[SOLVED] Worth upgrading this old PC ?

Roger_MacClintock

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Apr 3, 2017
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My current PC:

CPU: i5-750 OC to 3,7 Ghz
GPU: Asus RX 470 4GB GDDR5 ROG STRIX
Motherboard: MSI P55-GD65
Ram: 12 GB DDR3 1600 Mhz (1x HyperX DDR3, 8 GB,1600MHz, CL10 + 2x2GB GoodRam)
SSD: Adata SSD Premier Pro Sp550 240GB
PSU: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze
Cooling on CPU: Zalman CNPS 9900 MAX
Case: Corsair 100R

I am considering two options:
Buying used i7-870 (they costs in my country around 50-55 $) or i7-860 (45$) and switching 2x2GB for another HyperX 8GB (~52$) to get max for this motherboard 16GB instead of this weird combo, but I'm afraid it's a dead end and throwing money down the drain.
or buy new cheap CPU, Motherboard and DDR4 but I didn't want to spend more than 250-300 USD

I think about it mainly because of Escape From Tarkov, playing at 40-60 fps is not pleasant and this game requires strong CPU and fast Ram. I also think that this CPU is strongly bottlenecking my GPU.
 
Solution
PC Partpicker has an option for Poland, but there are no CPUs listed at all showing as available so I used Deutschland pricing since they are the next closest to you.

That configuration is probably about the best you are going to find for the least amount of money. Other than the 1600AF, which is probably NOT as good of an option as the R5 2600 for reasons of memory support if nothing else, that's probably the least capable CPU you'd want to look at in terms of something new.

IF you could find something used, that you could TRUST to be in good shape, and that is a far stretch trusting anything used, you could probably get by (Well, it would be a huge improvement from what you have right now) with any i7 from the 3rd Gen (Ivy bridge)...
What country are you in and are you able to buy hardware online or are you limited to local shops only?

Honestly, that system is not worth sinking that amount of money into, but then again, depending on where you are sometimes the options that look good for one region are a lot different than for another region.
 

PanzaruRares

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Jan 20, 2020
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The Ryzen 5 1600 AF version is very good for a budget build and performs more like a ryzen 5 2600 for cheaper. You will most likely find them used but its worth checking!
 
For your region, this is probably about the best low cost but fairly solid option. I really feel like it's a complete waste of money sinking anything into the system you have now, because no matter what you do it's really not going to make enough of a difference to justify the expense. If you could get the memory for 10-20 bucks and the CPU for less than 25 bucks, then it might be worth it. Otherwise, it's really not.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor (€131.80 @ Alza)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard (€120.80 @ Alza)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (€81.89 @ Alternate)
Total: €334.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-02 21:11 CEST+0200
 

PanzaruRares

Prominent
Jan 20, 2020
70
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545
For your region, this is probably about the best low cost but fairly solid option. I really feel like it's a complete waste of money sinking anything into the system you have now, because no matter what you do it's really not going to make enough of a difference to justify the expense. If you could get the memory for 10-20 bucks and the CPU for less than 25 bucks, then it might be worth it. Otherwise, it's really not.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor (€131.80 @ Alza)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard (€120.80 @ Alza)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (€81.89 @ Alternate)
Total: €334.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-02 21:11 CEST+0200
this is good but if you are on a budget and dont want to upgrade in the next years, i would go with a cheaper b450 board because this one comes with ryzen 3000 ready which is useless for your case.
 
Sorry, have gotten used to having to use that board because most Ryzen builds being done ARE Ryzen 3000 series. Good point. This would be better fiscally and is still a very decent board. The 1600AF doesn't seem to be available in his region, only the 14nm version.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor (€131.80 @ Alza)
Motherboard: ASRock B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (€95.28 @ Mindfactory)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (€81.89 @ Alternate)
Total: €308.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-02 21:26 CEST+0200
 

Roger_MacClintock

Honorable
Apr 3, 2017
8
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10,515
Thanks for the help, I'm From Poland and in my county there are not many used Ryzens 1600/2600 on the market. I will listen to the advice and I won't buy anything for old PC.
I am looking at the prices of new Ryzens in my country:
Ryzen 3 1200 AF - 239 pln (58$)
Ryzen 5 1600 AF - 485 pln (116$)
Ryzen 5 2600 - 569 pln (137$)
 
PC Partpicker has an option for Poland, but there are no CPUs listed at all showing as available so I used Deutschland pricing since they are the next closest to you.

That configuration is probably about the best you are going to find for the least amount of money. Other than the 1600AF, which is probably NOT as good of an option as the R5 2600 for reasons of memory support if nothing else, that's probably the least capable CPU you'd want to look at in terms of something new.

IF you could find something used, that you could TRUST to be in good shape, and that is a far stretch trusting anything used, you could probably get by (Well, it would be a huge improvement from what you have right now) with any i7 from the 3rd Gen (Ivy bridge) through the 7th Gen, but again it's almost like throwing money away since those platforms are also already end of life and parts for them including motherboards are expensive and hard to come by.

I'd look at the R5 1600AF as a minimum, and if there was any way you could swing a Ryzen 3600 that would be a WAY better investment because the single core performance is substantially better than it was on the Zen+ 2nd Generation Ryzen parts.
 
