Question Question about builds and creating 2 pcs from older stuff

[gazza1988]

Right so I'm trying to convince my partner to allow me an upgrade on my PC. She want's to know how much and I am struggling. I am in the UK. If this wall of text is too much the TL;DR is just after the numbered list.

I am currently rocking https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/gazza1988/saved/#view=qPsfvK (I still have the stock cooler from the 2600x in storage)

I also have in storage https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/gazza1988/saved/NHLzZL (Yes I have the 1080p monitor in storage)

My kids want to have a gaming PC and something to do homework on (they have a HP g3 or something or other laptop) They play kids stuff, so Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite and the like. I can run Hogwarts Legacy on my rig. They currently share an Xbox one so a separate PC will help with THAT daily argument.

I also want an upgrade and my partner says no but after struggling to find stuff for Christmas I suggested the kids get my PC and they loved the idea (as you can guess) but mainly it's down to cost.

This is where more knowledgeable people come in. I am all burnt out watching Youtube videos for the past week. You always get the "well for 40 more you can get this" an next thing you know it's £1000 and missus is giving me the "not a prayer" look.

A few things for this:

1. The GPU - For this build I have basically found a way to get this Gigabyte RTX 4070 on pay monthly with unlimited video and gaming data on my mobile phone plan and 2 years of Gamepass for £31 a month (£744 - but it's £590 on amazon for the card and cheapest I can find for 24 months of GP is £176 - so still saving £22 and get to pay it off monthly) it's the best card they have, Either that or a 4060 8gb for £18 a month).

2. The PSU, I know very very little about PSU just some people say 200w above used wattage or double the wattage. Will the 850w I have be able to power the 4070? A Google search says it wants 3 8-pin connectors and that PSU has, according to pcpartpicker, 6 6+2 pin connectors so should work? Main question is will that ancient Enermax power the current build (the 2600x + 1660ti)? If this is ok it saves a bit of cash and can be upgraded later on.

3. Cases - The Cosmo S is a massive case. Like it is huge. However, it is stored in the bedroom pretty much where it will be in use so space is not an issue and the mpg gungir has served me well so far.

4. Heatsink - I have the Corsair AIO which is compatible with AM5 if I upgrade to that and the stock cooler is fine for the 2600x. However, I have heard you can get a better cooler for not very much so maybe will upgrade that stock cooler.

5. Storage. I will need an NVME drive. I thought the PCI 4 WD SN770 2tb would suffice. I'd let the kids keep the SN550 Gen 3 drive. So I will need a drive and that SN770 seems ok.

6. CPU - I have no clue. Something that works well with the 4070 12gb. preferably staying on AMD. I hope I won't offend someone but intel seems very unstable right now. I want to play 1440p in games, Cyberpunk would be nice for it not to run like flip-picture book.

7. Motherboard - Will need a motherboard, I think AM5 would be better because I might as well as I'm upgrading everything else. No idea what Mobos to get. Been out the loop for about 7 years or whenever I bought the PC parts.

8. RAM - I have RAM, New RAM will definitely be required on AM5 and tbh my current ram would be too slow for if I stay on AM4 for the upgrade.

9. Monitors - I have 2 monitors, no need for new

10. peripherals - I don't need a keyboard and mouse.

TL;DR: I need, as a bare minimum, a Motherboard, CPU, RAM and main storage. For as cheap as possible but to not bottle-neck a 4070. I have no set budget I need to convince my partner that upgrading my system is a good move. if you skipped the wall of text please read point 2 of the list about the PSU as that is probably a requirement but I might get away with it. Even if it is a "it will do" for now but upgrade later on then that is fine.

Please someone help me out. I want to take advantage of the 1440p 165hz display I have. without turning graphics settings back to the PS2 era. I have gamepass but would like to play Jedi Survivor, lies of P with decent graphics but I also play Fortnite once or twice a week with the kids (although sadly that is getting rarer nowadays - I'm level 6 so far this season!)

 

[Lutfij]

2| Will the 850w I have be able to power the 4070? How old is the PSU in your build. I wouldn't recycle the unit if it's as old as the processor.

3| The MSI Gungnir is a horrible case to house hot headed components in your build. By that I mean you would need to look at a case that has ample airflow, in fact you could take the front fascia off the case and that should aid your airflow.

4| You can recycle pretty much every component from older builds but if it's been used for a long while, then it's best not recycle them, since you want a reliable build not something you need to troubleshoot after sinking money onto parts in the midst of a partner trying to find fault in your endeavor.

You did mention you're located in the UK but you didn't mention what your absolute budget for your upgrade would be. You could've stylized your thread with info asked of in this thread;

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

and the community would've moved forward with suggestions.

 

[gazza1988]

That's the thing I don't know what my budget is. I was looking for advice on recycling (eg the case etc) so I can say it'll cost x amount. but if I factor in new cases and PSU it will up the budget or water down what else I can get.

I did some digging and found I bought it all in 2019 (not 2017 as I first thought). So all components on my build are 5 years old and not 7. Another note the AIO was purchased in June 2021 so the stock cooler was used for 2 years and the AIO for 3 years.

I did see the upgrade post you linked but because I was asking about 2 computers and also requesting advice on what I actually need to upgrade and what I don't need to upgrade I was going to wait until I have that info before I ask. For example, I assumed the case would be fine and turns out it isn't. I tried to ask everything at once both can I use old parts and how much will it cost. Probably should've split it.

Approximate Purchase Date: within 2 weeks to a month - right now looking for a ballpark figure on what I need.

Budget Range: May convince partner for £700 depending upon if I can get the kids a PC out of it as well (hence me trying to save as much as possible but still keeping as many specs the same on my current build.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Playing games from latest games on gamepass (have games such as Elden ring on my steam wishlist but daren't buy until I know I can play them - Gamepass allows me to at least test the games) like Jedi Survivor and Lies of P. I use it to watch Netflix.YouTube and I am trying to learn coding on Udemy moving onto maybe trying game development but no idea what specs I need for that,

Are you buying a monitor: No - I have a Dell 27" 1440p 165hz monitor



Parts to Upgrade: Mobo, CPU, RAM - Case and maybe more.

Do you need to buy OS: No - apparently can get reduced cost win11 with kids student emails.
Please note that if you're using an OEM license of Windows, you will need a new one when buying a new motherboard.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Wherever is cheapest overall. Do not mind saving money if it is all from different places.

Location: Nottingham, UK

Parts Preferences: AMD CPU. It may be better on AM5 but open to AM4 as well.

Overclocking: Maybe - not a dealbreaker if not.

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1440p

Additional Comments: I am looking at giving my old PC to the kids and recycling what I can to not only keep costs down but also keep stuff out of landfill.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Some games are low settings and some games I don't meet the minimum requirements. I built a mid-range PC in 2019. I have 6GB of VRAM on a 1440p 165hz monitor. I'd like to better utilise that monitor. Plus I want to try and get my kids a gaming PC for Fortnite and the like. My 2600x with the 1660ti on 1080p with 32GB RAM should suffice for them.

 

[Aeacus]

As i read all of that, you can solve your conundrum in 2 ways:
1. The cheapest way.
2. The performance way.

#1
The cheapest way is this;
For kids, give them the old FX-6300 build you have in storage. It currently is missing GPU but you can slap your GTX 1660 Ti into it. That takes care of kids.

For yourself, get the RTX 4070 + new PSU to go along with it. E.g Seasonic Focus GX-750 ATX 3.0,
pcpp: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...ly-modular-atx-power-supply-atx3-focus-gx-750

Total cost: £110 for PSU and £31 per month for RTX 4070.

This is solid start and once you have new PSU and GPU running in your current system, you can then look if you need to go with new CPU-MoBo-RAM combo or not. Also, missus would be happy too.

#2
The performance way;
From the old AMD build, you can only re-use the PC case. The rest of the components are too old/outdated. So, best to keep the old AMD build in the storage and give your current build, as is, in whole, to your kids. While for yourself, build a completely new PC.

Something like this perhaps:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£187.97 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£55.90 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard (£139.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL36 Memory (£81.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN580 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£53.32 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB Video Card (Purchased For £0.00)
Case: Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case (£57.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£120.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £698.15

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-27 19:38 BST+0100

Few words;
R5 7600X is solid upgrade over your current R5 2600X. If you want to save some money, you can go with R5 8600G.
CPU cooler is king of air coolers as of right now. Twin-tower air cooler. Far more reliable and long lasting than any AIO.
MoBo isn't anything special, but has built-in wi-fi and classy all black looks.
RAM is a bit more, 2x 16GB (32GB) total. If you want to save money, you can always go with 2x 8GB.
Due to the budget limit of 700 quid, i put in WD 1TB NVMe SSD. If you want more storage, feel free to bring over the 2TB Samsung SSD from your current build, leaving only 1TB drive for kids.
GPU is the one you picked. Since it has monthly payment, i didn't include it's price with this build.
PC case is one of the better airflow PC cases, with side window and 5.25" external bay (latter is actually quite useful).
And lastly, all that is powered by the very Seasonic unit i suggested above.


As of what i'd do in your situation, 1st i'd try the option #1. IF the old AMD FX-6300 build doesn't work anymore (e.g dead MoBo), there wouldn't be a reason for getting spare parts for it, whereby you end up with option #2.

 

[Aeacus]

Oh, looks like i made a small mistake when completing the 700 quid build;
namely, i had "only amazon UK" as retailer selected. With that removed, it opens up more retailers and i was able to improve the build a bit;

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£183.99 @ CCL Computers)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£33.98 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Motherboard: MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard (£139.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL36 Memory (£81.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN580 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£98.60 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB Video Card (Purchased For £0.00)
Case: Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case (£53.86 @ Clove Technology)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£109.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £702.39

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-27 19:55 BST+0100

Few quid over 700 but well worth it.

Changes made compared to my initial suggestion:
CPU cooler - Spirit 120 SE to Assassin 120 SE. Assassin 120 SE is value king of air coolers. Much cheaper than Spirit 120 SE while almost equal cooling performance.
SSD - WD 1TB to WD 2TB. With funds freed from CPU cooler, a bigger capacity SSD was able to be fitted to the build.
The rest of the components remain the same.

 

[gazza1988]

That is amazing. That is exactly why I went for help. I tried. Even using a 7600x and I got over £1000 without a case and it just blows my mind. Thank you for the assistance.

 

[logainofhades]

I would not buy MSI PRO B650-S WIFI. It's VRM's are not good. In HUB's testing the VRM's hit 113c. The whole point of going AM5 is future upgrade path. That board will probably limit your options going forward. I would swap it to this, as it performed much better, with regard to VRM temps, at 83c, and is the same cost.

This is what I came up with. You get a better board, and faster ram, and a bit faster SSD.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£183.99 @ CCL Computers)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£33.98 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard (£139.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (£96.97 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£97.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB Video Card (Purchased For £0.00)
Case: Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£98.95 @ AWD-IT)
Total: £700.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-27 21:01 BST+0100

 

[gazza1988]

Thank you for that