The Best, Cheapest Ways to Upgrade Your PC
The Best, Cheapest Ways to Upgrade Your PC
Posted 06/29/2010 at 8:31pm
| by The Maximum PC Staff
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Upgrading your PC can be a head-spinning process. Our Lab experts help you sort through the chaos with 18 products that won’t break the bank
These coins can be yours!
The art of the PC upgrade is simultaneously an expression and a test of one’s diagnostic skills, computing savvy, and fiscal sensibilities. Identify the bottleneck. Research the parts that will fix the bottleneck. Remove the bottleneck.
As always, price and performance are the pivot points. After all, you can’t just toss $1,000 at your system to level it up. Well, you can, but in most cases you’d be a fool for doing so.
When the Maximum PC staff convened in conference room Spock to plan this story, we decided to establish some ground rules. First, we challenged ourselves to stick to our theme of a successful budget upgrade. This meant avoiding the tendency to fall back on the most expensive, best-of-breed components in each category.
Instead we forced ourselves to take a more nuanced approach. In each category, we expended considerable energy determining which product(s) owned the sweet spot—top-left on the 2x2 grid if you’re graph-happy—of the price-performance ratio. Staying consistent with our real-world theme, we used real-world pricing from sites like NewEgg and Amazon. Because we’re talking about upgrading an existing machine, you’ll find no case or mobo recommendations here.
Without further adieu, we happily present the results of our research. Below you’ll find a bevy of product recommendations that prove you don’t have to break the bank to achieve substantial gains in performance.
Solid State Drive
40GB Intel X-25V
It’s easy to argue that a budget SSD doesn’t actually exist. That said, a $125 solid state drive can qualify as a budget upgrade in some contexts—and only some of those contexts involve recreational drugs.
Intel’s X-25V solid state drive (the V stands for Value) doesn’t have the fastest sustained write speeds (think 50MB/s, not 200MB/s), but its sustained read speeds top 150MB/s and its random-access writes are triple any of its peers’. This makes it perfect as an OS drive, which relies more on reads and writes than on sustained writes.
Give your aging laptop a kick in the pants by replacing its hard drive with an SSD.
If you don’t mind keeping data on an external drive or SD card, a 40GB Intel X-25V can also offer a substantial speed boost to the 5,400rpm drive on your netbook or older laptop. And if you’re moving to Windows 7, the X-25V supports TRIM, which will prevent performance degradation. $125 is a lot for a hard drive, but for an SSD, it’s downright reasonable given the performance bump you’ll experience.
✔ SSD for $125
✔ TRIM support prevents degradation
Mechanical Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12
In the old days, the prospective hard drive buyer had to choose between high performance and high capacity. Heck, if you’re planning on upgrading, you probably don’t have either.
Fortunately, while solid state drives have thoroughly usurped the highest end of the performance spectrum, mechanical drives still rule the capacity roost, and they’re only getting faster. To wit: the 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12, which costs just $80 and offers sustained read and write speeds of over 100MB/s.
Speed and capacity unheard of when you bought your rig, now yours for less than $100.
While it can’t match the speeds or random-access times of WD’s VelociRaptor drives or SSDs, the 1TB Barracuda is capacious enough for all your apps and data—unless you’re in the habit of ripping Blu-ray discs, of course. So, if your OS drive is getting long in the tooth (or just running out of room), moving to a 1TB Barracuda 7200.12 will buy you some breathing room and a substantial speed boost.
✔ 1TB for $80 defines Budget Upgrade
✔ Perfect single-drive solution
Optical Drive
Samsung SH-B083L
If you’re currently performing DVD chores with a 16x burner, an upgrade to a higher burn-speed rating is beyond cheap (shoot, our current Best of the Best 22x Samsung SH-S223 is $20), but not all that satisfying in terms of performance gains. With DVD media stuck at 16x, higher-rated drives only exceed that limit when burning to discs of a particular brand. And even then, you’re looking at a time savings of maybe a minute. Big whoop.
