Dad's PC needs an upgrade

memyselfandi · 29 Nov 2018 at 13:00

Ok, my Dad has finally accepted that in the next couple of months his PC needs an upgrade (this is after the CMOS battery died on it the other day and I had to talk him through resetting all of the BIOS settings).

His current PC is rather ageing ... in fact as parts of it are around 10 years old.
E6600
Asus P5B deluxe
4x 1GB Corsair DDR2
128GB Sandisk SSD (about a 1.5years old)
1TB WD SATA hard disk
500GB Samsung SATA hard disk
SATA DVD Drive
ATI Graphics card (no idea the model (maybe 5450? but its very old)
Sound card (no idea the model but again its old)
Lian-Li PC7-Plus ATX case
Enermax 550W PSU
Windows 10 Pro

Yes, he is running Windows 10 Pro on a Core2 Duo with 4GB ram.

To be honest out of the list I think that he should only really need to keep the case and maybe the 1TB hard disk (which has had just media sitting on it so wont have been stressed too much) and the DVD drive (which he uses for ripping CDs). The SSD is still fine but really he should have a 250GB one as his boot drive and this one can be reused elsewhere.

Now he wanted to keep the cost down to ~£300 but wants a system which will last him a long time again ... and frankly I don't think that budget and that requirement are really that compatible. i've told him that £600-650 is probably a more realistic budget but I'm going to need some possible specs in order to convince him. He is not a gamer so uses the system for general usage (including video transcoding / encoding) so doesn't need the latest, greatest gaming card but wants something that will last him 5 years+. Overclocking is not wanted, just stability.

He'll need CPU, (cooler if not included), memory, motherboard, graphics (if not onboard), SSD and PSU by my thinking.

I was thinking something like a i5-8400, on a B360 chipset motherboard and 16GB Corsair memory and maybe a 1050/1050TI for video. A Crucial MX500 250GB SSD seem well priced at the moment as a boot drive and then some sort of decent PSU around the 500-600W mark. I did consider the i3-8100 but I'm not sure if that will be too underpowered to last very long.

The other option, of course is to go Ryzen ... something like a Ryzen 5 2600 I'm guessing on an appropriate motherboard but I don't really know much about the current gen releases in this area.

Thoughts and suggestions welcome.

Big Frank · 29 Nov 2018 at 14:16

I'd get a ryzen 2600 over the Intel i5 8400 it's almost identical speed wise and way cheaper.

I5 8400 is roughly 200 quid whereas ryzen 2600 is 145-155 if you shop around.

Ryzen 2600 + b450 mobo

Zeebedy · 29 Nov 2018 at 14:21

Could also consider the ryzen 2200g or 2400g with inbuilt graphics...?

memyselfandi · 29 Nov 2018 at 15:00

My concern with the 2200g and 2400g is how long the onboard graphics are going to perform well enough for day to day use and also whether they can handle any offloading for dealing with video files.

EsaT · 29 Nov 2018 at 16:13

That case is good for "office use" type usage scenario.
Rear fan just seems to have tighter mesh in front of it, which would be good to replace with standard finger guard made from wire.
That would improve airflow of exhaust fan (while lowering noise) and make PSU to be less case exhaust.

Though video encoding is again CPU power demanding and multithreads very well.

For PSU Bitfenix Formula would have modern design and good capacitors.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/bitfenix-formula-series-450w-80-plus-gold-power-supply-ca-22x-bx.html
Next one would this Antec:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ante...plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-24m-an.html
Though without gaming graphics card 450W is enough.

memyselfandi said:
My concern with the 2200g and 2400g is how long the onboard graphics are going to perform well enough for day to day use and also whether they can handle any offloading for dealing with video files.

AMD has stronger integrated GPU than Intel.
2400G with hyperthreading would be better for long term without upgrades.
(also video editing can use extra threads)

Ezyryder · 29 Nov 2018 at 17:05

My dad is in a similar situation, although mostly dealing with big photos and some 4k video and have got him a 2400g and 16gb of ram and he is very happy.

WantoN · 29 Nov 2018 at 18:19

Definitely a 2200g imo. I don’t see why he needs another SSD either. He can keep the PSU too.

I do not see why he needs to spend £650 when his use case is light-duty and he already has drives, psu, OS and peripherals.

memyselfandi · 30 Nov 2018 at 18:25

I'm not trusting a ten year old PSU on new hardware ... And for <£40 for a 250gb SSD at the moment it's worth getting one as the 120gb can be reused elsewhere.

Anyway ... After having had to talk him through fixing another issue with it today it looks like he is more likely to move forward sooner rather than later. He's also reconsidered him position regarding intel Vs amd and hence the latter is on the table. So the thoughts at the moment are:

2400g
B450 motherboard (something with onboard hdmi HDMI and DVI ... Any models to avoid as looking earlier around the £60-90 price point they all seemed pretty similar)
16GB (Corsair lpx at 3000? Seem to remember Ryzens like faster ram)
250gb SSD (mx500)
PSU (probably bitfenix)

anthony99 · 1 Dec 2018 at 17:38

i'd go the 2400g route it makes a cracking budget gaming rig so will handle 4k videos well and photos no problem and the money saved on a discrete gpu card can be spent elsewhere,just make sure you match the right ram speed for the 2400g and should last him quite a long time

WantoN · 2 Dec 2018 at 05:21

memyselfandi said:
I'm not trusting a ten year old PSU on new hardware ... And for <£40 for a 250gb SSD at the moment it's worth getting one as the 120gb can be reused elsewhere.

Anyway ... After having had to talk him through fixing another issue with it today it looks like he is more likely to move forward sooner rather than later. He's also reconsidered him position regarding intel Vs amd and hence the latter is on the table. So the thoughts at the moment are:

2400g
B450 motherboard (something with onboard hdmi HDMI and DVI ... Any models to avoid as looking earlier around the £60-90 price point they all seemed pretty similar)
16GB (Corsair lpx at 3000? Seem to remember Ryzens like faster ram)
250gb SSD (mx500)
PSU (probably bitfenix)

I’m sure the spec will serve him well. I’ve just re-used a 6 year old PSU, but it’s got a 7 year warranty, so I see your reticence with reusing the old one.

I’ve no idea what the state of Ram compatibility is like these days, but I’d be inclined to ensure whatever you select is known to play well.

memyselfandi · 26 Dec 2018 at 07:27

Built the system for him last Friday. Generally went fine and he's happy with it but there are a couple of minor issues.

The power light on the case doesn't work ... not a real issue as purely cosmetic but the pin out is completely different to what the board expects. Just ignoring this.
His second monitor doesn't work at all though. He went with a motherboard with HDMI and DP outputs and his main monitor his over HDMI. This is fine. His second monitor is connected with a "basics" DP to DVI cable and just does nothing, no detection, no display.it is on but it just drops straight to power save mode due to lack of signal which is odd as it's manual indicates it takes a digital signal over DVI.