Please Help: Upgrade or Buy New?

Edrof

Edrof

Edrof

Soldato
Joined
16 Nov 2009
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Location
UK
Hi all,

I am going to be convalescing for a long time and I’d like to buy a new PC to help get through it all. I am totally out of the game, though, and I haven’t played any title more recent than 2013 (on about half settings) and I know nothing about the latest tech so some advice would be amazing. I would like to play recent games on solid settings but I know things like the amazing-looking Red Dead Redemption 2 must require a rig way out of my small budget, which is currently around £500 to £600, approximately.

My current system is an aged OcUK Titan Sabre:
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
• AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition overclocked to 3.30GHz
• 4GB Kingston HyperX DDR2 1066MHz RAM
• 500GB Seagate 7200RPM Hard Drive
• SAPPHIRE Radeon RX 550
• Mobo: ga-ma790x-ud3p
• Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster B2430​

Is it worth keeping any of this and simply adding to it? (I’m assuming the monitor is at least retainable and if I could use the Windows 7 still it would save me £100.) Alternatively, I could grab something off-the-shelf like this:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-kinetic-r1-gaming-pc-amd-ryzen-3-2200g-fs-1ca-og.html

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G Quad Core 4.0GHz (Socket AM4) APU with RX Vega 8 Graphics - MPK
  • Memory: Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G30
  • Case: Kolink Aviator M Micro-ATX Gaming Case - Black
  • Graphics Card: Asus Radeon RX 570 Strix 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
  • Solid State Drive: (Primary)Samsung 500GB 860 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-76E500B/EU)
  • Storage Drive: Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - *System Stock*
  • WIFI: Not selected
  • Operating System: Not selected
  • Security Software: Not selected
  • Optical Drive: Not selected

This is £550.

Honestly, thank you very much and any help is appreciated.

Matt
 
Hi Matt,

If you keep your 500GB HDD (and ditch the new 1TB HDD), and choose a different 500GB SSD that's a bit cheaper than that Samsung, there might be enough to push for an RX 590:


My basket at Overclockers UK:
​


A Ryzen 2600 would be better than 3200G. The 3200G only has 4 cores and 4 threads and game engines these days use CPU more, along with more powerful graphics cards utilizing more CPU resources as well.

You could use the following as a template and try to find a pre-built that matches it as much as possible:


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £566.93 (includes shipping: FREE)
​


Or alternatively can ask OcUK for a build quote for a custom spec like that if you don't find a suitable pre-built.


Edrof said:
if I could use the Windows 7 still it would save me £100.)
Click to expand...


Your best bet is to try and upgrade 7 to 10 for free on your existing machine and then obtain a digital license which you can use later on with your new system. It's said to still work but haven't had a chance to test it. https://www.cnet.com/how-to/upgrade-to-windows-10-free-heres-how/

Failing that, could also download Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft onto USB drive and start using it free till you find a cheap key for it, or choose to pay full amount. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
 
Last edited:
You want the Ryzen 3600, not the 2600, and 3600 MHz RAM. Reports say that the Radeon RX 5500 is being released on the 12th. The RX 5xx cards are on clear-out.

I think you will need to upgrade to Windows 10 to get support for your new CPU, chipset, and GPU. The good thing is that the free upgrade from Windows 7 is apparently still on.
 
If you don't mind going second hand you can regularly pick up 2600's for under £100 on a certain electronic auction site.

While the 3600 would be a better buy, I don't necessarily see a problem with saving some cash and getting the 2600, the 4000 series is out next year and you could always upgrade to one of those when they launch. The 2600 is still going to be a pretty huge improvement over that old dual core Phenom II.
 
That's fantastic, thank you all for sharing your knowledge! I'll get the ball rolling with it and try to get it done before the Windows deadline :D
 
Edrof said:
That's fantastic, thank you all for sharing your knowledge! I'll get the ball rolling with it and try to get it done before the Windows deadline :D
Click to expand...

At worst you can pick up Windows 10 keys for a couple of quid on that electronic auction site I mentioned before.
 
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