Solution

Roger_MacClintock

Honorable
Apr 3, 2017
8
2
10,515
PC Partpicker has an option for Poland, but there are no CPUs listed at all showing as available so I used Deutschland pricing since they are the next closest to you.

That configuration is probably about the best you are going to find for the least amount of money. Other than the 1600AF, which is probably NOT as good of an option as the R5 2600 for reasons of memory support if nothing else, that's probably the least capable CPU you'd want to look at in terms of something new.

IF you could find something used, that you could TRUST to be in good shape, and that is a far stretch trusting anything used, you could probably get by (Well, it would be a huge improvement from what you have right now) with any i7 from the 3rd Gen (Ivy bridge) through the 7th Gen, but again it's almost like throwing money away since those platforms are also already end of life and parts for them including motherboards are expensive and hard to come by.

I'd look at the R5 1600AF as a minimum, and if there was any way you could swing a Ryzen 3600 that would be a WAY better investment because the single core performance is substantially better than it was on the Zen+ 2nd Generation Ryzen parts.

Last two questions.
Which motherboard should I choose? it is worth paying a little more for Aours Elite or Fatality ?
Gigabyte B450 GAMING X AM4 (~95$)
ASRock B450 PRO4 AM4 (~95$)
Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE AM4 (105$)
ASRock Fatal1ty B450 GAMING K4 AM4 (107)

which RAM ?
Patriot Viper BLACKOUT DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) 3000MHz (83$)
G.Skill Aegis DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) 3000MHz CL16 (81$) - I read on the asrock forum that people have problems with aegis.
G.Skill RipjawsV DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz CL16 rev2 (91$) but these are just a little too expensive for me
 
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Ive had few of those motherboards P55-GD55 and P55-GD65 models, these can run "decent" overclock on xeon and i7 cpu:s. There was some issues going past 3.9ghz if i remember correct but even then 4 core 8 thread cpu is a big boost from your current i5-750.

Your current graphics card would be a perfect match for around 3.8-4ghz overclocked i7-870 or xeon.
Here is frames what you could expect, keep in mind hes using rx580 :
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqgJvlZWTy8


Difference with xeons and i7-870 is the price and xeons need less imc and vcore to keep same clocks as i7-870.
You can get x3470 for about 20$ shipped from china : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/329...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

x3440 is a good choice too and alot cheaper but i prefer x3470 since it has higher max multiplier 22, that means you dont have to overclock the blck so high as with x3440 (better motherboard usually gives you higher stable blck)

Price for x3440 is 7 dollars shipped worldwide : https://www.aliexpress.com/af/x3440...x3440&catId=0&initiative_id=AS_20200504073427

For the i7 oc process here is a decent guide :
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8znxnpL82c

You do not need to raise the IMC / vtt voltage that high with x3470 since you can use 22 multiplier.

Higher blck can give stability issues with above 2000mhz ram, sweet point i found is around 185-190blck to reach 2200mhz on ddr3, this is the maximum with this platform, i would aim for 1866mhz with your motherboard.

Anyway there is NO point upgrading any part if your not upgrading the GPU aswell. If your not satisfied after using 7-20dollars for the performance then upgrade everything including gpu.
 
Last two questions.
Which motherboard should I choose? it is worth paying a little more for Aours Elite or Fatality ?
Gigabyte B450 GAMING X AM4 (~95$)
ASRock B450 PRO4 AM4 (~95$)
Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE AM4 (105$)
ASRock Fatal1ty B450 GAMING K4 AM4 (107)

which RAM ?
Patriot Viper BLACKOUT DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) 3000MHz (83$)
G.Skill Aegis DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) 3000MHz CL16 (81$) - I read on the asrock forum that people have problems with aegis.
G.Skill RipjawsV DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz CL16 rev2 (91$) but these are just a little too expensive for me
Honestly, unless there is a SPECIFIC feature you require, like multiple M.2 slots, native water cooling support, etc., there really is no better choice than the B450 Tomahawk and Tomahawk Max, especially if you factor in the price.

You can run a 3950x on those boards, no problem. Try that with these other boards you've listed and you'll likely hear them groaning as their throats are squeezed and they die slowly. LOL.


As for the memory, that depends on the motherboard AND the CPU. And also whether or not you WILL plan to upgrade to a higher end, newer CPU later. Because if you think you will then it's probably worth it to shoot for faster memory. 3200mhz CL14 or 3600mhz CL14 or CL16, because then you already have RAM that gives you the additional speed benefit you stand to gain from the 3rd or upcoming 4th Gen Ryzen processors. But even without that consideration, memory selection is board dependent so you want to check the G.Skill or Corsair compatibility lists. I recommend sticking to G.Skill. You can find exactly which memory is compatible with a given board using the filters on the G.Skill memory configurator.

https://www.gskill.com/configurator
 
Nothing wrong with old systems, if they are still doing what you need them to do. The problem is, that while there are a lot of use cases where an older system DOES do everything you need, there are far more where they cannot keep up OR where the cost of replacement hardware to keep those old systems going simply cannot be justified when compared to being able to get into something newer for a similar or at least close price. I get the nostalgia though.