In our opinion, the BD burner is still too pricey an upgrade for its limited usefulness, but a BD ROM combo drive, like Samsung's SH-B083L, makes sense.
Instead, consider the benefits of upgrading to a BD-ROM combo drive. You can get Samsung’s SH-B083L for $100. It gives you the ability to enjoy HD Blu-ray movies on your newly upgraded display, while still offering respectable 16x DVD+/-R write speeds. In our tests, the SH-B083L’s performance was on par with the more expensive Plextor PX-B320SA in everything but DVD ripping, where the Samsung took 15:17 to copy a dual-layer disc vs. 10:47.
✔ Affordable, speedy blu-ray performance
Videocard
ATI Radeon HD 5850
When it comes to videocards, you can count on today’s $300 product being superior to the top-shelf product from two generations back. That’s certainly the case with cards based on the ATI Radeon HD 5850 GPU, which not only deliver superb performance, but do so without requiring a massive power supply.
What might it be replacing? If your gaming rig is three years old and you invested in a high-end videocard, it would have been based on Nvidia’s 8800 GTX, and the card alone would have set you back $600. Besides costing a fortune, that card required a massive heatsink and fan and sucked power from two 6-pin power cables in addition to what it drew from the PCI Express bus (165 watts in total). That GPU boasted amazing performance at the time, and it heralded the arrival of DirectX 10. Today, the card is performance-limited with next-gen DX10 games and it doesn’t support DX11 at all.
At $300, the Radeon HD 5850 is a great deal.
A Radeon HD 5850 card will deliver excellent performance and should remain viable for years to come—as long as you don’t upgrade to a 30-inch display. At 1920x1200 resolution with antialiasing disabled, these cards can run Crysis at 30fps. Boost AA to 4x and you’ll lose just four frames per second in a game that used to bring even the highest-end GPUs to their knees. You’ll fare even better with other titles: Far Cry 2, for example, can easily hit more than 60fps at 1920x1200.
Upgrading to the HD 5850 is a simple decision in other ways, too: It’s 9.5 inches long, so it will fit in any case that housed an 8800 GTX, and you won’t need a new power supply. Lower price, excellent frame rates, and decreased power consumption—what’s not to like?
✔ Hello, DirectX 11 games!
✔ Perfect replacement for the 8800 GTX
Display
Viewsonic VP 2365
Twisted Nematic LCD panels blow. After running through our DisplayMate, Blu-ray, and gaming gauntlet of Lab tests, the TN displays we’ve reviewed retreated with their DVI cables tucked between their legs. So what’s a budget upgrader to do?
If you want our advice—and you do—pick up ViewSonic’s VP2365wb. It’s a 23-inch IPS panel offering 8-bit color depth. It’s equipped with a four-port USB hub and a height-adjustable stand that tilts, rotates, and pivots. And you can find it selling online for about 300 bucks.
This IPS display excelled in our Lab tests.
You will encounter trade-offs: Although it’s marketed as a “professional” monitor, its max resolution is a consumer-ish 1920x1080. It’s dimmer than its pricier competitors, and it doesn’t have an HDMI input. But in Lab tests, we had no problem playing games or movies, and it’s a better photo-editing monitor than any TN display we’ve tested.
✔ In-plane switching display offers superior image and viewing quality
Wi-Fi Router
Belkin Play Router
Belkin has been hit or miss on the router front over the past few years, but its Play router is a definite hit. Here’s a concurrent dual-band 802.11n router (it runs 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios simultaneously) with a virtual guest network, a USB port that can share either a storage device or a printer over the network, and very respectable throughput and range that sells for less than $100.
Belkin's Play router is loaded with high-end features, including two radios and the ability to host a virtual guest network.
