Theoretical upgrade for ancient pc

andy91

andy91

andy91

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I am still using an overclocked bundle I bought from Overclockers in 2013. Never thought I'd have the same machine for more than 10 years.
It's been rock solid this whole time and I have never really messed with it. I just set it up and have been using it ever since, the only thing I did was install an upgraded gfx card about 6 years ago.
It's a 1070ti and I can still play most games at 60fps on an ultra-widescreen monitor which does me since I'm a casual gamer and not really bothered anymore.

I searched through old emails and found the spec.

The machine is the following:

£300.66 x 1 - "Quasar 240i" Intel Core i5 4670K @ 4.4GHz Overclocked Haswell Gaming PC Bundle
£66.66 x 1 - Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gbs Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW)
£41.66 x 1 - Akasa Raptor Gaming Case - Black
£54.16 x 1 - XFX Pro 650W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply

It has 8 GB 1600mz DDR3 and the motherboard is a Gigabyte Z87-D3HP-CF.

I have never bothered to change anything for fear of messing up the overclocking settings that were set up in the Bios when I got it.

Like I say it's been really stable this whole time but I am now starting to notice some issues with certain apps running out of memory and creating large swap files on the disk.

I was thinking I could perhaps just upgrade the RAM to 32GB by getting some used DDR off eBay or something?

But I noticed that there are settings in the bios for RAM already that I don't really understand, see this screenshot it says memory upgrade.

Was this added by overclockers?

https://imageupload.io/ib/JxAXlQ9idfbxtZz_1699626308.jpg

Can I just swap out the RAM and it won't affect my overclocked settings? Also, what is the fastest DDR 3 RAM my motherboard can take?

Here are some other screenshots of the bios:


Also, I know I can upgrade the CPU to an i7-4790K and it basically the same chip just with hyper threading. Would this make much difference and could I just swap it out without messing up the overclocked settings already set?

I probably won't change the CPU, just wandering in theory.


I know I would be much better getting a whole new setup but I am in my 40s now and will probably just get a decent modern laptop next year. My son is going to build a budget gaming pc for himself which I'll ask about in a different thread.
 
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andy91 said:
I was thinking I could perhaps just upgrade the RAM to 32GB by getting some used DDR off eBay or something?
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If you highly value stability that might not be the best idea, just saying :D

Though, if you buy from a reputable seller you should be alright.

What I'd do is load up the Crucial and Kingston configurators and try to find the model numbers they recommend.

andy91 said:
Like I say it's been really stable this whole time but I am now starting to notice some issues with certain apps running out of memory and creating large swap files on the disk.
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Yeah, 8GB is really not enough now, 32GB will help a lot.

andy91 said:
Can I just swap out the RAM and it won't affect my overclocked settings?
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Probably, but it's hard to say for sure and the first thing we'll ask if you have boot issues is "did you clear the CMOS?"

andy91 said:
Also what is the fastest DDR 3 RAM my motherboard can take?
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Stock? 1600. If you plan on filling all 4 slots with 8GB sticks, then I would expect that to have an impact on the max memory speed, but I have no idea what 4th gen CPUs are like on that front. I'm some there are others on here who remember.

andy91 said:
Also, I know I can upgrade the CPU to an i7-4790K and it basically the same chip just with hyper threading. Would this make much difference and could I just swap it out without messing up the overclocked settings already set?
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You're likely to lose the overclock if you upgrade the CPU and if you don't, there's no guarantee it'll still work anyway. You could take pictures with your phone before the upgrade and try dialling it back in, if it is still appropriate for the new CPU.

The performance difference would depend on what you're doing with the PC. Some games benefit a lot from those 4 extra threads and some desktop tasks (like file compression) can be much, much faster, but if you mainly play older games and do light desktop stuff (e.g. Office, browsing) then you may notice nothing (or even less performance, if the 4 core turbo is significantly lower than your overclock).

You could consider the Xeon equivalents too, by the way, you can find them on the support list for your motherboard. In some circumstances they're much cheaper, but I think less so now than in previous years. If your overclock is multiplier based, then I think you'd also lose the ability to do that, without buying a K CPU.
 
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yeah I am confused about what RAM it actually supports some websites say up to 2933MHz DDR3 Others 1600mhz. I can get a pair of of 8 gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz = PC3-12800 cl10 for like £22 off ebay. But whats the point in that if it can do 2933MHz
 
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andy91 said:
yeah I am confused about what RAM it actually supports some websites say up to 2400 MHz DDR3 Others 1600mhz.
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The CPU and motherboard officially support 1600 so that's very simple, but what they're capable of overclocking to, I don't know. I don't remember posts from when they were current.

Unless someone with more experience of these CPUs comes along, the best I can do is google OC forums and reddit, e.g.

"Haswell can struggle to push above 2133Mhz with 4 sticks.

Start by bumping up memory controller voltage (VCCIO) to 1.1-1.2.

Might also need to increase DIMM voltage to 1.7 and/or loosen CAS Latency to 12/13.

If you want to stick with stock IMC and DIMM voltage then run 2133 or even 2000MHz and tighten the timings as much as you can."
Click to expand...

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
 
So it looks like if I buy say some Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz and just load the xmp on the motherboard ill get maximum performance out of it, is that correct?

The question now becomes will getting 32 over 16gb make much of a difference?
 
andy91 said:
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz
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It supports 1600 already so XMP isn't needed. I'd assume XMP is for faster timings, or they're just old sticks, I guess.

Kingston suggest KVR16N11/8 or KVR16N11S8K2/8.

(from the datasheet)
The SPDs are programmed to JEDEC standard latency DDR3-1600 timing of 11-11-11 at 1.5V
Click to expand...

andy91 said:
just load the xmp on the motherboard ill get maximum performance out of it, is that correct?, for a reasons:
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It depends. The problems with relying on XMP are something like:
  1. XMP is automated overclocking, it doesn't guarantee the CPU/motherboard will accept those speeds.
  2. 90% of consumer CPUs/boards prefer and are optimised for just 2 sticks over 4 sticks and that means all bets are off when you're using 4.
  3. You plan on using the max capacity for the board and that usually makes it even trickier to get everything working.
That said, I don't know what 4th gen CPUs are like with their memory. 1600 might be very easy for them.

andy91 said:
The question now becomes will getting 32 over 16gb make much of a difference?
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It's hard to say without knowing your usage. Generally: if you have more memory than you're making good use of, you get zero performance benefit. It also (if you're using 4 sticks) has an impact on your max memory speed and since it puts more load on the CPU, it can change your highest stable overclock too.
 
Thanks for your help. Seems like not many people are interested. Ill probably just pick 16gb of vengeance and see if it makes any difference
 
You could get a 4790K off the bay and delid it, or get someone to delid it for you, and get more of an overclock out of it. Still a relatively cheap option to max out your system.
 
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In theory what would be the most powerful graphics card I could install in this system before the current hardware would become too much of a bottle kneck that it wouldn't be worth bothering? Currently have 1070ti
 
andy91 said:
In theory what would be the most powerful graphics card I could install in this system before the current hardware would become too much of a bottle kneck that it wouldn't be worth bothering? Currently have 1070ti
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It is one of those "it depends" things, because it depends on the game, the resolution and the settings.

There are rare situations where even a 4090 won't be bottlenecked much by a 4970K (e.g. playing at 4K, highest settings, in a game which is massively GPU demanding, but fairly modest on the CPU), but there will also be situations that even your 1070 Ti is bottlenecked (e.g. a game which needs a modern CPU with 6 cores and 12 threads to run optimally and has sufficient graphics optimisation that the 1070 Ti reaches a decently playable frame rate).

If it was me? I would not buy higher than a 4070 or 7800 XT for that PC.
 
Tetras said:
It doesn't sound super exciting, but it is still double the memory of what you have now (or 3x if it works with the existing) :)
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So if i was to just add another 16gb and it works and leave the existing 2 4gb sticks in, it wont slow down the newer memory? They work in matching pairs right so one pair of each.
 
andy91 said:
So if i was to just add another 16gb and it works and leave the existing 2 4gb sticks in, it wont slow down the newer memory? They work in matching pairs right so one pair of each.
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I can't say, since these things are trial and error and I don't know what 4th gen CPUs are like with their memory speeds/support, as 4 sticks are always more challenging to run than 2.
 
Tetras said:
I can't say, since these things are trial and error and I don't know what 4th gen CPUs are like with their memory speeds/support, as 4 sticks are always more challenging to run than 2.
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In theory is should work if its 1 pair of 1600mghz 8gb and 1 pair of 1600mhz 4gb. Each pair should still run in dual channel mode. Ill try it and see what happens.
 
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