[SOLVED] Trying to help my son upgrade.

[Ryzon Darknight]

I am trying to help my son upgrade on a budget. Here is what he has now:
ASUS MAN75TD, AMD ATHALON II X4 635 2.9GHz, 16GB RAM, WIN 10 PRO 64 BIT

The first upgrade we tried was from PNY GTX 460 1GHz to Asus Geforce GTX 1060 6GB Dual. (I got the GTX 1060 for $100)

In RUST he was getting 20-30 fps but his friends get over double that. When we upgraded the GTX 460 to the GTX 1060, he still gets 20 fps. He was pretty bummed.

I of course know we can go out and get chip/mb/ram, but we are on a very tight budget. I also dont want to waste money on an upgrade that is obsolete before I even get it.

Is there anything that will get him instant fps satisfaction? He is a great kid so I want to help if I can.

 

[jeremyj_83]

What is your budget? There isn't much that you can do with that old system. The fastest CPUs for that are the Phenom II X6 1100T or the Phenom II X4 980. Those are a good bit faster, however, you would be better served to use the money from those and put it towards a modern platform.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 3.1 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($58.74 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: GeIL EVO SPEAR 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($66.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA GD (2019) 600 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $255.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-09 10:57 EDT-0400
This is an example of what you can do. You can reuse most of the components that you already have, reinstall Windows, and have something that is going to be far faster than what you currently have. While the Ryzen 3 1200 is the lowest ended Ryzen, you can overclock it quite easily to the level of the Ryzen 3 2200G and have a decent 4c/4t CPU and when you have more money could upgrade to a far faster Ryzen later on.

 

[Calvin7]

Replace CPU with better model.

AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz Quad-Core (HDZ965FBK4DGM) Processor
https://www.ebay.com/p/79634429?iid...316&targetid=474380981464&device=c&mktype=pla

 

[g-unit1111]

How much of a budget are we talking about here? Depending on what he wants to upgrade then it could be a question of price / availability. Especially since that platform is so old now that CPUs for it are hard to find except on places like eBay.

 

[jeremyj_83]

Replace CPU with better model.

AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz Quad-Core (HDZ965FBK4DGM) Processor
https://www.ebay.com/p/79634429?iid...316&targetid=474380981464&device=c&mktype=pla

Going that route will add about 25% performance to your current CPU.
https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/122?vs=102
However, you are still stuck on a dead platform. There is no where to go with that and it is at best a Bandaid solution.

For example the Phenom II X4 965 has a 10% lower single threaded performance than the FX 8350.
https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=102

The FX 8350 and the A10-7890K have the same ST performance.
https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=1782

The Ryzen 3 1200 has 57% higher ST performance than the A10-7890K.
https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1928?vs=1782

The Ryzen 3 1200's 4c/4t MT performance is equal to the FX 8350 4c/8t, even with a 900MHz base clock disadvantage and 4t disadvantage.

That means that compared to the Phenom II X4 965 the Ryzen 3 1200 will be easily 75% faster than Phenom or 100% faster than the Athlon II X4 635.

 

[Ryzon Darknight]

Thank you guys for all the input!

I think what I will do is apply the bandaid solution for now.

I will show him your idea jeremyj_83 and have him start saving and planning for that. With Xmas money and some initiative he might be able to do that by January.

I would guess our upgrade budget would be about the $250 range max.

I am just curios, a local guy is selling ASUS Prime Z370-A II (Intel 9th Gen) DDR4 DP HDMI DVI M.2 USB 3.1 Z370 II Gigabit LAN and USB 3.1 ATX Motherboard for $80.

Would that be a better platform to build on than the $70 one you recommended? I know its going the Intel direction but it looks like a good deal?

https://portland.craigslist.org/clc/sop/d/wilsonville-asus-prime-z370-ii-atx/6991980402.html

 

[geofelt]

What are the specs of the pc that you are comparing to?
Likely, the cpu is stronger.

I would not spend much on an upgrade to the current platform.
Your current X4-635 has 4 threads and a passmark performance rating of 3233 and a single thread rating of 989. The single thread rating is probably the more important for games.
You can buy a X4 965 on ebay for perhaps $ 30 with a rating of 4179/1172.
A small boost for not much $

If you go to a modern platform, you are looking at not only a processor cost but also a motherboard and ddr4 upgrade.
The Z370a motherboard for $80 is likely a good deal if you can trust the seller. Do try to negotiate.
You could buy a starter cpu like the G5600 for about $100 with a rating of 5570/2237.
In time, you could upgrade to any 8/9th gen intel processor. You would get more threads and more total processing capability, but not necessarily a big increase in gaming capability.
a 2 x 4gb DDR4 ram kit will be about $35. Speed is not important to intel processors.
But... as a warning, ram must be bought in a kit so adding another kit later to upgrade is not an assured thing.
Consider buying a 2 x 8gb kit up front for about $70.
That looks to me like a good upgrade for $250.

 

[logainofhades]

Did you wipe the drivers, using DDU, and reinstall the latest drivers, from Nvidia, when you did the gpu upgrade? I believe Rust is quite CPU dependent, but I would have expected at least a minor increase.

 

[Finstar]

Thank you guys for all the input!

I think what I will do is apply the bandaid solution for now.

I will show him your idea jeremyj_83 and have him start saving and planning for that. With Xmas money and some initiative he might be able to do that by January.

I would guess our upgrade budget would be about the $250 range max.

I am just curios, a local guy is selling ASUS Prime Z370-A II (Intel 9th Gen) DDR4 DP HDMI DVI M.2 USB 3.1 Z370 II Gigabit LAN and USB 3.1 ATX Motherboard for $80.

Would that be a better platform to build on than the $70 one you recommended? I know its going the Intel direction but it looks like a good deal?

https://portland.craigslist.org/clc/sop/d/wilsonville-asus-prime-z370-ii-atx/6991980402.html

You'll have a hard time finding an i3 8100 or a 9100F under $100. The dualcore Pentiums below them are simply not worth it as any Ryzen 3 cpu is generally cheaper and outperforms them.

 

[Ryzon Darknight]

Did you wipe the drivers, using DDU, and reinstall the latest drivers, from Nvidia, when you did the gpu upgrade? I believe Rust is quite CPU dependent, but I would have expected at least a minor increase.

We did not wipe any drivers. We just installed the new card and went online to update. Do you think at this poit we should wipe and update again?