Question 9 Year Old Computer Upgrade/Rebuild Help/Suggestions

[tcooley2003]

Hi and thank you in advance.

About 9 years ago I posted on this forum and 2 users posted some suggestions for building the PC I currently own. A few small changes have been made to improve it since then, but it is primarily still the build from back then.

I would like to upgrade / rebuild this PC to improve the performance now that it has been a while and I have noticed some suffering in some games. I do not know a lot about computer but have someone to assist in putting together anything I happen to get or need replaced. I have no idea what I should get to improve or rebuild it to get the most performance boost. I do not need to run games at max performance, I just would like a better performance. Right now I am playing mostly Lost Ark and it runs fine most of the time but when a lot of enemies get on the screen in chaos dungeons for instance, it for sure has some slow down issues (medium default settings). I would like this experience to be more fluid as well as be able to play some newer games like V Rising and Vampire Masquerade Blood Hunt, which I believe have higher requirements that what I currently have.

I will have about $600 to spend towards this in September and I am trying to plan ahead a bit. $600 is not a solid number, I can give or take a little within reason if it makes a substantial difference (like if it goes over $50 or something, I am not going to stress over that. $600 is just the base line I would like to try to stick as close as possible to.

Approximate Purchase Date: September 2022

Budget Range: $600 or close (Before rebates, etc)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming mostly, photoshop, minor video editing, general internet use

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: This I do not know. This is a part of the question I am presenting.

Do you need to buy OS: No
Please note that if you're using an OEM license of Windows, you will need a new one when buying a new motherboard.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I do have Amazon Prime, so if there are deals there I can get free shipping. Otherwise, no preference.

Location: City, State/Region, Country -Indianapolis, Indiana

Parts Preferences: by brand or type (e.g.: I would like to upgrade to Intel CPU) - No preference, whatever works best

Overclocking: Yes / No / Maybe : I do not think my current PC is overclocked as far as I am aware. So probably not.

SLI or Crossfire: Yes / No / Maybe : The graphics card I currently have in this system is SLI compatible I believe, but I only am using the single card currently.

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: See below for current PC...

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: To run games better than they currently run


Current PC. These are the names of the parts copied from the receipts and the link if it had a link in the receipt.

Fractal Design Core Series 2500 ATX Mid Tower Case Black No PSU

XFX 650W XXX Edition Semi Modular 12V 53A 24PIN ATX Power Supply 80PLUS Bronze Certified

(2) MEM 8G|TEAM TDBD38G1600HC901

(2) Team Dark 8GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TDD38G1600HC901
https://www.newegg.com/team-8gb-240-pin-ddr3-sdram/p/N82E16820313421

Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 Windforce 3x 947MHZ 4GB 5.0GHZ GDDR5 2xDVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card

MSI Z97 U3 Plus LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813130777

Kingston Digital HyperX FURY 240GB SSD SATA 3 2.5 Solid State Drive with Adapter (SHFS37A/240G) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KW3MT7W/ref=pe_385040_121528360_TE_dp_1

Intel Core i7-4790 Processor - BX80646I74790
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J56YSLM/ref=pe_385040_121528360_TE_dp_2

Windows 8.1 license (which was upgraded in the free upgrade to Windows 10)

5TB 7200rpm HD

(2) Acer H6 Series H226HQLbid Black 21.5" HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor, IPS Panel 250 cd/m2 ACM 100,000,000:1 (1000:1) https://www.newegg.com/acer-h226hqlbid-21-5-full-hd/p/N82E16824009484?Item=N82E16824009484


I think I got all the information in here correctly. If any more information is needed, I can supply it.

Thank you again,
Travis (tcooley2003)

 

[Lutfij]

Given how you want to build in September, you could wait out and see what AMD have in store for us. From your existing build, you can retain the case, storage options and the monitor. The rest will need to be replaced or upgraded though I have my reservations with your budget being 600USD and what you can achieve with said aforementioned budget. I'm guessing a near 1,500USD budget if you want to get oomph back into your build/system.

 

[tcooley2003]

Given how you want to build in September, you could wait out and see what AMD have in store for us. From your existing build, you can retain the case, storage options and the monitor. The rest will need to be replaced or upgraded though I have my reservations with your budget being 600USD and what you can achieve with said aforementioned budget. I'm guessing a near 1,500USD budget if you want to get oomph back into your build/system.

Thanks for the reply. I can repost near September. I was hoping to be able to just upgrade a little bit, like maybe the video card or a new processor or something, I do not know really, to squeeze a little more life out of it. However, if that is not going to be possible I can save up some more and repost once I have more funding, but that may take a while longer.

 

[King Dranzer]

Thanks for the reply. I can repost near September. I was hoping to be able to just upgrade a little bit, like maybe the video card or a new processor or something, I do not know really, to squeeze a little more life out of it. However, if that is not going to be possible I can save up some more and repost once I have more funding, but that may take a while longer.

Yes. Please multiply that budget with 2 or 3 and then you will get a PC that gonna last very long time with minimal to no compromise.

