Question Skytech Prebuilt (Amazon) - worthy upgrade/investment?

[Orbit Storm]

Earlier this evening, my wife's GPU fan died — 100% dead, won't spin. Not a software issue or any other malfunction. It had even stopped spinning once before and a manual spin fixed it but not this time. Vibration noises, revving, etc.

That said, her PC is barely a mid-tier system anyway so it's not worth replacing just the GPU. System has an old FX-6300, GTX 950, 16 GB DDR3 sysmem, 430w PSU, etc. Nothing fancy, clearly. It was actually an overpriced and poorly designed pre-built from CyberPowerPC that had a bunch of off-brand or not-as-advertised parts. I'm incredibly wary of any pre-built systems as a result; genuine scam.

My question today is whether or not this system I'm looking at on Amazon (monthly payments) would be an upgrade over what she has now (some parts are obvious) and if it would be wise to invest in the system.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077Q89HJV/

Parts list:

• AMD RYZEN 3 1200 4-Core 3.1 GHz (3.4 GHz Turbo)
• GeForce GTX 1060 3GB
• 8GB DDR4 2400 "Gaming Memory"
• ASRock A320M Motherboard
• 80+ 500w Power Supply
• 1 TB 7200RPM Hard Drive

I understand that the brand of the GPU, memory, HDD, and PSU will vary. Again, I understand the risk. However, it's only ~$650 and appears to be an insane bargain given the current market and the fact that I could have it in a day. I'm unfamiliar with SkyTech but the reviews look promising, aside from the standard user error that ultimately becomes a one-star rant.

It's probably worth mentioning that the most demanding games she would be playing would be The Division 2, Dead by Daylight, and perhaps No Man's Sky. She's primarily a casual gamer, sticking to Minecraft or Sims, so nothing insanely demanding.

 

[13thmonkey]

Garbage system, overpriced for a bottom rung Ryzen, not enough memory and a low end GPU.
The Division 2 is a bit of a hog by the way. I'm struggling on a 4GB GTX970, have had to negatively scale the graphics down to a fraction of 1440p

 

[Orbit Storm]

Garbage system, overpriced for a bottom rung Ryzen, not enough memory and a low end GPU.
The Division 2 is a bit of a hog by the way. I'm struggling on a 4GB GTX970, have had to negatively scale the graphics down to a fraction of 1440p

A buddy of mine has a GTX 1060 and hasn't had any issues with it. His came packaged with an iBuyPower which is a much more reputable company. I bought a system from them with an i7-8700K and a GTX 1070. Runs D2 on Ultra @ 1080p around 120fps. Unfortunately, their current stock is outside my rainy day budget.

I'm not at all familiar with the Ryzen processors, prefer Intel, but I figured it'd be a reasonable upgrade over what she has now.

Alternative would be to spend $400 for a new GPU that would likely be bottlenecked by the processor. Doing that would be silly since for $250 more, I can just buy her a new system on a budget.

 

[13thmonkey]

I think you could do better for the money if you can self build.

For a bit more, you get a lot more:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/P8ypXP
You can use your old case for $30 off, so $693. Your old PSU is borderline, but it might just work.
Is your Buddy's the 3GB or 6GB version?

 

[Orbit Storm]

I think you could do better for the money if you can self build.

For a bit more, you get a lot more:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/P8ypXP
You can use your old case for $30 off, so $693. Your old PSU is borderline, but it might just work.
Is your Buddy's the 3GB or 6GB version?

His is the 3GB, same as the one in my original post.

I'd like to build a system but she's adamant about having one ASAP, mostly because she also uses her's for schooling. Even at $700, that's outside my short-notice budget.

 

[13thmonkey]

Can you just get the 1660? or maybe a 1650? https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/2456?vs=2503

It'll be bottlenecked sure, but it'll also be plenty capable when it's time to replace the FX6300, the problem of bottle-necking is overstated in my opinion. Alternatively for an absolute minimum cost solution, get a second hand 900 series, and be prepared that it'll be replaced when you upgrade.

