Question Upgrade advice for an ancient PC ?

[maksiks]

So I've decided to upgrade my computer recently, my first time doing something like this and I've picked some parts, want to see what other people would reccomend and if everything would be compatible without any additional quirks like cooling or whatever else.
Approximate Purchase Date: whenever my stipend arrives, probably less than 3 months

Budget Range: ~250$

System Usage from Most to Least Important: I need to run latest Photosho and Illustrator, Android Studio, modern Minecraft with OBS/other recording software, Rust and speed up some other stuff that works fine right now.

Are you buying a monitor: Hell no

Parts to Upgrade: I don't think I can afford a reasonable GPU upgrade but from what I've gathered, I'm going to upgrade my processor to Intel core i3 12100F which seems to be a gem for the price and my motherboard to GIGABYTE B660M DS3H so it's compatible + new 16 GB RAM.

Do you need to buy OS: No
Please note that if you're using an OEM license of Windows, you will need a new one when buying a new motherboard.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Doesn't really matter because I live in Ukraine, it's Rozetka.com.ua, should be just slightly more priced than on amazon.

Location: Ukraine

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU, AMD GPU (I wish)

Overclocking: Likely not

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: My current specs are AMD Athlon II X3 455 processor (2010), and Nvidia GT 430 (also 2010) which really doesn't run anything modern and is capped at 2019 average perfomance for almost everything.

I am also curious if I would have to upgrade my cooling and pc case because they're about as old as everything else, and while I don't think so - are there any advantages to buying a mid priced GPU instead of it all?

 

[shADy81]

If you made the CPU a straight 12100 with the integrated Intel UHD 730 graphics you'd get a GPU upgrade at the same time.

Other than that, the Intel box cooler will work OK. I 'd usually recommend just picking up something cheap for 20 or 30 bucks, but as budget seems to be tight you can skip it. The new CPU will probably use a little less power than the old one going by the stated TDP of your old chip, so should produce less heat anyway, most likely not more.

The case might very well be just fine depending what it is.

 

[Eximo]

12100F is under a hundred right now. Doesn't usually last very long.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B660M-HDV Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($52.97 @ Amazon)
Total: $237.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-19 16:16 EDT-0400

Best two GPUs for the money right now are the Intel A380 or the Radeon RX6600. 6500XT would also work since this platform has PCIe 4.0. A lot depends on your power supply though. Need an 8-pin for the A380 (though it really doesn't need it, not sure why they didn't go with a 6-pin)

If you want a cheap cooler:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/q6H7YJ/thermalright-assassin-x-120-refined-se-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-ax120-se-d3

I built this system over the weekend, though I already had many of the parts:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9x65 33.84 CFM CPU Cooler (Purchased For $0.00)
Motherboard: ASRock Z690M-ITX/ax Mini ITX LGA1700 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($67.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red Plus 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: ASRock Intel Arc A380 Challenger ITX Arc A380 6 GB Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Silverstone SG05BB-450-USB3.0 Mini ITX Desktop Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 450 GM 450 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $377.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-19 16:18 EDT-0400

 

[maksiks]

If you made the CPU a straight 12100 with the integrated Intel UHD 730 graphics you'd get a GPU upgrade at the same time.

Other than that, the Intel box cooler will work OK. I 'd usually recommend just picking up something cheap for 20 or 30 bucks, but as budget seems to be tight you can skip it. The new CPU will probably use a little less power than the old one going by the stated TDP of your old chip, so should produce less heat anyway, most likely not more.

The case might very well be just fine depending what it is.

Thanks, if I'll have the budget, definitely gonna buy the non-f version.

 

[maksiks]

12100F is under a hundred right now. Doesn't usually last very long.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B660M-HDV Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($52.97 @ Amazon)
Total: $237.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-19 16:16 EDT-0400

Best two GPUs for the money right now are the Intel A380 or the Radeon RX6600. 6500XT would also work since this platform has PCIe 4.0. A lot depends on your power supply though. Need an 8-pin for the A380 (though it really doesn't need it, not sure why they didn't go with a 6-pin)

If you want a cheap cooler:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/q6H7YJ/thermalright-assassin-x-120-refined-se-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-ax120-se-d3

I built this system over the weekend, though I already had many of the parts:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9x65 33.84 CFM CPU Cooler (Purchased For $0.00)
Motherboard: ASRock Z690M-ITX/ax Mini ITX LGA1700 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($67.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red Plus 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: ASRock Intel Arc A380 Challenger ITX Arc A380 6 GB Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Silverstone SG05BB-450-USB3.0 Mini ITX Desktop Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 450 GM 450 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $377.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-19 16:18 EDT-0400

Thanks

 

[shADy81]

PCPartPicker Part List


CPU: Intel Core i3-12100 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor (€135.43 @ notebooksbilliger.de)

Motherboard: Asus PRIME H610M-A D4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (€97.98 @ Galaxus)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (€39.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)

Total: €273.31

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-20 07:04 CEST+0200

That gets you the GPU upgrade. If you listed a store(s) more local to you or stated any countries that would be better to order from it would help people to give you more accurate pricing. Unfortunately Ukraine isnt on partpicker

 

[boju]

If you listed a store(s) more local to you or stated any countries that would be better to order from it would help people to give you more accurate pricing. Unfortunately Ukraine isnt on partpicker

This is the site op referred to.
Rozetka.com.ua

 

[Lucky_SLS]

You could try looking for the Ryzen 5500 cpu. its similar in performance and the platform could be cheaper...

