Build Advice Upgrade advice for a dual boot Win 7/10 gaming machine

Jan 11, 2023
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I am looking to update a few of the components in my Win 7/10 dual boot machine. It is used mainly for gaming, including lots of emulation.

Windows 7 is my main OS on this machine. The majority of my games and emulators I run in Windows 7, and only use Windows 10 on this machine with things that do not run in 7.

I want to upgrade my motherboard/CPU/RAM. I've been running an AMD FX 8370 Black, 16GB RAM, on a Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 , and I really don't have many complaints. It's been a beast of a machine. I also have a Win 10 gaming laptop, so I don't need to upgrade my desktop game computer to the latest/greatest for everything, just better for what I use it for.

My main goal with this upgrade is to get better performance from my graphics card (MSI GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER GAMING X 8GB ), which is currently being limited by my PCIe slot being too slow (currently running at 2.0 x16 vs 3.0 x16). My secondary goal is better overall performance in emulators and more demanding games. I do some 4k gaming, and as-is I can average around 50-60 FPS with all settings on high, but my GPU is pegged at 99% usage in MSI Afterburner, and overly complex areas may drop frame rates into the 40s. CPU usage remains very reasonable, generally 40-50%. Emulation is more restricted by the CPU, and I haven't really checked performance charts with those. They either work well enough for me to play, or I don't bother, but it would be nice if more things ran better.

I checked the latest "official" list of CPUs that support Windows 7 (Intel based), and it looks like there are a decent handful of 7th and 9th generation i7's and i9's.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-7-supported-intel-processors
I also checked the AMD list, and I kind of lost track of what's what with AMD for a while after the FX series.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-7-supported-amd-processors

Anything I get will most likely be second hand, so I'm looking for suggestions on which older processor and motherboard combo would be good for this, with full support for Windows 7, and not a need for jumping through a bunch of hoops to get it working. I've read USB3 drivers with newer motherboards might be an issue.

Thanks.
 
I am looking to update a few of the components in my Win 7/10 dual boot machine. It is used mainly for gaming, including lots of emulation.

Windows 7 is my main OS on this machine. The majority of my games and emulators I run in Windows 7, and only use Windows 10 on this machine with things that do not run in 7.

I want to upgrade my motherboard/CPU/RAM. I've been running an AMD FX 8370 Black, 16GB RAM, on a Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 , and I really don't have many complaints. It's been a beast of a machine. I also have a Win 10 gaming laptop, so I don't need to upgrade my desktop game computer to the latest/greatest for everything, just better for what I use it for.

My main goal with this upgrade is to get better performance from my graphics card (MSI GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER GAMING X 8GB ), which is currently being limited by my PCIe slot being too slow (currently running at 2.0 x16 vs 3.0 x16). My secondary goal is better overall performance in emulators and more demanding games. I do some 4k gaming, and as-is I can average around 50-60 FPS with all settings on high, but my GPU is pegged at 99% usage in MSI Afterburner, and overly complex areas may drop frame rates into the 40s. CPU usage remains very reasonable, generally 40-50%. Emulation is more restricted by the CPU, and I haven't really checked performance charts with those. They either work well enough for me to play, or I don't bother, but it would be nice if more things ran better.

I checked the latest "official" list of CPUs that support Windows 7 (Intel based), and it looks like there are a decent handful of 7th and 9th generation i7's and i9's.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-7-supported-intel-processors
I also checked the AMD list, and I kind of lost track of what's what with AMD for a while after the FX series.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-7-supported-amd-processors

Anything I get will most likely be second hand, so I'm looking for suggestions on which older processor and motherboard combo would be good for this, with full support for Windows 7, and not a need for jumping through a bunch of hoops to get it working. I've read USB3 drivers with newer motherboards might be an issue.

Thanks.
Why not W10 or even W11 drivers may be a problem for older machines and W7 drivers for newer ones. You can still directly upgrade from W7 to W10 or 11so you have a small window to choose from. In that window you can get thru with i6/i7 Intell 6xxx already use DDR4 so that would also ad to cost. to keep your RAM too something like
Intel® Core™ i5-4460 Processor would be significantly better but nowhere close to newest generation.From AMD there's nothing better with DDR3.only with DDR4. Ryzen 1600/1700 on b350/x370 MBs can also run W7 without going thru hoops.
When I switched from FX 6350 to Ryzen R5 1600x benchmarks showed almost 4 times better performance, other PC with FX 8350 about 3 times in all core performance although bot FXs were OCed to 4.8GHz. and 1600x was at stock.
There's one problem with that plan of yours. Most probably you will have to get second hand stuff because they are all out of production
 
Jan 11, 2023
3
0
10
Why not W10 or even W11 drivers may be a problem for older machines and W7 drivers for newer ones.

It is a dual boot machine, running both Win 7 and Win 10, that I plan to continue using as is (except for the upgrades).

Yes, I plan on using whatever RAM the motherboard/CPU support, so I'm assuming it'll be DDR4.
Three of my four of my drives are already Samsung SSDs. My PSU is a beast. My video card is more than capable.

Most probably you will have to get second hand stuff because they are all out of production
"Anything I get will most likely be second hand, so I'm looking for suggestions on which older processor and motherboard combo would be good for this" ;)
 
It is a dual boot machine, running both Win 7 and Win 10, that I plan to continue using as is (except for the upgrades).

Yes, I plan on using whatever RAM the motherboard/CPU support, so I'm assuming it'll be DDR4.
Three of my four of my drives are already Samsung SSDs. My PSU is a beast. My video card is more than capable.


"Anything I get will most likely be second hand, so I'm looking for suggestions on which older processor and motherboard combo would be good for this" ;)
Isee. If I may surmise you also want to do it on as low budget as possible.From AMD side R5 1600AF (not AE as it's older 1/2 generation Ryzen) or R7 1700x with a b350 or x370MB would give you good boost over your FX.OC is possible with all of those Ryzen and MBs except with A320 .
From Intel side, an I5 or I7 from 6th or 7th generation because most MBs can use both. K model with a Z MB if you wantto OC for a bit more power or non-K with an H mb .
Both with a pair of DDR4 up to 3000MHz because that's most they can comfortably handle.
There are too many combinations to list or suggest exact models as that was the time of most prolific development in PC history. Literary 100s of MBs. to choose from Whatever you find within those parameters.
 
Emulators are single thread processes. Single thread performance is the weak point of the fx-8xxx processors.
Run the cpu-Z bench and look at the single thread rating.
You should get a number like 290:
https://valid.x86.fr/bench/vzsmwr

From your available list, the i7-6700K looks like the strongest.
They sell for $100 or so on ebay.

Normally, pcie2 will not be a big limiting factor for a less than top end card. Think 2%

Have you considered running your win7 dependent apps in a virtual machine?

A current gen processor even a i3 is a huge bump in performance.
 
Personally I would buy a dedicated W7 PC. You can get really cheap 2nd hand Xeons and motherboards for them. It would cost you like 300-800 for a dedicated W7 PC. You can then have a gaming PC and newer software compatibility on a W10 PC.

An E5-2690V4 and this used gigabyte motherboard are a steal. Couple it with this list:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2690 V4 2.6 GHz 14-Core Processor ($69.00)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X99-UD4P EATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($99.00)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse G360A ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM750x (2021) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $670.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-01-12 14:39 EST-0500
 
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