Mild upgrade the easy way - what do you think?

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highlanderfil

Golden Member
Jul 11, 2002
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I currently have a two year-old refurb Dell XPS 8500 with the following specs:

3rd Gen i7
24 GB RAM
2 SSDs
Upgraded PSU
Radeon HD 7870 (TAHITI LE)
Various other nicks and knacks

The problem (among others) with it is that USB ports have started to get wonky. Now, I can do one of two things and that's what I'm looking for help with here:

1. Buy a new refurb XPS 8700 for $540 (cheapest i7-4790 configuration) or so with the 25% off coupon available right now. Rip out everything but the MB/processor, put in my existing hardware and call it good. Put the lesser hardware in the old shell and sell it for what will probably bring $200 or so.

2. Buy a new case, motherboard and processor, put existing hardware in, sell the remaining shell for probably $50. If so, what to get? I've been out of the hardware loop for a while.

Which one would you do?

Bonus question: will I be able to find a suitable video card replacement under $250?
 
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OlyAR15

OlyAR15

Senior member
Oct 23, 2014
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Depends entirely on how often you reach 100% CPU load on your current processor. If your computing tasks are not that heavy, then you won't notice much, if any difference.

Seems you already have a decent amount of memory, and an SSD. If you are into games, maybe a video card upgrade will be better, depending on which games you play.
 
J

jaydee

Diamond Member
May 6, 2000
4,500
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What are these "other" problems? Haswell isn't much of an upgrade over Ivy Bridge.

If you're looking to be cost effective, you can just replace the motherboard (something like this for $62: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157329), and stick with the same CPU and everything else. If you're not looking to be cost effective, just piece out what you have and buy something new.
 
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highlanderfil

Golden Member
Jul 11, 2002
1,566
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jaydee said:
What are these "other" problems? Haswell isn't much of an upgrade over Ivy Bridge.

If you're looking to be cost effective, you can just replace the motherboard (something like this for $62: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157329), and stick with the same CPU and everything else. If you're not looking to be cost effective, just piece out what you have and buy something new.
Click to expand...
Lack of expansion, few USB 3.0 ports, but the biggest issue I've had (one that was explained to me as a USB port issue) is that my mouse cursor gets rather jerky whenever there's any kind of HD activity (most often while a page loads in Chrome, but it happens the same way in all browsers). If there's another way to fix that, I'm all ears...it sounds minor and silly until you experience it every five minutes.
 
mvbighead

mvbighead

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2009
3,793
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jaydee said:
What are these "other" problems? Haswell isn't much of an upgrade over Ivy Bridge.

If you're looking to be cost effective, you can just replace the motherboard (something like this for $62: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157329), and stick with the same CPU and everything else. If you're not looking to be cost effective, just piece out what you have and buy something new.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with this approach.

From the sounds of it, your USB problem is most likely chipset related. Replacing the board with a Dell board is looking like $150 on Ebay.

If you went with jaydee's approach, you get get an entirely new chipset from a different manufacturer. May have to reactivate windows, but i don't think that should be a problem as your hardware is mostly the same. Should be able to call in to activate (I did this after switching from AMD AM3 to Intel 1155 with no issues on an OEM tag.

Not knowing the actual CPU you have, I'd say this is most likely the wisest approach. New board, case and PSU and you should be out of your problem and set to run for a good long while.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mKk9vK
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mKk9vK/by_merchant/

Motherboard: ASRock B75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($70.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Antec NSK4100 ATX Mid Tower Case ($35.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $146.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-05 17:22 EST-0500

I've not see your case/psu, but they may or may not be reusable. Sometimes OEMs do funny things with power leads and stand off layouts so it may or may not be.
 
J

jaydee

Diamond Member
May 6, 2000
4,500
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highlanderfil said:
Lack of expansion, few USB 3.0 ports, but the biggest issue I've had (one that was explained to me as a USB port issue) is that my mouse cursor gets rather jerky whenever there's any kind of HD activity (most often while a page loads in Chrome, but it happens the same way in all browsers). If there's another way to fix that, I'm all ears...it sounds minor and silly until you experience it every five minutes.
Click to expand...

If there are several issues, but they are all USB related, I would try one or two $15 PCI cards that has USB 3.0 It's your money, but if cost-effectiveness is at all a priority it makes the most sense by far. The amount of performance increase you would get from a mobo/cpu "upgrade" I think you would find to be very disappointing considering the cost and time you put into it.
 
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highlanderfil

Golden Member
Jul 11, 2002
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Thanks, guys - I like this approach. The current processor is an i7-3770. H77 chipset. Is that motherboard in the link above a good deal? Not familiar with the brand. I need four RAM slots and some USB 3.0 ports if I'm going to replace this one... Would also be nice to have 3x PCI-E slots.
 
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highlanderfil

Golden Member
Jul 11, 2002
1,566
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jaydee said:
If there are several issues, but they are all USB related, I would try one or two $15 PCI cards that has USB 3.0 It's your money, but if cost-effectiveness is at all a priority it makes the most sense by far. The amount of performance increase you would get from a mobo/cpu "upgrade" I think you would find to be very disappointing considering the cost and time you put into it.
Click to expand...
No more expansion slots left:(.
 
