Just Upgraded My Master Machine

landbeforetimelover · **on:** September 20, 2012, 12:25:22 AM

I'm very glad I finally decided to fork out the cash to upgrade my master computer. Before I had a quad core AMD with 16GB of ram which was really nice but shockingly I found that it wasn't quite enough power! I do a TON of web work and such so I usually have at least 200 internet tabs open between Waterfox, Google Chrome, Opera, and occasionally Internet Explorer. Add to that Photoshop, a DVD burning program, and a splattering of other programs and the computer just wasn't powerful enough to be my main rig anymore. And on top of that I'm getting more into gaming. But anyway, this is what my master machine has now after the upgrades:

*3.5Ghz (3.9Ghz Turbo) Intel Core i7 3770k Quad Core Processor (4 Cores & 4 Threads)
*32GB DDR3 1600Mhz Corsair Dominator RAM (4 x 8GB)
*120GB Solid State Drive (OS Drive)
*4TB (4 x 1TB Hard Drives) Storage
*Dual Layer Samsung DVD Burner
*Antec True-Power 1200 Watt Modular Gaming PSU
*Windows 7 Ultimate x64

The graphics card isn't really worth mentioning. It was just some $60 thing from Microcenter to get me going. I'll replace it eventually, but for now...... Anyway, well this machine is now worth around $2,500 - $3,000 depending on how well Craigslist is doing. I was going to hold off on upgrading, but a guy that was really hard up for cash sold me a complete gaming rig with the motherboard, processor and SSD I have now so I put those into my main rig along with 32GB of RAM I just got from Microcenter for $210. I put my older motherboard and other parts into the case of the computer he sold me and now I've got two new computers! The best part was he sold me the whole other computer for just $500. LOL. I should be able to tear through just about anything with this machine.

Here's an old picture I took of it (I have the same case as in this picture I took before):

Mr Wonk · **Reply #1 on:** September 20, 2012, 06:25:40 AM

Looks amazing. You did a great job landbeforetimelover.

Mumbling · **Reply #2 on:** September 20, 2012, 08:36:04 AM

That's a decent upgrade. I'm slightly jealous

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #3 on:** September 21, 2012, 11:06:10 AM

I'm sitting here with a ton of stuff open (though taxing the machine about half as I usually do) and I'm only using 14% of my RAM. With 16GB of RAM I was constantly getting out of memory messages. Now I never run out and I can even run a game like Skyrim while keeping Photoshop and all my internet tabs open. LOL.

Still, I think I'll regret not just selling the rig (the one I got for $500, NOT my own) and buying a motherboard that could support 64GB of RAM. I can't imagine using that much RAM, but 6 months ago when I built my 16GB machine I couldn't imagine using 32GB of RAM. Only time will tell if this rig is powerful enough (I think it will be and sincerely hope it will be). I really can't afford to go buy a motherboard that can support 64GB of RAM right now.

EDIT: I also had to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate so my OS could use more than the 16GB limit imposed on it by Microsoft. They make you pay for a higher level OS (Windows 7 Professional at a minimum) to support more than 16GB of RAM. Now with Windows 7 Ultimate the limit is 128GB. LOL. Now I just CAN'T ever see using that much RAM in the near future.

Mr Wonk · **Reply #4 on:** September 21, 2012, 01:51:58 PM

Quote from: landbeforetimelover,Sep 21 2012 on 10:06 AM

Now I never run out and I can even run a game like Skyrim while keeping Photoshop and all my internet tabs open. LOL.

Still, I think I'll regret not just selling the rig (the one I got for $500, NOT my own) and buying a motherboard that could support 64GB of RAM. I can't imagine using that much RAM, but 6 months ago when I built my 16GB machine I couldn't imagine using 32GB of RAM. Only time will tell if this rig is powerful enough (I think it will be and sincerely hope it will be). I really can't afford to go buy a motherboard that can support 64GB of RAM right now.

EDIT: I also had to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate so my OS could use more than the 16GB limit imposed on it by Microsoft. They make you pay for a higher level OS (Windows 7 Professional at a minimum) to support more than 16GB of RAM. Now with Windows 7 Ultimate the limit is 128GB. LOL. Now I just CAN'T ever see using that much RAM in the near future.

That's crazy!

I think your rig should be powerful enough. I can't see it not, since my friend I know almost has the same amount of RAM. He edits, records and plays games a lot. So don't worry about it. (He edits with Sony Vegas Pro 11)