[SOLVED] Ancient PC - Budget upgrade 450$ (gigabyte h61m-ds2, gtx 650, i3-3220 @3.30GHz, DDR3 RAM)

[Anne7727]

Hi everyone,

I want to upgrade 2 ancient PCs (mine + husband), they are both identical. I have around 800-900$ to upgrade them both.

What we have:

• Motherboard: gigabyte h61m-ds2
• Video card: gtx 650, 1GB, GDDR5
• Processor: i3-3220 @3.30GHz
• RAM: 16GB @665 (2x8GB)
• Hard drives: 120GB HDD + 2TB SSD

The HDD is identified as "Patriot Spark ATA device".

• Power supply: Segotep ATX-500W
• OS: Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit.
• Monitor: AOC Q3279VWFD8 (I use the HDMI)
• Used mostly for: Stellaris, Rimworld, WOW, Dota2, PUBG. The WOW raids are problematic sometimes.

What I want to get (400-450$ for each PC):

- Intel Core i7-3770 3.40GHz, 8MB Cache, Socket 1155, - I found them at 142$ each

- GTX 1050 Ti (https://www.newegg.com/msi-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-gtx-1050-ti-gaming-x-4g/p/N82E16814137054) - 169$ each

- A new motherboard that would not require a new case and that supports the above components. I have about 100-150$ left for each motherboard. I am lost with this one, not sure how to query so I find what I need.


1. Are there better choices in the same price range? And are these components compatible?

2. I just assumed I need a new motherboard, because the other components are newer than my potato... can someone suggest one?

3. Do I need a bigger power supply?



I hope I did not break any posting rules, would appreciate any suggestions!

Anne

 

[Eximo]

Over spending for little gain here. Mostly old components that are even obsolete from a price perspective as compared to new components.

I will get back to you with a some build lists.

 

[Eximo]

Here are some core systems that are brand new. CPU, RAM, Motherboard, and Graphics card.

Your existing power supplies should continue to work. If you have registered Windows with MS, you might get away with using the existing OS licenses. However, Windows 10 can be used indefinitely un-activated. It will just put a watermark at the bottom right to let you know.

Probably a good time to replace the system drives, so if you can stretch a little and add 256/512GB SSDs, you can keep the spinning hard drives, and even the older SSDs. (Below would add $80 to the total, further below $60 for 512GB)

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/78...-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-asx6000pnp-256gt-c

$450 x 2 essentially.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($71.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory ($51.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card ($159.99 @ B&H)
Total: $433.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-12 21:14 EST-0500

If you wanted to budget even further while still gaining quite a bit of performance (Remove PSU/Case/SSD as needed):

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-9100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($109.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI B365M PRO-VDH Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory ($51.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB Video Card ($135.88 @ B&H)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $497.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-12 21:24 EST-0500

Best MicroATX budget case (in my opinion) $30

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Yn7CmG/thermaltake-case-ca1d400s1nn00

Okay power supply option if you want to replace your aging units (These are fairly lightly powered systems compared to what you have already):

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FL...-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-ssr-500gb3

 

[Eximo]

Comparisons

Passmark CPU score:
i7-3770 = 6368 @ $142
i3-9100 = 6732 @ $110
Ryzen 5 2600 = 13223 @ $150 (Six cores, 12 threads, heavily weighted towards multithreaded applications, but has roughly the same gaming performance as Intel i5)

Passmark GPU Score:
i3-9100 (Intel UHD 630) = 1547 (Nearly enough to get the job done by itself, little loss in performance)
GTX 650 = 1754
GTX 1050Ti = 6373 @ $136
GTX 1650 = 7761 @ $160
Ryzen 3400G (Vega 11) = 2126

Which leaves the last options, APUs.

Ryzen 3400G has onboard graphics that does a decent enough job. Faster GPUs can be added later. CPU can be replaced with up to an 16-core with relative ease...
(Faster ram added for the graphics memory)

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 256 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $433.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-12 21:41 EST-0500

 

[Anne7727]

Here are some core systems that are brand new. CPU, RAM, Motherboard, and Graphics card.

Your existing power supplies should continue to work. If you have registered Windows with MS, you might get away with using the existing OS licenses. However, Windows 10 can be used indefinitely un-activated. It will just put a watermark at the bottom right to let you know.

Probably a good time to replace the system drives, so if you can stretch a little and add 256/512GB SSDs, you can keep the spinning hard drives, and even the older SSDs. (Below would add $80 to the total, further below $60 for 512GB)

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/78...-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-asx6000pnp-256gt-c

$450 x 2 essentially.

PCPartPicker Part List

Thank you so much for taking the time to suggest and explain! I will look into what you suggested and get those upgrades.

And thank you for the power supply link as well!

 

[King_V]

I agree wholeheartedly with @Eximo 's AMD build. That is money much better spent than overpaying for used, outdated CPUs.

The APU version is worth considering as well as an interim solution. But, I would go with his orignal Ryzen 5 2600 build, but simply swap in the 3400G, and skip the 1650 video card entirely. At first.

Why? Because Black Friday is coming. Holiday sales are coming. Prices and sales are going to throw any estimate we make completely off on any given day. It actually has started a bit already as of a week or two ago, but once Thanksgiving goes by, the sales should start coming in earnest.


Now, on to the PSU question:

I would be extremely paranoid of continuing to use those Segotep PSUs (how did they manage to last this long?), though the S12III (roman numeral 3) is the one Seasonic model that should be avoided.

This, while a budget model, is higher quality, and, after mail-in rebate, is $39.99:
https://www.newegg.com/corsair-cx-series-cx450-450w/p/N82E16817139201

Unfortunately, the rebate is 1 per household.

The first link in my signature is a MUST READ for getting good vs bad/dangerous PSUs, and the second link in my signature is what to get if you absolutely MUST keep the PSU budget low... and please note the caveats that the author notes about them.

 

[Anne7727]

Thank you for the suggestions and the link! I will read about the PSU, I used to choose just a generic no-name one.

those Segotep PSUs (how did they manage to last this long?)

I changed it 5 years ago, the old one broke (the PCs are 10 years old).


There are not many rebates for PC components on Black Friday where I live, but I will look into it, maybe order them on newegg or amazon.

Again, thank you for taking the time to help me!

 

[King_V]

Glad to help. And, I was there once, long ago, as well. I figured "a power supply is a power supply" . . it's only in recent years that I've learned more about it (thankfully by reading what the experts here say, and not learning it the hard way!)

NewEgg and Amazon definitely seem to be the way to go. Sometimes there's an in-store-only deal at MicroCenter that's worthwhile, but the closest one to me is 45 minutes away on a good day... not to say that I haven't made that drive for the right part.

But, not everyone has a MicroCenter near them. If you consider 45 minutes "near."

 

[Eximo]

Power supply prices are also on the rise as demand is very high and production is reduced due to the pandemic. So finding decent models for reasonable prices can get tricky.

I wouldn't expect BF deals on most of these components. Typically undesirable/unsold hardware that sees real discounts. Things that sell well year round might see bundle deals though. Something Microcenter is quite good at, but proximity is a problem (2 hour drive for me, never really quite worth it). Newegg sometimes, though they tend to try and offload unpopular motherboards and ram that way.