Upgrade Photoeditting PC to for Windows 11

[Seaslater]

Hi,

I want/need to upgrade my system so that I can run Windows 11. Apparently I need a new processor to be TPM2.0 compliant.

My original spec is below, but over the years I have upgraded as follows

ITB SSD (Samsung 870 EVO) to replace the original 120 GB SSD
2x Sata HDD
TP-Link AC1200 Dual Band Wireless PCIe Adapter

So, this iswhat I think I need What I think I might order
New processor Intel i5-12400F 18MB Cache
New Motherboard Gigabyte H610M K DDR + 16GB DDR4 RAM 3200
New Power supply Corsair 550W CX-550
New CPU cooler PCS Frostflow 100 V3

Everything else I would use from my existing system.

Questions
1) Does this make sense?
2) Do I need a graphics card and/or can I use the existing Nvidia Geforce GTX750?
3) is there anything I've missed?

Thanks in advance

Sealsater


Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R4 BLACK PEARL QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z97-HD3: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Kingston DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 750 - 2 x DVI, mHDMI
1st Storage Drive
120GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 540MB/sR | 410MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB WD GREEN WD20EZRX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Monitor Cables
2 METRE DVI-D CABLE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-haswell-pc/2rGgPrsSFu/

 

[Scott]

In honesty I would look to a new system. While theoretically your upgrade choices will get you a working Windows 11 system, it's not going to be a very good one unfortunately.

The H series motherboards are extremely low end, we would never recommend such a choice.

The GPU you have is very low end, does it fit your current needs of Photo editing without any intrusion? If it does, I would look to something with on-board graphics and just do away with the GPU.

What are you considering as your budget?

Below is what I would consider. You would only need to transfer over your 1TB drive as a storage drive and your Windows license. The rest could be sold on as is.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 8600G Six Core CPU (4.35GHz-5.0GHz/22MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H100x RGB ELITE HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £844.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/5dgHu4y3rm/

 

[Seaslater]

Scott,

Thanks for your reply. My spec was based on using PC specialist's Intel Desktop PC recommendations, so I'm not sure in what sense you would never recommend such a system as, apparently, they do !

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but your suggestion looks to be very much focussed on a gaming PC, for which I don't really have a need.

 

[stegor]

You can upgrade to Windows 11 if you know what you are doing. It needs a few registry tweaks and a pen drive. I did a 10 year old laptop and it works but runs like a dog lol. Not recommending it, just saying it is possible.

 

[Scott]

Scott,

Thanks for your reply. My spec was based on using PC specialist's Intel Desktop PC recommendations, so I'm not sure in what sense you would never recommend such a system as, apparently, they do !

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but your suggestion looks to be very much focussed on a gaming PC, for which I don't really have a need.

I'm not sure what you want me to say. It's an Intel system, but none of us would recommend intel anyway. PCS are an integrator, they build whatever you ask...... they don't make any claims to what's best, even sales will only help you fit a budget rather than consider all aspects of what's best for you.

The CPU is 12th gen, 4 years old. Intel is currently on 15th generation but if you look at the problems with Intel over the past 2 years, no-one who knows anything about PC systems would recommend them. They haven't offered anything tangible in terms of upgrade that hasn't resulted in melt-down havoc.

I'm not sure what you have budgeted for the upgrade but I don't think there's any point in honesty, it's far too old a system and you're replacing really old with quite old. It's not good value.

It's your money and I'm sure PCS will be happy to accept it regardless of your decisions. We are only here as volunteers to help ensure value, rather than sales. None of us work for PCS, even us moderators just try to keep everything friendly. Admin are the only PCS staff on here.

 

[Scott]

Just noticed the reference to gaming. I'm not sure why you would think it's a gaming system. I get that it says "Gaming" for the motherboard label, but that has absolutely zero bearing on gaming..... it's just to entice gamers to want to buy it.

There are no gaming associated parts in that build at all. There's not even a GPU.

 

[Seaslater]

I'm not sure what you want me to say. It's an Intel system, but none of us would recommend intel anyway. PCS are an integrator, they build whatever you ask...... they don't make any claims to what's best, even sales will only help you fit a budget rather than consider all aspects of what's best for you.

The CPU is 12th gen, 4 years old. Intel is currently on 15th generation but if you look at the problems with Intel over the past 2 years, no-one who knows anything about PC systems would recommend them. They haven't offered anything tangible in terms of upgrade that hasn't resulted in melt-down havoc.

I'm not sure what you have budgeted for the upgrade but I don't think there's any point in honesty, it's far too old a system and you're replacing really old with quite old. It's not good value.

It's your money and I'm sure PCS will be happy to accept it regardless of your decisions. We are only here as volunteers to help ensure value, rather than sales. None of us work for PCS, even us moderators just try to keep everything friendly. Admin are the only PCS staff on here.

Hi Scott,
Thanks for your advice, I do appreciate it ! Budget isn't really the issue, it's more that I don't like the waste associated with scrapping computers, so want to maximise the life of usable components, some of which are relatively new and others of which haven't had intense use !

Seaslate

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi Scott,
Thanks for your advice, I do appreciate it ! Budget isn't really the issue, it's more that I don't like the waste associated with scrapping computers, so want to maximise the life of usable components, some of which are relatively new and others of which haven't had intense use !

Seaslate

I think @Scott was referring to the system you designed above not being suitable, not if you’re merely upgrading your current system.

You’d never buy a 5 year old set of components for a new system, well you could but it’s a very poor investment and would give weak performance and less longevity for not much less cost.

if you’re wanting to build a new system using parts you already have you’d need to self build as PCS only do full systems

 

[Scott]

Totally understand that and it makes sense to a degree, but not when a usage is required. The best way to not waste the system would be to donate it to a charity or something like that, they would be very appreciative of such a system. I recently gave away my Papa's PC when he passed and they were delighted with it. It wouldn't run Windows 11, but they were more than happy with Windows 10 on the system as it was for offline use and learning anyway.

Older systems definitely still have their place today, but if you want a system intended for your uses you always need to cut the cord at some point. Replacing the Motherboard, CPU & RAM is basically the entire system, it's certainly the heart. You'll be building triggers brush and not even know it.

To do the same thing as you had suggested, only using sensible components rather than the Intel offerings, I would look to upgrade to the following still:

Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 8600G Six Core CPU (4.35GHz-5.0GHz/22MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H100x RGB ELITE HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER

In honesty, by the time you purchase these parts and go to the hassle of building them, along with the installation of Windows 11, you're effectively at a new PC anyway. Sure you can ditch the M2 drive if you wanted, but it would make a far better quality of life addition as these systems are so much faster when you allow them a speedy primary drive.

All other items you mention can be carried across. I wouldn't bother with the GPU though, the above likely has more GPU performance in the CPU alone. It's an excellent case you have too.