Upgrade advice, ga‑f2a78m‑hd2 (rev. 3.1) motherboard

[Mr Kenneth Hughes]

Hi Guys,

Thanks in advance for any advice and apologies if there is anything I should have done but have not done.

So I suppose the simple version of this story is I have a ga‑f2a78m‑hd2 (rev. 3.1) motherboard built PC I got from my brother, he was sold it as a gaming PC.

I have my doubts tbh, it has built in AMD graphics, windows 10 installed and a decent(ish) amount of RAM.

Think the processor is AMD A6-6400K, daresay that could/should be upgraded.


So it has a PCIE slot which I think I should use to upgrade gfx card or at least give it a dedicated graphics card.

This was supposed to be the simple version

So I guess what I'd be interested in knowing is what relatively cheap upgrades could I make to improve the machine. I'm interested in HD gaming but probably nowhere near top end.

(Also it there are any generous patrons out there who are willing to part with an older gfx card like. 1050 or 1050ti for a reasonable price I'd appreciate it, GPUs are very overpriced just now)

Just looking for general info and advice based on motherboard and what I could achieve with it. If you're bored give me a vest build and best bang for buck build.

Thanks guys and appreciate any help you can give.

 

[MissChief]

So your CPU support list is here https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-F2A78M-HD2-rev-30/support#support-cpu but it’s an older socket so your support is very limited. By all means fit a GPU but don’t break the bank.

 

[Mr Kenneth Hughes]

Any particular advice on GPU or is a 1050/ 1050ti okay?

Thanks chief

 

[MissChief]

Any particular advice on GPU or is a 1050/ 1050ti okay?

Thanks chief

That will be fine.

 

[Mr Kenneth Hughes]

Thanks for all your help, now to see if I can find one at a reasonable price. Damn GPU shortage has everything at mad prices. Cex here in UK want more for the 1050 than I paid for the 1050ti last year for an ex partners pc.

Thanks again I'll look over the CPUs in the next day or so.

 

[GreatAuk]

I hope your brother didn't pay much for it if he bought the pc recently! That's an old cpu socket and anything you can get for it is slow by today's standards. Still, depending on what you want out of it may still be serviceable I suppose.

Aside from gpu and cpu, one thing to check given the age of the system is whether it has a solid state drive or hard disc for storage. If it's currentpy running on a hard disc then upgrading to an ssd will improve its general useability a fair bit. Eg this one for £50: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cruc...-6.0gb-s-7mm-solid-state-drive-hd-06c-cr.html

 

[Mr Kenneth Hughes]

I don't think he did pay much tbh.

Still had he listened or asked me I could've probably printed him in a better direction, sure he bought it like 2-4 years ago.

I'm far from great at this type of thing but I know a dud eBay/Amazon gaming pc advert when I see one.

 

[Mr Kenneth Hughes]

Yeah at the minute it is a 1TB hard drive I have.

SSD upgrades in speed so I assume I could use that for OS and main files and keep other hard drive for storage of files? (Until using) (old or yet to play games for example)

Again I thank you all for your answers and your time. I'm being cautious here as way I think this will be is I wanna sort this to be borderline usable for games for myself for a short period and then nephews etc. Then I can get myself something better.

Thinking if I can change hard drive, get a 1050 or just below grx card and maybe cheap pcu upgrade I should hopefully manage that lol

Suppose best learning and experimenting just now as opposed to a bigger better build for myself

 

[GreatAuk]

Yeah fair enough try to get this one useable for a bit then pass it on

I remember my first hdd to ssd upgrade making a massive difference to things like time to boot up, opening programs, loading games etc totally changed the feeling of the system, so I'd definitely recommend that. Yeah if you can then I'd put Windows, programs, and games you're currently playing on the ssd, and relegate the hdd to storing games you don't play much, pictures, other files etc.

 

[Mr Kenneth Hughes]

Thanks will get on that for now.

Can wait a little bit for gfx upgrade as some of games I play don't require it on low settings and I'm not fussy.

Thinking get a decent size of SSD say 250gb plus and upgrade processor.

That'll take some figuring out with all the names and stuff lol

Quick question, is there a point where it isn't worth getting such a CPU as the motherboard may not support it or may throttle it in some way?

You guys are earning your money tonight!

 

[GreatAuk]

As long as a cpu is on the compatibility list for the motherboard it should fundamentally work properly (possibly needing a bios update depending on the cpu).

However if the cpu uses more power (eg the A6-6400K is listed as a nominal 65W cpu, a possible upgrade candidate such as the A10-6800K is listed as a 100W cpu) then the motherboard will need to supply more current. If the motherboard has a weak power delivery system then it may struggle, resulting in the cpu performance throttling and potentially shortening the life of the motherboard if components are running hot all the time. Based on pictures of the motherboard (no heatsinks, what looks like small number of vrm components) it might unfortunately struggle with higher wattage CPUs like the A10-6800K, but then again a quick Google shows people have paired the board and that cpu together, so maybe it's not an issue - more googling needed perhaps to see if there is mir discussion or reviews of that motherboard somewhere that might give a more definitive answer.

 

[Mr Kenneth Hughes]

So my thought for now for an upgrade is

The athlon II x4 860k processor and the ssd upgrade and then sort a gfx card.

That sound reasonable or mental?

 

[mickyflinn]

So my thought for now for an upgrade is

The athlon II x4 860k processor and the ssd upgrade and then sort a gfx card.

That sound reasonable or mental?

Sounds reasonable but 2 things 2 note the 860k needs a better cpu cooler than your 6400k and the motherboard may need a bios update to allow the new cpu work.

 

[GreatAuk]

Quick Google of the cpu and it looks like it should offer a good performance boost and at ~ £20 from some sources that's not bad actually and worth seeing what it's like imo. However as it doesn't have integrated graphics you would need to source a dedicated graphics card from somewhere too before replacing the current cpu.

The gpu is of course where the problems lie, because of the prices. Something like an nvidia 1030 should offer much more power than the A6-6400k's graphics, but will still set you back £70 to £90 for a new one (make sure it's a gddr5 version not a ddr4 version), and only a little bit less than that on the used market.

Personally I think an ssd is worth getting whatever you do, so I'd go ahead with that (240gb should be fine for Windows + a few programs and older games, although 500gb would probably be more useful longer term as some newer games can be quite large).

 

[jigger]

If you have a half decent power supply you can pick up R9 290/390 cards for reasonable money. If not the R9 380/X is a decent card with much less power draw. 4gb or above.

 

[Mr Kenneth Hughes]

Haven't put major thought into power supply etc.

Any program people know that will give me that and other information windows may miss??

Not being intentionally lazy just figure you guys would know the best and ultimately safest programs for this.

Again I can't thank you all enough for your help!!

 

[MissChief]

Haven't put major thought into power supply etc.

Any program people know that will give me that and other information windows may miss??

Not being intentionally lazy just figure you guys would know the best and ultimately safest programs for this.

Again I can't thank you all enough for your help!!

There should be a label on the existing PSU, check it for manufacturer, model and power rating.