 

[shADy81]

This is the site op referred to.
Rozetka.com.ua

Thanks, reading comprehension fail there.

https://rozetka.com.ua/ua/370306143/p370306143/

https://hard.rozetka.com.ua/ua/334238182/p334238182/

https://hard.rozetka.com.ua/ua/intel-bx8071512100/p331700473/

Total: 9851

I'm usually not a fan of going with the cheapest possible motherboard without heatsinks on the VRM but in this case its the only way to get you in budget and also get the improved graphical performance.

https://hard.rozetka.com.ua/ua/asus-prime-h610m-a-d4/p331801102/

If you can stretch the budget to this motherboard it would be a bit better.

 

[geofelt]

Good plan... almost.
Spend a bit more for the non F version of the i3-12100.
The integrated HD730 graphics will be about 3 times stronger than your GT430. In addition, you get quick sync which may be of use to you for video processing:

Intel® Video Processing Library: Video Codecs

Unlock media features on CPUs, GPUs, VPUs, and other accelerators with a successor to Intel® Media SDK—a video-processing API for encode and decode.

www.intel.com

If your editing apps can make use of many CUDA cores, keeping the GT430 or buying a better gpu might make sense, but you would need to double your budget. One can always change out graphics later.

Your X3-455 has 3 processing threads and a passmark rating of 1860. That is when all 3 threads are fully busy. The single thread rating is 1392.
Many tasks will be single threaded.
By comparison, the i3-12100 has 8 threads and a rating of 14540/3550.
A very good pick there.

The i3-12100 comes with a cpu cooler.
It is not a hot chip and needs no more than the stock cooler.
As a caveat, when mounting the cooler, push down on DIAGONAL pin pairs at the same time to get the cooler seated level.

B660 chipset is good. Best to avoid the lower priced H610 motherboards.

On ram, buy your 16gb as a 2 x 8gb kit to get matched dual channel capability.
Intel is not particularly sensitive to ram speeds like ryzen so even 2666 would be ok. but, you are likely to find 3200-3600 speed for not much more.

 

[Eximo]

3200 CL16 is really cheap right now. I splurged and got 32GB, that and my board only has two slots. Not planning on having to get another kit a few years down the road when I want more memory and DDR4 prices start creeping up as they switch to DDR5 production.

 

[maksiks]

Thanks, reading comprehension fail there.

https://rozetka.com.ua/ua/370306143/p370306143/

https://hard.rozetka.com.ua/ua/334238182/p334238182/

https://hard.rozetka.com.ua/ua/intel-bx8071512100/p331700473/

Total: 9851

I'm usually not a fan of going with the cheapest possible motherboard without heatsinks on the VRM but in this case its the only way to get you in budget and also get the improved graphical performance.

https://hard.rozetka.com.ua/ua/asus-prime-h610m-a-d4/p331801102/

If you can stretch the budget to this motherboard it would be a bit better.

Looking at the more expensive ASUS motherboard, I also found Gigabyte B660M DS3H DDR4 (rev. 1.0) which is 500 grivnas more expensive, is there any major difference between them for them? Which one is more worth it?

 

[shADy81]

Looking at the more expensive ASUS motherboard, I also found Gigabyte B660M DS3H DDR4 (rev. 1.0) which is 500 grivnas more expensive, is there any major difference between them for them? Which one is more worth it?

Better option for sure, if you have the extra money then go for that one. B660 gives you PCI-E4.0 and memory overclocking as well as more connectivity. Power delivery is decent on that one for the price and has heatsinks.

 

[Misgar]

Do you need to buy OS: No
Please note that if you're using an OEM license of Windows, you will need a new one when buying a new motherboard.

If you're ditching the old AMD Athlon II X3 455 CPU and motherboard, it might be possible to re-install an OEM version of Windows on the new machine, without having to buy a new license. I'm assuming here you built your old system and did not purchase it from a large computer manufacturer, e.g. Dell.

In an article written by Ed Bott on Zdnet.com, he goes into great detail about when it's possible to re-use an old Product Key to activate a new system. Whether or not it's 100% legal is a grey area.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/is-your-windows-license-legal-should-you-even-care/

The section which might apply in your situation is:-

Only a tiny sliver of PCs are built by hobbyists or small system builders. If someone in one of those groups tries to reuse a product key inappropriately (by activating multiple PCs using the same product key in a matter of days), the activation servers will object strenuously. But if you reuse a product key months after the first use, it's likely that Microsoft's activation servers will wave you right through.

This article may also be of interest:-
https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

I have seen mention elsewhere that if you replace your motherboard and subsequently Windows de-activates, it's worth phoning Microsoft to say you've upgraded your system and won't be using the same license on the old hardware. A license to use Windows is not the same as a Product Key.

If you purchase a new Product Key for $10 from a dubious on-line site, remember many of these keys are Volume License versions which should not be split and sold to hundreds of individual users. In the UK, a legit Windows 11 OEM Home license (on Amazon) is circa £100 and Windows 11 Professional is £200.

As Ed Bott said in his article:-
You might be able to score better discounts than those, but if someone offers you a Windows Pro license for $29 or $49 or even $69, they're not legit. As the saying goes, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.