Core i3-530 Upgrade

[User457]

Hi All

Looking to upgrade my ageing system.... Current Setup...

CPU : Intel Core i3 530 (2.9Ghz Stock) Running @ 3.85Ghz (175mhz x 22)
Mobo : Asus P7P55D-E
Ram : 4GB Corsair DDR-3 Twin X 1600Mhz (2 x 2GB)
GPU : ATI Radeon HD 4500 (512mb) - This was a cheap replacement after my 6800GT went pop !
HDD : 1TB Samsung / 500GB WD / 250GB WD all SATA II (2)
PSU : 500W Modular Coolermaster - Cant remember exact ?
Case : CM Storm Scout
Cooling : 2 120mm Front Intake - 1 120mm Side intake - 1 120mm Rear Exhaust - Arctic Freezer CPU

I'm looking at adding another 4GB Ram, prefer corsair like I have as would like to keep dual channel, and seems this is still available...

Also want to add a SSD like the Kingston 120GB, will be used for OS and anything i'm using a lot, but with 120GB i'll need to be picky about what gets installed there...

I'd also like to do something with the graphics, I believe my mobo has 2 PCI-E 2.0 slots but only 1 is 16x ? I notice all cards are now for PCI-E 3.0 slots ? Unsure what effect my older 2.0 slot will have on performance ?

Any help and advice appreciated : )

Thanks

User457

 

[Armageus]

PCI-E 3.0 Cards will be fine in a PCI-E 2.0 slot, it would be worth looked at a used card (as the prices of current cards are terrible for the performance on offer). Something like a Radeon 7870/270x/7950 or a Geforce 670/780/970 can all be had reasonably cheap and offer plenty of performance for the money.

No issue with adding some more Ram, although might even be worth getting a 2x4GB kit, to give you a total of 12GB - would still run dual channel.

I'd get a 240/250Gb SSD at a minimum now, they've come down in price a lot and worth every penny.

Something like the below would be ideal:
My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x TeamGroup 240GB L5 Lite SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND Solid State Drive= £39.95

Total: £44.61 (includes shipping: £4.66)​

​

 

[pastymuncher]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

What is the pc used for? If gaming what res do you game at? If it's main use is gaming then I wouldn't spend any money on that pc. Sorry to be brutal but it's obsolete now and it would cost too much money to upgrade to anything near acceptable. That money would be better spent on either a second hand Ivybridge or Haswell based bundle or even towards a new build. You could drop a new gpu in it but any decent gpu is going to be held back by the cpu. You could upgrade the cpu to a i5 760 (around £25 on ebay) or even a i7 860 (around £40 on ebay) both of which should overclock to around 3.8-4Ghz in that motherboard. Then you are going to need more memory. A minimum of 8gb is recommended these days so a 2x 4Gb kit of DDR3 is another £40+. I just can't help but feel that the money would be better off being spent on a more up to date CPU/Motherboard/Memory bundle even if it is second hand.

 

[User457]

Hi, Thanks for the replies....

PC is mostly used for office, photo tasks... I do like the occasional game on here but with the current GPU that's really limited.

I was thinking of adding at least another 4GB Ram (corsair like I have to keep DC set up), adding the SSD 120GB or 240GB to improve boot times / load times, then its the graphics ? Would really like a 6GB 1060 but feel that would be held back with the CPU ?

I'm not really wanting to buy anything used (don't know its history), so would appreciate any help with this.

 

[heatonpkmassive]

I tend to agree with Pastymuncher. You have come here for advice, the best advice would be just to save that money you would spend on this and put it towards something more substantial after saving for a bit. That CPU is selling for a fiver on auction sites, which gives you an idea of what worth it currently is and begs the question why spend in excess of at least a couple of hundred quid on a system based on that CPU.

Nobody is wanting to sound harsh, but perhaps just saving up for a bit and instead, for example, going for a Ryzen 5 bundle with a second hand GPU is a better option for not that much more outlay. To me, it's a better use of your cash and is a real upgrade.

