In simple terms : it is far cheaper and effective to buy a new PC with a minimum of 5 cores then to upgrade an old PC.

If you can get it with Win 7 the better. A lot of people dislike the way Win 8 works. Win 10, i7

Thanks for the response, but I apparently didn't clarify my intentions well enough.

By upgrading a couple of components, I'm not hoping to come close to achieving the performance level of a new computer, but rather simply improve the existing computer just enough to make work with the new software tolerable. As I said, the computer has been perfectly adequate for doing the kinds of tasks my father-in-law has been using it for up until now. It seems foolish (to me anyway) to spend several hundred euros on a new computer before it is even clear whether he will enjoy editing video on a regular basis.

From the offers I've found, it looks like expanding the memory and switching out the graphic card could be done for around 100 euros, switching out the processor for probably a bit more. (I'm not counting the cost of a drive since it could continued to be used much longer.)

Now it could be that upgrading these things could not really be expected to have a noticeable effect -- then it would of course be a silly waste of money. But if the relatively small investment improves the video-editing capabilities of the current computer enough to get a better sense of PD's potential, then I think it would be worthwhile. If my father-in-law then finds that he really would like to pursue video editing as a hobby, then a new computer could be sought with an eye to its appropriateness in this regard.

sparks64,

OK. If you're willing to take a small gamble here's my take on your proposals, which are on the right track. But remember, you may not be very happy with the results. Your PC will suffice for SD video editing but HD will be a stretch and frustrating.

a) additional internal 500-1000GB SATA drive exclusively for video storage ?
>> This won't be necessary unless your existing drive is full.

b) additional 2GB RAM (4GB is unfortunately the max with this MB) ?
>> Yes. This is a must. Go to the max.

c) replace GPU with one offering more CUDA cores and memory
>> Yes. Look for at least 1 Gbyte memory.

d) replace CPU with faster dual or quad core
>> This would be difficult to cost justify. A new PC would be a less expensive route.
Win 10, i7

Hi Sparks64,
If I could throw a spanner into the works...

I'd start thinking about a replacement to be honest.

Upgrading to 4Gb wouldn't hurt anything, but even running 64bit windows on that would be like strapping a 2 stroke engine to a jet. There simply won't be enough horse power to run PD and edit videos. It will be frustrating like HDedit said: windows alone would use that up, thrashing the hard drive with a swap file bigger than the video you're trying to work with.

What if you upgraded to 4Gb and dropped down to 32bit OS? I think you'd get more mileage. Win XP Pro or Win 7.

When a new machine appears, whack a 64bit version of windows (Win7) on it and max out the RAM with at least 16Gb and watch that baby fly! RAM's so much cheaper now.

If you replace the GPU, and you get a good one, you could transplant that later into a replacement machine, possibly saving you money down the line. But as with anything, GPU's don't always come cheap unless you buy an end of line product which still works and has been replaced with something more exotic for the sake of the gaming community.

But definately look at the cores and balance it with the RAM it comes with.

Hope this helps.

Hi,
Don't forget that the motherboard has to support the additions of the CPU and such...
So it may be better to get new system..
Jim Intel i7-2600@3.4Gz Geforce 560ti-1GB Graphic accelerator, windows 7 Premium 12GB memory

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Hi Sparks64 My PC is similar, but just a bit better than your dad in law's (Mine is HP7700 6300 dual core 1.8Ghz and 2GB ram, 1TB HDD, 1GB Radeon 5450 GC), so my experience of running DP11 on this may be relevant
I only produce std 30min Video on 2D, but have just given up using this PC as it takes far too much time waiting for the system to "settle" after each edit change... and often just moving slider on timeline causes it to hang up with "project not responding" message or similar. CPU usage is off scale often. Ive got WinXP pro 32, DP11 and Internet and nowt else set up on a brand new 1TB newly formatted fast HDD , but am now ordering a new system with 16Gb ram , i7 CPU /Win7-64 as this PC 's just not good enough to use even with lots of patience (I temp installed 4GB ram, but only get a marginal improvement)
Your dad in law will just get frustrated with his current set up If you like the man, get him a better system!
So the advice given by the other members to get a (much) better PC seems very sound
Best Rgds
John

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll try to get back and report my experience in case we still try to tweak the existing system.

sparks64,

The only thing I would try to upgrade on that old computer is add more RAM to the Maximum that motherboard can handle.

Everything else is just too expensive to be a good bang for the buck.

A new powerful computer is the best way to go.

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Hello Sparks64,

It seems to me that the best deal is to upgrade with a barebones PC kit from Newegg, Tiger Direct, etc. You can get decent kits for around $200 to $500 or more depending on how powerful you want it. This will eleminate the worry of the PSU being enough to power the upgrades in the old PC as well.

In a barebones you only get the core items and you use parts like your monitor, mouse, keyboard, DVD drive etc, maybe even the hard drive as well depending on what kit you buy. They usually come with a case, PS, motherboard, processor and ram. some come with HDDs, DVD burners as well. You can customize the order too, if it comes with 4 gigs or ram and you want 8 they can do that. If you don't want the HDD that comes in the kit and use the one you have, they will take that out and adjust the price. This is how I've built every PC I have ever owned. I just looked at Tiger Direct, kits start at $219 for intel I3 kit altho for editing you should at least use a fast I5 or I7 in my opinion.

With that said, If you're going to upgrade the old PC you seriously need more RAM (I can't imagine win 7 on 2 gigs), most likely if you go to a faster proccessor you're going to have to upgrade the motherboard with it.

A larger HDD is nice, I bought an external 3TB Seagate on black friday for $100. It makes it easy to store and share things that way and you can use it easily if he gets another PC later on. (make sure you get a USB 3 HDD if you go with an external). I burn a lot to Blu-Ray and keep the Produced files on this drive as a backup.

As for the video card, the NVidia Cuda or the AMD APP is nice to have, you can get those reasonable and that would be a good investment because you can always slip it into a newer PC later if you decide not to get the whole thing upgraded. If you decide to go with a barebones kit and don't want to upgrade your video card at the same time you can use the one he has now, then upgrade down the road.

I have made an observation that during the production on my system that the memory isn't taxed nearly as much as the CPU however I wouldn't run Win 7 on less than 6 or 8 gigs of ram. Quick look on Tigerdirect 8 gigs for $40.

In conclusion: If you still want to upgrade, RAM is 1st (if he has only 2 slots on the MB for ram don't be afraid to chunk what he has and get a set of 4 gig sticks for 8 gigs total and if you get faster ram it will be better if you want to use it in a new PC as well) just because win 7 is a ram hog.
Video card would be 2nd both of these can be used in a newer PC later provided the ram is compatable with the newer PC. I like XFX Video cards, if you register them within a few days they have a lifetime warranty on certain ones. Check Cyberlinks site for supprted cards as well before you decide on what to buy. Video cards start in the $50 range and go way up however you can get a decent one for around $100.
If he's low on HDD space then I'd get one of those as well, you can get 1TB to 1.5TB drives for just a little more than a 500 gig these days, This is also easily transfered to a newer PC. For HDDs I usually buy Western Digital, WD Black drives have 5 yr warranties. WD Blue and Greens are both 3 years. Seagate is good as well, 1TB seagate for $80 and a 3TB for $129 after rebate, these are both internal drives.

Sorry I have rambled on long enough, I hope some of this helps you out. Good luck. PDR 11 Ultimate
Current setup: Intel I7 2500K 3.4ghz, 12 gigs ram, 4TB internal HDD, 2X AMD 6950 video cards total of 4 gigs ram running in crossfire mode, Windows 7 64bit