- Dec 22, 2018
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As a fun and cheap project to give me some experience taking apart and building/upgrading PCs I recently took inspiration from one of Linus's recent videos where he took an old Dell Optiplex machine and upgraded it for use in low spec gaming. The details of my upgrade are below:
Original Machine: Dell Optiplex 980 SFF
CPU: Intel i7 870
RAM: 16GB DDR3 Patriot Viper (4 x 4GB sticks)
SSD - Samsung 250GB SSD (for mostly just OS)
2nd HD - 1TB Toshiba Hard Disk via USB external slot
GPU - Gigabyte NVIDIA GT 1030 GDDR5 2GB (low profile)
I not only had a lot of fun doing this, but I learned quite a bit about what some people would say are basic type things like installing an OS from your BIOS via Flash, boot priority sequence, the difference between DDR3, DDR4, and GDDR5 in GPUs, different CPU gens, Intel vs. AMD, PSU and why wattage matters, etc.
In the end, I had learned a lot and was VERY impressed with the performance of my new "Gaming" computer. So much so that I actually bought a decent monitor, quality mouse & keyboard, and quality headset to use with it. I can run Fortnite at Medium settings at 120fps limit all day with no issues, although I usually keep it on low and a few other various things off like v-sync, etc. As well as a wide variety of other games I play: GTA V, CS:GO, Dota 2, Rocket League to name a few.
The only major issues I have with it are the LOW power supply as the original Optiplex was a SFF or "small form factor", there is virtually NO other PSU that actually fits inside the unit, so my GPU was thus limited to a low power card (Dell original PSU is something like 235Ws). Not to mention the card also had to fit in an EXTREMELY tight space, and the GT1030 low profile was virtually the best I could find that fit these two criteria.
Where I am at now is that I would like to essentially upgrade the upgrade once again. This time, buying a completely new case, motherboard, and upgrading the PSU. I also would once again like to upgrade the CPU to something a little newer than my 1st gen one and also upgrade the GPU.
From what I've read about Intel processors, the i7 870 which I have, is a 1156 pin unit and most of the better ones are 2066 pins, which obviously fits in a different slot. So I definately need to upgrade the motherboard.
So my main question here is by buying a new 2066 MOBO, new CPU, new GPU, new PSU, and new case will the Patriot DDR3 RAM I have in here now bottleneck my new build? I know the difference between DDR3 and 4. But have no first hand experience in true work load / speeds between these. Is it dumb to have let's say an i7 8700K with a 1080ti GPU and then this sort of crappy DDR3 RAM with it? If so, what RAM should I get?
Also, any recommendations on Motherboards? And is the only real thing I need to worry about is the CPU socket? Ideally I would like 2 PCIe slots as well and 4 RAM slots.
Sorry this is a long ramble just to ask a simply question, but I always have been like this, I can't help it. I write way too much.
Cheers,
ATLhooligan
Update: Looks like the better CPUs are actually socket H4, which is 1151 pins, but regardless, still wont fit in my current motherboard that has just an H socket for 1156 pin CPUs
Original Machine: Dell Optiplex 980 SFF
CPU: Intel i7 870
RAM: 16GB DDR3 Patriot Viper (4 x 4GB sticks)
SSD - Samsung 250GB SSD (for mostly just OS)
2nd HD - 1TB Toshiba Hard Disk via USB external slot
GPU - Gigabyte NVIDIA GT 1030 GDDR5 2GB (low profile)
I not only had a lot of fun doing this, but I learned quite a bit about what some people would say are basic type things like installing an OS from your BIOS via Flash, boot priority sequence, the difference between DDR3, DDR4, and GDDR5 in GPUs, different CPU gens, Intel vs. AMD, PSU and why wattage matters, etc.
In the end, I had learned a lot and was VERY impressed with the performance of my new "Gaming" computer. So much so that I actually bought a decent monitor, quality mouse & keyboard, and quality headset to use with it. I can run Fortnite at Medium settings at 120fps limit all day with no issues, although I usually keep it on low and a few other various things off like v-sync, etc. As well as a wide variety of other games I play: GTA V, CS:GO, Dota 2, Rocket League to name a few.
The only major issues I have with it are the LOW power supply as the original Optiplex was a SFF or "small form factor", there is virtually NO other PSU that actually fits inside the unit, so my GPU was thus limited to a low power card (Dell original PSU is something like 235Ws). Not to mention the card also had to fit in an EXTREMELY tight space, and the GT1030 low profile was virtually the best I could find that fit these two criteria.
Where I am at now is that I would like to essentially upgrade the upgrade once again. This time, buying a completely new case, motherboard, and upgrading the PSU. I also would once again like to upgrade the CPU to something a little newer than my 1st gen one and also upgrade the GPU.
From what I've read about Intel processors, the i7 870 which I have, is a 1156 pin unit and most of the better ones are 2066 pins, which obviously fits in a different slot. So I definately need to upgrade the motherboard.
So my main question here is by buying a new 2066 MOBO, new CPU, new GPU, new PSU, and new case will the Patriot DDR3 RAM I have in here now bottleneck my new build? I know the difference between DDR3 and 4. But have no first hand experience in true work load / speeds between these. Is it dumb to have let's say an i7 8700K with a 1080ti GPU and then this sort of crappy DDR3 RAM with it? If so, what RAM should I get?
Also, any recommendations on Motherboards? And is the only real thing I need to worry about is the CPU socket? Ideally I would like 2 PCIe slots as well and 4 RAM slots.
Sorry this is a long ramble just to ask a simply question, but I always have been like this, I can't help it. I write way too much.
Cheers,
ATLhooligan
Update: Looks like the better CPUs are actually socket H4, which is 1151 pins, but regardless, still wont fit in my current motherboard that has just an H socket for 1156 pin CPUs
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