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highlanderfil

Golden Member
Jul 11, 2002
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Curious as to what else could be causing this issue: I'm typing right now and it's taking words forever to appear on the screen and in some cases words are skipped. The keyboard is wireless. Mouse stutter occurs the same way...
 
mvbighead

mvbighead

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2009
3,793
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highlanderfil said:
Curious as to what else could be causing this issue: I'm typing right now and it's taking words forever to appear on the screen and in some cases words are skipped. The keyboard is wireless. Mouse stutter occurs the same way...
Click to expand...

Could be the wireless device itself, assuming they use the same transmitter. If not, it's most likely related to the USB controller.
 
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highlanderfil

Golden Member
Jul 11, 2002
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mvbighead said:
Could be the wireless device itself, assuming they use the same transmitter. If not, it's most likely related to the USB controller.
Click to expand...
I've used far too many different devices for it to be that kind of coincidence. The only thing was...when I used a Bluetooth mouse (BT receiver built into the MB), it experienced similar struggles.
 
J

jaydee

Diamond Member
May 6, 2000
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Have you tried a wired keyboard/mouse? Maybe you have a lot of wireless interference? Just a guess. Probably still a USB thing, but trying to rule out other things.

Another thought: you have all the latest USB drivers for your motherboard chipset, right?
 
H

highlanderfil

Golden Member
Jul 11, 2002
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jaydee said:
Have you tried a wired keyboard/mouse? Maybe you have a lot of wireless interference? Just a guess. Probably still a USB thing, but trying to rule out other things.

Another thought: you have all the latest USB drivers for your motherboard chipset, right?
Click to expand...
I wouldn't rule out interference, but wouldn't it affect the mouse at all times and not just under load (and, seemingly, only in web browsers - used to happen when files were being transferred via USB, but no longer)? Plus, I'm using another wireless mouse with my laptop that resides on the same desk - zero issues. How would I check for interference? I do have a fair bit of wireless stuff at home, which is why I tried the Bluetooth mouse with very mixed results.

I updated all the chipset drivers - no luck there.
 
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mvbighead

mvbighead

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Apr 20, 2009
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highlanderfil said:
I've used far too many different devices for it to be that kind of coincidence. The only thing was...when I used a Bluetooth mouse (BT receiver built into the MB), it experienced similar struggles.
Click to expand...

Yep. And as you eluded to lack of expansion, I'd be going the board/case/psu route. It's highly unlikely the CPU is hurting USB, and very likely that it is something in the board be it chipset or manufacturing defect.
 
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highlanderfil

Golden Member
Jul 11, 2002
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Yep. Now the question is what case/mobo to get on the cheap-ish as I'm extremely confused about chipsets. There was an NZXT case I REALLY liked (H440), but the problem is it doesn't have 5.25" slots for optical drives. That's a bit too advanced for me. I do want a similar case, though as that one is very classy looking.
 
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mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
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www.mfenn.com
highlanderfil said:
Yep. Now the question is what case/mobo to get on the cheap-ish as I'm extremely confused about chipsets. There was an NZXT case I REALLY liked (H440), but the problem is it doesn't have 5.25" slots for optical drives. That's a bit too advanced for me. I do want a similar case, though as that one is very classy looking.
Click to expand...

The Fractal Design R4 is similar to the H440 in terms of appearance and does have 5 1/4" bays, so it's probably worth looking at. It's also a high quality case all around.

Assuming you want an new CPU as well as a new motherboard, Intel 9-series chipsets are pretty straightforward. Z97 if you want to overclock or H97 if you don't.

If you were just looking to replace your Socket 1155 motherboard, then you'd want to look at B75 or H77. There's also Z77, but I'm guessing your current CPU is not a K series, so buying an overclocking motherboard is of dubious value.

How much were you looking to spend on the CPU/mobo?
 
H

highlanderfil

Golden Member
Jul 11, 2002
1,566
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mfenn said:
The Fractal Design R4 is similar to the H440 in terms of appearance and does have 5 1/4" bays, so it's probably worth looking at. It's also a high quality case all around.
Click to expand...
I got a Thermaltake Soprano on eBay for $75.
Assuming you want an new CPU as well as a new motherboard, Intel 9-series chipsets are pretty straightforward. Z97 if you want to overclock or H97 if you don't.

If you were just looking to replace your Socket 1155 motherboard, then you'd want to look at B75 or H77. There's also Z77, but I'm guessing your current CPU is not a K series, so buying an overclocking motherboard is of dubious value.
Click to expand...
I grabbed an ASRock Z75 from NewEgg for $86.

All told, I spent about $160, which I think worked out fairly well for me.
 
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highlanderfil

Golden Member
Jul 11, 2002
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Just put everything together and noticed that the stock LGA 1155 CPU fan that came with the Dell is LOUD! Never noticed it in the old system for some reason. Any advice on what to replace it with?
 
Burpo

Burpo

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2013
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The 3-pin fan header (labeled PWR) has no fan speed control. Try a dif fan header first..
 
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