How can I improve my PC?

[lollypc]

Hello, I have a desktop PC which was a Xmas gift to replace my ageing laptop. The specifications are as follows:

OPERATING SYSTEM - Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU - AMD A4-6300
RAM - 8GB
MOTHERBOARD - ASUS A68HM-K (FM2+)
GRAPHICS - AMD Radeon HD 8370D
STORAGE - Seagate ST1000DM 010-2EP102 (SATA)
AUDIO - Realtek High Definition Audio

There were no optical disk drives, webcam, speakers included - I have bought these myself. The PC is quite noisy and occasionally restarts itself. Sometimes it's very slow and the graphics can pixelate. I am wondering if I should upgrade some of the components and/or install other things. I'm not too tech savvy, so any help would be appreciated.

 

[ashifkhanoppoa37]

Use atleast 250GB samsung evo ssd.

And good quality of powersupply.

 

[lollypc]

Hi, My power supply is good as far as I know and I use a circuit breaker, but I'm thinking that you mean something else? As I said, I'm not very tech savvy.

 

[ArchitSahu]

What is the model of your PSU?

That chipset is really outdated, and that CPU will restrict most upgrades. You can put an SSD in, but it will only help in boot and loading times, not game performance or otherwise.

What is your budget?

 

[lollypc]

Hi,
How do I find out the model of my PSU? Which bit is the chipset? Which CPU would be better? My friend said I should install an SSD. My budget is limited, but I don't mind paying if it's going to be a good investment.

 

[lollypc]

I'm downloading a benchmark program and I'll put the reults on here after I run it.

 

[ArchitSahu]

Hi,
How do I find out the model of my PSU? Which bit is the chipset? Which CPU would be better? My friend said I should install an SSD. My budget is limited, but I don't mind paying if it's going to be a good investment.

If you open your PC (when the system is off of course), look towards the bottom and in the corner, there should be a PSU (that is where it tends to be). The model should be written on it.

SSD will help, but will not help game performance. Restarts on its own usually point to Windows Updates or PSU.

 

[lollypc]

OK, Here's the results from UserBenchmark:

UserBenchmarks: Game 12%, Desk 22%, Work 15%
CPU: AMD A4-6300 APU - 14.9%
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 8370D - 2.3%
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) - 83.7%
RAM: Unknown 1x8GB - 20.5%
MBD: Asus A68HM-K

Overall this PC is performing way below expectations (16th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 84 performed better. The overall PC percentile is the average of each of its individual components. Use the charts in the benchmark sections of this report to identify problem areas.
With a relatively low single core score, this CPU can handle email, light web browsing and basic audio/video playback, but it will struggle to handle CPU intensive tasks. Finally, with a gaming score of 14.9%, this CPUs suitability for 3D gaming is very poor.
2.26% is too low to play 3D games or use CAD packages. (Note: general computing tasks don't require 3D graphics)
The boot partition is located on a mechanical or hybrid drive. Moving the system to an SSD will yield far faster boot times, better system responsiveness and faster application load times.
8GB is enough RAM to run any version of Windows and it's sufficient for the vast majority of games. 8GB is also enough for moderate file and system caches which result in a very responsive system.

It looks really Bad! Looks like I need a total upgrade of my PC!

 

[ArchitSahu]

Well, essentially yes. That is what we said above.

What is your budget? We can list some options. Building yourself is a rewarding experience, and is not very hard if you follow the online guides.

 

[maxalge]

OK, Here's the results from UserBenchmark:

UserBenchmarks: Game 12%, Desk 22%, Work 15%
CPU: AMD A4-6300 APU - 14.9%
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 8370D - 2.3%
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) - 83.7%
RAM: Unknown 1x8GB - 20.5%
MBD: Asus A68HM-K

Overall this PC is performing way below expectations (16th percentile). This means that out of 100 PCs with exactly the same components, 84 performed better. The overall PC percentile is the average of each of its individual components. Use the charts in the benchmark sections of this report to identify problem areas.
With a relatively low single core score, this CPU can handle email, light web browsing and basic audio/video playback, but it will struggle to handle CPU intensive tasks. Finally, with a gaming score of 14.9%, this CPUs suitability for 3D gaming is very poor.
2.26% is too low to play 3D games or use CAD packages. (Note: general computing tasks don't require 3D graphics)
The boot partition is located on a mechanical or hybrid drive. Moving the system to an SSD will yield far faster boot times, better system responsiveness and faster application load times.
8GB is enough RAM to run any version of Windows and it's sufficient for the vast majority of games. 8GB is also enough for moderate file and system caches which result in a very responsive system.

It looks really Bad! Looks like I need a total upgrade of my PC!

before you can upgrade anything post the make and model of your power supply

 

[lollypc]

Budget - Maybe up to 200€ - Would that be enough? The PC cost around 500€ last November!

 

[lollypc]

[/quotemsg]

before you can upgrade anything post the make and model of your power supply


[/quotemsg]

Hello,

OK, I opened the tower and the power supply is Make: ATNG, Model: ATM-400FB

Don't know if this is good or bad?

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

I'm not in the EU, so I don't know all the pricing, but with your budget, you might look at something like a refurbished Dell business class system with an i5 2400 or better. Then upgrade the video card later, and use parts from your system to upgrade the system with extra ram etc.

 

[lollypc]

I'd really prefer to upgrade the PC I already have rather than buy a new refurbished one.

 

[lollypc]

If you open your PC (when the system is off of course), look towards the bottom and in the corner, there should be a PSU (that is where it tends to be). The model should be written on it.

The PSU is ATNG model ATM-400FB 400W. Is this any good?

 

[lollypc]

I've decided to up my budget and upgrade the PC gradually. Can you give me recommendations for a build please. Should I replace everything or keep some things?

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

I would consider keeping some components and maybe going with an AMD ryzen 2200g, or the 2400g if you wanted to spend more and get a quad core 8 thread chip. Those are both reasonably powerful CPUs with built in graphics. I would get a b350 board of some kind and at least 8gb of ddr4 ram. The faster you can go with those apus the better. I would guess the built in graphics are probably better than the graphics you have now.

But that would get you on a platform that is supposed to be in support until 2020, and have flexibility to upgrade CPU, ram, GPU etc. Things like power supply hard drives etc could be reused for now.

 

[maxalge]

Hello,

OK, I opened the tower and the power supply is Make: ATNG, Model: ATM-400FB

Don't know if this is good or bad?

replace it



the cheapest option:

PCPartPicker part list: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/jLRZRJ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/jLRZRJ/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Athlon X4 880K 4GHz Quad-Core Processor (€61.59 @ Alza)
Video Card: KFA2 - GeForce GTX 1050 2GB OC Video Card (€138.79 @ Mindfactory)
Power Supply: be quiet! - Pure Power 10 400W 80+ Silver Certified ATX Power Supply (€49.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €250.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-04-08 00:50 CEST+0200

 

[lollypc]

Hello,

OK, I opened the tower and the power supply is Make: ATNG, Model: ATM-400FB

Don't know if this is good or bad?

replace it



the cheapest option:

PCPartPicker part list: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/jLRZRJ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/jLRZRJ/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Athlon X4 880K 4GHz Quad-Core Processor (€61.59 @ Alza)
Video Card: KFA2 - GeForce GTX 1050 2GB OC Video Card (€138.79 @ Mindfactory)
Power Supply: be quiet! - Pure Power 10 400W 80+ Silver Certified ATX Power Supply (€49.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €250.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-04-08 00:50 CEST+0200

Hello, Thank you for your reply.
I take it my PSU is rubbishand needs replacing ASAP!
Would the AMD Ryzen processor be better than the Athlon X4? I don't mind paying a bit extra if it's futureproofed.
You didn't mention a motherboard - what would you recommend?

 

[lollypc]

I would consider keeping some components and maybe going with an AMD ryzen 2200g, or the 2400g if you wanted to spend more and get a quad core 8 thread chip. Those are both reasonably powerful CPUs with built in graphics. I would get a b350 board of some kind and at least 8gb of ddr4 ram. The faster you can go with those apus the better. I would guess the built in graphics are probably better than the graphics you have now.

But that would get you on a platform that is supposed to be in support until 2020, and have flexibility to upgrade CPU, ram, GPU etc. Things like power supply hard drives etc could be reused for now.

Thank you for your reply.
Since your recommendation of the AMD Ryzen, I've been reading up about them and they seem very good and is future-proofed for a little while.
The more I read about upgrading PC's, the more I think I'm going to be starting a new hobby!

 

[ArchitSahu]

For $800:
PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MJbNQZ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MJbNQZ/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($176.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 PC MATE ATX AM4 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot - Viper 4 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($43.85 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Mini Video Card ($319.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Corsair - 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $794.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-04-08 07:28 EDT-0400

A system that will last you and enable future upgrades.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

I like the build above. The 1600 is a good bang for the buck and can overclock with the board he showed. When memory prices eventually drop though, you'll want to upgrade to 16gb however.

 

[lollypc]

For $800:
PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MJbNQZ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MJbNQZ/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($176.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 PC MATE ATX AM4 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot - Viper 4 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($43.85 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Mini Video Card ($319.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Corsair - 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $794.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-04-08 07:28 EDT-0400

A system that will last you and enable future upgrades.

Thank you for your reply. It looks a really good replacement build for the one I have. More expensive than I anticipated, but probably worth it.

Is there an alternative video card? It sends my budget soaring!

Would the storage and case I already have - Seagate ST1000DM 010-2EP102 (SATA) & AvP Mamba Black ATX Midi Tower Case, be OK to use instead of the ones you chose?

I'll start looking and comparing prices now. Many thanks.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Case should be ok. Storage as well. As far as the video card, look at the GTX 1050ti which you can get for just over 200, or the 1060 3gb can be found around 280.

If you want to go really cheap on GPU, look at the RX 560 4gb which is just below the 1050ti, but can be found around 170. Just be sure to get the one with 1024 stream processors.

 

[lollypc]

Case should be ok. Storage as well. As far as the video card, look at the GTX 1050ti which you can get for just over 200, or the 1060 3gb can be found around 280.

If you want to go really cheap on GPU, look at the RX 560 4gb which is just below the 1050ti, but can be found around 170. Just be sure to get the one with 1024 stream processors.

Thank you for your suggestions - I shall look into them.