I want to upgrade my old PC but im a noob.

minecraftfarmer

Prominent
Sep 21, 2017
9
0
510
New to the upgrading PC world, I bought a pre-built in 2012 but now I want to play higher end games like Battlefield 1 and Destiny 2 with my buds. Curerent specs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHASSIS MODEL: CORSAIR 300R WITH WINDOW

PROCESSOR: INTEL CORE I3 3220 3.30 GHZ

MOTHERBOARD: ASUS H61M-PLUS (INTEL H61 CHIPSET)

SYSTEM MEMORY: 8GB DDR3 1600MHZ CORSAIR VENGEANCE

POWER SUPPLY: 430W CORSAIR CX

HARD DRIVE SET 1: MULTIMEDIA\DATA: 1X (1TB SEAGATE (7200 RPM) (32MB CACHE)

OPTICAL DRIVE 1: : DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD WRITER 24X / CD-WRITER 48X)

INTERNET ACCESS: HIGH SPEED NETWORK PORT (SUPPORTS HIGH-SPEED CABLE / DSL / NETWORK CONNECTIONS)

VIDEO CARD(S): 1X NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 650 TI BOOST 2GB (INCLUDES PHYSX)

SOUND CARD: INTEGRATED MOTHERBOARD AUDIO

EXTREME COOLING: EXTREME COOLING: STANDARD FACTORY HEAT-SINK AND FAN

WINDOWS OS: MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM (64-BIT EDITION)
------------------------------------------------------------------
What are some good upgrades that would work with my PC? How do I know what is and isnt compatible with my motherboard?

 
Solution
Budget is a big question here. But I would not break the bank and move to one of the new CPUs on the market as you will then have to replace the CPU/RAM/Mobo.

I would look at finding a good deal on a used i7 3770. That would be able to drop in your current socket.

Right now GPU prices are crazy, especially in the mid range market due to mining. I would look at a 1050ti to replace your 650ti.

If you have more money left over you can go for another 8gb of RAM. 8 is the minimum these days and 16 is starting to become the norm.

Those three additions should not break the bank and will really beef up your PC.

Lastly, if you can afford it, get a Samsung 850 EVO SSD. It will drastically speed up your PC boot and load times. It...
Budget is a big question here. But I would not break the bank and move to one of the new CPUs on the market as you will then have to replace the CPU/RAM/Mobo.

I would look at finding a good deal on a used i7 3770. That would be able to drop in your current socket.

Right now GPU prices are crazy, especially in the mid range market due to mining. I would look at a 1050ti to replace your 650ti.

If you have more money left over you can go for another 8gb of RAM. 8 is the minimum these days and 16 is starting to become the norm.

Those three additions should not break the bank and will really beef up your PC.

Lastly, if you can afford it, get a Samsung 850 EVO SSD. It will drastically speed up your PC boot and load times. It wont have a direct impact on gaming performance, but it will make the overall PC experience much better.
 
Solution


I would get a new graphics card and Power Supply 1st, a GTX 1050Ti or GTX 1060 and something like a Corsair TX550M Power Supply.

Then as was suggested look for an i7 3770, they should be around pretty cheap used.

Adding another 8 GB of ram would be good also.
 


I would go with what I said above, it makes the most sense. If you have room in your budget, then I would swap out the 1050ti and go for a 1060 6gb. If you go for a higher GPU, then you need to have a high refresh rate monitor or the monitor will be your bottleneck as it wont be able to keep up with the GPU if it only pushes 60hz.
 
I suggest get rid of your old MB. I7-3770k is the best CPU for the old MB and not anyway near cheap. Ryzen is best bang for the money right now. DDR3 is old and no longer supported in new MB. 4 year old PSU is not that reliable any more. See below for the parts you need:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($108.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA - Ultimate SU800 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($56.68 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SC GAMING Video Card ($274.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($33.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $609.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-09-21 09:39 EDT-0400

You may want to transfer your OS to SSD to speed up as well :) You can sell old parts and if you have extra, get a samsung evo 850 250 gb ssd instead.
 


The 3770 is faster in single thread and a whole lot faster in multithreaded applications than the 1200 for only $20 more. Your suggestion cost twice as much as an upgrade and is a step down in performance.
 


And he would have to buy a new OS on top of it.

More added cost.

All for a less performance. LOL

At least our way all he would have to do is put in a few parts, install some drivers and game on. :)

And it will last him for a few more years at least.
 


I think it is a choice :) Either you save today, or you save for tomorrow. CPU wise, Ryzen 1200 is not bottlenecking 1060. I don't see real need in better CPU if we only consider gaming.
 
At 1080p the bottleneck is on the CPU not the GPU. Plus, it's not save now or save later. It's spend half as much now for better performance. PCIe 4.0 or DDR5 may be available when he would need to look for a new upgrade making the current parts irrelevant.

AMD Ryzen chips are excellent chips, but they are not the only chips that are best for everyone.
 


You may search game comparison with OCed Ryzen 1200 and I7-3770, no real gap there, not to mention new vs used. He may also sell the old parts for some money back. Again, it is a choice. Don't think DDR5 is coming to MB any time soon.