Upgrade for gaming

RobK

RobK

RobK

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Joined
13 Apr 2006
Posts
574
I've got the following old PC parts that I used to use as a server. I was wondering if it could be made into a decent gaming PC by adding an up-to-date graphics card?

Intel Core i5 2500, Socket 1155
8GB(2x4GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-10600
Gigabyte GA-H67MA-D2H-B3, Intel H67
Coolermaster Centurion 5 II
Coolermaster GX 650W

I was thinking of either an R9 380/390 or a GTX970. Would my CPU be up to that? I don't have a monitor at the moment either but would probably get a basic 24" 1920x1080 one.

Any other possible issues I haven't thought of?
 
270mm is max video card length for that case, according to manufacturer specs. That will exclude some models. Other than that, think all is in order for a nice GPU upgrade.
 
Oh good point, that could rule out the Sapphire Nitro 390 then which seems to be popular.

Do you think a longer card might fit in the top slot since there are no drives in the front bays?

2qk19gw.jpg
 
RobK said:
Oh good point, that could rule out the Sapphire Nitro 390 then which seems to be popular.

Do you think a longer card might fit in the top slot since there are no drives in the front bays?

2qk19gw.jpg
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Clean your bloody CPU heat sink first. :rolleyes:
 
A quick update - I ended up putting an R9 380, 250GB SSD and a PCIe wifi adapter in this and did a clean install of Windows 10. It really doesn't seem to be very stable though and hangs completely sometimes while playing WoW. I did have some problems with the motherboard when it was a server so I'm wondering if I should junk it and and get a Skylake bundle in there. :D
 
Have you checked the temps, could be that crappy old intel heat sink not doing a good job of cooling the CPU. Might be worth buying a better heat sink, also if you have had issues previously you should check that both the CPU and memory are getting the voltages they need. Could be worth trying tools like memtest to check the memory hasn't failed, hard to tell what the issue is, is it completely locking up and crashing/bluescreening or is it just that you are getting poor fps?
 
Good ideas, thanks I'll check those out. It doesn't even blue screen, just the screen suddenly goes blank and I have to power it off.

The problems I had previously were when I had a load of hard drives in. One day it just wouldn't get into windows without resetting, then it wouldn't even post without me unplugging some of the drives. It seemed OK with just one drive in but I'm still suspicious of it.
 
RobK said:
Good ideas, thanks I'll check those out. It doesn't even blue screen, just the screen suddenly goes blank and I have to power it off.

The problems I had previously were when I had a load of hard drives in. One day it just wouldn't get into windows without resetting, then it wouldn't even post without me unplugging some of the drives. It seemed OK with just one drive in but I'm still suspicious of it.
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Looking up your issue it seems like lots of people are having issues with the 16.***** AMD drivers not sure if there is a proper fix for it but you could try other older drivers or there should be a hot fix that may help. - https://community.amd.com/thread/198067
 
Oh yes thanks, that does sound like the same thing I'm getting. I'll try uninstalling the drivers and putting the 15.x ones on.
 
I do have the option to return the AMD card. I'm thinking maybe avoid the driver headaches by swapping it for a GTX960, although it doesn't look quite as fast.
 
Nvidia has had their fair share of dodgy drivers, a few of updates I have done have caused my PC to become unstable so it's not just AMD with issues.
 
I ended up sending the R9 back and haven't used the PC since. Then yesterday I ordered a GTX 1070 after a few drinks...

Will the CPU hold this card back? I was thinking about picking up a 2500K until I found out you can't overclock with an H67 board, so it could be a good excuse to pick up that 6600K bundle :)
 
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