Upgrade or new system?

mshargreaves · 23 Jul 2017 at 12:07

Hi all,
We have a family pc that is used by sons for mainly online gaming. They are wanting to be able to play Battlefield 1, Star wars Battlefront 2, player unknowns battlegrounds, world of tanks at decent resolutions and frame rates. This is the current spec.-

Mesh Matrix Apollo
Cooler Master K350 All Black ATX Gaming Case with Side Window and USB 3.0
500W FSP Quiet Power Supply - Bronz 80 Plus
MSI 970A-G46, AM3+, 2 Way SLi / 2 Way CrossFireX, ATX Motherboard
AMD FX 8320 Black Edition, 8 Core, 3.5GHz/4.0GHz, 16MB Cache
8GB DDR3 1866MHz Memory (2x4GB) Kit
2GB Nvidia Geforce GTX 750Ti Gaming Overclocked Twin Fan,640 Cores, DSub/DVI/HDMI, PCIe 3.0
1TB SATA III 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64Mb Cache, 8ms Hard Drive
24x DVD Writer (read/write CD & DVD)
Integrated 7.1 High Definition 8-channel Audio
High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Microsoft Windows 10
24" Gaming Monitor Fast 2ms Full HD with HDMI/DVI with Speakers - Iiyama E2483HS-B1.

I am presuming processor and video card are obvious upgrades, but which?
What would be the best upgrades or shall we just start again??
many thanks.

EsaT · 23 Jul 2017 at 12:53

"Fail"Dozer (4 weak cores and 4 halfs of weak core) wasn't that good CPU even when it was new and that graphics card was lower mid range card when new.
So both would need replacing to get PC to decent level for modern games.
Besides new motherboard that means also new memory. (DDR4)

Case has PSU on bottom so that can be utilized.
You should just "Dremel" that absolutely **** poor stamping off from exhaust fan's hole and use wire finger guard:
http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mid-tower/k350-rc-k350-kwn2-en/
That would both lower noise from turbulence and improve cooling.

Cheap capacitor PSU is something what I wouldn't keep using.
If that case had PSU on top heat would have likely baked those cheap capacitors if its as old as other parts.

Monitor can be of course utilized...
Though myself would recap it because unless there's other weakness capacitors are parts defining when it breaks. (think it as oil change to car engine)

DVD drive and HDD can also be used.
Same for peripherals.

Plec · 23 Jul 2017 at 13:27

EsaT's, Finnish, dry sense of humour response does capture your upgrade predicament (@EsaT - i do enjoy your posts but you must scare the bejeezaz out of some new members

).

But you could still upgrade in stages if budget dictates...

What budget do you have to play with - absolute max?

mshargreaves · 24 Jul 2017 at 20:24

Budget for new build would be 800-1000. For upgrades 3-400?
EsaT quite right about the noise and it seems to run hot a lot of the time!

hornetstinger · 24 Jul 2017 at 20:26

New system, keep the bits that you can re-use, buy

Memory, motherboard, CPU.
Maybe GPU.

mistersprinkles · 24 Jul 2017 at 21:56

Mesh Matrix Apollo
Cooler Master K350 All Black ATX Gaming Case with Side Window and USB 3.0
^You can re-use this
500W FSP Quiet Power Supply - Bronz 80 Plus
^Garbage
MSI 970A-G46, AM3+, 2 Way SLi / 2 Way CrossFireX, ATX Motherboard
^Obsolete garbage
AMD FX 8320 Black Edition, 8 Core, 3.5GHz/4.0GHz, 16MB Cache
^Slow, hot, power hungry obsolete gargbage
8GB DDR3 1866MHz Memory (2x4GB) Kit
^Obsolete. Your new machine will use DDR4
2GB Nvidia Geforce GTX 750Ti Gaming Overclocked Twin Fan,640 Cores, DSub/DVI/HDMI, PCIe 3.0
^This is why your game performance is bad. This is a not a very good GPU
1TB SATA III 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64Mb Cache, 8ms Hard Drive
^You can re-use this
24x DVD Writer (read/write CD & DVD)
^You can Re-use this
24" Gaming Monitor Fast 2ms Full HD with HDMI/DVI with Speakers - Iiyama E2483HS-B1.
^You can re-use this

Basically, the 4000/6000/8000 series Bulldozer family (and piledriver) of CPUs from AMD are horrible. They're so bad that their IPC is actually worse than the Phenom II CPUs that preceded them. Go figure. Also they run hot enough to cook a steak on.

Get yourself an intel i5 or i7 based machine or a ryzen 5/7 based machine with 16GB of DDR3000, pick up a small capacity SSD for the operating system, Get a decent GPU, at least GTX 1060/RX580, pick up a decent quality power supply. No need to overclock for gaming. Just pick up a low cost but still decent quality motherboard, and use a cheap cooler that still gets the job done such as a CM H212, or just say screw it and use the stock cooler. (Some CPUs dont include a cooler.)

mshargreaves · 24 Jul 2017 at 22:14

Thanks for the replies guys. You have pretty much confirmed what I thought.
Advice is greatly appreciated.

mshargreaves · 25 Jul 2017 at 08:13

Would this be suitable? Thinking of upgrading to 16gb ram.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...0k-4.6ghz-geforce-gtx-1060-6gb-fs-1b6-og.html

EsaT · 25 Jul 2017 at 17:27

Performance wise that's definitely huge upgrade.
But future upgradeability path is likely going to be short compared to what Ryzen would offer.
It's not even known if rebrand of Kaby Lake known as Coffee Lake will fit to current Kaby Lake motherboards and any actual architecture update is sure to require new motherboard.
(because you're not paying Intel enough otherwise)
While Ryzen is first AMD CPU with overall parity since Intel released Core 2.

But that bundled PSU is very likely of lot worser quality level than that FSP.
Just 80 Plus efficiency (Bronze is better) tells its design was stolen from antique museum...
And only factories making such designs are those which should make you feel lottery winner if PSU is good for half the advertised output.
Plus C(r)apXon capacitors would be already big name capacitors in those.