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Question

Advice re m/b and processor for desktop

Oct 27, 2018 8:40AM PDT

I’m after a new motherboard and processor for my desktop. I’ve been out of the loop for years and am out of my depth despite building computers for me and others.

I don’t play any games on my desktop.

The programmes I use:

Affinity Photo for image editing,

Cyberlink Power Director 15 for video. It is medium amateur use and comes with various audio editing programmes,

Desk top publishing using, at the moment, Affinity Publisher, high end amateur,

Word processing using various office suites,

I use a variety of input devices: mouse, trackball and pad.

I have a graphics card, a 2mb cooking Nvidia, but I’d be happy with onboard graphics if adequate. I use two monitors.

I’ve always had Intel but I’m not averse to AMD.

I write for a paltry living and so economy is not so much important as vital.

Thanks

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
A 2mb video card?
Oct 27, 2018 8:51AM PDT

Today I see the smallest card is about 2GB.

If you had supplied what CPU you have now, I would have a better idea what to suggest. Along with the budget. There's also the matter of the OS. If this is some Dell then the OS license dies with this upgrade.

Sometimes that matters so we look at the existing PC and consider changes that help without the OS wipeout.

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My old computer
Oct 27, 2018 9:06AM PDT

My current desktop is 6 years old. It has an Intel i5. I had 16gb RAM, which seemed adequate. I've got a 2mb video card, and it copes well enough with the demands.

The OS in Win 10 home, upgraded from Win 8.1. I've assumed I can use my current code to activate, the computer was self built.

All I want to do is replace the m/b, processor and, I assume, RAM. I've got 3 x 3TB HDDs.

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The i5 should be fine.
Oct 27, 2018 9:22AM PDT

My bet is you need to get to SSD for at least the boot drive.

As to the upgrade from 8.1 to 10, that locked the OS to this PC as in OEM versions. So a motherboard change invalidates the OS license. I'd rather not spend any time on this since that discussion is well done.

My suggestion is SSD and a current much faster GPU like the 1050 Ti such as https://smile.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-04G-P4-6253-KR/dp/B01MF7EQJZ

The GPU is often used for video editors so you could see a boost for that.

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Answer
Mobo and cpu
Oct 27, 2018 8:04PM PDT