Potentially upgrading

Lee Monk

Lee Monk

Lee Monk

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Joined
21 May 2020
Posts
138
Hi all,

That time has (quickly) rolled around.

It's been a looooong time since I really upgraded my PC.

I'm starting this weekend with a few SSD's and a fresh install of W10 (though I know I may have to do this again if I upgrade my mobo).

The PC is primarly used for gaming though my historical choice of games are Football Manager, Hearts of Iron 4 and currently Factorio ie all games that are not massively demanding (though I understand Factorio may break that myth)

That said my son will assume control of my PC at various points of the day (or in reality at various days in the week) to play Fortnite and I attempted to download and play Red Dead 2 the other day and it wouldn't work.

I've messed up my account with OCUK so I cannot see my purchase history (I think all my kit is bought here).

I think I'm posting a pic here of my system
NsWhYdW



I want to be able to play higher graphic demanding games but am not an extreme gamer in this respect. My concern is that the rest of my system is just to old that it may just be to expensive.

Ideally I just want to know what graphics card I should buy but I think it's going to go well beyond that.

IF (and I really hope this is not the case) it all just proves to expensive (was originally thinking £250 for a card) then I have a follow up qestion.

I'm having problems updating my current card driver and, to be honest, I'm not even sure it needs a driver update but the auto softward doesn't seem to support it. If I can't upgrade then I'd want to be sure I have the latest drives and that the games are not working because the kit isn;'t good enough rather than drivers being out of date.

I have a Radeoon HD 5800

This update doesnt work for me. Is the card still supported?



TRyvDxK


qFGXCjm

Thus my questions:
1. Can I put in a decent card without other massive updates.
2. IF I have to update other things, what are those and what should I start with
3. (A Big ask here) Could you please recomend kit and costs to do so.

I can spend more if needed but that would involve having a conversation with the Mrs and I think we all know how that goes:

Me "Hellow wifey. I need £500 to £750 for my PC"
Wifey "The garden needs doing, the house needs painting, the garage needs clearing...."
 
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Thanks guys.

okay. So if I give up on Red Dead 2 then a modest graphics card will work?


is my mobo still good enough to support further upgrades?

in term of overclocking.... that really is something I’m not Comfortabke with. Unless there is a fool proof guide
 
Guys. Thank you very much for your help and support so far.

Lots of food for thought. I'm going to try the overclocking this week (as long as panic does not settle in). I've got to do a new SSD main drive install first.

I think I am going to start looking at a new build. I just need to work out if there is anything I can keep from here (maybe just the monitor) or if I leave this alive for my son. It plays Fornite well enough at the moment.

I'll start enough thread (or see if there is one alive that is suitable) with a budget or around £1000 for a complete build.

Thank you again.
 
All.

Bring an old thread of mine back to life.

I'm going to upgrade this PC a little ahead of a slightly longer wait for things to settle down on the NVdia and AMD graphics front (as well as some stock).

Could you please recomend to me some possible upgrades on this that still 'make sense' in respect of costs vs age of the PC.

You've seen what I've got installed and its a case of what my options are at around £100, £150 and £200.

This'll be given to my Son and he's not really into anything to demanding.

Thansk

Lee
 
Hi.

Just hoping for some advice on this. Can anyone make some recommendations that will work and improve what I already have.

Regards
 
Thanks for the reply.

As an amateur builder what should I look for on the other hardware to know what Gpu I can install?

Is there a way to tell my limited for the pc?

Lee
 
I ordered a 580 and it arrived today....... YAY.......

However, clearly I'm posting again for a reason.......

The machine is not powering up. I reisntalled the old card and it's working thus I'm assuming it's a power issue. This old card uses 2 x 6pin and the new one is 1x8pin. I have nothing else that needs an 8 pin so cannot test the cable however upon checking I noted that the power supply is a Corsair 520W..... so it's low.

However the description states:
"An 8-Pin power connector supplies the 25,5 cm long graphics card with power and a power supply capable of delivering 500 Watts is recommended."

I have various small drives installed 2xmech and 2xssd but no optical drives etc.

Thoughts on this? If it says 500 and I have 520 that should be enough right? The power supply is really old but does that make a difference?

I'm partially upgrading this one now for my son but mainly whilst I wait for CPU/GPU availability and pricing to settle of the next month or so. Thus ideally I don't really want to splash out on power unless I know for sure its that.

All help is appreciated.

Regards

Lee
 
I'm also slightly worried about what PSU I might need assuming an upgrade is required.

I think I have a semi-modular. I have 3 or 4 preconnected cables and the rest are plug-ins. Given that I don't know what cables I have I'm not sure what I'll need.
 
Hey Grimley.... I think I'm going to request a direct connection to you please!

There is definately an 8pin on there though, as you said, it's probably not the PCI connector in that case as it didnt work.

Does your comment mean that a normal 8 pin from one of the modular slots wouldn't work?

Found the spec for the HX520
  • Power Output Connectors Details
    4 x 15 pin Serial ATA power
    1 x power 24 pin main output
    1 x power 4 pin ATX12V connector
    1 x power 8 pin +12V
    8 x 4 pin internal power
    2 x 6 pin PCI Express power
 
That linked PSU doesnt seem to ahve an 8 pin PCI either.

PSU stuff is far from my strong point. So I may be missing something

Connectors:
- 1x 24-pin ATX Cable
- 1x EPS12V/ATX12V Cable (4+4)
- 1x2 PCIe Cable (6+2)
- 1x2 SATA Cable
- 1x3 SATA Cable
- 1x4 PATA Cable
 
Brilliant.

Thanks guys. Will press on and order. Though on hold for 45mins to ensure they can deliver tomorrow.

Thanks for the help.

After holding for 45 mins sadly they cannot deliver tomorrow. I tried!
 
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Hi,

Power unit arrived which is great however, I have a problem with the installation.

When I plug in the card I get no signal to the monitor. The PC also doesn't really seem to cycle through it's booting system though the only way I can tell this is that I'm able to instantly turn the PC off with a single press of the power switch whereas I normally have to hold it for a few seconds.

I've put the old card back in and it's working fine.

I've been bouncing around on this a little now and I think it may be down to the card not fitting very well.

Below is an image of how it sits at an angle. My old card is a little similar but not as bad. Can it be this and if so how do I fix it?

The image is from the CPU side (above) of the PCI slot.

I've tried pushing it down fairly hard but am worried I'll break it. The other just slots in really easy.

If the IO(?) shield can be removed then it may fit

https://ibb.co/TWZ1Px3


custom card maker hearthstone

Any help is greatly appreciated
 
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Sadly I tried that already. I wasn't sure it was a proper PCI slot so didn't mention it before.

As much as I can check it doesn't seem to be touching anything on the right (as you look at the photo) side.

I've tried applying a little pressure from under the mobo via the supporting screws in case it was a flexibily section but that has not worked either.

The left side slots in really easy but that is as far as the right side goes irrspective of how much pressure I apply.
 
Just been trying it again.

It feels lilke the Mobo needs to be a few mill higher (when flat). I can't push it down any further as the IO shield (the little bit that takes the screw) is flsuh with the bracketing(?) system on the rear. I'm sure if (though I won't) removed the IO shield then it would fit.

I'm not sure I have the parts to lift the mobo (spacers?) and even if I could I think the main IO shield (USB etc) wouldn't align either.
 
Thinking outside of the box here as my plans are all going to poo.

Is my CPU backwards compatible with a B450 tomahawk mobo?

I might just upgrade for best value rather than performance on this PC and do a new build in the new year. Waiting for GPU stock is killing everything. I want to get a new monitor but am worried that my current GPU (not the new ordered one) won't power it and I'm not sure if I should be worried about the monintor sync types when I do not know what the new GPU will be.
 
Okay. Thinking of another plan now.

Upgrading this year is proving stressful as I can't see stock levels for the new GPU's anywhere which means, other than a monitor, there isn't much I can do as nothing I have seems compatible.

Thus, the new plan looks a little something like this:

  1. Spend a fraction of what I was going to do which will essentialy build me a new budget PC.
  2. Perhaps purchase a decent monitor
  3. Give PC base to Son next year (but keep the monitor if I spend big on it)
  4. Build new PC next year when stock levels increase
End result Dad and Son both get decent PC's.

Questions:

  1. Is my RAM backwards conmpatible with newer mobo's? I'm thinking the MSI B450 Tomahawk as it seems to be down to £90.
  2. Is the, recently aquired, Radeon RX580 a 'good value' GPU if I'm upgrading my mobo?
  3. If the answer to no.2 is no, would I also need to upgrade my PSU from 550?
  4. Given the 'fitting issues' I'm facing should I purchase a new case?
Naturally I'm triyng to avoid purchasing things I do not need to do now with a view to just upgrading bit by bit later.

I think my current Mobo has been the hurdle to this to date.

Thoughts?

Lee
 
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