The router is self-healing, too. It automatically detects and attempts to resolve network problems, and it will automatically reinitialize itself on a weekly basis (you choose the day and time—or turn off the feature if you don’t like it). If that doesn’t deliver enough value for you, Belkin also throws several applications into the mix. Memory Safe is a utility that runs on your client PCs and automatically backs up whichever directories you designate to an external drive attached to the router. Music Mover is an UPnP- and DLNA-compliant media server. And Daily DJ analyzes your music library and automatically creates playlists based on one of three user-designated moods: High Energy, Steady Groove, or Kick Back. We haven’t used this last feature long enough to have a solid opinion about it, but it wouldn’t detract from this router’s value even it if was unusable.
In fact, there’s just one feature we find wanting on the Play router: It has a four-port 100Mb/s switch, versus a gigabit switch.
✔ Self-healing router
✔ Built-in UPNP/DLNA media server
Next Page: Budget Upgrades continued >>
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bolod
December 26, 2011 at 9:18pm
Hey buddy,this is one of the best posts that I’ve ever seen; you may include some more ideas in the sametheme. I’m still waiting for some interesting thoughts from your side in your next post.
Philips
November 18, 2011 at 11:25pm
This is very helpful. Thank you for sharing this awesome this. This is a very good thing to apply.
Philips
October 09, 2011 at 12:59pm
Thank you for this post. This is very interesting. Upgrading a PC is really expensive. But now, there is a cheaper way. Thanks for sharing.
Bogdan
September 05, 2011 at 2:02am
If you are running older rigs and you are going to start swapping CPU's you'd be better off build a new rig that has a better upgrade path down the road. At least this is what I think.
Best regards,
wortwortwort
July 02, 2010 at 9:57pm
I just put together a computer (Monday), so it's way too early to upgrade right now, but it was still a good article.
The Hyper 212 Plus is pretty great. My i5 750 at stock frequencies idles at 24-26 degrees C! That's barely above room temperature! This isn't even with the fan running at full speeds, usually it's at ~1000RPM or lower (Max is 2000RPM). Running Prime 95 for hours, it will barely pass 40 C. I did lower the voltage a bit (from 1.2156V to 1.1V), but it's still perfectly stable. A few days after I ordered mine, Newegg.ca brought the prices from $30 to $60.
The SSD is something that I considered, but I think that I would rather see how the Samsung Spinpoint F3s do (2 x 1TB) and maybe get a X25-M G3 when they come out.
I looked at the 750TX, but I don't need anywhere near that amount of power, so 650W was plenty. The 650HX was only $10 more than the 650TX, so I decided it was worth it.
My system:
Intel i5 750
Gigabyte GA-P55a-UD3
Gigabyte Radeon 5870
4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600
2x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Antec Three Hundred Illusion
Corsair 650HX
Lite-On Blu-Ray player
ASUS VH226H (Yes, shitty TN monitor)
filip007
July 01, 2010 at 12:16pm
Seagate yeah right, http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/hands-on-review-of-1-tb-seagate-barracuda-720012/
Samsung also can't stand simple Smart test so...
Hitachi is my best guess, yes it cost more but at lest it's quality, better 500GB Hitachi then 1TBGB Seagate or Samsung for one year.
SininStyle
July 01, 2010 at 4:37am
Think allot of people missed the point of the article. Its not a budget build or best bang for buck build. Its best money spent for most improvment on an upgrade. If you have a decent GPU then buying a 5770 wont give you much for $150 so it would be dumb to upgrade to it. The 5850 on the other hand will give you a very large margin of improvment for your money.
Reread the part about the i7 920-930, it wasnt suggested to upgrade from a 920 to a 930 it was said the 920 was allways a good buy and they believe the 930 is no different.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother reading comments when I know the majority of them are just whines and rants about a perfectly good article.
dakishimesan
July 01, 2010 at 2:49am
This entire series of routers from Belkin have abysmal reviews everywhere from Newegg to Amazon. I have a previous gen Belkin G router that I LOVE but they missed the mark with reception and bugs this time around, steer clear of this IMHO. http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Wireless-Play-Router-F7D4302/dp/B003CJTNLI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1277981080&sr=8-1
violian
June 30, 2010 at 10:25am
For PC parts - Newegg all the way because it's really easy to filter out the exact parts your looking for....and the price. But for hardware such as LCD monitors, Tigerdirect all the way for their prices.
