Question looking for some options to upgrade an old rig

[astroxyz]

Hi, Recently i have considered some minor upgrades to my old pc to make it run somewhat better, i would like to hear some options and perhaps limitations on how far i can go with it.
Currently the pc runs an asus p8h61 rev 2.01 motherboard with 2x2gb 1600 rams, a Pentium g620 CPU and a BioStar GeForce gt 730 ddr5 2gb GPU, and a 300W PSU
I know it is quite an old rig but i was able to play games like battlefield 3-4, COD blackops3, AC blackflag and the likes of crisis3 on it tho on low specs, and mostly played grim dawn, titan quest and league of legends with it and it ran those well enough. What would be my options for upgrade? am i only limited to ddr3 1600ram? I would like to put in 1 8gb or 2x8gb rams if possible or keep a 2gb and put in a 8gb, though i have heard that scenario has its restrictions and requires compatibility for the 10gb to work. as for CPU
Core i5-3470 Core i5-2400 are some of the only CPUs i seem to be able to find in the market for an upgrade, i have a new 1TB barracuda HDD in it but am considering a 256 or 512GB SSD if the motherboard can actually support it, these days i mostly use my laptop that has much better specs but i don't want to use it for long periods so i feel the need to raise the specs on the pc a bit.
I would appreciate some suggestions

https://www.asus.com/supportonly/p8h61_r20/helpdesk_qvl/ might be the page for my board

 

[Ralston18]

Check and compare the game's hardware and software requirements to the "old pc's" specs.

Most applications/games provide some listing of required hardware specs in the form of "minimal", "recommended", and "best".

You do not want "minimal" and you do want as much "best" as budget permits.

More RAM is likely to provide the most improvement. As a matched kit for dual channel use.

Changing from a HDD to SSD also can make a difference. 512GB if at all possible.

The key document is the Motherboard's User Guide/Manual. Check the manual for supported components and configurations.

There may be other questions, ideas, and/or suggestions via the Gaming Community and those who play the same games.

 

[Bob.B]

Hi, Recently i have considered some minor upgrades to my old pc to make it run somewhat better, i would like to hear some options and perhaps limitations on how far i can go with it.
Currently the pc runs an asus p8h61 rev 2.01 motherboard with 2x2gb 1600 rams, a Pentium g620 CPU and a BioStar GeForce gt 730 ddr5 2gb GPU, and a 300W PSU
I know it is quite an old rig but i was able to play games like battlefield 3-4, COD blackops3, AC blackflag and the likes of crisis3 on it tho on low specs, and mostly played grim dawn, titan quest and league of legends with it and it ran those well enough. What would be my options for upgrade? am i only limited to ddr3 1600ram? I would like to put in 1 8gb or 2x8gb rams if possible or keep a 2gb and put in a 8gb, though i have heard that scenario has its restrictions and requires compatibility for the 10gb to work. as for CPU
Core i5-3470 Core i5-2400 are some of the only CPUs i seem to be able to find in the market for an upgrade, i have a new 1TB barracuda HDD in it but am considering a 256 or 512GB SSD if the motherboard can actually support it, these days i mostly use my laptop that has much better specs but i don't want to use it for long periods so i feel the need to raise the specs on the pc a bit.
I would appreciate some suggestions

https://www.asus.com/supportonly/p8h61_r20/helpdesk_qvl/ might be the page for my board

Do you have a 64 bit version of windows?

 

[geofelt]

I5-3470 would be a good cpu boost.
4 cores vs. 2 and faster processor.

On ram, it looks like 2 x 8gb of ddr3 1600 ram would be good.

A ssd for your C drive will make all the difference in the world as to performance.
What is your C drive now?
You should be able to clone it to a ssd.

On graphics, GT730 is puny for games. passmark rating of 833.
But, a 300w psu will limit your upgrade options.
Look for an EVGA GTX750ti with a rating of 3899.
Prices on ebay are all over the place. Perhaps $30.
I mention the evga version because it should be compatible with a legacy motherboard bios.
A legacy bios looks like simple monochrome test, not like a formatted web page.
Graphics cards started to transition to requiring more modern uefi bios to be recognized about the nvidia 7xxx series.

