Build Complete Core2 Quad Q9650 -> Ryzen 5 7600, grandma needed a new rig

[adsoyo]

Like so many others in the USA, the looming threat of tariffs spurred me into action concerning computer upgrades. The plan was to wait until late summer/ early fall of this year when Microsoft's support for Windows 10 will end but in the interest of avoiding overinflated prices, the upgrade had to happen now. My dear sweet gray haired grandma has been running my old Core 2 Quad Q9650 for a good 11 years. It was installed on an Asrock mATX motherboard with 8GB DDR3 1,333, a GeForce GT 1030, and the best sound card I ever owned, my cherished Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro. All of this is in a Rosewill FBM-01 mATX which will be reused to keep costs down. She uses the rig primarily for email, jigsaw puzzles, mahjong, word processing, and occasional youtube.

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My prized SoundBlaster

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View: https://imgur.com/Oq9Qz0T


Now in with the new. The heart of the beast this time will be a Ryzen 5 7600. It will be pulling double duty as her GPU and run the stock cooler. Asrock is supplying the motherboard again in the form of a B650M-H/M.2+. RAM is a 16GB kit of Kingston DDR5 5200 that I left running at the base JEDEC speed of 4800 Mhz. Something tells me she won't notice. Finally, the power supply is upgraded to a 600 watt 80+ Gold from EVGA. The old power supply could've ran this just fine but it is years out of warranty.

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The computer back in it's kennel.

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After making certain every last detail about the desktop, taskbar, and web browser were precisely identical to how it was last time, I handed over the reigns. Godspeed on your jigsaw puzzles grandma!

 

[Lutfij]

Glad to see Grandma made her way onto Ryzen 7000!

I quite literally miss the sound cards you could get back in the day. I sometimes wished Creative didn't botch their own portfolio by ending support for their cards even though a simple driver revamp would allow for their soundcards to be relevant.

Only one thing you missed, is taking a fine bristle paint brush and a vacuum to take off all the dirt/debris from the innards. I'd probably have gone with PWM fans for the front and back for good measure but that's me.

Outside of that, good build!

 

[QyInvoLing]

I hope I'll be as smart as your grandma when I am at her age

 

[adsoyo]

I'd probably have gone with PWM fans for the front and back for good measure but that's me.

I actually bought 2 replacement bequiet! fans for it and intended to install them if her current fans were noisy. When I couldn't hear them, I figured I'd return the new ones for a refund and further reduce the cost of the system.

She called me back today because I forgot to set up her printer and while I was there I checked her fan speed in the BIOS. They were set to silent mode, both spinning at 300 rpm. I set them to full speed to test their health and while the rear was steaming along at 2,200 rpm, the front was only at 400 and sounded like a buzz saw! That sealed the deal, both fans were getting replaced. The front Rosewill 120mm that came with the case was tossed and a bequiet! Shadow Wings 2 went in. The rear was a 80mm Vantec Stealth SF8025L that still worked fine but I replaced it with a 92mm Pure Wings 2 anyway. Now I have both of those fans set to full speed because they are totally silent so why not. Front is running at 1200 rpm, rear is running at 2,000 rpm.

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I'm a little irked I didn't have the foresight to bring my zip ties and velcro straps for cable management. We live 4 hours away so I'll have to remember next time I visit. The good news is even if it looks a little sloppy now, airflow is uninhibited.