OK here's a list of questions that no doubt you guys will be able to answer and sorry about the long winded post.
Just to explain, I'm in the process of overhauling and cleaning my old Akasa Raptor gaming case which I bought 7 years ago for my current PC which I'm about to update/upgrade. The case itself is still ideal for my requirements by having all the attributes, bays etc I require and quite frankly apart from only having USB 2 on the front panel, I can't find any cases that actually meet my needs quite so well so I'll use that for now. The Be-Quiet 530w psu is also still working fine too.
I had intended to replace the old Mobo, Cpu etc in the next week or so with a Ryzen 2400 G based system to have a go at entry level gaming and will probably do so in the near future but to aid learning and experiment with OC'ing, I've decided to have a bit of fun with my current old Gigagbyte board and Phenom 11 x 4 955 BE before getting the new kit. I would point out that most of the new components will be either used on the new build or in a backup computer which I'll build from the current mobo and cpu etc.
So far I've replaced the CPU cooler for the Phenom which sounded like a train when the processor got hot and replaced it with a cheap Artic Freezer 7 which so far is working admirably and quietly too, albeit a bit clunky to fit initially but for the price ( £16) it's doing the job very well.
I also fitted some new quite gutsy Akasa fans which really do pull the air out but they are a bit noisy at full pelt so my first question is...will they work with a fan speed controller or do I need fans suitable for being controlled by a fan controller?
Akasa do an analogue fan controller for about £25.00 which appears to be just what I need and will match my case and existing internal card reader and the controller would be ideal for keeping down the fan noise when the CPU isn't working hard.
I've also added a 240gb WD SSD and a second 1tb WD HDD which the computer recognises but I don't seem to be having much luck cloning the existing HDD drive which needs replacing as it's showing bad sectors. I've tried it with the free Macrium software but I might end up having to re-install everything which I'd hoped to avoid.
My mobo only has SATA 2 so obviously it won't be as fast as a modern mobo with SATA 3 but the addition of the SSD will still speed up things substantially relative to SATA 2 and only a HDD so it will do for now and I'll use the SSD for my OS in the new build.
For a bit of fun, I might even add a GT 1050ti to the existing set up to have a go at entry level gaming as looking at Youtube, with a Phenom 955 BE overclocked, it will still give similar results to the Ryzen 2400 G APU system and by having a GT 1050ti, it would allow me to get away from a APU based system when I upgrade. I could still use a 2400G alongside the 1050ti if I went down that route although it could be seen as a waste. and it would be better spent of a faster processor with 1050ti.
Again that raises the question...will the 1050ti still work reasonably given that the PCI e 16x is only 2.0 and not 3.0 as with modern boards?
Obviously the existing 4 gb of RAM is only DDR3 x 1600 so will be slower than DDR 4 in a modern board but I might add another 4 gb of matching ram ( about £40 new) to go alongside the 1050ti. Unfortunately by adding the new cooler it's a bit tight so I've lost one of the 4 ram slots so the next question is, will a single 4gb in the one remaining slot plus the 2 x 2gb in the other slots run balanced or are they likely to mis-match?
I know you're probably thinking that I could be spending that money on the new build but it's important that I have a backup computer and anything that can't be used in the new build will be used in the backup so it won't be entirely wasted and will still be put to good use and once I choose the bits for the new build I'll replace the 1tb HDD with an SSD and use the HDD in the backup computer.
Any advice appreciated.
Just to explain, I'm in the process of overhauling and cleaning my old Akasa Raptor gaming case which I bought 7 years ago for my current PC which I'm about to update/upgrade. The case itself is still ideal for my requirements by having all the attributes, bays etc I require and quite frankly apart from only having USB 2 on the front panel, I can't find any cases that actually meet my needs quite so well so I'll use that for now. The Be-Quiet 530w psu is also still working fine too.
I had intended to replace the old Mobo, Cpu etc in the next week or so with a Ryzen 2400 G based system to have a go at entry level gaming and will probably do so in the near future but to aid learning and experiment with OC'ing, I've decided to have a bit of fun with my current old Gigagbyte board and Phenom 11 x 4 955 BE before getting the new kit. I would point out that most of the new components will be either used on the new build or in a backup computer which I'll build from the current mobo and cpu etc.
So far I've replaced the CPU cooler for the Phenom which sounded like a train when the processor got hot and replaced it with a cheap Artic Freezer 7 which so far is working admirably and quietly too, albeit a bit clunky to fit initially but for the price ( £16) it's doing the job very well.
I also fitted some new quite gutsy Akasa fans which really do pull the air out but they are a bit noisy at full pelt so my first question is...will they work with a fan speed controller or do I need fans suitable for being controlled by a fan controller?
Akasa do an analogue fan controller for about £25.00 which appears to be just what I need and will match my case and existing internal card reader and the controller would be ideal for keeping down the fan noise when the CPU isn't working hard.
I've also added a 240gb WD SSD and a second 1tb WD HDD which the computer recognises but I don't seem to be having much luck cloning the existing HDD drive which needs replacing as it's showing bad sectors. I've tried it with the free Macrium software but I might end up having to re-install everything which I'd hoped to avoid.
My mobo only has SATA 2 so obviously it won't be as fast as a modern mobo with SATA 3 but the addition of the SSD will still speed up things substantially relative to SATA 2 and only a HDD so it will do for now and I'll use the SSD for my OS in the new build.
For a bit of fun, I might even add a GT 1050ti to the existing set up to have a go at entry level gaming as looking at Youtube, with a Phenom 955 BE overclocked, it will still give similar results to the Ryzen 2400 G APU system and by having a GT 1050ti, it would allow me to get away from a APU based system when I upgrade. I could still use a 2400G alongside the 1050ti if I went down that route although it could be seen as a waste. and it would be better spent of a faster processor with 1050ti.
Again that raises the question...will the 1050ti still work reasonably given that the PCI e 16x is only 2.0 and not 3.0 as with modern boards?
Obviously the existing 4 gb of RAM is only DDR3 x 1600 so will be slower than DDR 4 in a modern board but I might add another 4 gb of matching ram ( about £40 new) to go alongside the 1050ti. Unfortunately by adding the new cooler it's a bit tight so I've lost one of the 4 ram slots so the next question is, will a single 4gb in the one remaining slot plus the 2 x 2gb in the other slots run balanced or are they likely to mis-match?
I know you're probably thinking that I could be spending that money on the new build but it's important that I have a backup computer and anything that can't be used in the new build will be used in the backup so it won't be entirely wasted and will still be put to good use and once I choose the bits for the new build I'll replace the 1tb HDD with an SSD and use the HDD in the backup computer.
Any advice appreciated.
. The actual questions appear to be:-