 

[logainofhades]

I would start with a Xeon E3 1230 or 1230v2. Basically an i7 without the IGP, and tend to go cheap on Ebay. (Less than $20). Upgrade the ram to 2x8gb. You will probably want a better PSU as well, especially if it is as old as the rest of your hardware. After that GPU wise, will depend on budget. Any SATA SSD should work with your board.

 

[stonecarver]

Being as it's the last hurrah for the platform your wanting to beef up I would look for a GTX 1070 or 1080ti.

Yesterday I seen a GTX 1080ti that was sitting at $100. for two months with no buyer sell for $70.00

If you do the upgrades like suggested it's a still in the game PC.

The suggestion for the higher GTX will indeed require a newer better power supply.

Later you can do some forum searches if you plan to ever put Windows 11 on the non supported CPU.

 

[artk2219]

Where are you located? I second logainofhades and the Xeon E3 1230 and 1230 V2, the difference being the 1230 is sandy bridge based and the 1230 V2 is ivy bridge based. Getting 2 x 8GB for a total of 16GB would max out your RAM since H61 supposedly cant support 32GB RAM. Upgrading to a decent 500W+ power supply is a requirement for any of the higher end GPU's available to you. For the GPU since you're mostly playing older games you have tons of options, R9 290(X), R9 390(X), RX 470, 480, 570, 580, Vega 56, Vega 64, GTX 970, 980, 1060, 1070(ti), 1080(ti), 1660 (TI) (Super). If you didnt want to upgrade your power supply you could go with a GTX 1050(TI) 4GB, 1650, RX 550 4GB, 560 4GB. The cheapest prices are probably on the GTX 970 and RX 470, the best value is probably on the RX Vega's, unless you can find a 1080 TI around the price stonecarver mentioned, thats still a great deal. As for storage, pick up a 512GB or 1TB sata ssd and you should be golden.

Xeon E3 1230

Xeon E3 1230 V2

Side note after looking around on ebay, i just realized this exists, its basically an R9 Fury X2, i wouldn't recommend it as an upgrade, i just figured id share it since its pretty friggin neat.

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/firepro-s9300-x2.c2833

 

[logainofhades]

For older games, with such a system, I would probably go with an RTX 2060, if you can get one for a good price, just for a bit longer driver support.

 

[artk2219]

If you want to go nuts you could probably handle up to an RTX 2070, 2080, 3060 or RX 5700(XT), 6600 (XT), 6650 XT, 7600 (XT) without losing too much performance. Then swap that card over to your new computer after you upgrade everything else. Its also worth looking around to see if anyone around you is selling a complete AM4 or LGA 1200 setup, sometimes you can get a full cpu, motherboard, and ram setup for under 100.

 

[stonecarver]

If you want to go nuts you could probably handle up to an RTX 2070, 2080, 3060 or RX 5700(XT), 6600 (XT), 6650 XT, 7600 (XT) without losing too much performance.

It seems he does have UEFI BIOS on that motherboard but I would be cautious on Nvidia side past the RTX 2070/80's and on AMD side with older board even with UEFI sometime the new AMD GPU's are a hit and miss.

Honestly I would love to hear how far we can push these older board with newer cards.

 

[artk2219]

It seems he does have UEFI BIOS on that motherboard but I would be cautious on Nvidia side past the RTX 2070/80's and on AMD side with older board even with UEFI sometime the new AMD GPU's are a hit and miss.

Honestly I would love to hear how far we can push these older board with newer cards.

That's a good point, ive never pushed an LGA 1155 board past an RX Vega card myself. Thats worth testing out, though i fear it may end up being very board specific depending on what the manufacturer included in their last bios update. I know there are "new" chinese H61 boards that support m.2 nvme drives and usb 3, so i dont think the chipset and definitely not the socket itself is the limiting factor.

 

[stonecarver]

I know there are "new" chinese H61 boards that supported m.2 nvme drives and usb 3,

I agree 100% I have three of these new boards with old chips and yes the mojo the retreaded platforms come with do let newer parts work where a feature that was never on that platform can now be incorporated.

