Pc for my little sister

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I'd just start with a fresh windows install to see if that solves the issue, then replace the junk PSU, before getting a whole new system. Current spec is more than enough for minecraft and roblox.

If those don't sort it, then you're looking at motherboard or memory and probably you'd want to just get rid and try new. Keep the recently replaced Psu, though :p
 
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There's cloning software out there which will essentially make a copy of your current windows drive and place it onto your new SSD, Acronis True Image is fairly popular I think.

Some SSD's actually come with a copy of a program that will do it for you, not sure if the above linked Kingston drive will or not. It could be worth just doing a fresh install of Windows in honesty, as I mentioned earlier a lot of family used/kids pc's often become absolutely bloated with all sorts of crap.

If you do change to an Nvidia GPU and don't do a fresh install, I'd recommend running the following to get rid of the old drivers:

https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

Macrium reflect :) But you are correct, new windows is way better and no the Kingston drives don't come with software.






Yes, i have used them dozens of times and still do to this day for laptops that people use to browse the internet. Minecraft is around 1gb. Roblox is web based(iirc). I also have multiple of those Kingston drives running in different capacity versions as i have done for several years and they have never skipped a beat. Im not quite sure what your are expecting his little sister to be doing with this system really i don't.

I can't argue against the performance of the 570 but i still wouldn't chose it over the nvidia options here. Mainly as ive recently gotten rid of my amd card down to how poor their software solution's is and how many issues i had with it. BUT that doesn't mean someone else will have the same issues.

this is my downfall, we dont still have the disc for windows or the product key so how would i go about doing a fresh install?
 
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You could always burn a disk, perfectly acceptable as long as you have a valid key. It might also be possible to install from a USB stick, although I'd look into it for your specific hardware to be sure. Windows keys can be bought for fairly cheap if you need one, I can't link on here obviously but if you google around they cost cost next to nothing.

Honestly I think it's possible to download from the MS website and install Windows 10 and just run it without activating until you get around to finding/buying a key. Little bit of a grey area though.
 
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The Radeon 5XX cards and the 1660 all need additional power connectors which his PSU doesn't have. Hence why a 1050ti is ideal. It's a huge performance increase over what is currently in there, and more than capable of playing the kind of games his sister plays.

I'd recommend at least a 240gb SSD. It barely costs any more - so not really any reason not to.

When you get the SSD, do a fresh windows install.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
 
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this is my downfall, we dont still have the disc for windows or the product key so how would i go about doing a fresh install?
Use the Microsoft tool to create a Windows 10 installation on a USB drive:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

You can use Win 10 fully functionally (bar a handful of aesthetic features I believe) without ever activating it - and if you want to activate then you can get a key via allkeyshop or similar. I paid less than £10 for my Win 10 key a couple of years ago.
 
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Use the Microsoft tool to create a Windows 10 installation on a USB drive:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

You can use Win 10 fully functionally (bar a handful of aesthetic features I believe) without ever activating it - and if you want to activate then you can get a key via allkeyshop or similar. I paid less than £10 for my Win 10 key a couple of years ago.

If he already has Windows 10 and doesn't change his motherboard, it should activate automatically.
 
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Obviously there's some caveats in this - based on if the existing Windows 10 is properly activated - but yes, it 'should' automatically activate. As far as windows is concerned, you're changing a graphics card and doing a re-install of windows. Nothing should change activation wise. It's only when you get to changing the motherboard that you have to worry about licensing, and whether your existing license is oem or not (tied to the board).
 
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You could always burn a disk, perfectly acceptable as long as you have a valid key. It might also be possible to install from a USB stick, although I'd look into it for your specific hardware to be sure. Windows keys can be bought for fairly cheap if you need one, I can't link on here obviously but if you google around they cost cost next to nothing.

Honestly I think it's possible to download from the MS website and install Windows 10 and just run it without activating until you get around to finding/buying a key. Little bit of a grey area though.

Use the Microsoft tool to create a Windows 10 installation on a USB drive:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

You can use Win 10 fully functionally (bar a handful of aesthetic features I believe) without ever activating it - and if you want to activate then you can get a key via allkeyshop or similar. I paid less than £10 for my Win 10 key a couple of years ago.

