[SOLVED] What would be best to upgrade in my system?

[ogustuce]

Hi, my setup is ok-ish, however i can't even play runescape at ultra settings (getting 30 ish FPS). So i'm wondering whats best to upgrade. My first tought would be GPU but i dont know that much about cpu and all and how they affect overall fps. I'm willing to pay around 500 CAD to upgrade stuff. What would impact the most my setup performance?

Heres my setup:

RAM:
8gb

Motherboard (feels old with pciE 2.0):
Asus M5A97 LE R2.0

GPU:
GEFORCE GTX 750 TI

CPU:
AMD FX-8320, eight cores

PSU:
Rosewill Valens Series 700W Gaming Power Supply, 80 PLUS Gold Certified, Single +12V Rail, Intel 4th Gen CPU Ready

Monitor(s):
2x Asus VG248QG- 1080p, 1ms, 144Hz
1x 60 inch tv (for netfilx/streaming)

thank you

 

[Archaic59]

Hi, my setup is ok-ish, however i can't even play runescape at ultra settings (getting 30 ish FPS). So i'm wondering whats best to upgrade. My first tought would be GPU but i dont know that much about cpu and all and how they affect overall fps. I'm willing to pay around 500 CAD to upgrade stuff. What would impact the most my setup performance?

Heres my setup:

RAM:
8gb

Motherboard (feels old with pciE 2.0):
Asus M5A97 LE R2.0

GPU:
GEFORCE GTX 750 TI

CPU:
AMD FX-8320, eight cores

PSU:
Rosewill Valens Series 700W Gaming Power Supply, 80 PLUS Gold Certified, Single +12V Rail, Intel 4th Gen CPU Ready

Monitor(s):
2x Asus VG248QG- 1080p, 1ms, 144Hz
1x 60 inch tv (for netfilx/streaming)

thank you

I really don't see anything salvageable in your build except the monitors. You could put a GTX 1660 Super and a new, better quality power supply to get better gaming performance now, but you still need to replace everything else sooner or later. When you do a new build you could move the new GPU and PSU into it. You may be able to get a RTX 2060 for 500CAD but you'd have to use your old Rosewill power supply, which is not that great to begin with and should probably be replaced with any GPU upgrade.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/yfyZPn

 

[Darkbreeze]

Your graphics card and power supply would be the first things that need to be upgraded, but the platform itself (motherboard, CPU and memory) definitely ARE old and far out of relevance for modern gaming systems.

Being from Canada, you already know the hardware is going to be significantly more expensive than for the US or UK, so upgrading a little at a time might be the best option however you WILL want to replace the graphics card and power supply at the same time. The fact is, you don't want to use that power supply with anything more capable than what you already have, it's not a very good unit, in fact, it's actually rather poor quality.

This would give you good 1080p performance BUT if you want high FPS as well you are going to need a platform upgrade. Don't expect to get 144FPS with an FX-8320 on anything even remotely CPU intensive.

Actually, we need to know what case you have as well, to know what will fit and what won't.

 

[Barty1884]

Your system would probably benefit from a stronger GPU more than anything else.... but with a dated platform underlying, I'm not sure if I'd put the money out, personally.

With that being said, you could just about replace the entire system - reusing the PSU, case & storage:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($79.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB Phoenix OC Video Card ($211.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $546.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-24 21:56 EDT-0400

The Valens isn't a great unit, but for something like ^, it would be sufficient - Although I'd have one eye on replacing that next...

The 1650 Super isn't exactly phenomenal, but as a step up from a 750TI, it's night & day

 

[punkncat]

Would consider a baseline CPU/Mobo/RAM upgrade to new. I would personally also choose a good PSU along with and if you can squeeze it at least a small SSD to boot from.
I would then focus on a 1660 class, or such with savings, gift, etc.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I really don't see anything salvageable in your build except the monitors.

While this is true for somebody trying to build a very capable system, if you consider that they have a 750 ti and an FX-8320 and believe the system to be "ok-ish", you must realize they are not basing the acceptability of the performance on the same standards that you or I would. So, that statement probably is a little bit overly dramatic. A new graphics card will definitely improve things substantially. Will it fix everything, no, but it will make some things much better especially if they are realistic and understand that there is no ONE thing that is going to instantly give them 144FPS gaming without a new CPU, motherboard, memory, graphics card and power supply. But there are certainly improvements to be had within the 500CAD budget.

A GTX 1660 would be a terrific improvement over that 750 ti and is absolutely not "too much" for that 8320 to handle. I've got an FX-8320 right now that I'm building an entry level gaming system for my nephew who's 10 with and it does perfectly fine with an R9 280x in there, which is a far more capable card than that 750 ti. I certainly wouldn't recommend anybody BUY a 280x but I had the card already, so it works. His could work too, temporarily, until such time as he could upgrade the motherboard, CPU and memory at a later date.

 

[ogustuce]

Thank you very much for the constructive replies. I dont game that much on PC so i dont really need something spectacular. I mostly play runescape and like starcraft sometimes lol. I might consider a full upgrade. The HDD i have is Samsung SSD 850 evo 250GB.

