Replace or Upgrade my aging desktop? Recommendations?

[pbilk]

I am debating on replacing my aging desktop (I got it around 2012ish) but I am not sure if I should invest in another desktop powerhouse or to upgrade it or invest in a powerful portable device like a high spec Surface Book.
Portability might be needed in the future for me and with an option to connect to monitors.

I need to use Adobe applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom.
I do some video editing and I like to game on the side from light gaming to heavier games like Cities: Skylines.

Any suggestions or recommendations?
I am willing to spending around $1000 - $1500 cheaper would be nice but I don't think that will be possible unless I am upgrading my desktop. If I must $2000.

 

[Timbre70]

Stick to desktop if heavy usage of your above mentioned applications. Portable devices like Surface book can wait until when the real needs arise in the future. By then a better device would have arrived.

 

[pbilk]

Okay. Thank you! Should I upgrade my GPU and processor? I have an i7 from 2013ish and a stock AMD 4000-ish

 

[xandros9]

Okay. Thank you! Should I upgrade my GPU and processor? I have an i7 from 2013ish and a stock AMD 4000-ish

That depends on your needs I guess. If I had to guess, your GPU is probably the bottleneck if you are a gamer.

If you need a lot of things going at once like virtual machines, maybe more RAM, etc.

But yea, I would position that desktop as the heavy lifter as it'll be a lot more economical.

As far as portability is concerned, it depends on your needs but for most, a powerful desktop and merely competent portable are probably a good setup.

 

[Timbre70]

I would get a brand new desktop if money is not a major concern, saving all the troubles and getting new toy. 5 years is a lot of time for computer parts to have aged and loose efficiency. About time certain parts like PSU is dying...

 

[techiez]

I am debating on replacing my aging desktop (I got it around 2012ish) but I am not sure if I should invest in another desktop powerhouse or to upgrade it or invest in a powerful portable device like a high spec Surface Book.
Portability might be needed in the future for me and with an option to connect to monitors.

I need to use Adobe applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom.
I do some video editing and I like to game on the side from light gaming to heavier games like Cities: Skylines.

Any suggestions or recommendations?
I am willing to spending around $1000 - $1500 cheaper would be nice but I don't think that will be possible unless I am upgrading my desktop. If I must $2000.

You can get a very powerful desktop with that budget, other option I would suggest to look at is gaming laptops where u get 16Gigs of RAM and high end graphic card, I find gaming laptops to be excellent creators machine, a bit heavy but portable still.

 

[sd4f]

Use programs like CPU-Z and GPU-z to get system specs and put them up.

If you have a proper desktop part from 2012 and it's an i7, i really would discourage spending much on upgrading that. You can probably update a few things like make sure you have plenty of ram, buy a SSD, and most probably get a better GPU and you'll get most of the improvements.

This way, you'll be able to have best of both worlds; have a decent desktop for gaming and more cpu intensive stuff, and still keep your money for something down the line if the need arises.

 

[mmcpher]

Even though an update to an existing desktop saves money the "bang for your buck" can be puny and lacks that new car smell.

I would love a top end Surface Book but that would be well over-budget.

 

[keithvsmith]

Being that old, you probably can't upgrade the CPU very much, because of an outdated socket and what? DDR3 RAM. The CPU could bottleneck newer GPUs meaning you won't get their true performance. Here's a budget build I quickly made up for my co-worker who's thinking about graduating into PC gaming from consoles.

https://secure.newegg.com/Wishlist/SharedWishlistDetail?ID=9p5Aptcy5qE=

 

[COLIN BARNHORST]

Nothing is obsolete that is still doing what I want to do the way I want to do it. But, I have concluded that 2012 technology is too old to just upgrade various components and get what I would like to have. The issue isn't about the cpu alone as much as it is about the cpu/chipsets. I would love to add several latest generation add-ins, but the mobo, cpu, and chipset simply don't provide the lanes to support all the items I want at optimum speeds and efficiencies. I can't put DDR4 memory on a mobo designed for DDR3, or leverage the additional lanes provided in gen 8 Intel cpus in order to support NVM-e SSDs at full speed. The list goes on.

