Father/son upgrade project

Richard Merry

Richard Merry

Richard Merry

Associate
Joined
21 Nov 2021
Posts
5
Location
Surrey
Hi
My boy has a very budget pc which he uses for gaming/homework etc
He plays fortnite/valorant and similar games

From what I can find the specs are as follows
Dell od28yy m/board
16gb ddr3 ram
I5-2500 cpu
Gt730 graphics card
400w psu
1 TB hdd
Windows 10 pro


I am looking to help him upgrade as and when funds allow, but am looking for advice on best bang for buck options as we will be trying to make xmas/money stretch
Also looking for recommendations for a book to aid us as YouTube videos are fantastic, I'm more than a bit old fashioned!!

Any/all help appreciated
Even if it's to start afresh

Cheers
 
I would say videos are better than books, monkey see, monkey do type of thing lol.

Best bang for buck IMO used are the 8th gen i7 based PC`s with a 980 Ti or something.

New im not sure since it is rare i by new parts due to never having components fail ( other that HDD ) for 20 years.
 
The easiest upgrade would be a GTX 1050ti (new) No psu upgrade needed and massivly faster than the 730 he has.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £209.89 (includes shipping: £9.90)
​

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti-vs-Nvidia-GeForce-GT-730/3649vsm12582

Unfotunatly the price of gpu has sky rocketed and isnt looking like it will drop much.

Be careful when looking at second hand as they might need additional power or be rated above 400 watts so will need a psu upgrade adding more cost.

For a general upgrade in everything a SSD is essential (assuming the 1tb drive is a mechanical one of course)

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £61.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)
​
 
dfour said:
The easiest upgrade would be a GTX 1050ti (new) No psu upgrade needed and massivly faster than the 730 he has.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £209.89 (includes shipping: £9.90)
​

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti-vs-Nvidia-GeForce-GT-730/3649vsm12582

Unfotunatly the price of gpu has sky rocketed and isnt looking like it will drop much.

Be careful when looking at second hand as they might need additional power or be rated above 400 watts so will need a psu upgrade adding more cost.

For a general upgrade in everything a SSD is essential (assuming the 1tb drive is a mechanical one of course)

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £61.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)
​
Click to expand...

Funny but I'd looked at the 1030 and similar ssd
Please I'm on the right lines, am much as videos help, it's good to get some feedback
I understand the principles of changing/adding the hardware, but will the process involve much setting up?
 
Richard Merry said:
Dell od28yy m/board
Click to expand...

Exactly which model of Dell is that? Many SFF cases cannot take full-height GPUs.

Richard Merry said:
Funny but I'd looked at the 1030 and similar ssd
Click to expand...

The 1030 is not a gaming GPU.

Richard Merry said:
but will the process involve much setting up?
Click to expand...

For the GPU you download the driver from Nvidia's website and install it.

Switching to a SSD can be more involved. The best way is a full reinstall of everything then copy over the data, but that can be a lot of effort. Easier is to image the old HDD onto the new SSD. There are various tools to do this with Macrium Reflect being one of the better-known - and free imaging tools. Defragment the old drive first to bring all the data together. Whichever route you go, take the old HDD out of the PC and attach it via a USB dock or adapter (£20 or less). This is to lessen the chance of you accidentally overwriting it. (I speak from experience here...). When you've finished, put the old HDD in an antistatic bag and put it away. This is so that it's there in case you find you forgot something or something goes wrong. After a few months you can wipe the old HDD and redeploy it as a secondary drive.
 
Hi Richard,

I will leave the experts on here to point you in the direction of the best kit/good buys however as a very inexperienced PC builder I have upgraded my Hard Drive to an SSD as well as replacing my graphics card and all went well without a hitch.

Like you I used to prefer books & magazines, I am an "old boy compared to you though, my grandkids play Fortnite. However as much as I fought it videos win the day every time as you can pause whilst you try to keep up and rewind if you do not understand.

There are plenty of videos out there for replacing hard drives & graphics cards however my SSD came with full instructions and a link to a web site which contained a hand holding exercise to walk you through the process. It was a bit nerve wracking but when I pressed the power button everything was on on the SSD just as promised.......phew!

As for setting things up after you have installed once again most posters on Youtube have playlists so once you have installed the kit in a lot of cases the next video will cover the set up.

Good luck
 
Thanks for the advice

Looks like I have picked the very worst time to look at a GPU upgrade!
I may just swap out the HDD and wait and see about the GPU I am not sure that the £200 spent on the 1050 will be the best VFM? (but obviously my best option right now)

And I am not overly comfortable dipping my toe in the second hand market

Time to think again....
 
Issue with upgrading something this old and something that is old but also on the lower spec side of that generation, everytime you upgrade something you'll probably find another weak link.

i.e upgrade gpu, might find then the cpu doesn't cut it, upgrade that and then the psu is starting to struggle a little etc.

How much do you have to spend in total? Might be better off starting a fresh. A 3400/3200g pre build would offer more performance than the existing 730 you have. They can be bought for about £250 with 8gb of ram etc for a whole system.
 
Defy Belief said:
Issue with upgrading something this old and something that is old but also on the lower spec side of that generation, everytime you upgrade something you'll probably find another weak link.

i.e upgrade gpu, might find then the cpu doesn't cut it, upgrade that and then the psu is starting to struggle a little etc.

How much do you have to spend in total? Might be better off starting a fresh. A 3400/3200g pre build would offer more performance than the existing 730 you have. They can be bought for about £250 with 8gb of ram etc for a whole system.
Click to expand...

Thanks
Completely get all of that, but on this occasion it would kind of defect the object

It's more about learning to do it as much as anything
 
Quartz said:
Exactly which model of Dell is that? Many SFF cases cannot take full-height GPUs.QUOTE]

It is a SFF case, I'm not sure of the exact model
Had a look inside this evening and the current card is 150mm long, I'm not sure exactly how much space is available behind it.

Going to wait until I have some more time to have a good look inside before I do anything daft
Click to expand...
 
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