Question Should I Upgrade Phenom II X4 945 3.0Ghz

[Azndude263]

I have a super old desktop PC sitting in the garage collecting dust. The specs are below

CPU: Phenom II X4 945 3.0ghz
Mobo: MSI 970 (I think)
Ram: 4gb (2 x 2gb 1333)
GPU: GTX 730
PSU: Some old 350w PSU
HDD: 500gb Seagate 7200 RMP

I want to upgrade this PC a little bit and give to my cousin to use. He plays some light games such as Dota 2, Diablo 3 (also 4 when available), Guild Wars 2 and possibly some shooter games if possible

I know it's super old AM3 and not even sure if it's capable to run anything but am thinking to upgrade to these

CPU: Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz ($30)
CPU 2: Phenom II X6 1090t 3.2ghz ($70)
CPU 2: Phenom II X6 1075t 3.0ghz ($60)
Ram: 8gb or 16gb ($40)
GPU: RX 460 ($60) (Or any recommended GPU)
SSD: 512gb High Silicon SSD ($60)

Do you think these upgrades are good? I know some of you will say why not just overclock the 945 but I am a novice and never overclocked before. So I feel uneasy about it. What do you think my best options are? Or what should I do?

 

[tennis2]

Stick with the current CPU or go all-in on a full platform replacement. Beggars can't be choosers. Nothing to complain about if it's free.

How about an SSD?

Is the current RAM 2x2GB or 1x4GB? Having at least 8GB would be nice.

Ditch the GT710.

 

[Azndude263]

Oh yes, I forgot about SSD. That is a must. The current ram is 2x 2gb (I think its 1333). I haven't gotten it out of storage to inspect the inside

If I were to keep the current CPU and upgrade to the RX 460. Will it be able to play those games at decent FPS though? I am for sure getting SSD and at least 8gb of ram

 

[Third-Eye]

I have a super old desktop PC sitting in the garage collecting dust. The specs are below

CPU: Phenom II X4 945 3.0ghz
Mobo: MSI 970 (I think)
Ram: 4gb
GPU: GT 710

I want to upgrade this PC a little bit and give to my cousin to use. He plays some light games such as Dota 2, Diablo 3 (also 4 when available), Guild Wars 2 and possibly some shooter games if possible

I know it's super old AM3 and not even sure if it's capable to run anything but am thinking to upgrade to these

CPU: Phenom II X4 965 3.4ghz ($30)
CPU 2: Phenom II X6 1090t 3.2ghz ($70)
CPU 2: Phenom II X6 1075t 3.0ghz ($60)
Ram: 8gb or 16gb ($40)
GPU: RX 460 ($60)

Do you think these upgrades are good? I know some of you will say why not just overclock the 945 but I am a novice and never overclocked before. So I feel uneasy about it. What do you think my best options are? Or what should I do?

I would try to do a light overclock on your 945 if you have a good cooler installed. It's probably better to just upgrade the hard drive to an SSD, throw in another 1x4GB or 2x2GB of ram if it already has 1x4GB or 2x2GB and upgrade the GPU. $60-70 is a terrible price for a hex core that isn't actually any faster than your quad core.

 

[Azndude263]

SSD is for certain, along with at least 8gb of ram.

If I keep the current CPU, will it be able to keep up with say an RX 460? Or should I upgrade the CPU and the GPU to something better

 

[tennis2]

RX460 doesn't offer great price/performance. The RX470/RX570 have been king for quite some time. They're about 50-60% faster than an RX460. That'd get you really good frame rates at 1080p in most/all games without being considered overkill for an x4-945.

And, yes, OC the x4-945. Cuz why not.

 

[Azndude263]

If I get 470 or 480, I might have to replace the PSU as well

 

[tennis2]

mmm. true. And PSUs are 50% - 100% more expensive lately in the USA (China tariffs I believe)

 

[bioax]

I would keep your CPU, get an SSD, more ram, and get a GPU upgrade along with a PSU upgrade since 350W may not cut it. A decent GPU for this system would be the rx 570, since it costs around $120-$130 and can run games fairly well.

 

[mitch074]

For that level, I would suggest getting a motherboard with a Ryzen 3200G and some ram - it would perform better overall, allow you to keep the PSU and still have upgrade room while getting a GPU will have it bottlenecked, an overclock on the current one would overload the PSU (I have one of these, once overclocked it can pull more than 200W for the CPU alone). Also a SSD would be limited by the SATA 2 data rate: 300mb/s.