[SOLVED] Worth upgrading my current pc?

Inzy2k

Honorable
Oct 12, 2015
5
0
10,510
Hello all!

To start off I would like to say that in no way shape or form am I a genius in custom pc building, in fact I am a complete newbie.

So recently, due to staying indoors a lot ( **** 2020), I’ve started to get back into gaming on my PC. I’ve had a ‘gaming’ pc custom built for me about 5 years ago and I am wondering if it’s worth upgrading or should I absolutely start from scratch and destroy my very depleted wallet even further.

This is my current setup:

1 Intel H110 / H170 Configurator (cyw8)
CONFIGURATION
CPU: Intel Core i5 6500
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3i
RAM: 8GB Crucial 2133mhz DDR4 (2x4GB)
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce
GTX 970 4GB
Motherboard: Gigabyte H110M-S2H Included
Operating System: Windows 7
Hard Drive: 1TB S-ATAIII 6.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Case Fans: 2 x Aerocool Air Force 12CM
Blue LED Fan
Case: Corsair Carbide Spec-01
PSU: 550W Corsair VS
Internet: Wireless 802.11N 300Mbps MIMO
PCI-E card

I want to be able to play most of the current games at a stable frame rate, looking to get back into battle royale games. Ideally I would like to keep the spending below $500 if I’m upgrading my current rig.

Appreciate all your expertise!
 
Solution
Well, there's no real place to take the platform, but you can salvage a few parts to save a buck on "practically a new pc" then upgrade the rest down the line.

You can keep the cooler and case, the hard drive and the wireless card, also the fans.
You can keep the ram for now until an upgrade is needed, or wanted
and you can keep the psu, although, it is a low quality unit. It's from a reputable brand, and I wouldn't think it'd die or anything, but I just wouldn't feel comfortable keeping that for a while on a brand new pc, so it will need upgrading, but that can wait for a bit (as long as the upgrades don't need more than 550 watts)
You can also keep the gpu until you can afford an upgrade.

All of these can be kept until you need an...
Well, there's no real place to take the platform, but you can salvage a few parts to save a buck on "practically a new pc" then upgrade the rest down the line.

You can keep the cooler and case, the hard drive and the wireless card, also the fans.
You can keep the ram for now until an upgrade is needed, or wanted
and you can keep the psu, although, it is a low quality unit. It's from a reputable brand, and I wouldn't think it'd die or anything, but I just wouldn't feel comfortable keeping that for a while on a brand new pc, so it will need upgrading, but that can wait for a bit (as long as the upgrades don't need more than 550 watts)
You can also keep the gpu until you can afford an upgrade.

All of these can be kept until you need an upgrade or your budget allows.

Now for actual upgrades that need to be made.
A new cpu and motherboard, either ryzen or intel, i'd say ryzen cause.. they're plain better right now, maybe a 5600X (300$) and a B550 board (around 100-150$ I guess?)
Then the rest of the budget would go to an SSD, because that system needs it badly.

But here's the deal, If you upgrade your gpu, instead of the cpu, In most newer titles, you will get quite a small improvement, since the 6500 is not a very powerful cpu nowadays, but, it's perfectly good for low tier/older gpus, like the 970, but also, I don't think anything aside from a 1660 super or up is a good enough upgrade.
lower tier 3000 series cards will launch "soon" (probably Q1 2021, maybe Q2 idk), and in my opinion, upgrading the cpu now for a similar performance upgrade, but much wider upgrade path for the future is better.
 
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Solution

Inzy2k

Honorable
Oct 12, 2015
5
0
10,510
Well, there's no real place to take the platform, but you can salvage a few parts to save a buck on "practically a new pc" then upgrade the rest down the line.

You can keep the cooler and case, the hard drive and the wireless card, also the fans.
You can keep the ram for now until an upgrade is needed, or wanted
and you can keep the psu, although, it is a low quality unit. It's from a reputable brand, and I wouldn't think it'd die or anything, but I just wouldn't feel comfortable keeping that for a while on a brand new pc, so it will need upgrading, but that can wait for a bit (as long as the upgrades don't need more than 550 watts)
You can also keep the gpu until you can afford an upgrade.

All of these can be kept until you need an upgrade or your budget allows.

Now for actual upgrades that need to be made.
A new cpu and motherboard, either ryzen or intel, i'd say ryzen cause.. they're plain better right now, maybe a 5600X (300$) and a B550 board (around 100-150$ I guess?)
Then the rest of the budget would go to an SSD, because that system needs it badly.

But here's the deal, If you upgrade your gpu, instead of the cpu, In most newer titles, you will get quite a small improvement, since the 6500 is not a very powerful cpu nowadays, but, it's perfectly good for low tier/older gpus, like the 970, but also, I don't think anything aside from a 1660 super or up is a good enough upgrade.
lower tier 3000 series cards will launch "soon" (probably Q1 2021, maybe Q2 idk), and in my opinion, upgrading the cpu now for a similar performance upgrade, but much wider upgrade path for the future is better.
Thank you so much for your feedback.
 

Zerk2012

Titan
Ambassador
Hello all!

To start off I would like to say that in no way shape or form am I a genius in custom pc building, in fact I am a complete newbie.