 

[Razor-BladE]

I'd disagree somewhat. Although not very powerful, the i3 530 is still capable enough for gaming depending on the game, and if not demanding, he won't need a hugely powerful card. I have the i5 760 (although I've JUST got a new Ryzen 5 system) on stock settings, and with a GTX760, I can play League of Legends, Fortnite, Overwatch, Divinity: Original Sin 2, even some more demanding games (albeit not the highest setting, but that doesn't bother me).

Having at least 8GB RAM would improve your setup a lot, and 4GB extra shouldn't cost much, and buying an SSD and GPU means he can use that if/when he decides to upgrade his core components later down the line.

Having said that, if you do have the cash, getting a new setup will mean you get an insane performance jump all across the board and you won't have to upgrade for a very long time.

What games do you play/are you looking to play? And do you need to have it highest settings?

 

[NovaKill4]

Get an SSD now like the TeamGroup one posted above and then save your money for a new build, what sort of budget do you currently have? and how much would you be comfortable spending on a new system?

 

[orbitalwalsh]

i'll echo @pastymuncher views.

I had i7 860 clocked at 4ghz cooled by a 360/60mm thick rad and replaced with i5 7600k running 5.2ghz .... in anything , it destroyed the i7 . theres a good jump in IPC/IMC changes form 1st gen i-Core to 2nd/3rd- after that just been about speed.

if you do stick with same board and slap in better 2nd hand CPU. use DX12 !!! got stick and tired of all reviews of DX12 when it first came out on 4th gen plus CPUs stating it did nothing, but for 1st gens you can gain about 10 fps on dx12 enable games no matter what GPU used

did a build log on here somewhere, will have to dig it out

 

[User457]

Gaming isn’t the main use... would like to have something like a 1060 tbh but that would be massive overkill for my types of games... would like to have that option though !

Oven loooked at the Ryzen 2600k and it seems to be good value and well suited to my use... I was mainly just looking to speed my current system up hence the ssd and extra ram... I’m sure ssd will improve boot and load times and the extra ram should help overall system performance.

As for graphics... well the jury’s still out !
I can get a 240gn ssd and another 4gb of ram (2x2gb Corsair xms3) same as I currently have for £75-£80 !

I think this might be just enough to keep me happy for another year or 2

Opinions welcome ?

Ps... pc is connected to my 46” Samsung tv @ 1080p 60hz... I’m more than happy with this resolution for games !

 

[Journey]

There are quite a few options for improving your machine while spending very little money, in real terms.

Firstly I would look at swapping out the CPU, with one of the Xeon X3470, which are pin compatible with your socket 1156 board and you can overclock still (some past 4GHz), obviously you'll have to get it second hand, but they are in plentiful supply and usually only cost between £20-30 at the most. They are true quad core chips, and have HT enabled so gives you 8 threads, which for any workload will new you a massive improvement in performance, check the compatibility with your BIOS but I've yet to find a board that will not run them. If you didn't want to spend this much then just replace the last two numbers with 30/40/50/ or 60 and these are lower end parts, the CPU multi is lower so the bus speed needs to be high for the same overclock, but they can be had for around £5 and are still quad cores.

Don't bother buying exact matching RAM, it's a waste of money, just get something that has the same speed rating, and roughly the same timings if you can, I have found 4GB stick(s) of 1600/1866MHz for only £10 from a certain computer exchange shop, so you could get 8GB more for only £20, and you can get a 480GB Adata SSD if you shop around for only £54 inc. delivery.

I have no opinion on your change of graphics card, but there are plenty of cheap second hard cards around for £30-40 that will give you a huge increase on what you have now.

 

[Lokken86]

I think a second hand 270 from CEX for around £40 would do the job. It can still manage medium settings at 1080p on the latest games. Then just add the ram and SSD which can also be had cheaply enough.

Option B is sell up the old system for as much as you can and build a system around the Ryzen 2200G or 2400G with SSD. They have stonking good integrated graphics and you could keep the case, psu, HDD.