Me I just try to keep learning.

I have an RX 580 and in the past a Dell XPS 8500 with i7 3770 and UEFI. That RX 580 just refused to work on that PC.

On the Chinese retreaded newer 1366 motherboard that same RX 580 now lives on old non UEIF BIOS.

 

[logainofhades]

I have an RX 580 and in the past a Dell XPS 8500 with i7 3770 and UEFI. That RX 580 just refused to work on that PC.

Dell doesn't want you upgrading. They want you to buy a new system, so they make upgrades difficult, on a bios level.

 

[punkncat]

XPS were commonly BIOS locked to a specific set of graphics cards.

OP, check to be sure you have standard power supply pinout and consider updating that alongside the graphics card. That old PSU is not going to support these newer options.

IMO, if you have something like Marketplace or a robust Craigslist you will be far better off considering a much newer platform in general as a used and working (older) gaming system.

 

[astroxyz]

Do you have a 64 bit version of windows?

yes windows 10 64bit is what i run

 

[astroxyz]

XPS were commonly BIOS locked to a specific set of graphics cards.

OP, check to be sure you have standard power supply pinout and consider updating that alongside the graphics card. That old PSU is not going to support these newer options.

IMO, if you have something like Marketplace or a robust Craigslist you will be far better off considering a much newer platform in general as a used and working (older) gaming system.

where i am from these options dont exist, there is definitely a used market but everyone is tryna make some money from getting rid of trash and it is unreliable, a lot of stuff i would consider second hand are already ruined items that were used to mine

 

[astroxyz]

I5-3470 would be a good cpu boost.
4 cores vs. 2 and faster processor.

On ram, it looks like 2 x 8gb of ddr3 1600 ram would be good.

A ssd for your C drive will make all the difference in the world as to performance.
What is your C drive now?
You should be able to clone it to a ssd.

On graphics, GT730 is puny for games. passmark rating of 833.
But, a 300w psu will limit your upgrade options.
Look for an EVGA GTX750ti with a rating of 3899.
Prices on ebay are all over the place. Perhaps $30.
I mention the evga version because it should be compatible with a legacy motherboard bios.
A legacy bios looks like simple monochrome test, not like a formatted web page.
Graphics cards started to transition to requiring more modern uefi bios to be recognized about the nvidia 7xxx series.

honestly i am not gonna run games that demand much, the games i usually play are games that are played by either too few or too many people so the min system requirements are easy to meet, like league of legends most rigs can run, wuthering waves my laptop runs just fine, it has i5-1235U and Iris xe gpu which is impressive despite being an onboard gpu, if possible i would rather upgrade the laptop gpu though i am not sure if that is a possibility i can not even find any gpus for it

 

[Bob.B]

yes windows 10 64bit is what i run

Ok....then you can upgrade the ram.

 

[astroxyz]

I would start with a Xeon E3 1230 or 1230v2. Basically an i7 without the IGP, and tend to go cheap on Ebay. (Less than $20). Upgrade the ram to 2x8gb. You will probably want a better PSU as well, especially if it is as old as the rest of your hardware. After that GPU wise, will depend on budget. Any SATA SSD should work with your board.

the PSU is less than 2years old used to run a 500W the problem with the cpu is market availability the models i mentioned are two of the few compatible ones i can find in the market for gpu not worried as i dont expect to run demanding stuff iris xe on the laptop does okay and much better than the gt730

 

[astroxyz]

XPS were commonly BIOS locked to a specific set of graphics cards.

OP, check to be sure you have standard power supply pinout and consider updating that alongside the graphics card. That old PSU is not going to support these newer options.

IMO, if you have something like Marketplace or a robust Craigslist you will be far better off considering a much newer platform in general as a used and working (older) gaming system.

