Turn old rig into mini gaming PC?

[HomeGrownHeroz]

Hi,

I have a very old rig that is basically stored at my girlfriends and occasionally used for some older games on steam. Even though the card itself is pretty old, I can still run the games I want to play on it at good settings. The original dishonored at max settings at 60pfs for example is great considering its a 7 or 8 year old card.

So this is my old rig and the components. I basically would like to know what can be saved and then placed inside the smallest possible case to be used as a small gaming PC.

Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz HyperX Memory Kit CL7 1.7V
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache
AMD Phenom II X4 840 Socket AM3 3.2GHz 2MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Asus M4A79XTD EVO Motherboard
Antec 300 Three Hundred Case
Antec TruePower New 650W Modular PSU
HIS HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card
Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD±RW DL SATA Optical Drive

I'm happy to lose the disc drive, I'd imagine I'd need a smaller PSU for example.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sam

 

[redgarl]

I would simply sell the system and start from a scratch. Nothing really important worth sparing. You can probably have between 150-200$ for the computer in spare parts.

 

[CorsairSSC]

If I had this system I would overhaul everything. The DDR3 is of the slower variety and so is the hard drive; the motherboard and CPU are both end of the line. The only thing you can salvage from this rig is the PSU and the HDD (the PSU, if it is standard ATX size, will fit in a mITX case).

 

[HomeGrownHeroz]

I would simply sell the system and start from a scratch. Nothing really important worth sparing. You can probably have between 150-200$ for the computer in spare parts.

Well I was hoping to put it to good use. It still has use out of it. Surely some of these components would fit into a smaller case? I don't need to really do this, I just thought it would give an old PC a breath of new life.

 

[HomeGrownHeroz]

If I had this system I would overhaul everything. The DDR3 is of the slower variety and so is the hard drive; the motherboard and CPU are both end of the line. The only thing you can salvage from this rig is the PSU and the HDD (the PSU, if it is standard ATX size, will fit in a mITX case).

I already have a decent PC as my main rig though with an i7 and a 1060 so this literally would just be small project really to get some further use out of it when I'm away.

 

[USAFRet]

What can and might be saved for a "mini gaming PC".

The HDD.
And depending on age, even that is iffy.

 

[Vic 40]

You use an atx motherboard which makes "smallest possible case" not that much smaller than what you already have.Getting a new smaller motherboard is a waste of money,this one at least supports some overclocking of that cpu.
If you just want another case would this with the rebate seem a nice cheap option,
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/pFgPxr/rosewill-tyrfing-atx-mid-tower-case-tyrfing

Putting a gtx 1050 or 1050 ti might be all the boost you need for some better gaming and already maybe overkill looking at that cpu,but a smaller case is imo abit out of the question with that size motherboard..

Maybe ... don't know if you call this smaller?
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/dsR48d/silverstone-case-gd09b
alot of money to spend on such an old system,but if it's worth it to you ...

 

[HomeGrownHeroz]

You use an atx motherboard which makes "smallest possible case" not that much smaller than what you already have.Getting a new smaller motherboard is a waste of money,this one at least supports some overclocking of that cpu.
If you just want another case would this with the rebate seem a nice cheap option,
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/pFgPxr/rosewill-tyrfing-atx-mid-tower-case-tyrfing

Putting a gtx 1050 or 1050 ti might be all the boost you need for some better gaming and already maybe overkill looking at that cpu,but a smaller case is imo abit out of the question with that size motherboard..

Maybe ... don't know if you call this smaller?
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/dsR48d/silverstone-case-gd09b
alot of money to spend on such an old system,but if it's worth it to you ...

Thanks for that reply. Was the exact sort of help I needed. Yes I know the components are old, but it functions fine and I do not need to upgrade anything as I already have a main PC I use daily. This really would just be a small project to get some more use out of it.

The Silverstone GD09B HTPC Case you linked isnt too bad in price. It's a horizontal case which I like. Would all my components fit in this then do you think? I'm not by my machine right now to check the measurements of the motherboard, PSU and graphics card.

Thanks again, great help so far.

 

[HomeGrownHeroz]

You use an atx motherboard which makes "smallest possible case" not that much smaller than what you already have.Getting a new smaller motherboard is a waste of money,this one at least supports some overclocking of that cpu.
If you just want another case would this with the rebate seem a nice cheap option,
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/pFgPxr/rosewill-tyrfing-atx-mid-tower-case-tyrfing

Putting a gtx 1050 or 1050 ti might be all the boost you need for some better gaming and already maybe overkill looking at that cpu,but a smaller case is imo abit out of the question with that size motherboard..

Maybe ... don't know if you call this smaller?
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/dsR48d/silverstone-case-gd09b
alot of money to spend on such an old system,but if it's worth it to you ...

Thanks for that reply. Was the exact sort of help I needed. Yes I know the components are old, but it functions fine and I do not need to upgrade anything as I already have a main PC I use daily. This really would just be a small project to get some more use out of it.

The Silverstone GD09B HTPC Case you linked isnt too bad in price. It's a horizontal case which I like. Would all my components fit in this then do you think? I'm not by my machine right now to check the measurements of the motherboard, PSU and graphics card.

Thanks again, great help so far.

 

[Vic 40]

I'm sure it will al fitt, it's an atx case and all your parts are the atx standard.I looked at the case and to make the front usb 3.0 ports to work on your motherboard do you need to buy an adapter like the next,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2JX1MU4641&cm_re=usb_2.0_to_3.0_adapter-_-181-000J-00042-_-Product
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812162025&cm_re=usb_2.0_to_3.0_adapter-_-12-162-025-_-Product
Something else to keep an eye of,but you could look at the specs yourself,

[

Limitation of CPU cooler 138mm*

Maybe interesting to look at,
https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiB8sXIp9bQAhVDIsAKHW-WBxwQtwIIOTAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dw0LoQ15AlWM&usg=AFQjCNHJ9IdURf2YNm_qp1TPWdZiY67wYg