Question Regarding Upgrade and Migrating Old Components

[FearoftheNight]

Hey guys I've been out of the loop for a bit and I'd like to some help regarding a new computer build I've been considering. This is what I have:

Lian Li Mid Size Case
A64 3000+
DFI LANPARTY UT250gb
1gb Memory
x1950 pro
IDE DVD Burner
Antec TRuepower 350/430?
Some SATA HDDs

My question is how much of my current stuff can I migrate. Can I just buy a new GPU/Mobo/RAM/CPU and migrate over the case/psu/optical drives/hdds?

 

[shredz]

Yes, you can still use your old case, and probably can reuse your power supply, optical drives and hard drives depending on a few things. First, if you are going to reuse any IDE devices, you will need to make sure the new mobo you select has at least one IDE. Next, check to make sure your PSU has SATA (should if you are using it now, the proper power supply for a current gen chipset and also PCI-E power).

Another thing to consider is how old your powersupply is and what components will be in your new build. While that antec is good quality, if it's been running hard 3+ years you may just want to spring for a new one. Also, 350-450 watts is not really standard anymore with some pretty power hungry video cards and CPUs (if you want to overclock esp..). If you have the cash, get a new one....a good corsair 650TX can be had for around $70.

Personally, if the budget supports it, I would get a new large HD and possibly also get a new CD/DVD combo drive with SATA.

Corsair TX 650 watt PSU ~ $70
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB HD ~$60 on sale fairly consistently
SATA DVD/CD writer combo ~$20

You can use your current SATA HD as a backup drive or for storage of music, etc..(with regular backups to external device of course) and you can also keep your GPU for a bit if money is a factor and see how it goes with the games/apps you want to use.

 

[Davidh373]

My question is how much of my current stuff can I migrate. Can I just buy a new GPU/Mobo/RAM/CPU and migrate over the case/psu/optical drives/hdds?

From what I can see you may as well get a $20 CD/DVD drive that is SATA, and that power supply isn't cutting it by today's standards. Depending on what you are getting for the parts you are replacing, you should get anywhere between a 500W-850W PSU.

 

[mfenn]

Yes, you can still use your old case, and probably can reuse your power supply, optical drives and hard drives depending on a few things. First, if you are going to reuse any IDE devices, you will need to make sure the new mobo you select has at least one IDE. Next, check to make sure your PSU has SATA (should if you are using it now, the proper power supply for a current gen chipset and also PCI-E power).

Another thing to consider is how old your powersupply is and what components will be in your new build. While that antec is good quality, if it's been running hard 3+ years you may just want to spring for a new one. Also, 350-450 watts is not really standard anymore with some pretty power hungry video cards and CPUs (if you want to overclock esp..). If you have the cash, get a new one....a good corsair 650TX can be had for around $70.

Personally, if the budget supports it, I would get a new large HD and possibly also get a new CD/DVD combo drive with SATA.

Corsair TX 650 watt PSU ~ $70
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB HD ~$60 on sale fairly consistently
SATA DVD/CD writer combo ~$20

You can use your current SATA HD as a backup drive or for storage of music, etc..(with regular backups to external device of course) and you can also keep your GPU for a bit if money is a factor and see how it goes with the games/apps you want to use.

Pretty much this. While the things you mentioned could be reused, the case is really the only thing that is worth being reused unless you have a really tight budget.

 

[Davidh373]

Pretty much this. While the things you mentioned could be reused, the case is really the only thing that is worth being reused unless you have a really tight budget.

You have to consider the possibility that some of the drives (or even all of them could be newer) If they are from the last 1-2 years they are probably salvageable. If they are older you'll want new drives though.

What is your budget for this build?

 

[FearoftheNight]

Hey thanks for the responses guys. Well I saw some good deals on cpu and mobo combo for around $100 which was an amd 635 quad processor and mobo. I thought a decent video card would be 150 to 200 and 100 for 4 gigs of dd3 ram. So I figured if I ebayed the replacement parts it would be around 350 for a decent gaming sytem? Please correct me if I am wrong about this...

 

[piasabird]

I would not use any IDE devices. Some newer motherboards dont really support IDE that well. It can cause problems mixing IDE and SATA, depending on the motherboard.

I say out with the old and in with the new. I use to use some old components, but I think it is a bad idea. It is a real pain to have a hard drive or a optical drive go bad on a working computer. Any time you have to open a computer case you take a chance on damaging something. It just depends if you like taking your computer apart all the time.

This is just my opinion. A lot depends what kind of old hard drive you have. If it is a large high capacity expensive hard drive it might make sense to use it. Just realize you are taking the chance you might have to take your computer apart to replace it.

 

[mfenn]

Hey thanks for the responses guys. Well I saw some good deals on cpu and mobo combo for around $100 which was an amd 635 quad processor and mobo. I thought a decent video card would be 150 to 200 and 100 for 4 gigs of dd3 ram. So I figured if I ebayed the replacement parts it would be around 350 for a decent gaming sytem? Please correct me if I am wrong about this...

If you're looking to spend $150-$200 on a GPU, you're probably looking at a 5770, which would (probably) be OK on your PSU. Anything above that and you'll need a new one.

I would not use the IDE burner for the reasons piasabird mentioned.

As for the HDD's, it would help if you were more specific about what you have.

 

[FearoftheNight]

Hi as for the gpu I was thinking the Nvidia 460? Anandtech just had an article on it being the 200 king? My hdds are some 320 gig sata drives from seagate...sorry im writing this from memory as im currently in a czber cafe in frankfurt. which is probably also why iäm broke hehe

 

[mfenn]

Hi as for the gpu I was thinking the Nvidia 460? Anandtech just had an article on it being the 200 king? My hdds are some 320 gig sata drives from seagate...sorry im writing this from memory as im currently in a czber cafe in frankfurt. which is probably also why iäm broke hehe

Well, it's more like the $230 king because you don't want to buy the 768MB version. The 1GB version is a good choice, it's just a little out of the price range you were originally thinking of. You'll definitely need a new PSU for that though.

As for the HDD, if your drive is a 7200.10, I believe it has 160GB platters, which mean that it is very slow compared to a newer drive with 500GB platters.

 

[FearoftheNight]

well any idea if it is worth selling my old stuff in order to get that little extra amount to off set the new stuff? and yes i'm fairly sure it was 7200.9 or 10 w/ 160gb platters