As for the case, i dont know lol, i've had it forever (like atleast 5 years). the dimensions (exterior) are: 8' wide x 18' long x 17" height if that helps. I meant in op 500$ for like GPU/CPU. So for a full system i'd throw 1000$ (motherboard,psu,pcu,gpu, etc) for a decent tower. I dont mind ordering all in parts and building it myself if that saves costs.

Any1 can throw me a PcPartPicker for that? (like the one Barty made but a lil more budget)

 

[Darkbreeze]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-10400 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor ($237.95 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: ASRock B460 Pro4 ATX LGA1200 Motherboard ($159.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2933 CL16 Memory ($104.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card ($302.99 @ PC-Canada)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($103.99 @ PC-Canada)
Total: $909.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-25 00:06 EDT-0400

 

[ogustuce]

thank you

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you wanted to do something even MORE budget, that still would have pretty good modern 1080p performance, then this four core eight thread Intel build would certainly also be a major upgrade from what you have now.

This would be extremely capable for the price. In fact, it would (On the CPU side of things anyhow) outperform my 6700k that I'm currently still using to game with. Well, it would if my 6700k was at the stock configuration. With a 4.6Ghz OC and 32GB of 3200mhz CL14 memory, it might not, but it would probably be close.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-10100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($151.75 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B460 HD3 ATX LGA1200 Motherboard ($131.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 CL19 Memory ($69.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 570 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card ($199.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($103.75 @ Vuugo)
Total: $656.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-25 22:19 EDT-0400

 

[ogustuce]

i'll just go for the 1k build. i know that whatever i upgrade to, im gonna keep it for like 5 years. So the 1k build is best choice for long lasting decent build.

 

[ogustuce]

just question tho, what makes a psu good? like the rosewill i have is 700w and the one you recommend is 550w. how is the 550w better than the 700w?
@Darkbreeze

 

[Turtle Rig]

I really don't see anything salvageable in your build except the monitors. You could put a GTX 1660 Super and a new, better quality power supply to get better gaming performance now, but you still need to replace everything else sooner or later. When you do a new build you could move the new GPU and PSU into it. You may be able to get a RTX 2060 for 500CAD but you'd have to use your old Rosewill power supply, which is not that great to begin with and should probably be replaced with any GPU upgrade.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/yfyZPn

Your being to kind, be blunt. Even a 1660 Super will be heavily bottlenecked and I am guessing he plays at 1080p so the CPU will flop. Pointless to buy a new video card to put on that horrible box. If you want to upgarde get 16GB RAM Kit and make sure you have SSD then go to BIOS like I said and power options then let us know.TLDR🙈

I wouldn't bother with a 16GB kit for that machine. The 16GB will help with the stutter or micro freezes and lagging but your frame rate will be aweful. You have to play at 720p with lowest to medium graphics to have it be playable. I would not spend a dime on that machine. Plus DDR3 is expensive and your gonna spend 120 for a 16GB Kit. But when you upgarde in the future the RAM will not work as you would have a DDR4 system. This is why I say don't bother with the RAM either or the entire build except for peripherals and what have you. You can grab a 2700X AMD which performs very similar to 9900k with a 120 dollars motherboard and a DDR4 16GB Kit for 130ish dollars or so. If you add the prices the 2700x is 160 bucks the motherboard 120 so that is 280 then add the RAM well say 400ish dollars. How does that sound my friend.🤷‍♂️👽💯

 

[Darkbreeze]

just question tho, what makes a psu good? like the rosewill i have is 700w and the one you recommend is 550w. how is the 550w better than the 700w?
@Darkbreeze

Ok, so, do yourself a favor and read these. ACTUALLY read them.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/low-cost-psu-pc-power-supply,2862.html

Discussion - PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

Below you will find MY standard list of recommended power supplies and beyond that this thread is intended as a landing place for questions or discussions regarding specific units, platforms or related PSU tech, all of which are all welcome to be discussed here. If it's related to power supplies...

forums.tomshardware.com

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?1036-The-quot-power-supply-FAQ-quot

https://www.sevenforums.com/pc-cust...y-80-plus-irrelevant-you-when-buying-psu.html


Beyond any of that, the only review on the web for the Rosewill Valens 700w unit USED to be the one on HardOCP, which shut down last year, so that review is no longer available. Looking at PROFESSIONAL reviews is HOW you determine whether a unit is worthwhile or not. If there are no professional reviews then either the unit is too new for it to have been reviewed yet, the manufacturer didn't send out any review samples because THEY KNOW it is a crappy unit and they don't want to shoot themselves in the foot with bad feedback OR reviewers feel the unit is so crappy that it is simply not worth reviewing. So if the unit isn't a fairly recent model, and there isn't a review of a different model using the same platform, which might make another review of a unit with that platform redundant, and there is no review, then it's a pretty good bet that it's a low quality unit that is best avoided.

The review for that unit that used to be on HardOCP, indicated that it was a poor quality unit with many flaws. It is not something you want to use with an expensive new build, for the sake of the new hardware if nothing else, not to mention being a questionable quality unit the fact that it already has some miles on it makes it even LESS reliable than if it were a new but still crappy unit.

There are only three Rosewill power supply product series that I would ever consider using. Those are the Capstone-M units, the Tachyon units and the Quark series units. Those are all anywhere from pretty good to excellent. The rest of their power supplies are mostly either poor quality or at the very low end of mediocre.