[SOLVED] Ressurecting 8 year old phenom pc

Robbom

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Friends young son has an old pc with the following specs:
Motherboard - Asrock 880GM-LE
CPU - Phenom ii X6 1055t
Generic 240w PSU that appears to be part of the case
4gb ddr3 ram

He wants to be able to play games such as Fortnite on the pc, and I was wondering whether adding an RX 560 to the system would be a cost efficient way to allow him to do this at low-medium settings without increasing the draw from PSU too much (as I don't know how much this could be trusted) and without his parents having to buy a brand new pc. If we did go ahead with this would the 4gb of ram be a limiting factor? Finally would adding a 120gb ssd for OS help performance?
Appreciate any help
Cheers
 
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Friends young son has an old pc with the following specs:
Motherboard - Asrock 880GM-LE
CPU - Phenom ii X6 1055t
Generic 240w PSU that appears to be part of the case
4gb ddr3 ram

He wants to be able to play games such as Fortnite on the pc, and I was wondering whether adding an RX 560 to the system would be a cost efficient way to allow him to do this at low-medium settings without increasing the draw from PSU too much (as I don't know how much this could be trusted) and without his parents having to buy a brand new pc. If we did go ahead with this would the 4gb of ram be a limiting factor? Finally would adding a 120gb ssd for OS help performance?
Appreciate any help
Cheers

240W, especially on an aged power hungry system like...

WildCard999

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Even with a low power GPU I don't think the 240W would be sufficient, especially if it was with the original system.

Gaming wise though, a RX 560 paired with that CPU should be fine for smooth Low to Med settings and as for the 4gb of memory that should be fine as long as there not running apps in the background such as Discord.

The SSD won't affect gaming performance but would speed up general use, startup times & game load. Considering pricing has dropped significantly I would try to spend the $30-$40 for a 240gb instead for some extra storage.
 
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Robbom

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Is it possible to upgrade the PSUs in these kinds of cases? The PSU seems to be a part of the case itself, afraid I don't have the pc with me now but I could get pictures if needed. If I could upgrade what PSU would you recommend? Budget is around £150.

I would updade the PSU, get a matching stick of ram, and get a GPU, then skip the ssd, for now.

What is the budget for this?
 

Robbom

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That's good to hear, just need to figure out what to do about the PSU now!

Even with a low power GPU I don't think the 240W would be sufficient, especially if it was with the original system.

Gaming wise though, a RX 560 paired with that CPU should be fine for smooth Low to Med settings and as for the 4gb of memory that should be fine as long as there not running apps in the background such as Discord.

The SSD won't affect gaming performance but would speed up general use, startup times & game load. Considering pricing has dropped significantly I would try to spend the $30-$40 for a 240gb instead for some extra storage.
 

DSzymborski

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Ah ok, perhaps Ive made a mistake there, I'll get pictures asap

It's unusual to see a PSU that you can't remove from a case. Even in pre-builts; it's not cost effective for a company to have to replace the case and the PSU when the breaks and they're required to it under warranty. And in an aftermarket case, a lot of the good ones try to hide the PSU. For example, in my case, there's a white shroud covering the PSU and to remove the PSU, you have to take the back-of-motherboard side off and release the shroud screws. To someone unfamiliar with my case or these types of shrouds, it might look to them as a PSU that can't be removed.
 

Robbom

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Yeah sounds like mine is one of the shrouded ones then, assuming that's the case what kind of PSU should I go for? A 350W?

It's unusual to see a PSU that you can't remove from a case. Even in pre-builts; it's not cost effective for a company to have to replace the case and the PSU when the breaks and they're required to it under warranty. And in an aftermarket case, a lot of the good ones try to hide the PSU. For example, in my case, there's a white shroud covering the PSU and to remove the PSU, you have to take the back-of-motherboard side off and release the shroud screws. To someone unfamiliar with my case or these types of shrouds, it might look to them as a PSU that can't be removed.
 

DSzymborski

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Yeah sounds like mine is one of the shrouded ones then, assuming that's the case what kind of PSU should I go for? A 350W?

You don't actually tend to see many decent PSUs at this wattage and the ones that are tend to be at fairly lousy prices.

Because of the presence of the Corsair CX, 450W tends to be the entry-level sweet spot.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $44.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-09 11:03 EDT-0400
 

Robbom

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Ok thanks, so that PSU plus the GPU and a ram upgrade to 8gb would produce decent results?

You don't actually tend to see many decent PSUs at this wattage and the ones that are tend to be at fairly lousy prices.

Because of the presence of the Corsair CX, 450W tends to be the entry-level sweet spot.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $44.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-09 11:03 EDT-0400
 
Friends young son has an old pc with the following specs:
Motherboard - Asrock 880GM-LE
CPU - Phenom ii X6 1055t
Generic 240w PSU that appears to be part of the case
4gb ddr3 ram

He wants to be able to play games such as Fortnite on the pc, and I was wondering whether adding an RX 560 to the system would be a cost efficient way to allow him to do this at low-medium settings without increasing the draw from PSU too much (as I don't know how much this could be trusted) and without his parents having to buy a brand new pc. If we did go ahead with this would the 4gb of ram be a limiting factor? Finally would adding a 120gb ssd for OS help performance?
Appreciate any help
Cheers

240W, especially on an aged power hungry system like Phenom is not nearly enough.

