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Upgrade from a low-end Athlon based system with around $300

Dec 23, 2014 7:59PM PST

Alright then, this is my present conf:
Asus M4A78LT-M LE
Athlon II X2 250
1TB Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003
Transcend RAM 3GB DDR3
Sapphire HD5670 1GB DDR5
Fractal Design Core 1000
Chieftec 400W

I like my case and I'd like to keep it and fit something stronger in there.Something that would serve mainly non-gaming purposes - playing movies, some web development, some statistical analysis and a bit of Photoshop. I'm looking for something:
1) Quiet enough,
2) Fast enough and within my limited budget.
So, my thoughts are following:
1) Sell Athlon, my current Asus MB and RAM for around (hopefully) $70
2) Get Asus Z97M-PLUS (around $140), Pentium G3258 (around $80), 2 X DDR3 4GB 1600MHz Kingston HyperX (around $90) and SSD M.2 SATA3 120GB Kingston 550/520MB/s (around $100) or SAMSUNG SSD 840 EVO 120GB (around $85) and keep the rest of the configuration.
Why Z97M and Pentium G3258? I think that this CPU would be sufficient for my current needs, and if I'm not mistaken the MB should be relatively "future proof" investment for if I decide to get an i5 or Intel gen5 CPU later on. For SSD, I'm not sure if M.2 is worth investing that extra $15. I'm planning to split the SSD in two partitions and run dual boot with Windows 8 and Linux Debian, which I'm currently using as my primary OS. I'd keep 1TB Barracuda for storage sake.
So, to be as specific as possible - my questions are following:
1) In general, am I on the right track? Is this configuration going to be a good value for the money and are there better alternatives for what I have in mind?
2) Should I get that M.2 Kingston SSD or a regular one (like Samsung 840 EVO e.g.)?
3) Do I need a new, stronger PSU right now or could I leave that for later on?

Thank you for your feedback, any help is appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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what do you gain?
Dec 23, 2014 8:56PM PST

both processors are dual core and only a 0.2 Ghz difference in speed.

the motherboard is an UEFI type BIOS. You wanting that?

You would get USB3 compared to USB2

both motherboards use DDR3 RAM, you could up your current to 8GB if wanted

you gain onboard HDMI, only good if you have an HDMI monitor/TV, but you already have HDMI from the video card.

My suggestion is new video card, an SSD drive, added RAM and call it a day, saving money too.

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SSD for sure, RAM too..
Dec 24, 2014 12:10AM PST

Thanks for the reply.

I am getting a SSD for sure, RAM too.. But, I think you're not correct about the CPU:
[url=https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=2267&cmp[]=136]https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=2267&cmp[]=136
Anyway, G3258 would be just a temporary solution for some time, before I get i5 or some broadwell cpu when available. My present MB supports only some pretty weak CPUs, and most of them are not available or too expensive to buy if compared to newer alternatives - which are not supported by my motherboard. So, that's my way of thinking.

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link correction
Dec 24, 2014 12:21AM PST
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How about this ;
Dec 25, 2014 2:38PM PST

FX-6180 for $55 at Frys which is less expensive then the G3258. Also an am3+ board can be had for less than $100. check it out and compare.

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Why need to upgrade?
Dec 25, 2014 1:46PM PST

The computer is not doing the job...or are you itching to spend that money? That's kind of expensive for just a regular computer.

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Hahaha
Dec 26, 2014 2:09AM PST

Well, it's not like I'm itching to spend some money, actually I'd prefer not to spend anything at all. But, the computer is not doing the job very well. I really hate it when I need to wait for 2 minutes for a filter on a high-resolution image to be applied in Photoshop. Not to mention boot time, time that some applications need to start, and obviously multitasking is a nightmare. So, maybe a SSD and more RAM would do the job. I'm not sure. Perhaps, I should give them a try and see then should I get a new CPU and MB. Thanks for the replies. Cheers!

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I may agreed with you on that.
Dec 26, 2014 8:27AM PST

RAM and ssd for temporary work storage.