It is a bad idea to mix generations of hardware. That is what produces the performance bottlenecks we all dread. 2012 to now is a double-generational leap and I don't think that will work for me. It will all run, but not at its best. And there are enough new items now that I want in a desktop that it is simply more cost-efficient for me to buy a new system. That way I also am ensured that the components are designed, installed, and tested to work with each other.

 

[AndyCalling]

I've had my current PC since the 90's and it's never needed replacing. Sure, it's had a few new cases, the odd CPU and RAM upgrade, the occasional vid card update and a few replacement PSUs. Oh, and I've upgraded the drives once in a while and had to swap out the mobo a few times, but the old thing just keeps on going! I've no idea how it does it. Must be well made.

 

[Luuthian]

Unless you specifically require mobile computing I would strongly recommend a desktop, minimum i5 and 16GB of RAM for doing photo or video editing. i7 or an 8-core Ryzen if your budget affords. Then just get a low to mid-range graphics card like a GTX 1050 Ti. You can always get a tablet if you need casual computing use while being out and about.

This should give you plenty of power and upgradeability for the next 5+ years.

I would generally only fully replace a desktop when it’s no longer keeping pace with your daily tasks. Otherwise sometimes a bit more RAM or an SSD will provide all the boost you need. Once you need a new processor though... generally that’s when you need to fully replace.

Just anecdotally, I bought an i7 desktop with 12GB of RAM 7-8 years ago... it was a first gen i7. My PC is still pleeeeeeeeenty fast. You get what you pay for.

 

[Mihai N]

I've had my current PC since the 90's and it's never needed replacing. Sure, it's had a few new cases, the odd CPU and RAM upgrade, the occasional vid card update and a few replacement PSUs. Oh, and I've upgraded the drives once in a while and had to swap out the mobo a few times, but the old thing just keeps on going! I've no idea how it does it. Must be well made.

PC from the 90s that still works well? I have one from 2005 with several parts changed up until 5 years ago, though similar in performance. But now I'm ashamed how much the Photos app takes to load photos taken with dslr cameras, browser streaming is something unknown and games are not for it anymore. Now I just wait to save up some money to get a brand new one. If only I had 1000-1500$ that were not needed for everyday life stuff

 

[Awhispersecho]

Get a desktop. You can get a hell of a machine for the amount of money you have in your budget. Do not get a gaming laptop. Most of them throttle due to heating issues, They get less and less upgradeable every year. In fact, with that money and the deals that will be available over the next week or so, you could probably get both a very capable desktop and a portable machine for 1500-2000. Just look at ads like Best Buy, See what type of desktops and ultrabooks/Surface Pro deals they have. I know they have the new Dell Ryzen desktops for right around a grand or so. You could go that route and still have room for something like the Surface Pro Core M that they will be selling for 700 bucks. Either way, you have options with your budget. Just don't go with a gaming Laptop at that budget. The Razor models and others like that suffer from throttling and other issues and since everything is BGA now, they can't be upgraded beyond the HD and the RAM.

Here are just a couple examples of Desktops. There are cheaper models of them as well.

https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...%2F5948610.p%3FskuId%3D5948610&token=wwRIL8bG

https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...%2F5759917.p%3FskuId%3D5759917&token=1hr0KSfw

 

[IMissMyPsion]

My laptop is a year older than your desktop. 3 years ago I replaced the HDD with a SSD,and it became like a new machine. I've also replaced the second HDD with a bigger one. It is a Dell XPS 17 running an i7 2820QM with an Nvidia 550 GPU. That GPU has become an issue following Adobe updating lightroom to classic - it leaves the previous view on screen when writing the new layout of images (eg changing from grid to loupe).
The problem with laptops (even more so now than when I got mine) is that nothing can be changed.
But my 2003 desktop PC doesn't cut it any more; it only gets used for backing up. By 2011 there was no point in further upgrading it. It would have needed changing everything but the hard disks. It runs Windows 10, reasonably well, good for browsing but nothing heavy duty.
I'm currently debating whether to get a new powerful laptop, or a powerful desktop with an OK laptop.

 

[IMissMyPsion]

PS If you can work out what use Adobe software makes of top end CPUs and GPUs; which is necessary and when it becomes overkill, I'd love to know. Their website explaining it seems to be deliberately obtuse, and I've never found a site that tests different processors with lightroom.