Need help on upgrading graphics card etc or getting a nother computer

[arnchaircinema]

Hi everyone
Im new to this site,but am hoping and praying someone can help me.
Im not that computer savy,and need to know if to and what type etc graphic/sound cards etc s to upgrade my current 8month old computer or just get another one being a i7 instead of my i5,Because I need it to work as a normal computer plus I use Avid Studio to edit and make movies.
I have listed below my current computer and what avid studio recommends.
But am hoping some you guys out their are in the same boat as me,and give me some advice. I don't have a lot of money either,which is why I am hoping to upgrade,rather than a nother computer.
Await replies,and MANY THANKS to everyone.

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Current computer at present[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]ACT Core i5 3470 System[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]1 x Dell 23'LED Monitor[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]1 x Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit with Sp1[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]1 x LG Blu-Ray Writer Combo[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I x Hitachi 'lTB 7K1000.C HDD[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]1 x Corsair 4cB 1600MHz DDR3[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]1 x lntel 15-3470 CPU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]1 x Gigabyte 1155 Mainboard[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]1 xAywun 420W ATX PSU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]'1 x Gigabyte GZ-M2 Case no pSU[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]TP-Link Wireless N USB adaptor[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]TP-L|nk Mini Wireless USB Adapter[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]TP-LINK 4 Port Wireless N ADSL mode[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]GE FORCE GT 440 1024MB DDR3 Graphics card[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Sound chip Realtek HD Audio [/FONT]

​

What are the system requirements for the Studio 15 product line?
See the system requirements below:

• Windows® 7, Windows Vista® (SP2),Windows XP (SP3)
• Intel® Pentium® or AMD Athlon™ 1.8 GHz (2.4 GHz or higher recommended)
  - Intel Core™ 2 or i7 2.4 GHz required for AVCHD* (2.66 GHz for AVCHD* 1920)
• 1 GB system memory recommended, 2 GB required for AVCHD*
• DirectX® 9 or 10 compatible graphics card with 64 MB (128 MB or higher recommended)
  - 128 MB required for Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks Plug-in: Pixelshader 2 required, Intel GMA integrated graphics not supported
  - 256 MB required for HD and AVCHD*
• DirectX 9 or higher compatible sound card
• 3.6 GB of disk space
• DVD-ROM drive to install software
• 1 PCI slot
• 1 USB 2.0 port

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[Aikouka]

Do you really only have 4GB of RAM? If you're editing media (such as movies), I'd probably think that would be the first place you ought to start upgrading! The video card is pretty weak, but unless you want to use GPU compute for encoding, that doesn't really matter.

 

[stahlhart]

Welcome to the AnandTech forums... someone should be able to assist with a card recommendation -- perhaps you can start by indicating what your budget is. You'll probably be given recommendations for either AMD or Nvidia based cards, and you can make your selection from there.

If you're not gaming, probably any current entry-level or midrange card ought to be sufficient to get the job done, based on the requirements you've posted.

Edit: since we're potentially taking about more than a GPU upgrade here, should we move this to General Hardware?

 

[stahlhart]

Moving to General Hardware, as it appears there are other hardware issues for OP to resolve in addition to a GPU upgrade. OP is welcome to return to Video Cards & Graphics with a follow-up specific to the GPU once all other hardware upgrade issues have been addressed.
-- stahlhart

 

[Cerb]

Double the RAM, and replace the PSU (unrelated to performance), and you'll probably be fine. If you end up disk-limited, consider an SSD, but verify that's the bottleneck, first (if the HDD light is solid on or flashing a lot when you're stuck waiting, that's a pretty sure sign ).

Based on the requirements, your PC is well above what it needs (but a little more RAM wouldn't hurt), leaving you basically with performance questions based on the content you're editing, and what you are doing with it.

Your best bet will be to start trying to use the software itself, then school yourself on using Windows 7's Task Manager and Resource Monitor, to see what kind of load the system is under, when you are editing your content, to help find out if your hardware is bogging you down.

If you are going to record, you definitely want to get an audio interface device separate from your integrated audio, for a fairly clean audio input. For line-level, a Behringer UCA202/222 is really good for being really cheap. For mic, ???.

 

[lif_andi]

Your computer is good and should run everything you throw at it. Like others have said more RAM can't hurt, but it's not needed, and you might consider upgrading the PSU if you buy any more powerful upgrades. Other than this, you're fine.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Never heard of that PSU mfg, and would recommend changing it out with something decent and brand-name.

Might put in 8 or 16GB of RAM too.