General upgrade advice

Freefaller · 4 Sep 2020 at 11:44

Hi everyone,

I have a Corsair 250d so quite a small chassis - and I'm in 2 minds about whether or not to keep it and just buy another mini ITX motherboard, or buy a slightly larger case.

it's an i5 4690k (o/c 4.2GHz).

I've got an AIO water cooler at the moment, but the computer itself is over 5 years old and whilst still good enough for now, I do want to think about upgrading over the next year or so.

I don't use my PC a whole lot as I use my work laptop for most things now - but I still do dive on it for a few hours at a time a few times a week. I'd be in a bind if it died - stuff is all backed up.

I guess what I need to think about is:

I like small cases I'm not a fan of big cases, so is it worth just keeping it and just changing the internal hardware?
I guess with a small case air cooling is best? The AIO is 5 years old though I know they have a lower life expectancy than air cooling.
Is there a disadvantage of a mini ITX for a casual PC user like myself?

I guess it's a bit of a 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' situation.

I'm not really sure what I'm after to be honest, just reflecting on my current situation and hear from the experts as to what you'd do.

Quartz · 4 Sep 2020 at 11:53

Are you going to be getting one of the new Nvidia 30 series GPUs? (I.e. will you need to support a triple slot cooler?)

Freefaller · 4 Sep 2020 at 12:17

Quartz said:
Are you going to be getting one of the new Nvidia 30 series GPUs? (I.e. will you need to support a triple slot cooler?)

No that won't be something I consider. Not really a hardcore gamer - though I do enjoy a bit of a causal gaming

mickyflinn · 4 Sep 2020 at 12:26

Why upgrade Is it lacking in performance somewhere ?

Freefaller · 4 Sep 2020 at 13:17

mickyflinn said:
Why upgrade Is it lacking in performance somewhere ?

that's kind of my question, it's 5 years old and wanted to understand whether it's worth upgrading or not. Affordability isn't an issue, it's just whether there's any point. The hardware seems ok, I reinstall windows every now and then as it gets a little sluggish.

It was more general pondering whether if I do upgrade whether ITX hardware was worthwhile still, and whether or not AOI coolers are still worthwhile for small systems, or if I should bite the bullet and upgrade.

I'm in no rush, for now the system is fine, but it is something I am considering for next year.

Plec · 4 Sep 2020 at 13:18

Freefaller said:
it's an i5 4690k (o/c 4.2GHz).

I still do dive on it for a few hours at a time a few times a week.

stuff is all backed up.

I guess it's a bit of a 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' situation.

From your description it's doing all that you ask - with limited use.

I would wait at least another 6 months. Let Zen 3 release and prices settle and see what AMD brings to the GPU table and if you still have the urge to upgrade have your choice of future prime pickings.

Nothing wrong with mITX format - prefer air as a cooling component (often quieter and less points of failure) but quality AIOs really come into their own with an ITX format. Some lovely sleek/clever designs out there to pick from.

mickyflinn · 4 Sep 2020 at 13:34

Freefaller said:
that's kind of my question, it's 5 years old and wanted to understand whether it's worth upgrading or not. Affordability isn't an issue, it's just whether there's any point. The hardware seems ok, I reinstall windows every now and then as it gets a little sluggish.

When is it sluggish need to be more specific?

Do you have enough ram.

Freefaller · 4 Sep 2020 at 13:59

Plec said:
From your description it's doing all that you ask - with limited use.

I would wait at least another 6 months. Let Zen 3 release and prices settle and see what AMD brings to the GPU table and if you still have the urge to upgrade have your choice of future prime pickings.

Nothing wrong with mITX format - prefer air as a cooling component (often quieter and less points of failure) but quality AIOs really come into their own with an ITX format. Some lovely sleek/clever designs out there to pick from.

I'm in no rush, and what you describe aligns to what I was thinking. I'd rather wait a bit and seek out some cheaper but better hardware - whatever I choose will be miles ahead of what I've got now anyway - but being at home more than I was I am using my PC more than I have been, but for day to day use, I use my work laptop as, well, it's got my work stuff on it!

I do prefer air cooling, but at the time I bought the AIO because of the small form factor I chose - sounds like I wasn't far off the thinking you explained.

Being home more now I have more opportunity to jump on the pc for a bit of gaming etc... I'm still not on it as much as a daily user.

mickyflinn said:
When is it sluggish need to be more specific?

Do you have enough ram.

16gb - can't tell you what speed it's running at the moment as I'm not at my pc - but i don't think RAM is the issue. The boot drive is on an SSD, I'm just comparing it to my work laptop which is 6 months old, so it's probably an unfair comparison.

Thanks for your general thoughts - seems like I need not worry for the moment, and just see what happens when the prices drop, if I find myself using my PC more in the next few months I'll re-explore, I do like the itx format because small PCs are just more my thing than big cases. It was more a case of gauging a reaction of the current set up: "wow, 5 years old? time to upgrade!!" vs "actually you're probably ok" - sounds like it's the latter.

Appreciate your feedback.