MB 20+4 Pin (1) + CPU 12V 4+4 Pin(1) + SATA (4) + 4Pin molex (2)
these are some specs from the psu standards: CE,TUV,CB,FCC,CUL ATX V2.31

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[astroxyz]

Where are you located? I second logainofhades and the Xeon E3 1230 and 1230 V2, the difference being the 1230 is sandy bridge based and the 1230 V2 is ivy bridge based. Getting 2 x 8GB for a total of 16GB would max out your RAM since H61 supposedly cant support 32GB RAM. Upgrading to a decent 500W+ power supply is a requirement for any of the higher end GPU's available to you. For the GPU since you're mostly playing older games you have tons of options, R9 290(X), R9 390(X), RX 470, 480, 570, 580, Vega 56, Vega 64, GTX 970, 980, 1060, 1070(ti), 1080(ti), 1660 (TI) (Super). If you didnt want to upgrade your power supply you could go with a GTX 1050(TI) 4GB, 1650, RX 550 4GB, 560 4GB. The cheapest prices are probably on the GTX 970 and RX 470, the best value is probably on the RX Vega's, unless you can find a 1080 TI around the price stonecarver mentioned, thats still a great deal. As for storage, pick up a 512GB or 1TB sata ssd and you should be golden.

Xeon E3 1230

Xeon E3 1230 V2

Side note after looking around on ebay, i just realized this exists, its basically an R9 Fury X2, i wouldn't recommend it as an upgrade, i just figured id share it since its pretty friggin neat.

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/firepro-s9300-x2.c2833

located in iran actually so some of these sources do not exist and i have a hard time trusting the secondhand market here there are rx580s available for 50$ but all were used to mine for years nonstop idk if they have any milage left in them to begin with

 

[artk2219]

located in iran actually so some of these sources do not exist and i have a hard time trusting the secondhand market here there are rx580s available for 50$ but all were used to mine for years nonstop idk if they have any milage left in them to begin with

Ah i can see why you're sticking with lga 1155 then, those parts are common all over the world at this point. Are there any sellers near you that offer at least a 30 day warranty on the RX 580's? You could buy it and stress test the part for a week or two to make sure its stable, usually if its going to die on you, it will be within the first week or two of heavy usage. Do you know what cpu's you have available to you?

 

[astroxyz]

Check and compare the game's hardware and software requirements to the "old pc's" specs.

Most applications/games provide some listing of required hardware specs in the form of "minimal", "recommended", and "best".

You do not want "minimal" and you do want as much "best" as budget permits.

More RAM is likely to provide the most improvement. As a matched kit for dual channel use.

Changing from a HDD to SSD also can make a difference. 512GB if at all possible.

The key document is the Motherboard's User Guide/Manual. Check the manual for supported components and configurations.

There may be other questions, ideas, and/or suggestions via the Gaming Community and those who play the same games.

Ah i can see why you're sticking with lga 1155 then, those parts are common all over the world at this point. Are there any sellers near you that offer at least a 30 day warranty on the RX 580's? You could buy it and stress test the part for a week or two to make sure its stable, usually if its going to die on you, it will be within the first week or two of heavy usage. Do you know what cpu's you have available to you?

the test period if any might just be a week there is 88 sales on it similar price on all, few have a week long test period and most dont have any warranty or test period or even a box lol

 

[astroxyz]

Ah i can see why you're sticking with lga 1155 then, those parts are common all over the world at this point. Are there any sellers near you that offer at least a 30 day warranty on the RX 580's? You could buy it and stress test the part for a week or two to make sure its stable, usually if its going to die on you, it will be within the first week or two of heavy usage. Do you know what cpu's you have available to you?

i just do not want something that might die on me in a week or a few months if i get greedy. i would rather have something lower end that is somewhat serviceable yet will last much longer, my motherboard for instance is like 12 years old lol, my samsung monitor is still operational after 17 years
i will likely look into a budget gaming rig in a year or two but first need my job to stabilize and getting an average car would take me roughly 6-8k usd which is something that will limit what i spend on the pc

 

[geofelt]

i just do not want something that might die on me in a week or a few months if i get greedy. i would rather have something lower end that is somewhat serviceable yet will last much longer, my motherboard for instance is like 12 years old lol, my samsung monitor is still operational after 17 years
i will likely look into a budget gaming rig in a year or two but first need my job to stabilize and getting an average car would take me roughly 6-8k usd which is something that will limit what i spend on the pc

Intel processors rarely fail on their own.
If it works day one, you are likely ok.