The one you've linked to has the following problems:
Weak CPU, 4C4T, it's not really capable for gaming any more, >4C or 4T are essential.
A320 mobo, will not allow upgrades beyond 2000 series ryzen
3GB GPU, not enough vram
8GB of ram, not enough and to upgrade it you'll need to dump the 8GB you've got and get 16GB, gaming will nudge the edge of the 8GB, and it's the slowest ram you can get, and ryzens love fast ram (ignore the 'gaming ram' tag it means nothing).
PSU - unnamed, probably weak, may not produce 500W, so it'll need replacing or could easily die.

If it only had 1-2 of those problems i'd be less strong on this, but it is not a good buy, there are too many issues with it.

 

[13thmonkey]

Or.... left field cheapo solution.
https://www.arctic.ac/uk_en/products/cooling/vga.html

 

[Orbit Storm]

Or.... left field cheapo solution.
https://www.arctic.ac/uk_en/products/cooling/vga.html

Definitely not something I'd want to venture into. She has a Micro-ATX case and these coolers are behemoths.

Can you just get the 1660? or maybe a 1650? https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/2456?vs=2503

It'll be bottlenecked sure, but it'll also be plenty capable when it's time to replace the FX6300, the problem of bottle-necking is overstated in my opinion. Alternatively for an absolute minimum cost solution, get a second hand 900 series, and be prepared that it'll be replaced when you upgrade.

The one you've linked to has the following problems:
Weak CPU, 4C4T, it's not really capable for gaming any more, >4C or 4T are essential.
A320 mobo, will not allow upgrades beyond 2000 series ryzen
3GB GPU, not enough vram
8GB of ram, not enough and to upgrade it you'll need to dump the 8GB you've got and get 16GB, gaming will nudge the edge of the 8GB, and it's the slowest ram you can get, and ryzens love fast ram (ignore the 'gaming ram' tag it means nothing).
PSU - unnamed, probably weak, may not produce 500W, so it'll need replacing or could easily die.

If it only had 1-2 of those problems i'd be less strong on this, but it is not a good buy, there are too many issues with it.

I'm going to be totally real with you: anything other than a payment plan is outside my budget right now and possibly for the foreseeable future. Too many other "life" things going on which would mean weeks before an outright upgrade.

Most video cards are $400 or more outright, which is a far cry less than $700+ for a builder system outright, but still more than I can swing on short notice. Even if I were able to aim for a new GPU, I'd have to account for board compatibility, size, wattage, etc. The board she is using now isn't even manufactured anymore (MSI 760GMA-P34) and most of the other components would need to be upgraded too in order to support a new GPU.

I understand that she would be upgrading from trash heap to trash bag and would need to upgrade again in the future but at every point it's still an upgrade over her current hardware, especially with the 950 > 1060, and would seemingly make a sufficient stopgap until then.

If she were playing graphically-intense games like Deus Ex or Metro, then sure, this would be an incredibly foolish purchase but given that she doesn't, this makes more sense.

I'm sure it seems like my mind is already made up and I promise you it isn't, I'm just trying to be realistic. I appreciate your responses thus far and don't mean to suggest you're wrong or devalue your input in any way. I trust what you've provided but also need to be clear that my alternatives right now are awfully limited.

 

[13thmonkey]

Understand, hence the left field band aid option, BTW you need the 2nd smallest https://www.arctic.ac/uk_en/accelero-mono-plus.html

The 1660 'only' costs $199, which is probably too much. I see spread payments on amazon (can't see it on .com as i'm in the UK), so just the card from there could work.

The right field cheapo option is just replace like for like. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...RC2.A0.H0.Xgtx+950.TRS0&_nkw=gtx+950&_sacat=0

Tying up your funds on monthly payments for possibly longer than the machine is useful is the last resort in my opinion, once every other option has been discounted (quickly as you are on a time limit). If gaming were to be not an option for a while, then a Gt710 could get it working enough for study.

 

[13thmonkey]

Just so you can make an informed decision, there's about $450 of kit on that amazon link. And that's at retail prices, not trade.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/R3J7KB