Obviously there's some caveats in this - based on if the existing Windows 10 is properly activated - but yes, it 'should' automatically activate. As far as windows is concerned, you're changing a graphics card and doing a re-install of windows. Nothing should change activation wise. It's only when you get to changing the motherboard that you have to worry about licensing, and whether your existing license is oem or not (tied to the board).



after reading all your comments and talking to my mum about what would be best we probably want a new case/ get an ssd/ upgrade gpu / new psu.

what would you guys recommend with a top budget of £300 for all the things i mentioned above? (ssd/case/gpu/psu)

just to check her motherboard is a msi -H61M-P31/W8. thought id mention it if it mattered with cases at all. thanks for any help lads.
 
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this is what i chose but please rip it apart or tell me if something is better. just really want to get my little sister a decent machine which she can enjoy for some time.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £293.58 (includes shipping: £11.70)​
 
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You're pushing things a bit close to the window there budget wise, I think with a little more consideration you could do more of an upgrade for her.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £238.92 (includes shipping: £0.00)

For what's left you could find another 8GB of DDR3 (£10-20) and a CPU upgrade for her. I know for a fact you can get compatible Xeon's on a certain auction site, such as the Intel Xeon E3-1240 v2 (£40-50) which according to the support page for the mobo is compatible (make sure you have the right bios for it). They are sold by highly rated sellers and come with free delivery so they should be fine, the Xeon I mentioned is equivalent to an i7 3770.

So £240 + £10-20 for more RAM + £40-50 for the Xeon should be right on budget.

If you do that it'd actually not be a bad gaming system even for modern games, so should she decide to play something that requires a little more grunt it would be a solid little gaming system.

Mobo CPU support list for reference: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/H61M-P31W8#support-cpu

Honestly, you'd probably be fine with the System Power 9 400W for £10 less if you need to shave some more off the price.
 
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You're pushing things a bit close to the window there budget wise, I think with a little more consideration you could do more of an upgrade for her.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £238.92 (includes shipping: £0.00)

For what's left you could find another 8GB of DDR3 (£10-20) and a CPU upgrade for her. I know for a fact you can get compatible Xeon's on a certain auction site, such as the Intel Xeon E3-1240 v2 (£40-50) which according to the support page for the mobo is compatible (make sure you have the right bios for it). They are sold by highly rated sellers and come with free delivery so they should be fine, the Xeon I mentioned is equivalent to an i7 3770.

So £240 + £10-20 for more RAM + £40-50 for the Xeon should be right on budget.

If you do that it'd actually not be a bad gaming system even for modern games, so should she decide to play something that requires a little more grunt it would be a solid little gaming system.

Mobo CPU support list for reference: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/H61M-P31W8#support-cpu

Honestly, you'd probably be fine with the System Power 9 400W for £10 less if you need to shave some more off the price.
Thank you so much for such a detailed response. I’m not 100% clued up on xeons. Would that be better than the i5 - 3300 she has now?
 
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Thank you so much for such a detailed response. I’m not 100% clued up on xeons. Would that be better than the i5 - 3300 she has now?

Honestly it's no problem at all.

As for the CPU, much better, hold in mind that it is literally just a i7 3770 in terms of performance. So an Ivy-Bridge i7 vs a entry level i5, if that helps you conceptualise.

It's a little more work on your behalf but as I mentioned it'd end up being a solid entry level gaming system for a young kid. She could play pretty much anything on it as long as she lowered the settings for the higher end stuff. I know you said she mainly just plays roblox and minecraft, but heavily modded minecraft can be a bit of a resource hog, so it gives her options there as well as opening up a whole new world of games.

I would recommend spending a little more on a new HSF though:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £8.99 (includes shipping: £0.00)

Maybe this? Honestly it's only a little better than the stock cooler and I'd never normally recommend it, but given how tight your budget is and the fact you'll have a case with a window potentially, it'd be a nice bit of bling for her to enjoy. Also hold in mind that if you change the CPU you're going to need to reapply thermal paste, and if you don't have any at hand you'll need to spend a few quid on a tube of the stuff. When you factor that in to the above HSF, you're only really spending £3-5 more than you would have anyway. The Juno-X comes with a thermal pad I believe.
 
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