Upgrade help

Adamob2594 · 31 Oct 2017 at 16:28

Hi,
New to this forum and gaming on pc.
I only use pc for gaming such as FSX, F1 and currently just installed GTA 5 on steam.
On playing gta 5 I had to turn all the graphics down for it to stop lagging.
I bought a ready built gaming pc which has;
Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-HD2
AMD A8-700
Radeon R7 graphics
8gb ddr3 ram

What would I need to boost the performance on gta 5 as all the other games run fine.
I’m new to this so if any more information is required will do my best to help out.
I have a budget of around £300 to get me going.

Danny75 · 31 Oct 2017 at 16:49

Hi, welcome to the forum.

Which PSU is installed?

Which case is it all in?

Adamob2594 said:
What would I need to boost the performance on gta 5 as all the other games run fine.
I’m new to this so if any more information is required will do my best to help out.
I have a budget of around £300 to get me going.

With £300, and a DDR3 platform (RAM very expensive now), what you need is a used Intel i5-4670/4690* with a H81 motherboard.

* These can be found for £95 or £100 with 2 year warranty, respectively, or less with no warranty.

If you somehow find i7-4770/4771/4770K/4790/4790K for £100 or under, then grab one of those instead, but i5 quad core is good for GTA. It uses CPU right up to 4 cores, and an i7 of the same family does not give you more performance. Just slightly better for multitasking and other things/games.

Pair it with a board like this:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Asus H81M-K Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard= £44.99

Total: £53.69
(includes shipping: £8.70)

And now you have £150-ish for a video card like GTX 1050Ti, and a CPU cooler. If you can sell your current motherboard and processor, then put that towards an even better video card like GTX 1060 3GB or even 6GB.

Either way, you'll get really good GTA performance on medium/high (GTX 1050Ti) or high/ultra (GTX 1060).

Adamob2594 · 31 Oct 2017 at 17:01

Psu : Pentium p4 model: E-600BR
Case doesn’t have any information on it to say what it is.
But if you look on the eBay like I’ve attached it’s the one on there which is has red lights on it. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232288844505

Danny75 · 31 Oct 2017 at 17:11

Hey...

If that's the one you bought, it's meant to have a GTX 1050Ti in it already, yet you're apparently using the processor's graphics. Have you connected your monitor cable to the video card port instead of the motherboard/processor port?

Or you probably meant the case is like that. Not the contents.

Danny75 · 31 Oct 2017 at 17:16

The PSU is rubbish even though it will work with video cards requiring one PCIe power cable, or none. If you can stretch to £350 I'd spend £50 on a new one. Your call.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x XFX XT Series 500W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply= £42.95
1 x Corsair CX450 450W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (CP-9020120-UK)= £49.99

The Corsair is a bit better and also comes with 5 year warranty instead of 3. The difference in wattage output on the +12v rail/s where it really counts, is minimal (10W), so I'd get the Corsair personally.

Adamob2594 · 31 Oct 2017 at 17:23

No it’s just the case not the contents inside. So everything you have mentioned, if I buy it then swap it all over, what will I need to do other than fit the hardware ?

Danny75 · 31 Oct 2017 at 17:26

Adamob2594 said:
No it’s just the case not the contents inside. So everything you have mentioned, if I buy it then swap it all over, what will I need to do other than fit the hardware ?

Reinstall Windows, as new motherboard and processor. Is it Windows 10?

Adamob2594 · 31 Oct 2017 at 17:29

Yes it is windows 10

Danny75 · 31 Oct 2017 at 17:29

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Corsair CX450 450W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (CP-9020120-UK)= £49.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler= £19.99
1 x Asus H81M-K Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard= £44.99
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 1050Ti Gaming 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £139.99

Total: £265.46
(includes shipping: £10.50)

And find one of the processors mentioned for £100 or under.

Danny75 · 31 Oct 2017 at 17:30

Adamob2594 said:
Yes it is windows 10

Okay. Have you created a digital license for it? If not, you'll want to do that before moving to the new hardware.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change

Adamob2594 · 31 Oct 2017 at 17:47

Yes I already have a digital license. Thank you very much for your help !
I shall go ahead and order those now, hopefully will get them before the end of the week.
Again, thank you very much for your help!

Danny75 · 31 Oct 2017 at 18:01

Adamob2594 said:
Yes I already have a digital license. Thank you very much for your help !
I shall go ahead and order those now, hopefully will get them before the end of the week.
Again, thank you very much for your help!

No worries.

One last thing - how tall is your RAM? Cooler clearance with the Themis and that particular board (just the two memory slots close to CPU socket) might be an issue. This review has installation tips:
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Raijintek/Themis/4.html

CPU-Z will tell you what brand/model it is, if unsure.

The RAM has to be 45mm tall or under to fit under the fan of the cooler. If the RAM you have exceeds that, let me know, will suggest different cooler.