Needed: Upgrade advice for a Useless individual!

NathanL

NathanL

NathanL

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Joined
13 Apr 2017
Posts
804
Hello all!

This is my first ever post here, and as you're about to tell, I'm a complete moron. So please, bear with me.

I'm know you get plenty of these sort of forums posts daily, and am aware you're probably fed up of them all by now! But if you happen to have some spare time. I could do with a bit of advice!

I bought my first 'Gaming PC' about, well, about 5 years ago now and it was basically a £800 start up machine.
Since then, I haven't upgraded it at all (apart from an additional hard drive), and haven't really used it for it's purpose of gaming at all, apart from less intensive games (Civilisation, etc, etc).
Now.. I'm very useless at this sort of stuff, and I didn't build the PC in the first place, I just bought it on PC specialist and went from there.

However, a couple of days ago, I bought that new Battlegrounds game, as I thought it looked a laugh and not too graphically intense. But, upon running the application, my computer sounded like it was going to explode and I'd already started to structure an Anderson shelter in my garden.. :eek:
My computer started whirring so loudly i could hear it over my headphones and the game played as well as an Elephant trying to play the violin. It maxed at around 20fps, from my guessing. Meanwhile, the rest of the PC froze and i struggled to even tab out.
That's when I realised my PC was far from new anymore.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what inside actually needs upgrading as I have no idea what is acceptable inside it.
The current specs are (Some may be guesses):
  • GPU: GeForce GTX 560 Ti (My opinion of what the issue may be)
  • CPU: i5-2500k 3.30ghz
  • Memory: 8gb Ram
  • Power Supply: 600W Quiet 80 Plus QUAD Rail PSU +120 mm Case fan (Whatever this is:confused::eek:)
  • Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LX
  • Case (If necessary to know): InWIN MANA-136 Case
Having also just looked inside the PC, it's incredibly dusty. What would be recommended to clean it out to have it looking sparkly once again.

I'd be very grateful if someone could help me! Just imagine i'm a male damsel in distress. I want to start making it my project to keep upgrading sop any advice anyone has would be much appreciated.

Cheers! I hope this post is easy to decipher for you!
 
mickyflinn said:
I just us a paint brush and a vacum cleaner to suck up the dust, i would certanly say that its time for a new gpu.
Click to expand...


Paint Brush, hadn't thought of that, I'll bear that in mind!

Plec said:
  • Clock the CPU (anything over 4.2GHz will be fine - stability is king)
  • Get a new third part heatsink - I will need to check your case dimensions but if you're on a budget the Cooler master 212 is great value
  • Get a new GPU - ideally a GTX 1070 (approx £335 if you shop around) or the cheaper RX 480 8Gb or GTX 1060
  • Upgrade your BIOS before anything
Click to expand...

Thank you for the detailed advice! But you may need to assist with most of it, to be honest!!!:D

Firstly, Apologies, I have no idea how to do this, will it be difficult or is it something a simple youtube video can teach?
Secondly, These are my Case Specs, just to save you checking!
Model MANA136
Color Black, White
Case Type Mid Tower
Case Material SECC
M/B Compatibility 12" x 9.6" ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX
Expansion Slots PCI-E X 7
High-end Graphics Card Compatible
- Length: 290mm Maximum
- Height: 160mm Maximum
Front Ports 1 x USB 2.0
2 x USB 3.0
HD Audio
External Drive Bays 3 x 5.25"
Internal Drive Bays 6 x 3.5“
- 2 x EZ-Swap
2 x 2.5"
Thermal Solution Compatibility 2 x 120mm Front Fan(Pre-installed/Blue LED x 1)
1 x 120mm Rear Fan (Pre-installed)
2 x 120mm Top Fan
2 x 120mm Side Fan
Water Cooling Hole Ready
CPU Heatsink Compatible
- CPU die surface to side panel height: 160mm Maximum
Power Supply Compatibility PSII: ATX12V and EPS12V
- Length: 220mm Maximum
Product Dimension
(H x W x D) 432mm x 190mm x 495mm
17" x 7.5" x 19.5"
Package Dimension
(H x W x D) 483mm x 260mm x 570mm
19" x 10.2" x 22.5"
Net Weight 5.5kg/12.2lb
Gross Weight 6.6kg/14.6lb
Thirdly with the GPU, yeah I'll look to buying the 1070 in the next month or so, It'll definitely fit in my case yes?
Aaaand finally, (I'm going to sound really useless here!!) I really have no idea what a BIOS is, oh dear!

Thank you both for your assistance though! If you could provide further knowledge that'd be a great help!

Edit - No real instant budget, just looking at trying to upgrade it constantly (slowly) as a bit of a little project of sorts
 
Last edited:
Again, thank you very much for the reply.
So to recap, I should first look at doing the BIOS, secondly, new cooler, thirdly OC to 4.2ghz and finally get the new graphics card.
I'll look into all of this over the bank holiday weekend and will try and report back!

(You've panicked me when mentioning bricking though!!!!)
 
Slightly regretting it yes!!! :D
I believe I've accidentally ended up in the BIOS before when my computer occasionally shut off randomly and restarted, is that correct?
One this I remember from it is that my mouse never worked properly on it, it only moved on a horizontal axis and only when holding down the left mouse button. Does this sound wrong to you? Haha
 
Oh that's a possibility!
So in regards to the BIOS, is that something I can (theoretically) do as soon as today, nothing needs to be done to do that?
Also just a quick one, (sorry for being such a moron), what do you mean by flash the BIOS? is that a fancy technical term or nothing to worry about?

If you've had any luck with a new cooler search, please do let me know. And thank you very much for your help Plec, you've been great
 
Hang on a second, I've just had a check of my orignal order and this is the cooler: SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER. Is that Stock or something else?
 
Jesus the dust looks bad on the photo, I'll get cleaning it this weekend!!!
unnamed_zpsmsfbq8i8.jpg

Hoping that picture works. If not i'll have to edit.
 
Okay, will do!
So that's cut down on one thing I need to do, Progress!
I'll look at the BIOS over the weekend and see if I can figure out what i'm doing. Then i'll look into OC'ing the CPU then look at buying the GPU. I may pop back when wanting to actually go ahead with the BIOS upgrade.

But thank you both very much for your help
 
I downloaded Real Temp, opened up Load tester, selected all and pressed load and there's been no real change in noise, just the temperature appears to have gone up around 5 for each core. Does that sound correct? Or have I done that wrong! haha
 
Ten minute test completed using Prime95:
Temperature rose slowly to a maximum of 66-68-69-68. There was a very slight increase in fan noise.

Sound good?
 
Hello again!
PC has been suitable cleaned and I have looked at the BIOS menu and taken photos of a large quantity of settings. Didn't want to delve ointo some bits incase I pressed a wrong button!

I've found the bit where I can update the BIOS with the flash thing.

What would be the next steps?
 
That's absolutely fine, enjoy your the rest of your long weekend!
If you do happen to get the time that would be great, but otherwise i'm sure I can find another way :)
 
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