So recently, due to staying indoors a lot ( **** 2020), I’ve started to get back into gaming on my PC. I’ve had a ‘gaming’ pc custom built for me about 5 years ago and I am wondering if it’s worth upgrading or should I absolutely start from scratch and destroy my very depleted wallet even further.

This is my current setup:

1 Intel H110 / H170 Configurator (cyw8)
CONFIGURATION
CPU: Intel Core i5 6500
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3i
RAM: 8GB Crucial 2133mhz DDR4 (2x4GB)
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce
GTX 970 4GB
Motherboard: Gigabyte H110M-S2H Included
Operating System: Windows 7
Hard Drive: 1TB S-ATAIII 6.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Case Fans: 2 x Aerocool Air Force 12CM
Blue LED Fan
Case: Corsair Carbide Spec-01
PSU: 550W Corsair VS
Internet: Wireless 802.11N 300Mbps MIMO
PCI-E card

I want to be able to play most of the current games at a stable frame rate, looking to get back into battle royale games. Ideally I would like to keep the spending below $500 if I’m upgrading my current rig.

Appreciate all your expertise!
I would pull the WIFI card out and sell the PC as a working PC and rebuild.
Everything you are using is low quality. Motherboard, case, PSU the VS power supplies are low quality and not what to use in a gaming PC.

You can probably get around 400 bucks for that PC as is. That would give you 900 to rebuild.

Right at 900 you can run Windows 10 without activating it to save some money till you can buy a code for it.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-10400 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor | $159.00 @ B&H
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $23.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard | MSI MAG B460M BAZOOKA Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard | $98.98 @ Newegg
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory | $72.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $59.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $39.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB GAMING Twin Fan Video Card | $289.98 @ Newegg
Case | Fractal Design Focus G Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $59.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | $79.98 @ Amazon
Case Fan | ARCTIC P12 PST 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan | $9.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $904.87
| Mail-in rebates | -$10.00
| Total | $894.87
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-12-27 08:56 EST-0500 |
 
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I would pull the WIFI card out and sell the PC as a working PC and rebuild.
Everything you are using is low quality. Motherboard, case, PSU the VS power supplies are low quality and not what to use in a gaming PC.

You can probably get around 400 bucks for that PC as is. That would give you 900 to rebuild.

Right at 900 you can run Windows 10 without activating it to save some money till you can buy a code for it.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-10400 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor | $159.00 @ B&H
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $23.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard | MSI MAG B460M BAZOOKA Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard | $98.98 @ Newegg
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory | $72.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $59.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $39.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB GAMING Twin Fan Video Card | $289.98 @ Newegg
Case | Fractal Design Focus G Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $59.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | $79.98 @ Amazon
Case Fan | ARCTIC P12 PST 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan | $9.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $904.87
| Mail-in rebates | -$10.00
| Total | $894.87
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-12-27 08:56 EST-0500 |
Solid build .. maybe switch out the RAM.

https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232718
G.SKILL Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2666 $60

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B460M-BAZOOKA/Specification
MSI MAG B460M BAZOOKA LGA 1200
DDR4 MEMORY: 2933(Max)/ 2666/ 2400/ 2133 MHz
 
I don't wanna start a fight but...
Peasant.
You really cannot underestimate how good the new consoles are. I've got a decent gaming pc with an RTX 3080 and also a Series X. The Series X doesn't look as good in the same games but is still impressive with 4k HDR 120Hz and although most games are 60 fps some are closer to 120. The performance just destroys any gaming pc of similar cost and I am a long time PC gamer. Unless you have a specific reason to go PC you will get more gaming performance from a console at that price.
 
You really cannot underestimate how good the new consoles are. I've got a decent gaming pc with an RTX 3080 and also a Series X. The Series X doesn't look as good in the same games but is still impressive with 4k HDR 120Hz and although most games are 60 fps some are closer to 120. The performance just destroys any gaming pc of similar cost and I am a long time PC gamer. Unless you have a specific reason to go PC you will get more gaming performance from a console at that price.
From most benchmarks I've seen the consoles struggle getting 4k 60fps in almost any game, and with ray tracing on they even dial it back to 30fps locked.
say, like in assassin's creed.
The only games they strive to get 120fps are the lighter, ps4/xbox one titles, and can't even get close to that in any current gen games.


Edit:
Just googled which games even have a 120fps profile.
Borderlands 3, Rainbow six: seige, dirt 5, destiny 2 and a few more...
All of these aren't demanding games, and can run at high framerates on very moderate hardware.
This isn't written where I'm looking, but I also can pretty much tell you right off the bat, they are not getting that 120fps at full 4k resolution on the max details.
Spiderman Miles morales looks good, but it's not the "highest fidelity game I've ever seen" and it runs at either 60fps 4k (which it struggles to maintain and frequently lowers the textures) and with ray tracing, the main shtick of the new consoles, it is capped at 30fps, and again, doesn't always get that depending on the scene.


Yes, obviously the consoles at retail are more "worth it" for just gaming, but it's a different experience.
Couch vs Desktop gaming, the general "simpleness" of consoles to the high configurability of pcs.
 
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