Some questions about upgrading my PC

[Eisbrecher34]

Hello everyone!

I built a PC a couple years ago and it seems its time to upgrade. A fan in my GPU has crapped out and now if I play games at anything higher than medium settings my display drops and wont come back.

I figure as long as I am upgrading the GPU I may as well upgrade some of the other components also. My current specs are as follows:

Case: Rosewill Blackbone Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Power Supply: Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus - 500W Power Supply
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68
CPU: Intel Core i3-2120 Sandy Bridge Dual-Core 3.3GHz LGA 1155 65W Desktop Processor
GPU: MSI R6870 Twin Frozr II Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-Bit
RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600)
Optical: LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04
Hard Drive: Unknown, it was a 1.5 TB drive i converted from a Seagate external hard drive I had.

I am thinking of upgrading at least the GPU and Hard Drive, but I have a few qustions to go along with it:

1. If I get a solid state + another hard drive and install Windows to the solid state will I still be able to access everything that is currently on the hard drive I own?

2. When I swap out my graphics card will the PC automatically pick it up or will I have to mess with some settings to get it to be recognized?

3. I have about $300-500 to upgrade the system with, but I'm wondering if its worth it to upgrade more than the graphics card and Hard Drive, and if it is could I still keep it in budget?


Thank you in advance for any information provided!

 

[Newbbuilder11]

Hello everyone!

I built a PC a couple years ago and it seems its time to upgrade. A fan in my GPU has crapped out and now if I play games at anything higher than medium settings my display drops and wont come back.

I figure as long as I am upgrading the GPU I may as well upgrade some of the other components also. My current specs are as follows:

Case: Rosewill Blackbone Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Power Supply: Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus - 500W Power Supply
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68
CPU: Intel Core i3-2120 Sandy Bridge Dual-Core 3.3GHz LGA 1155 65W Desktop Processor
GPU: MSI R6870 Twin Frozr II Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-Bit
RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600)
Optical: LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04
Hard Drive: Unknown, it was a 1.5 TB drive i converted from a Seagate external hard drive I had.

I am thinking of upgrading at least the GPU and Hard Drive, but I have a few qustions to go along with it:

1. If I get a solid state + another hard drive and install Windows to the solid state will I still be able to access everything that is currently on the hard drive I own?

2. When I swap out my graphics card will the PC automatically pick it up or will I have to mess with some settings to get it to be recognized?

3. I have about $300-500 to upgrade the system with, but I'm wondering if its worth it to upgrade more than the graphics card and Hard Drive, and if it is could I still keep it in budget?


Thank you in advance for any information provided!

Old Old rig! But I guess what you can get is a I5 2500K, this CPU is good for gaming today so it will last 😛

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i5-2500K-Quad-Core-Processor-Cache/dp/B004EBUXHQ

A r9 280 by asus is only 229.99, but there is a 20 dollar mail in rebate right now so 209.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121867&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Desktop+Graphics+Cards-_-N82E16814121867&gclid=CjwKEAjw-8ihBRD2t9qT3NaW7igSJAD3_sNVLpvcJOFOIBpeA2xihYfc48REMRP65YpwLh8hvwe9HRoCm8_w_wcB

I do not know much a bout HDD's and SSD's to answer this I just install them first time for what I intend them for and that's it so.... ;-;! Sorry D:

it should be instant swap, but there needs to be some tweaks like screen resolution etc. (Swapped out a 5770 for a R7 260X, then had to adjust screen resolution.) I like to be on the safe side so I reinstall Catalyst when I do this so that I can be on the safe side.

As to your last question. If it aint broke don't fix it. You do not have to spend more than what you need, for now I would recommend upgrading CPU and GPU

 

[Dat_Robot]

You should change your CPU to an I5 3570k get a 750ti get a tiny SSD (less than 80gb) that will be used for the os and take a 50$ 1 TB HDD for the others

 

[Newbbuilder11]

The guys above this post needs to check the specs and compatibility first! That board supports only 2nd Gen cores and that is 3rd Gen. If he were to get a nividia card he is going to have to uninstall all the amd drivers in his system first in order to use it.

 

[Eisbrecher34]

Thanks for the information everyone. I'm gonna keep looking around for Hard Drives / SSDs, but I will probably go with the Radeon card since I have the software already installed.

For the CPU though, I know my motherboard is old, but it supports the LGA 1155 socket, is there something different between the older i5s and newer i5s that they couldn't be supported?

 

[Newbbuilder11]

Thanks for the information everyone. I'm gonna keep looking around for Hard Drives / SSDs, but I will probably go with the Radeon card since I have the software already installed.

For the CPU though, I know my motherboard is old, but it supports the LGA 1155 socket, is there something different between the older i5s and newer i5s that they couldn't be supported?

That CPU was designed for use of the current socket back then 1155, since the new socket was released which are the 1150 and now the even newer 2011v3 socket for the new 5xxx CPUS. In short, they are made for their specific boards and cannot go farther.