Need help upgrading an older system to play games at 1080p (tight budget)

RipGroove

RipGroove

RipGroove

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I'm not new to PC building as I've built my last 3 systems for myself (see sig for current build), but I usually buy pretty decent stuff if I can afford it at the time so could do with a bit of advice for making an older system play games as that's not something I've really had to do.

I'm trying to surprise my Brother by upgrading his PC to be able to play games reasonably well at 1080p for as little cost as possible, he's planning on letting me build him something better from scratch when he has the money but for now money is tight and he just wants to be able to game a little until he can afford something better.

His current spec:

CPU: Intel i5-650 (socket 1156)
GPU: AMD HD5450
RAM: 7168 GB (not entirely sure why it's showing that without actually going and looking at his PC)

So I was thinking:

CPU: Intel i5-750 (£20-30 on eBay)

GPU: I'm not entirely sure yet as I'll have to check budget but I know I want to go Nvidia pretty much because I'm very familiar with the way the drivers work and how to tweak the settings etc.

RAM: Without looking at his PC I'm not sure exactly sure if I'll need to buy anymore or not, I'm guessing we'll get away with just 8GB for now maybe but I need to take a look and see what's in there and why it;s showing as 7168 GB?

On top of buying new (used) CPU, GPU and maybe RAM I'm also able to donate a HyperX Cloud 2 headset, some new case fans, a Razer Nostromo gaming keypad and an Xbox controller but that's all I have spare. I'll obviously also give the whole thing a very good physical clean and tidy and wipe and reinstall latest drivers and go through the BIOS etc but no overclocking as I won't have the time and I'm not planning any cooling upgrades.
 
GPU + SSD

You'll need a GPU for sure, but if you get a beefy one you'll also probably need a power supply. In the interest of not spending much on this PC, because it'll probably be in the bin in a couple of years, I'd probably put a GTX 1050 in it.

I'd also recommend a clean windows install on an SSD, get a cheap one because it'll be SATA bottlenecked anyway.
 
billysielu said:
GPU + SSD

You'll need a GPU for sure, but if you get a beefy one you'll also probably need a power supply. In the interest of not spending much on this PC, because it'll probably be in the bin in a couple of years, I'd probably put a GTX 1050 in it.

I'd also recommend a clean windows install on an SSD, get a cheap one because it'll be SATA bottlenecked anyway.
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Good shout on the SSD but I don't think budget will allow that TBH. I will have a look and see what's available for cheap though as you never know. For outright gaming performance I figured CPU and GPU should come first if possible.
 
I'd agree with the 1050, beats my gtx680 in most games and that was my 1080p card til summer when I got an1440p screen. Nice low power requirement, doubt you need any more fans, just clean the ones in there.

I'd leave the CPU for now, a lot of gaming laptops are 2 core 4 thread. If its an issue, quick to drop in later.

Team group SSD are silly cheap right now on OCUK. 120gb £30 240gb £54

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decto said:
I'd agree with the 1050, beats my gtx680 in most games and that was my 1080p card til summer when I got an1440p screen. Nice low power requirement, doubt you need any more fans, just clean the ones in there.

I'd leave the CPU for now, a lot of gaming laptops are 2 core 4 thread. If its an issue, quick to drop in later.

Team group SSD are silly cheap right now on OCUK. 120gb £30 240gb £54

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Thanks :-)
 
Rather than picking up a i5 750 (which is/was a good cpu because I had a 760) you may as well get the best cpu for the socket and try to find a i7 860 cheap. I wouldn't bother about the memory for now because the dual core cpu and the gpu are the weakest parts (especially the gpu) and is where the money needs spending. If it's a P55 motherboard then you really should reconsider overclocking because clocking my old i5 750 to 4Ghz made quite a difference.
 
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pastymuncher said:
Rather than picking up a i5 750 (which is/was a good cpu because I had one) you may as well get the best cpu for the socket and try to find a i7 860 cheap. I wouldn't bother about the memory for now because the dual core cpu and the gpu are the weakest parts (especially the gpu) and is where the money needs spending. If it's a P55 motherboard then you really should reconsider overclocking because clocking my old i5 750 to 4Ghz made quite a difference.
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I did a bit of reading earlier and it looked like the i7-860 pretty much performs the same as the i5-750 when gaming and the i5 was a fair bit cheaper, that was my train of thought but I might be wrong.

I've just found out that his current PC possibly has just a 250w PSU also so I'll have to try to pickup at least a 450w PSU also now as well.
 
RipGroove said:
I did a bit of reading earlier and it looked like the i7-860 pretty much performs the same as the i5-750 when gaming and the i5 was a fair bit cheaper, that was my train of thought but I might be wrong.

I've just found out that his current PC possibly has just a 250w PSU also so I'll have to try to pickup at least a 450w PSU also now as well.
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If you need a new psu may as well go for a gtx680 / 770 for beer money.

An old 250w supply is probably on the edge for a 1050 and that CPU but 350w would be fine.
I ran a overclocked q6600 and slim gtx8800's on an antec earthwatts 380 for a while will no issues.
 
What type of PC does he have? A pre-built computer such as HP may have limitations on what you can upgrade (locked BIOS, proprietary PSU, wattage limitation on PCI-e slot, inverted motherboard etc). Is it a small form factor? (SFF) as they can only take low profile graphics cards.

What type of games does he expect to play or get him into? Do you think he will tolerate low details on the latest games?

Your options for a PC which you don't need to upgrade the PSU are: Nvidia GT 1030 (£60-70), GTX 1050 (£100-130) and GTX 1050 ti (£140+) at current prices. They do not need an extra power connector and you just need to swap the HD5450 and the graphics drivers.
 
Erm. Now I am struggling to remember my processors here, but aren't you going backwards there? The 750 is a Lynnfield whereas the 650 is a Clarkdale. The i5-750 is actually slower than the i5-650. You should go for the i5-680 which is another Clarkdale.
 
It is slower but the 750 is a proper quad core though. The 650 is just a dual core with HT. The 750 has a lower base clock of 2.66Ghz but boosts to 3.20Ghz and will easily overclock to 3.8-4Ghz. The 650 has a base clock of 3.2Ghz and boosts to 3.46Ghz. I should imagine it overclocks to a similar level but I would rather have a proper quad as long as they both overclock to similar speeds. I suggested a 860 but looking on Ebay you get the odd cheap one going in the mid £40's but most are into the mid £50's or much higher. A Xeon X3460 which is more or less identical to a i7 860 can be had from £30 though which is well worth considering.
 
thought of doing Ryzen APU for him ? since you mention can upgrade later with a bit of cash- always chuck in GPU later when 2nd hand market get flooded of current gen cards .
also APU can be upgraded in a few years time if needs be etc ect

£300 can land 2400g , which equals gtx 1030 gaming , B350 chipset board to overclock and 8GB of 3000hz ram..

prob even 2200g would be better then current :)
 
On a tight budget, consider last-gen parts being sold cheaply second hand when people upgrade to AM4/Ryzen.

There are plenty of older parts that can run games at 1080p and are far more affordable.

If you want to upgrade rather than replace, Intel CPUs tend to be more expensive with better performance - but the motherboards are for specific ranges of CPU so you'll have to make sure it's compatible before you order.
 
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