Due a upgrade? (£400)

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29 Dec 2012
Posts
14
My current Spec is:
FX 6300
R9 280
8gb ddr3 1500mhz
1TB ssd

So this machine has been mighty for me for many years now but now its really starting to struggle, So I thought it must be time to buy a few parts. I must say I'm shocked at what parts cost these days especially graphics cards!
Now would I be better off just holding out in the hope that things go down in price/become available or just add a few parts to delay the death of this machine? With only a £400 budget at this time I doubt there is much I can do right?
 
Your current setup should allow you to run games on medium-high settings, but you could use more RAM. If you're aiming for newer productions, you first of all should consider getting 16GB RAM and 4-6GB VRAM (you currently have 8GB RAM and 3GB VRAM).

You could get new RAM first and see if that solves your issue, it depends on the games you play. You can get 2x8GB RAM for £80-120 or 2x16GB RAM for around £120-160.

Video cards are expensive and unless you go for a 6GB one, the difference between the current and new one probably won't be huge. You can get decent 4GB ones for around £150-250 and 6GB for £250-400. 4GB VRAM will be enough to run most needy games on highest settings with stable 60FPS.
 
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My current Spec is:
FX 6300
R9 280
8gb ddr3 1500mhz
1TB ssd

So this machine has been mighty for me for many years now but now its really starting to struggle, So I thought it must be time to buy a few parts. I must say I'm shocked at what parts cost these days especially graphics cards!
Now would I be better off just holding out in the hope that things go down in price/become available or just add a few parts to delay the death of this machine? With only a £400 budget at this time I doubt there is much I can do right?
For £400 you'd be abit limited on options, could probably upgrade the gpu but you'd be limited by the cpu. Secondhand market is all over the place atm so i wouldn't even try unless you have a friend who is selling up and willing to give you a good deal.

What is your machine mainly used for?

The only viable option i could see for around £400 is: Used prices roughly

GPU: RX570 £100ish
Motherboard: B350 chipset £50?
CPU: AMD 3600 £180ish
Memory: DDR4 16gb 3600 £50?


Unfortunately you wouldn't be able to reuse the cpu/board/memory but you can always sell it to fund your upgrade. With the sale of old parts you could probably stretch to a RX580 gpu.

It's doable and would be decent for 1080p gaming High/Ultra at above 60fps.
 
Thank you for your suggestions, Ive managed to get some very cheap ram to give me a total of 16gb and if Im willing to wait a friend has a RTX 3080 on order so he's willing to let me have his GTX 1070 once it arrives, He also has a B450 ATX board but my case is only a MATX but might be worth picking a cheap case up to house it.
as for games I pretty much only play GTA online but have recently brought Horizon Zero Dawn but this PC can't handle the frame rate so it will have to wait until the upgrades are in.
 
▷ Lian-Li Lancool II Mesh performance Midi-Towe… | OcUK (overclockers.co.uk)

I have the ARGB version and the build quality is great for a Midi case. This segment of the case market is competitive. So tons of options.

Its solid steel, tempered glass and a mesh front to cool. Bequiet do a great case and Phanteks also, but because I have built two PC's in a version of this case, thought to suggest it.

Oh and cable management is great, you get covers to hide the spare wires round back and cable ties, you can also hide the SSD.

The main thing to point out is the cooling is good, 140 mil fans at front, buying a 140 Mil fan of decent quality can cost £15.00 a pop. This one is so popular it goes in and out of stock and bonus, no RGB!

A review.

Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Case Review vs. Phanteks P500A, Original, & More - YouTube
 
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