fiXXer
June 30, 2010 at 8:53am
I don't about everyone else's idea of what "budget" means, but a $300 video card does not fit the bill. I personally consider a budget video card one that falls into the sub-$200 range. MaxPC, you guys reviewed the Radeon 5770 a few months back and said it was a solid low/mid-range card for people using displays around 22 inches. To me, if you're on a budget with your PC's hardware, you're probably not going to running a 30-inch display anyway. Maybe my view is a little off-center b/c I don't do a lot of gaming (some, but not a lot) and I don't need earth-shattering performance in that department.
Overall a very good article! I read the Hyper 212+'s review about 2 months after I baught my ArcticCooling Freezer 64 Pro and promptly kicked myself in the ass for not waiting to get the 212. I take MaxPC's reviews into heavy consideration when upgrading my PC (along with user reviews), so keep up to excellent work!
igoka
June 30, 2010 at 8:30am
I thought the article is about budget. 4, 6 Gigs of Ram?
All of my PCs including my Gaming PC have 2 Gigs. The performance is not great
but it’s ok. All I had to do is upgrade my video card to HD 5850 and don't
underestimate PSU. People usually buy the cheapest they can. PSU is the device
that brings juice to all your PC components the cleaner juice the better
and longer components will work. I lost so many motherboards, video cards
because of bad, cheap PSUs. Is there any serious PC gamer who plays over wireless?
mesiah
June 30, 2010 at 9:18pm
This is about budget UPGRADES. If you are thinking about upgrading, I pray to god that you already have 2 gigs of ram. 2 gigs on a modern rig is the absolute minimum you should even consider. I find it hard to believe you can justify $300 on a video card, but not $40 on an extra 2 gigs of ram. Given, the video card is going to increase graphics performance, but if your computer is constantly using a swap file to make up for lack of ram, everything is slow not just games.
noobstix
June 30, 2010 at 7:48am
If you're not into having the "greatest rig on Earth", you can still save money by reusing some things (provided they still work). The only things I bought were a new mobo, CPU, and GPU. The memory was "donated" to me and I'm using my monitor, HDD, CD/DVD drive, and PSU (going strong after 6+ years). At current market prices, my PC costs probably no more than $600 (a few things are "discontinued" so that pretty much excludes them from the overall price). Sure it might not destroy any benchmarks but it can do some high-detail gaming with smooth frame rates (hell, it can do max AA in a few games).
Mobo: MSI 770-C45
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
Memory: 6GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3
Video: 1GB Diamond ATI Radeon HD5770
Monitor: 19" Viewsonic VX1935wm
HDD: 320GB Western Digital SATA
CD/DVD: Pioneer DVR-111D
UndeniablyPC
June 30, 2010 at 4:17am
I must say MaximumPC this article is lacking in some serious value to the budget minded. For one thing telling someone that has a LGA 1366 socket to go from a 920 to a 930 is a pretty worthless upgrade. Especially since the 950 is due to drop down to almost the same price as the 930 in August. A wireless router, really? How many gamers do you know trust a wireless connection when playing games? Probably 0. The only thing I can say that would be a considerable consumer upgrade that would net the best results is the SSD. The reason being is that Secondary Storage has always been the slowest part of any computer, and the old story goes that you can only go as fast as your slowest part. And for the record that Intel X-25-V SSD is rather lacking if you want my honest opinion since it only has a sustained read of 170 MB/s and a sustained write of 35 MB/s. Where for the same price just about an OCZ agility has a 230 MB/s read and 135 MB/s write. I understand that this information that you provide is free, but as it took me a matter of about two minutes to find out that tidbit of SSD information, I would think that you could do the same for your fellow readers. I also understand how narrowing down a list of components for viable budget upgrades can be tedious, I would say that most of these are not budget and lack value added.
