[SOLVED] PC upgrades for friend

[Dj0gany]

Hi, so these are the specs of my friend's pc:

• i3 7100 (stock cooler)
• ASUS H110M-R
• 1x4GB 2133mhz
• GIGABYTE RX 560 2GB single fan one
• Cooler Master MWE 500 WHITE V2
• Some random $20 case which has a rear exhaust fan only
• 1TB HDD

This pc is a family pc, and as you might quess, there are a lot of family photos, word documents, song, pretty much everything downloaded on it.
He play's LoL, Hearts of Iron and some older games, but he wants to play Total War Warhammer 2.
Obviously 4GB isnt helping, so i recommended him to buy this ram kit, which im sure would make a pretty noticable difference.
His budget is $100, so this which he would pay $70 for, would be a pretty good deal.
With that $30 left, im thinking 250gb 860 EVO?
Thoughts?

Note: In summer 2020, his pc would constantly shut down after 1 min, i suspected its the $10 psu that came with the pc (it was prebuilt bought in 2017) and i was correct!
Keep in mind we live in Serbia, so that is why i recommended him to buy the CM psu!

 

[punkncat]

For real I would jump on eBay, perhaps even AliExpress and see about locating a cheap used 7400.
I would also search for a used stick of matched RAM to what is installed. Intel is far less choosy about RAM.
Find a cheap but half decent small SSD to put a clean OS install on.

Think this could be done for ~$120 ish

 

[Dj0gany]

For real I would jump on eBay, perhaps even AliExpress and see about locating a cheap used 7400.
I would also search for a used stick of matched RAM to what is installed. Intel is far less choosy about RAM.
Find a cheap but half decent small SSD to put a clean OS install on.

Think this could be done for ~$120 ish

i5 7400 ~ 135 euros
860 EVO 250gb ~ 60euros
RAM i wouldnt risk it so i think we will go with the Kingston one, ofcourse if we decide on the ram upgrade.
As i said we live in Serbia, so everything is more expensive than in the USA.
Thanks for replies though : )

 

[Dj0gany]

I dont trust Ebay and Aliexpress if im being honest.
Been already tricked on used market before, dont want to lose $100 again...
Especially since im a minor.

EDIT:
The only thing that i bought from Aliexpress is a $1 80mm rear exhaust case fan that die earlier this month.
And a $1 mask for my phone.

 

[punkncat]

we live in Serbia, so everything is more expensive than in the USA.
Thanks for replies though : )

I missed that part, lol. I had jumped on eBay and found the CPU for just over $60, and a stick of 2133 for $14....well on the way.

 

[Dj0gany]

So ram upgrade for now?
He'll get some money around June when the school year is over (50-100e) so by that time we can grab a CPU or GPU upgrade by then.

 

[punkncat]

It's hard to answer given certain other unknowns.

This is the family computer. Is he going to be able to take it down, do a reinstall, get everyone back up and running?

If he can, I think I would look for a 120G 2.5" SSD and a match pair making 8GB of memory. Assuming along the other above question that he has the user level authority to turn things off prior to a gaming sesh that should be enough memory along with the SSD to run the games the system is capable of consistently.
I would be reticent to spend any "real" amount of money on this machine with R3 3100 out there....

 

[Dj0gany]

It's hard to answer given certain other unknowns.

This is the family computer. Is he going to be able to take it down, do a reinstall, get everyone back up and running?

If he can, I think I would look for a 120G 2.5" SSD and a match pair making 8GB of memory. Assuming along the other above question that he has the user level authority to turn things off prior to a gaming sesh that should be enough memory along with the SSD to run the games the system is capable of consistently.
I would be reticent to spend any "real" amount of money on this machine with R3 3100 out there....

He doesnt have $100 max.
He has about $150 complete budget, but he would rather spend $100 if he can, but i'll make him buy the ssd anyway, since he is easy to brag with.
I recommended him this:
After he buys the SSD, we will move all the files off off the HDD to the SSD, then format the HDD. After formating the HDD, we will install windows on the SSD and move the files back to the HDD.
So his parents arent loosing anything.
"I would be reticent to spend any "real" amount of money on this machine with R3 3100 out there.... "
It would take him 2 years of saving to get the 3100/ motherboard.

 

[punkncat]

"I would be reticent to spend any "real" amount of money on this machine with R3 3100 out there.... "
It would take him 2 years of saving to get the 3100/ motherboard.

The reason I mention that is this. The 3100 came out and pretty much made the i7 7700 obsolete by way of being an available CPU (in normal buying times) and motherboard cheaper than Intel has typically allowed resale of the i7 variants to sell for. Even old ones.

To get any meaningful performance boosts from this it's going to have to come out of page file as much as possible, thus more RAM, and have a quicker page file when it needs to, thus the SSD. I think you are on the right path.

 

[Why_Me]

He doesnt have $100 max.
He has about $150 complete budget, but he would rather spend $100 if he can, but i'll make him buy the ssd anyway, since he is easy to brag with.
I recommended him this:
After he buys the SSD, we will move all the files off off the HDD to the SSD, then format the HDD. After formating the HDD, we will install windows on the SSD and move the files back to the HDD.
So his parents arent loosing anything.
"I would be reticent to spend any "real" amount of money on this machine with R3 3100 out there.... "
It would take him 2 years of saving to get the 3100/ motherboard.

2.5 SATA SSD would be the way to go imo.

https://www.eponuda.com/ssd-diskovi-cene/1/f4_1

 

[Dj0gany]

The reason I mention that is this. The 3100 came out and pretty much made the i7 7700 obsolete by way of being an available CPU (in normal buying times) and motherboard cheaper than Intel has typically allowed resale of the i7 variants to sell for. Even old ones.

To get any meaningful performance boosts from this it's going to have to come out of page file as much as possible, thus more RAM, and have a quicker page file when it needs to, thus the SSD. I think you are on the right path.

Thanks for the replies!
Yeah, thats what i thought.
Both his CPU and GPU are somewhere in the same league, if that makes sense, so he wont be upgrading that right now, oh and the GPU market ofc xD
Do you reckon he can sell his i3 7100+mobo and add some money for a new cpu/mobo after the ram+ssd upgrade?

 

[Dj0gany]

2.5 SATA SSD would be the way to go imo.

https://www.eponuda.com/ssd-diskovi-cene/1/f4_1

Besides ram, or just get the SSD for now?

 

[Why_Me]

Besides ram, or just get the SSD for now?

I would get the SSD for now and when he has more money get a B510 board and 3200 DDR4 RAM.

Here's three B510 boards that have showed up on US sites with more on the way within the next few weeks.

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100007627 601361317

 

[Dj0gany]

I would get the SSD for now and when he has more money get a B510 board and 3200 DDR4 RAM.

Here's three B510 boards that have showed up on US sites with more on the way within the next few weeks.

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100007627 601361317

"when he has more money get a B510 board and 3200 DDR4 RAM "
Add $50 on the motherboard, since that is how things go in my country.
3200mhz 2x8gb is about $90, so that is doable.
I think we will just upgrade the ram and get a ssd for now.
Thank you for the replies.