Advice on gaming and work Rigs

[engshing]

Hello everyone. Need some help from the friendly folks here.

I will be building 2 rigs for different purposes.
One rig is for gaming, video & photo editing, surfing net as well as watching movie/drama. Budget is 2 to 2.5k for this. I currently have the 240GB Intel SSD from Amazon.
I have a LG W2442PA 24" Monitor so if there is any better monitor in the market now, please recommend as well since I am using it to watch HD movies.

2nd rig is for work purpose. will be using it for MS office as well as accounting software. Most important thing is reliability and can last for quite a few years b4 i need to upgrade it. Budget around 1 to 1.5k.

Help is really appreciated, especially for the 2nd rig.

On a side note, what do you ppl normally do with your old rigs? These 2 are to replace 2 old ones. Any place to sell or to donate?

 

[Jian19]

i7-4770 + Msi b85m g43 ~ $475
G.skill Ripjaws 16gb kit ~ $210
Seagate 4tb hdd ~ $213
Evga gtx 780 sc ~ $740
Corsair rm650 ~ $158
Fractal design r4 ~ $150
Samsung oem drive ~ $21
Win7 64 oem ~ $115

Total ~ $2082 buy and DIY @ tradepac

i5-4570 + Msi b85m g43 ~ $356
Crucial 8gb ddr3 ~ $90
Plextor m5s 128gb ~ $128
Toshiba 500gb ~ $60
Seasonic g-360 ~ $90
Fractal design arc midi ~ $122
Samsung oem drive ~ $21
Win7 64 oem ~ $115

Total ~ $982 buy and DIY @ tradepac

Ask for discount ~

 

[engshing]

thanks for the reply. i am going to purchase a synology nas and so instead of the 4tb seagate hdd, i can use the cash to upgrade which item?

 

[Jian19]

Can consider get a after market cooler for ur CPU ~

Coolermaster hyper 212 plus ~ $68

Can also consider more rams...(although I felt 16 aready enough... )

 

[engshing]

This is my current rig from May 2010
i5-661 + P55-GD65 (ms-7583)
2 x 2Gb Kingston DDR3 PC3-10700 (667MHz)
Nvidia GeForce GTS 250
Hitachi 500Gb HDD + WD 2TB Green
LG DVDR drive
Cooler Master Case Elite + 650W PSU
Windows 8 Pro + Media Center

I am thinking whether to upgrade this rig to the recommendation by Jian19 or change this to a HTPC. Any advice on this?

 

[engshing]

i have another even older PC from 2007
MSI Via Mainboard P4775
Intel P4-3.0GHz 2mb
DDR2 1Gb RAM
ATX Casing with True Power
Nvidia 7650 256mb

I wonder whether this can be reused and upgraded to be a HTPC?

 

[Shutterbox]

Just curious, r these 2 rigs going to be 2 different places?

If both r going to be on the same desk, Maybe just one rig but with 2 monitors might be better?

 

[engshing]

Just curious, r these 2 rigs going to be 2 different places?

If both r going to be on the same desk, Maybe just one rig but with 2 monitors might be better?

yep they are going to be in 2 different places (2 different rooms to be exact). basically going to be used by 2 ppl.

 

[Shutterbox]

yep they are going to be in 2 different places (2 different rooms to be exact). basically going to be used by 2 ppl.

I'm thinking the office app rig can be really simple. i3 based or lower, lower end specs for motherboard, psu etc all in a simple cheap compact case would have done the job really well

 

[engshing]

for the office rig, i am thinking of following Jian19 suggestion
i5-4570 + Msi b85m g43 ~ $356
Crucial 8gb ddr3 ~ $90
Plextor m5s 128gb ~ $128
Toshiba 500gb ~ $60
Seasonic g-360 ~ $90
Fractal design arc midi ~ $122
Samsung oem drive ~ $21
Win7 64 oem ~ $115

i guess this can be used for quite a few years b4 there is a need to upgrade

it is just tt the old pc, i got no idea wat to do with it. it is the one from 2007. hence i tot of upgrading it to be a HTPC instead and put it beside PS3

 

[royfrosty]

Office rig overkill already. An i3 is more than enough.

 

[engshing]

thanks for the advice. i guess i shall switch to i3 4130 for the office rig.

any suggestion for the upgrade of this
i5-661 + P55-GD65 (ms-7583)
2 x 2Gb Kingston DDR3 PC3-10700 (667MHz)
Nvidia GeForce GTS 250
Hitachi 500Gb HDD + WD 2TB Green
LG DVDR drive
Cooler Master Case Elite + 650W PSU
Windows 8 Pro + Media Center

i will definitely change to SSD since i already bought one. what abt the other hardware? or is it easier just to get new hardware for everything?

i also dun mind building a simple HTPC to watch shows on TV. currently using PS3 with PS3 media server but got a problem with 1080p mkv video due to wireless connection

 

[engshing]

bump up for more advice