CENTURION_L77
June 30, 2010 at 3:41pm
UndeniablyPC wrote: "I understand that this information that you provide is free, but as it
took me a matter of about two minutes to find out that tidbit of SSD
information, I would think that you could do the same for your fellow
readers."I completely agree with you! If I was "maximum"pc I would be embarrassed by this. You aren't providing anything for your readers with this article, certainly, nothing that has anything to do with the meaning of "budget."
Somewere along the way it seems, MaximumPC has lost their way. It's like everyone there quit caring. Their articles about the latest and greatest seemed like unfinished reviews. I hate "hitting the jump" to find out there isn't more to an article. I hate reading a review about the latest thing only to see that the last sentence "no price or release date announced". I wonder what happens when an item is released months or weeks later. By then I'd forgotten about it and assuming I remember an item, then the "review" you guys posted originally cannot help me in determining if I made a good buy or not.
I remember I used to love the magazine (though the website has improved, I was never really impressed with it) and felt like I really was holding knowledge and power in my hand when I held it in my hands. Now it feels I'm holding an advertisement in my hands and the bit of knowledge imparted to me seems to be growing smaller and smaller.
I'll hold on though because I'm loyal, but I don't know!, the grass is looking greener on many other websites and magazines.
anysystems
June 30, 2010 at 3:56am
Outstanding devices! i had bought Desktop computer couple of years back, it was assembled and i find best results. The reason was that i installed a branded part of each like storage, RAM, CD Drive etc.
isamuelson
June 30, 2010 at 3:46am
Purchased my Hyper 212+ months ago and now, it can't be found anywhere it seems! Definitely an excellent buy for the price and cools better than the price might reflect. Heck! NewEgg is selling if for $50 now. What a rip off! Maybe we should report that to Cooler Master? Sounds like price gouging by NewEgg if you ask me! Micro Center is selling it for $25 though! That's an even BETTER deal than the normal
price! http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0315397
If you can find this cooler, get it! You definitely get more than your money's worth from it because any other cooler that cools as good as this one would cost $60+ it seems and it even can out perform many of the more expensive models!
dracx619
June 30, 2010 at 2:01am
i cant find the Q9500 ANYWHERE. wanted to give my old core2 rig a little more time before givin it up but oh well, more time to save for a good core i5 or 7 rig i guess
Azrael808
June 30, 2010 at 12:38am
Perfect timing! I was just discussing an upgrade to our PC with the missus and had drawn the conclusion that an SSD might not be a good choice just yet... But reading this, I'm thinking of getting the Intel SSD _and_ the TB HDD mentioned... :)
Lime
June 29, 2010 at 10:02pm
Wouldn't an OCZ Agility 60GB drive be much more cost efficient in GB/dollar while still being a "budget" upgrade for most users? Hell, I'd take that 64GB SSD that WD put out over a $125 SSD that's only 40GB.
richeemxx
June 29, 2010 at 10:34pm
To be totally honest other than the major components like CPU/GPU most these upgrades are totally worthless. If you are running older rigs and you are going to start swapping CPU's you'd be better off build a new rig that has a better upgrade path down the road. No offence to the 5850 its a great GPU but as this is a list of "BUDGET" upgrades you are way overkill for what most people consider budget. 4-6gbs of RAM...c'mon unless you are doing some serious multitasking the avg user is barely touching 4gbs let alone 6. If you are on a budget you'd be better of spening the cash elsewhere.
I should also add, upgrading to that router would be pointless without adding the need for a wireless N card otherwise you'd just be wasting money over a traditional wireless g router.
elktondad
June 30, 2010 at 4:02am
I thought for sure, as I read this article, that I was the only one who thought that $300 for a graphics card was far from "budget" tag. I appreciate what you guys have done here, a lot of helpful information. But I want to see another solid $500 rig (use a cardboard box case if you have too! :) ). With the Quad core AMD chip at $99, and a good motherboard for about the same, throw in 4G of ram and maybe a Radeon HD 5770 for $160, finally a good 750G hard driver to start (about $80), use your existing case, power supply (unless it is in bad shape), and don't overclock the daylights out of it (so you can use the stock cooler) and you got a great budget PC.
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