Upgrade advice needed

Darkmistress

Darkmistress

Darkmistress

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Joined
24 Nov 2008
Posts
43
Hi guys, my current system is starting to get a bit long in the tooth. I'm running into issues trying to run newer games on it and I'm not sure where my bottle neck is and whether it's time for a new build or if I can squeeze another year or two out of it. Currently trying to run Planet Coaster and Black Desert Online with virtually everything on minimum graphics settings and it's struggling. I'm also a huge Dwarf Fortress Addict so single core processing power is a huge bonus as multi-thread support is a very long way off (if ever).

My current rig:

AMD Piledriver FX-8350 black edition 4 GHz
2x 4Gb DDR 3 1600MHz Crucial Ballistix Ram
Corsair CX 600 PSU
Coolermaster HAF Case
MSI 990XA-GD55 AMD 990X Chipset (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard
Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card
MSI Radeon HD R6850 1GB GDDR5
NZXT X41 140mm Kraken Water Cooler
OCZ VTX4-25SAT3-128G 128GB Vertex 4 Sata III- 6Gb/s 2.5 Inch Internal SSD
2x Western Digital 500Gb Sata 3 HDD's

The oldest part in my PC is the graphics card and is my prime suspect. Everything is still running cool and stable after all these years, no signs of anything dying on me (yet).
Another important point is my sound card is PCIe so I will need a spare slot for it as I can't justify the cost of the newer STX II and sound is extremely important to me so I want to keep my STX if possible!

I forgot to mention my monitor, it's a Samsung Syncmaster 24" running at 1920x1080
 
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Seeing as you haven't given a budget you are doing yourself a disservice.

I know that Planet Coaster usually has the CPU as the bottleneck...not sure about the.others.

The easiest and cheapest solution is a GPU. Likely Nvidia 1060 6GB or AMD 580 8GB. But seeing as CPU is likely the issue probably won't help much especially at 1080p.

However, if you have the budget, then you would need a new CPU and Motherboard.

You could get away with secondhand gen 5 or gen 6 Intel but with a limited upgrade path or look at a gen 8 (Coffee Lake) i5 8400. Problem is limited availability (may have changed recently) and expensive motherboards as this CPU cannot be overclocked.

Ryzen is better bang for buck but if IPC is important here, Intel is the way to go.
 
Thanks for such a quick reply. Im not sure on the budget. I'd have to sweet talk the hubby into it, but I was thinking around £400 to £500. Anything over that and he's going to have a coronary...
I've always built my own PC's (and his!) but I've had my finger off the pulse for a while now so I'm not really up on current builds. I know everything has moved on to DDR 4 so if I have to upgrade I guess it would be Mobo, CPU, Ram and GPU. I'm guessing everything else is still ok. Not fussed on going 4k and happy to continue gaming at 1080p
 
I would try to do this in as minimal a way as possible, but if you do buy any new bits you want them to be as long lived as possible - so first step for me would be a new graphics card, an Nvidia 1050ti or 1060 3gb would be a good start and would be able to move to any new PC without doing it a dis-service.

Next stop would be to add another 8GB of RAM - your board is DDr3 so it will be cheap and easy to buy used - this won't be able to move to a newer board so do it as cheap as you can.

TBH I think a 1050 graphics card and some second hand memory should do it - but then I noticed that you have an OCZ SSD - I have had nothing but terrible experience with these so I would consider replacing that as well if at all possible!

Final thought, a clean windows install would be worth doing if you get a new Nvidia card and coming from AMD
 
Thanks for your reply!
My sincere apologies, I linked my hubby's SSD. Mine is : Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB bought back in 2013 and still going strong.
No idea if newer SSD's offer any improvement. I run my OS and favorite games off it and it was hands down the biggest speed improvement I added to my system at the time.
Looking deeper into your GPU suggestion, is it worth the £30 saving to go for:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...raphics-card-gv-n1060wf2oc-3gd-gx-18m-gi.html

Or shell out for:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/zota...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-106-zt.html

I'm leaning toward the 6Gb version...

Would adding another 8Gb of ram really make that much of a difference? To get another pair of Tactical Tracers is going to set me back over £100! I can get cheaper 1600 dual channel ram but what about my CAS timing, does it need to be an exact match?
 
Looking at the first two games (couldn't find the dwarf one there) you need an Nvidia 970 or AMD RX480 as recommended for one of them so would suggest that you start there with an Nvidia 1060 or RX580 and perhaps try for a 4.4/4.5Ghz on the CPU is you are under water..

The GPU would always transfer to a new PC but of course if this isn't the issue, the budget is half gone.
 
As mentioned above, 2nd hand i5 6600k/7600k Nd Mobo with ram and new GPU, even if you went gtx 1060 3gb for costs. Or the other way around

New i3 8350k (don't forget it's know 4 cores and matches other gen i5s) , z370 and ram and grab gtx 970/980 second hand

Technically mobo will last longer then GPUs
 
Thanks for all the advice, still weighing up my options and considering all the advice. I'll probably wait another month or two and save a little cash up. I can tolerate the poor performance for now.
 
Sorry to revive my thread guys, but my graphics card died on me this evening. It can still cope with firefox but anything remotely taxing causes it to massively overheat and tear and flicker my screen. I gave it a really good clean but it hasn't helped. According to CAM it's idling at around 40C and shoots straight into the 70's if I try to use it :( So now I need an urgent replacement!
 
@tamzzy advice is solid - and a GTX 970 for ~£130 would sit nicely in that system at 1080p. Unfortunately the GTX 1060's still command £200+ second hand.
 
@Plec @Darkmistress yeah, a used 970 would be the one to go for
Unfortunately, as it's used, warranty, should it stop working, can also be an issue. I would recommend if possible, trying to get an evga one with remaining guest warranty.
 
Darkmistress said:
Thanks guys, I've looked into a GTX 970, they are around £190 second hand. Is it worth shelling out that much?
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That seems steep - i'm guessing this is on the bay? In the MM Forum (i'm afraid you don't get access to it until you have 1000 posts) they're selling for ~£130.

You can get a new GTX 1060 3Gb for ~£220 for comparison purposes.
 
Darkmistress said:
Yes on the bay, I can't find one cheaper elsewhere...
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Jeez - bitcoin and memory demand has made prices a bitch.

The 3Gb GTX 1060 has a crippled core to that of the 6Gb - but it still performs on a par with the 970. Personally, I would rather pay an extra ~£30 and get a new card/warranty than risk £190 for an overpriced second hand one.

Or you could opt for GTX 1050Ti (approx ~£160) - still a massive improvement on your existing card and games well at 1080p.
 
Hi again guys, what are your thoughts on a Radeon Fury X? I can pick a B Grade one up for £300. Would it run in my PC?
My other options are:

GTX 1050Ti 4Gb for £140 elsewhere
GTX 1060 3Gb for £216 elsewhere
GTX 1060 6Gb for £289 (B Grade)

All would be a huge improvement over my old GPU
 
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