New to PC Gaming - Can do with Advice

Dean O'Hagan · 16 Aug 2020 at 08:19

Hi all

I recently just bought a gaming PC off a friend that was passed down to him from his dad. I gave him £300 for it. Ill list the parts below as it was custom built;

Motherboard - Asrock FM2A88X Extreme 6+
Processor - AMD A10-7870K
Ram - Corsair Vengeance 16gb
Graphics Card - AMD Radeon R9 380
Corsair cooling system

The graphics on the monitor are abit speckly but I think thats down to it being an old monitor? Hooker it up to a TV and was a lot clearer so probably just need a new monitor.

My main questions are if anyone can help are;

1. Does this need upgrading anytime soon?
2. Would the motherboard be able to withstand the latest graphics cards or processors?
3. Any advice on what I should be looking at to improve this PC?
4. How should it fare if I loaded Warzone on to it?

Thanks for your time and appreciate any response.

mickyflinn · 16 Aug 2020 at 09:35

The pc is old platform fm2 so your at the limit for the cpu.

The 380 Is not a bad gpu but anything more powerful will be serverly limited by the cpu.

An ssd hard drive can dramatically enhace a pc, quicker loading times and system feels snappier.

It mite play warzone at low settings but not sure.

Charlatan · 16 Aug 2020 at 11:27

Sadly, I think you have been sold a bit of a pup. You could have put a brand new 3200g based box together, with better cpu performance, ddr4 ram, an ssd for a fair bit less than that, that you could have popped a graphic card and better cpu in down the line.

That is 6/7 year old tech you have bought.

Illuminist · 16 Aug 2020 at 11:30

Change your mind, give it back. Then the nice people here would help you make something modern for the same price that will run games for the next few years.

Dean O'Hagan · 16 Aug 2020 at 12:22

I can't unfortunately but I appreciate the honesty and good to know so thank you for your replies. The monitor is old so I have replaced that with a MSi Optix 31.5 inch quad HD to do me for hopefully a long time.

I will probably play the older games that I have not been able to play on PS4 for the mean time before upgrading the cpu like Micky suggests. I am not looking to get another console moving forward.

Thanks again for all your advice.

Sparx · 16 Aug 2020 at 12:38

Does the system not have an SSD? If not get one, that will be a huge upgrade. But yeah unfortunately that wasn't worth £300 at all.

Also, you can't upgrade the CPU to anything meaningful - you'll need a new motherboard and RAM too... Hence the bad deal

P.S. Your monitor cost more than that whole system?

Dean O'Hagan · 16 Aug 2020 at 13:09

I have 2 ssds and 2 hhds but types I don't know. Loaded warzone and it is quick loading times and what not but like I said I'm new to all this haha. (2tb in one ssd and 1tb in another if that makes sense).

h100igtx corsair is the cooling system.

I know the monitor is more than whole system but I got the PC as I thought it was something to build from but obviously didn't do enough homework before hand! I don't want to buy something new which I then will be tempted to upgrade again a year or two down the line thats why i just got the monitor now .

But I agree Sparx, realise now I will have to upgrade pretty much every part sooner rather than later.

Is there a motherboard thats recent that I could still use this old graphics card or something at the same time so its not one large expense at once? Or will it literally be a new motherboard, cpu and graphics card at the same time?

The base is big, its the shape of a mini fridge instead of a tower so should be able to keep using that.

heatonpkmassive · 16 Aug 2020 at 13:20

You can feel slightly better that if that's the case, you have 1tb and 2tb SSDs and a Corsair H100 AIO, whoever built it put in some good peripheral components that can be taken to a new system.

You could get a new system and reuse that card, something like a B450 Tomahawk Max, 16GB DDR4 and a Ryzen 3300x.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-b450-tomahawk-max-socket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-33t-ms.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...hz-socket-am4-processor-retail-cp-3c0-am.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team...-3000mhz-dual-channel-kit-grey-my-0aa-tg.html

About 300 quid for that lot, but infinitely better than what you now have, you may need to get an AM4 bracket for the H100 but they're only a fiver.

heatonpkmassive · 16 Aug 2020 at 13:21

The 3300x is out of stock here at the moment, but it'll come back in again at some point soon I would imagine.

Dean O'Hagan · 16 Aug 2020 at 13:30

Heaton thats brilliant, thanks for that. I will definitely be looking at that and possibly upgrade to that in the coming months. Not as expensive as I thought it might be.

Might be silly question but if I change the motherboard would the windows pro that came with it still be there once I've upgraded? Just as obviously I wasn't the original buyer of the system and don't want it to ask for any Serial Keys i will not have?

Charlatan · 16 Aug 2020 at 13:32

You will probably need to do a full windows install. Licences can be bought from a popular auction site for less than a fiver

Dean O'Hagan · 16 Aug 2020 at 13:42

Thank you Charlatan.

I have got more than I hoped so thanks everyone. I am sure ill be back looking for more guidance soon and will keep an eye on the stock for the 3300x. Thanks again.

heatonpkmassive · 16 Aug 2020 at 13:49

More than welcome mate. And Like I say, it's not all bad news as 2 high capacity SSDs and that Corsair AIO are nice things to have in a system. Plus, seems like you have a big case too. So any newer system you put in there will be able to breathe.

Some good parts to keep there.