of RAM will buy you at least 3-4 years simply because in terms of RAM i doubt most uses will come close to using 8GB of RAM anytime soon especially for most general use and gaming (i know the OP did not mention gaming at all)

so basically... if your trying to maximize performance gained to $$$ spent i would definitely hold off on upgrading so when you do upgrade you will get a big spike in performance like i just did recently going from a 6 year old setup (CPU was a AMD Athlon X2 3600+ dual core) to a i3-2120 CPU with 8GB of RAM which that CPU AT LEAST tripled my performance and maybe as high as 5times area especially on the x264.exe encoding of SD video from a 720p HD source. but that upgrade only set me back $230 total cost which was a big spike in performance without killing your wallet. so my current setup should buy me 'at least' 2-3 years and probably 4+ especially since i can always upgrade my CPU to a i5 or i7 quad core ivy bridge and in a year or two i could upgrade my graphics card etc.

[Hum]

YES -- your computer will be completely useless when Windows 8 final comes out.

[tsupersonic]

YES -- your computer will be completely useless when Windows 8 final comes out.

What are you blathering about? That computer will run Windows 8 just fine.

[ViperAFK]

YES -- your computer will be completely useless when Windows 8 final comes out.

Please tell me you're joking.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

My advice would be to hold off unless you are hitting a wall on your current machine that can be justified by an upgrade today.

Windows 8 will run well on your current machine so it won't kill your upgrade benefits gained, but it is enough of a reason to wait. One this is for sure, there are some major new advancements in Windows 8 that will be helped by new hardware that is going to be released after it hits RTM. For instance, the really fast boot time feature will most likely be enhanced by newer motherboards arriving with better EFI implementations to make the most of this feature. For this reason I would recommend you wait unless the need is pressing...

Windows 8 will RTM around July and we'll start to see some hardware that may make slight changes to our builds worth doing. Time will tell in this arena...

[+Zlip792 MVC]

Personally if I were you, I would avoid upgrading due to these reasons:

Haswell - with new socket

DDR4 - new slots and new RAMS

SATA 3.1 (not major but still improvement)

PCI-Express v3 - more mainstream

So I suggest hold with your this PC which is not quite bad at all for little longer..

If you want to upgrade too much..

Go for stuff which will work with newer setup also like

Newer 80 Plus PSU

Newer Chassis etc

SSD...

[Wakers]

Personally if I were you, I would avoid upgrading due to these reasons:

Haswell - with new socket

DDR4 - new slots and new RAMS

SATA 3.1 (not major but still improvement)

PCI-Express v3 - more mainstream

So I suggest hold with your this PC which is not quite bad at all for little longer..

If you want to upgrade too much..

Go for stuff which will work with newer setup also like

Newer 80 Plus PSU

Newer Chassis etc

SSD...

You're joking, right? :D

Ivy Bridge has only just been released. If you continually wait for the new sockets, you'll never upgrade anything.

DDR4 - Speed of RAM makes an absolute minute impact on performance - and same as above.

SATA 3.1 - considering even SSDs can't max out SATA 2 connections - and get nowhere near maxing out the bandwidth on SATA3, there is no improvement in performance with today's tech coming from SATA 3.1

The same can be said for PCI-E 3. Whatever "more mainstream" means.

[+Zlip792 MVC]

You're joking, right? :D

Ivy Bridge has only just been released. If you continually wait for the new sockets, you'll never upgrade anything.

DDR4 - Speed of RAM makes an absolute minute impact on performance - and same as above.

SATA 3.1 - considering even SSDs can't max out SATA 2 connections - and get nowhere near maxing out the bandwidth on SATA3, there is no improvement in performance with today's tech coming from SATA 3.1

The same can be said for PCI-E 3. Whatever "more mainstream" means.

What joking??

He needs advice... no one has heap of bank balance...

Current Quad Core is enough for him, I does not want form him that he waste his money without thinking and in future does not have any upgrade path...

Going with Ivy Bridge will put him on hold unlike for Haswell..

Also Haswell is not far, next year in Q2...

DDR4 is not about just speed, it has some more improved stuff...

Run OCZ Vertex 4 or 3 on SATA 2 and come to me with same question.... that on how much speed they are running and how big difference is between SATA2 and SATA3 with same OCZ Vertex 3 or 4.

LOL!! More mainstream is said that let more GPU series come on it.... Current 28 nm wave is not mature (price point of view)... I will prefer second wave to get GPU...