Chances are the PSU is standard ATX format and you should be able to pick up a quality 400Watt for $45.

120GB ssd will definitely improve boot times. Game load times will help some, but to be honest, with that small a drive, his games will be relegated to the HDD.

A decently powerful 2400G system could be built:
400 Watt PSU $45
2x4 Gigs RAM 2666MHz: $50
2400G: $99
B450 Board: $80
120GB SSD: $30

That's about ~$305 if you reuse the case/monitor/keyboard/HDD/Mouse

That's about the price of an XBox One S. And it would be a bit more powerful.

For a twitch fest like Fortnite, I would recommend a minimum of 60fps average.

https://www.userbenchmark.com/PCGame/FPS-Estimates-Fortnite/3954/401440.0.Low.1080p.0

Overclocking it would help. 3.8GHz is obtainable.
 
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WildCard999

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I wouldn't even bother investing in more ram unless it's actually required. Fortnite isn't very difficult to run so grabbing a PSU if the current one can be replaced and a budget GPU should be plenty to play it and would be under $200. A SSD can be added in later on if desired.
 

Robbom

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Yeah this is what I'm leaning towards if I'm being perfectly honest, thanks!

I wouldn't even bother investing in more ram unless it's actually required. Fortnite isn't very difficult to run so grabbing a PSU if the current one can be replaced and a budget GPU should be plenty to play it and would be under $200. A SSD can be added in later on if desired.
 

Robbom

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I think I will just stick to the PSU and GPU upgrade plan for now as that should be a faily good price to performance gain and I don't think the parents want to spend that kind of money. If I can get Fortnite to be reasonably playable I think they will be happy. Appreciate the build suggestions though thanks.
In regards to overclocking, is this a good idea on such an old system? Or was that in reference to the ryzen build?


Edit I've just remembered I have an old gtx 660 from when I upgraded my pc recently, out of interest how would that pair with the phenom and would it be enough run Fortnite. Could save them a lot of money as I have no use for the card now

 
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I think I will just stick to the PSU and GPU upgrade plan for now as that should be a faily good price to performance gain and I don't think the parents want to spend that kind of money. If I can get Fortnite to be reasonably playable I think they will be happy. Appreciate the build suggestions though thanks.
In regards to overclocking, is this a good idea on such an old system? Or was that in reference to the ryzen build?


Edit I've just remembered I have an old gtx 660 from when I upgraded my pc recently, out of interest how would that pair with the phenom and would it be enough run Fortnite. Could save them a lot of money as I have no use for the card now

Well it's kind of hard to say. How old is phenom? Like 8-10 years? I'm not sure how stable that system would be or fast. Even on 720p low settings it would be questionable. Over clocking might be possible. But those old amd boards weren't known to be the highest quality builds. So the components like capacitors on there might be sketchy. I wouldn't push it too hard in terms of over clock.

If your scrapping together a system, which is really nice of you, then he'll likely be happier than with nothing. Worse comes to worse if the system doesn't run well, they atleast have a decent power supply to start a new system.
 

WildCard999

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I think I will just stick to the PSU and GPU upgrade plan for now as that should be a faily good price to performance gain and I don't think the parents want to spend that kind of money. If I can get Fortnite to be reasonably playable I think they will be happy. Appreciate the build suggestions though thanks.
In regards to overclocking, is this a good idea on such an old system? Or was that in reference to the ryzen build?


Edit I've just remembered I have an old gtx 660 from when I upgraded my pc recently, out of interest how would that pair with the phenom and would it be enough run Fortnite. Could save them a lot of money as I have no use for the card now
Won't hurt that try that 660.
 

Robbom

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Yeah just trying to make it as cost effective as possible for them really. Do you reckon a cx450 would be enough to run the 660 or should I go for a slightly higher wattage?

Well it's kind of hard to say. How old is phenom? Like 8-10 years? I'm not sure how stable that system would be or fast. Even on 720p low settings it would be questionable. Over clocking might be possible. But those old amd boards weren't known to be the highest quality builds. So the components like capacitors on there might be sketchy. I wouldn't push it too hard in terms of over clock.

If your scrapping together a system, which is really nice of you, then he'll likely be happier than with nothing. Worse comes to worse if the system doesn't run well, they atleast have a decent power supply to start a new system.
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Robbom

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Got the pc back and the PSU is really thin, about 9cm, so I'm pretty sure the CX 450 I was planning to get wouldn't fit as theres no room for it to sit in any other orientation. In addition the gtx 660 doesn't fit in the case. I would attach images but I'm not exactly sure how to do so. I'm sure a low profile Rx 560 would fit, but the PSU size is still an issue. Any ideas? Wondering if building a system from scratch would be a better option at this point.


As long as it's the grey label CX then it would be fine to use with the 660.
 
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Azzyasi

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Beware that newer graphic cards require UEFI only motherboard. Most 10year old motherboards don't have UEFI and will artefact like crazy until POST (the initial image that says which gpu is installed and the splashscreen of the MB)
I've encountered this with rx570 on old lga775 q9550 and ix38 abit motherboard.

I'd say pair each computer with hardware from the same period and software from the same period as well, (at least for mb-cpu-gpu-ram and to some extent others if very old)

That 660 is a perfect fit your old computer. Also it may run windows 10, if not, don't be afraid to go windows7 route as performance may improve.

And another thing: the 660 is power hungry. That SFX 240W psu will not cut it! dont even try!