 

[Eximo]

Well to give you some perspective:

R9-290 was a fast card for its day. Rough equivalent is something like the RX 6500 XT, which is one step up from the lowest end card from AMD. To get something better you would need to invest about $300 for an RX6600 and up from there.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

Your CPU was again, top of the line for its generation. Quad core intel with hyperthreading. There has been a lot of improvement since then, so that would be on the cheaper side of things to replace, but it does mean a new motherboard and memory.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i7-4790-vs-Intel-i3-12100/2226vs4687


Pretty quickly overbudget, and a new PSU is a good idea as well.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($106.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B660M Steel Legend Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Speedster SWFT 210 Video Card ($299.95 @ B&H)
Total: $646.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-06-03 14:14 EDT-0400

 

[jeremyj_83]

Hi and thank you in advance.

About 9 years ago I posted on this forum and 2 users posted some suggestions for building the PC I currently own. A few small changes have been made to improve it since then, but it is primarily still the build from back then.

I would like to upgrade / rebuild this PC to improve the performance now that it has been a while and I have noticed some suffering in some games. I do not know a lot about computer but have someone to assist in putting together anything I happen to get or need replaced. I have no idea what I should get to improve or rebuild it to get the most performance boost. I do not need to run games at max performance, I just would like a better performance. Right now I am playing mostly Lost Ark and it runs fine most of the time but when a lot of enemies get on the screen in chaos dungeons for instance, it for sure has some slow down issues (medium default settings). I would like this experience to be more fluid as well as be able to play some newer games like V Rising and Vampire Masquerade Blood Hunt, which I believe have higher requirements that what I currently have.

I will have about $600 to spend towards this in September and I am trying to plan ahead a bit. $600 is not a solid number, I can give or take a little within reason if it makes a substantial difference (like if it goes over $50 or something, I am not going to stress over that. $600 is just the base line I would like to try to stick as close as possible to.

Approximate Purchase Date: September 2022

Budget Range: $600 or close (Before rebates, etc)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming mostly, photoshop, minor video editing, general internet use

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: This I do not know. This is a part of the question I am presenting.

Do you need to buy OS: No
Please note that if you're using an OEM license of Windows, you will need a new one when buying a new motherboard.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I do have Amazon Prime, so if there are deals there I can get free shipping. Otherwise, no preference.

Location: City, State/Region, Country -Indianapolis, Indiana

Parts Preferences: by brand or type (e.g.: I would like to upgrade to Intel CPU) - No preference, whatever works best

Overclocking: Yes / No / Maybe : I do not think my current PC is overclocked as far as I am aware. So probably not.

SLI or Crossfire: Yes / No / Maybe : The graphics card I currently have in this system is SLI compatible I believe, but I only am using the single card currently.

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: See below for current PC...

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: To run games better than they currently run


Current PC. These are the names of the parts copied from the receipts and the link if it had a link in the receipt.

Fractal Design Core Series 2500 ATX Mid Tower Case Black No PSU

XFX 650W XXX Edition Semi Modular 12V 53A 24PIN ATX Power Supply 80PLUS Bronze Certified

(2) MEM 8G|TEAM TDBD38G1600HC901

(2) Team Dark 8GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TDD38G1600HC901
https://www.newegg.com/team-8gb-240-pin-ddr3-sdram/p/N82E16820313421

Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 Windforce 3x 947MHZ 4GB 5.0GHZ GDDR5 2xDVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card

MSI Z97 U3 Plus LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813130777

Kingston Digital HyperX FURY 240GB SSD SATA 3 2.5 Solid State Drive with Adapter (SHFS37A/240G) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KW3MT7W/ref=pe_385040_121528360_TE_dp_1

Intel Core i7-4790 Processor - BX80646I74790
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J56YSLM/ref=pe_385040_121528360_TE_dp_2

Windows 8.1 license (which was upgraded in the free upgrade to Windows 10)

5TB 7200rpm HD

(2) Acer H6 Series H226HQLbid Black 21.5" HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor, IPS Panel 250 cd/m2 ACM 100,000,000:1 (1000:1) https://www.newegg.com/acer-h226hqlbid-21-5-full-hd/p/N82E16824009484?Item=N82E16824009484


I think I got all the information in here correctly. If any more information is needed, I can supply it.

Thank you again,
Travis (tcooley2003)

I second the only things that can be kept are the case and 5TB HDD. Right now this is about as cheap as you can go and get a meaningful upgrade. With an R9 290 you have a GPU that is about an RX 580 in performance so you need a decent GPU for an upgrade and those start at $300.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($134.00 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock A520M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($77.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN TUF Gaming Alliance 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN570 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Speedster SWFT 210 Video Card ($299.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Phanteks AMP 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $691.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-06-03 14:13 EDT-0400

 

[jeremyj_83]

a new PSU is a good idea as well.

With a 9 year old PSU I wouldn't want to throw midrange modern stuff onto it. Will it be safe...maybe...but there have been a lot of changes especially to the C states since that PSU was released.

 

[tcooley2003]

Thank you all for the replies. I understand and will get more to spend and then repost and probably just build all new from scratch rather than trying to upgrade. Thanks again! I do not really know what I am doing and it is appreciated!