[cork1958]

that sums it up.

and since the OP has at least 4GB of RAM your general system performance should be good and that CPU is not bad especially since it's quad core.

i suspect you will probably be good on that system for a while yet and worst case upgrade the RAM from 4GB to 8GB as i can safely assume 8GB of RAM will buy you at least 3-4 years simply because in terms of RAM i doubt most uses will come close to using 8GB of RAM anytime soon especially for most general use and gaming (i know the OP did not mention gaming at all)

so basically... if your trying to maximize performance gained to $$$ spent i would definitely hold off on upgrading so when you do upgrade you will get a big spike in performance like i just did recently going from a 6 year old setup (CPU was a AMD Athlon X2 3600+ dual core) to a i3-2120 CPU with 8GB of RAM which that CPU AT LEAST tripled my performance and maybe as high as 5times area especially on the x264.exe encoding of SD video from a 720p HD source. but that upgrade only set me back $230 total cost which was a big spike in performance without killing your wallet. so my current setup should buy me 'at least' 2-3 years and probably 4+ especially since i can always upgrade my CPU to a i5 or i7 quad core ivy bridge and in a year or two i could upgrade my graphics card etc.

Dead nuts, right on!!

[Daedroth]

If your computer still does the tasks you need comfortably, then no, you don't need to upgrade.

[Wakers]

What joking??

He needs advice... no one has heap of bank balance...

Current Quad Core is enough for him, I does not want form him that he waste his money without thinking and in future does not have any upgrade path...

Going with Ivy Bridge will put him on hold unlike for Haswell..

Also Haswell is not far, next year in Q2...

DDR4 is not about just speed, it has some more improved stuff...

Run OCZ Vertex 4 or 3 on SATA 2 and come to me with same question.... that on how much speed they are running and how big difference is between SATA2 and SATA3 with same OCZ Vertex 3 or 4.

LOL!! More mainstream is said that let more GPU series come on it.... Current 28 nm wave is not mature (price point of view)... I will prefer second wave to get GPU...

Try posting that again when you can make it understandable. From what I can pick out of it, none of them are reasons not to upgrade whenever he wants to upgrade.

There's always a new socket coming out around the corner.

Sata 3.1 will have no impact on current technology, nor any technology coming in the next five years.

[Daedroth]

Try posting that again when you can make it understandable. From what I can pick out of it, none of them are reasons not to upgrade whenever he wants to upgrade.

There's always a new socket coming out around the corner.

Sata 3.1 will have no impact on current technology, nor any technology coming in the next five years.

So you recommend someone spends a lot of money upgrading to a system which will not benefit them at all, as they don't need all that power? Isn't that just a waste of money?

[+Zlip792 MVC]

Try posting that again when you can make it understandable. From what I can pick out of it, none of them are reasons not to upgrade whenever he wants to upgrade.

There's always a new socket coming out around the corner.

Sata 3.1 will have no impact on current technology, nor any technology coming in the next five years.

Well Sir I am rephrasing it for you so this can pass into your mind. Well, his question is "do I need new PC", the answer is not always Yes. We should suggest him this also that how can he save money without wasting it.

Now come to current tech, if he upgrades to Ivy Bridge (top of the line 3770K), he can't upgrade it anymore, stuck to it. Only option will be add more RAM, update BIOS but it will be again reinvestment for him next of motherboard and processor and RAM might be next time if one year after he plans to upgrade.

In Haswell, which is more mature 22 nm and brings more instruction sets like AVX2 etc will be worthy choice for upgrade.

DDR bumps not meant for speed improvements only, there are some other improvements in it as well. So he will benefit from them also.

Now come to real deal breaking question from you, you said current SSD can't even saturate SATA2 bandwidth. Now just put OCZ Vertex 3 SSD in SATA2 port and then in SATA3 and see for difference for yourself. It was dump question to be honest.

As far as PCI-E 3.0 mainstream was, I wanted to say that let more GPU comes to it which can utilize it more better, holding off in upgrade will also means waiting for another 28 nm series release from Red and Green Team which will be better on maturity wise and cost wise since current 28 nm waffers are not mature (low yield) and is not cost effective at that time this issue will be resolved and he can get cheaper and better stuff. That's what mainstream point was.

[Wakers]

So you recommend someone spends a lot of money upgrading to a system which will not benefit them at all, as they don't need all that power? Isn't that just a waste of money?

No, I never suggested he upgrade. Anywhere.

@Zlip Sata2 was a type, I meant Sata 3.