[SOLVED] Upgrading Advice

[Juan Donn Julio]

Hello,

I just wanted some advice on moving forward with upgrading my PC. I bought my pre-buildt gaming PC about 3 years ago not having the intentions of upgrading but now that i've been playing on the PC for years now i find myself in situations were i cannot run certain games due to my graphics card. I'm not knowledgeable in PC components i feel like if i were to change one thing i might have to change other things in my computer as well. I run most games on high settings but i would like to get to point were i can run games smoothly but also to look good at the same time. PS. i mostly play Multiplayer Games (Fornite, Squad, Call Of Duty,War Thunder..etc)

My Specs:

OS
Windows 10 Home 64-bit

CPU
Intel Core i7 6700 @ 3.40GHz
Skylake 14nm Technology

RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel Unknown @ 1063MHz (15-15-15-36)

MOTHERBOARD
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. M32CD_A_F_K20CD_K31CD (LGA1151)

GRAPHICS
SB220Q (1920x1080@75Hz)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (ASUStek Computer Inc)

STORAGE
2000GB Seagate ST2000DX001-1NS164 (SATA )

PCU
HBA008-ZA1GT (350W)

 

[Newtonius]

Well a cheap and powerful option is an RX 5700XT which goes for about 400$. You would be able to handle 1080p and 1440p at ultra for a few years with that. However you will need to upgrade your PSU. 350W is not enough for modern mid-tier cards, you'll need at least a 600W card.

So what is your budget?

Also, your RAM speed seems pretty low for a rig that looks mid-tier, what model is it exactly? Do you know how to go into the bios and check if the XMP settings are on? I would expect you to at least have a 1600MHz RAM with those specs.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Newt:
Ram speed is effectively double what is reported by some software, so really he has 2133mhz C15 DDR4 ram, pretty normal for a skylake prebuilt.

Now for the OP:

What is your budget?

Any card capable of 75hz 1080p with high settings WILL need a better power supply as a 350w OEM unit isn't up to the task.

Luckily the i7 6700 holds up well so you don't need to upgrade that.

 

[King_V]

The 5700XT is overkill. The SB220Q is a FreeSync monitor with a 48-75 Hz range.

If sticking with AMD:

• The 5700 non-XT would be more than enough.
• The Vega 56 could be set to the Power Save BIOS and even lower the power limit, and it would be more than sufficient, but the Vega is generally overpriced for the performance it offers.
• The RX 590 would be plenty, but a kind of power-hog
• The RX 580 8GB should be well suited to this.

If going with Nvidia (which, the 10-, 16-, and 20- series generally handle working with FreeSync now)

• GTX 1660Ti
• GTX 1660 (slightly faster than the RX 590)

Best bang for the buck is really the RX 580 8GB for your resolution and FreeSync range, and that's what I'd suggest.

HOWEVER - the GTX 950 is a 90W card. The GTX 1600 and 1660Ti are 120W, and the Radeons I listed are all higher. You need a power powerful PSU, and one that is a higher quality unit than the OEM Acer one, as well.

Regardless of what video card you get, you need a better PSU.

 

[Juan Donn Julio]

The 5700XT is overkill. The SB220Q is a FreeSync monitor with a 48-75 Hz range.

If sticking with AMD:

• The 5700 non-XT would be more than enough.
• The Vega 56 could be set to the Power Save BIOS and even lower the power limit, and it would be more than sufficient, but the Vega is generally overpriced for the performance it offers.
• The RX 590 would be plenty, but a kind of power-hog
• The RX 580 8GB should be well suited to this.

If going with Nvidia (which, the 10-, 16-, and 20- series generally handle working with FreeSync now)

• GTX 1660Ti
• GTX 1660 (slightly faster than the RX 590)

Best bang for the buck is really the RX 580 8GB for your resolution and FreeSync range, and that's what I'd suggest.

HOWEVER - the GTX 950 is a 90W card. The GTX 1600 and 1660Ti are 120W, and the Radeons are all higher. You need a power powerful PSU, and one that is a higher quality unit than the OEM Acer one, as well.

Regardless of what video card you get, you need a better PSU.

I have a M32CD Series, Will any PSU/Graphics card fit in it? What do you recommend?

 

[cryoburner]

Yeah, I agree that you will probably want a better power supply depending on your budget for the upgrade. I suppose you could likely get away with running a GTX 1650 with that PSU though, and that card might even draw a bit less power than the card you currently have. A 1650 is lower-end by current standards, but could offer nearly double the performance of a GTX 950 in games where performance is graphics-limited. Those cards can be had for under $150 at US online stores. For anything higher-end than that, you would likely need a PSU upgrade though.

 

[King_V]

I have a M32CD Series, Will any PSU/Graphics card fit in it? What do you recommend?

Not 100% sure, but judging by this video, it seems like it's a standard ATX power supply, and the case design allows for a decent amount of room for larger video cards... though I would definitely take measurements to be absolutely sure.

Also, check to make sure that the connectors from the power supply to the motherboard are the standard 24-pin connector, with possibly a supplementary 4 or 8 pin connector.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Looking at that desktop, it appears that you could have optioned the machine with a 500w PSU and R9 380.

Since most sff PSUs dont hit 500w, I suspect this is normal sized and an ATX PSU can replace it.

Also, the R9 380 is a large card, so most GPUs should fit.

So budget determines what you should get.

 

[Newtonius]

@NightHawkRMX You're right, I forgot about that.

 

[cryoburner]

Not 100% sure, but judging by this video, it seems like it's a standard ATX power supply, and the case design allows for a decent amount of room for larger video cards... though I would definitely take measurements to be absolutely sure.

Actually, that guy also did a video where he upgraded the power supply and graphics card in that system, which is probably worth checking out...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzrGWNnZSWI