Back into PC Gaming

TruckerJoe · 17 Feb 2020 at 09:58

Hi forum members

Been a while since i was into PC gaming but slowly getting back into it. I like games such as ETS2, Minecraft and the odd bit of Fortnite.

To start me off i bought a ready built PC to replace a ageing small form factor Acer PC which wouldn't have been able to cope with Win 10, which was another reason for a upgrade.

So my starting setup is as follows:

AMD Ryzen 5 3400G using inbuilt Vega 11 graphics
AMD Wrath Spire CPU Cooler
2x 8gb adata DDR4 SDRAM
Gigabyte A320M-S2H Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda 1tb HDD
Aero Bronze 80 Gold 500w PSU

Currently running mostly ETS2 at the minute on 1680x1050 medium to high settings at 30-50 fps

What im wondering is which would be best to start to upgrade, would it be getting a stand alone graphics card? Or perhaps the HDD to a M2 NVMe as my board supports it.

And another can of worms to open, which graphics card would be best suited below the £200 mark AMD or Nvidia?

This is how it Benchmarked:

UserBenchmarks: Game 26%, Desk 56%, Work 44%
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G - 73.2%
GPU: AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 Graphics - 19.2%
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) - 102%
RAM: Adata 2x8GB - 78.3%
MBD: Gigabyte GA-A320M-S2H V2-CF

Thanks in advance

TruckerJoe · 17 Feb 2020 at 11:31

Been looking round the overclockers sale site and was looking at these:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-1ag-gi.html

How do those stack up recently and be compatible with my current setup

MissChief · 17 Feb 2020 at 12:21

TruckerJoe said:
Been looking round the overclockers sale site and was looking at these:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-1ag-gi.html

How do those stack up recently and be compatible with my current setup

Will be a big improvement.

TruckerJoe · 17 Feb 2020 at 13:10

Is there a big difference between card manufacturers of the same range

Eg:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-35y-ms.html

and

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-1ag-gi.html

Why the the me large price differences?

Joxeon · 17 Feb 2020 at 13:23

For around £200 the gtx 1660 super is a good shout, its also a lot more power efficient than an rx 590

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Twin Fan 6144MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £209.99

Total: £219.89 (includes shipping: £9.90)

TruckerJoe · 17 Feb 2020 at 13:26

Joxeon said:
For around £200 the gtx 1660 super is a good shout, its also a lot more power efficient than an rx 590

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Twin Fan 6144MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £209.99

Total: £219.89 (includes shipping: £9.90)

Can someone explain to my why that would be a quicker netter card than above as looking at its onboard Ram size, its smaller

Like I said back new to the game

jigger · 17 Feb 2020 at 13:45

TruckerJoe said:
Can someone explain to my why that would be a quicker netter card than above as looking at its onboard Ram size, its smaller

Like I said back new to the game

The 1660s is around 5-10% faster and pulls less power. It maybe worth considering power use if you game for 8 hours a day.

TruckerJoe · 17 Feb 2020 at 13:47

Would that be the usual case between AMD and Nvidia?

MissChief · 17 Feb 2020 at 13:54

TruckerJoe said:
Would that be the usual case between AMD and Nvidia?

Being VERY general AMD usually have better performance per £ but often run hotter or consume more power. Nvidia tend to run cooler and with lower power requirements but generally you have to pay more for the performance.

ExRayTed · 17 Feb 2020 at 14:42

Before people start recommending graphics cards I'd like a bit more detail on that power supply - it'll have a label somewhere detailing the 12v rail in amps along with the make/model. If nothing else the make/model will do. A cheap (and the one you have is a budget model, make no mistake) PSU has the ability to take out other components if it goes bang so I'd be loath to take that one anywhere near its limit. Having said that if it's a pre-built it'll be under warranty which you'll need to look at before upgrading as doing so may invalidate any warranty you have.

TruckerJoe · 17 Feb 2020 at 16:19

ExRayTed said:
Before people start recommending graphics cards I'd like a bit more detail on that power supply - it'll have a label somewhere detailing the 12v rail in amps along with the make/model. If nothing else the make/model will do. A cheap (and the one you have is a budget model, make no mistake) PSU has the ability to take out other components if it goes bang so I'd be loath to take that one anywhere near its limit. Having said that if it's a pre-built it'll be under warranty which you'll need to look at before upgrading as doing so may invalidate any warranty you have.

*Link Removed*

But it's a Aero Cool Integrator 500W

This is the supply I have. Says on it 80% Bronze efficiency

Joxeon · 17 Feb 2020 at 16:31

You will have to remove the link as its not allowed to post competitor links as this site is run by OCUK.

That said its not a great quality psu.

TruckerJoe · 17 Feb 2020 at 16:38

On another note on the specs of my PC. Would it be better to upgrade to a SSD drive or M2 SSD for starts then look into graphics later. I'm reading that it would boost the PC for starters from a traditions Disk Drive.

ExRayTed · 17 Feb 2020 at 16:39

Here's a review to the 600w version - https://www.kitguru.net/components/power-supplies/zardon/aerocool-integrator-600-watt-psu-review/7/

Yours has enough power for your proposed gpu upgrade but it isn't great quality. It'll likely do for now though

Joxeon · 17 Feb 2020 at 17:38

TruckerJoe said:
On another note on the specs of my PC. Would it be better to upgrade to a SSD drive or M2 SSD for starts then look into graphics later. I'm reading that it would boost the PC for starters from a traditions Disk Drive.

Yeah, an SSD will definitely improve your Experience.

TruckerJoe · 18 Feb 2020 at 14:43

Well after some more thinking about "The Next Step" I have decided to go for one of these:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seag...-state-drive-rv.1-zp500cm3a001-hd-3bz-se.html

This should boost the system and make it "feel" much faster. The the Barracuda 1tb HDD I have inside currently will become storage mostly.

Then a little later I can rethink the Graphics card options.

ExRayTed · 18 Feb 2020 at 19:34

That will speed the system up considerably, although to be honest you'll see no real world difference between that and a regular SSD. You could get a terabyte SSD for not much more than that - capacity every time

Danny75 · 18 Feb 2020 at 19:57

Agree with @ExRayTed £87 for 500GB is not good value for money these days.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £109.99

Total: £118.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)

TruckerJoe · 18 Feb 2020 at 21:00

Danny75 said:
Agree with @ExRayTed £87 for 500GB is not good value for money these days.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £109.99

Total: £118.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)

See what you mean but been looking at them and the Read/Write speeds was much slower and also the Barracuda comes with Clone software. And again i got the same one listed in my last post for 70 quid so cant argue really.

On a later note I may have a second SSD attached via Sata for general file storage and installed programs. But for now the 500gb is plenty big enough for mostly a boot drive.

TruckerJoe · 19 Feb 2020 at 17:35

Well the Seagate Barracuda NVMe drive arrived today and within 30min it was installed, cloned and booted from.

And what can I say, what i difference. From Bios screen until full system start 8 seconds.

So now just been cleaning the "old" drive and using it for saved games and general storage, After doing a spot of reading about managed to transfer my steam installs to the new drive.

Now for some saving up and looking about at graphics cards again in which this one isnt looking bad

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Asus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER TUF OC 4096MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £175.00

Total: £184.90 (includes shipping: £9.90)