Upgrade or start fresh?

NiaNova

NiaNova

NiaNova

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Joined
12 Apr 2020
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10
Hi, I wondered if anyone had any advice on what I need, I havn't used my PC (which a friend of a friend built for me) since like 2009. I'm presuming none of whats inside is keepable due to it's age but I just wondered what exactly it is I would need / any suggestions on parts.

Would all the base stuff such as case and wires be usable and maybe HDDs?
I've never built a pc myself (although i've put parts in before) but I would like too

Heres is my old invoice of all my parts we bought (If i remember rightly the power supply is different, as after I had it built it kept blowing out my HDD, I went through a few before we realised it was the power supply, after I got a new one it worked fine)

2cYCCGK.jpg
 
IMO start again. It's all pretty much out of date and 11 years is a decent innings for it.

Building your own is easy, just get people on here to check over any builds you had in mind, and if you have a budget there are people on here with experience to point you in the right direction as well.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Yeah I thought as much.

When you say easy, do you mean easy as pretty much anyone could (with guides and such) or a little prior knowledge needed? as I have no idea wether it’s something I’d be capable of doing. I do think i’m quite technically minded, I can fix things, I’ve installed small parts years ago but the more I look at specs and see posts on here with people advising people to do certain things the more I think I don’t have a clue, I would love to build my own but i’m wondering wether I have the skills too or would I best be best just buying a custom built one, as I wouldn’t even know where to start in picking parts (i’ve been on console and macs for the last 10 years)

Budgets a hard one as the more it is the longer i’d probably have to wait (and with being on isolation I kinda wish I had started earlier as this would be a perfect time to go back into pc) I don’t need a super high spec one, I don’t plan on becoming a hardcore pc gamer pro anytime soon. I’m not the best at games but I would like it to be able to play decent games, and be able to play VR (for future)

I know this is a hard question but do you know how much is usually saved when building your own compared to buying a custom built one?
 
/\/\/\/\ to answer your question, it isn't really a huge amount of money. OCUK's pre-built systems do have a 3 year warranty, whereas one you build yourself you have the warranty on each individual part, which can be as little as 12 months or lifetime for the RAM.

building a PC is like building with posh Lego. there's loads of PC build videos on youtube. If you get stuck just ask your question on here.
 
Building a pc is relatively easy
It's if you press the power button for the first time ever and it does not work
Then it gets trickier
Without a rough budget kind of hard for any one to suggest stuff
About all that's save able are the hard drives
Though to be honest if they're that old I wouldn't rely on storing stuff on them
 
If case was modern instead of outdated that would be reusable. (mine is from 2008)
Optical drive would be usable.
And 500GB drive could be used for some slow media storage use.
160GB is just miserably small and no doubt slower than drying process of paint.
 
Grimley said:
building a PC is like building with posh Lego. there's loads of PC build videos on youtube. If you get stuck just ask your question on here.
Click to expand...

haha posh lego, Doesn't sound too bad then

Mcnumpty2323 said:
Without a rough budget kind of hard for any one to suggest stuff
About all that's save able are the hard drives
Though to be honest if they're that old I wouldn't rely on storing stuff on them
Click to expand...

I've just found a link for one I was looking at a little while ago (before I was considering building it myself) it had the following specs:

  • Intel Core i9 9900K 8 Core CPU [Intel UHD Graphics 630]
  • ASUS Prime Z390-P Intel DDR4 ATX Motherboard
  • 32GB (2x16gb) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000MHz
  • MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB TRI FROZR Turing Graphics Card
  • 256GB M.2 PCI-E NVMe Solid State Drive [Up to 3500MB/s Read / Up to 1200 MB/s Write]
  • 1TB Seagate Barracuda SATA III 3.5” HD
  • GameMax Iceberg RGB Watercooler - 240mm
  • 700W Builder Fully Wired ATX PSU
  • ASUS PCE-AC55BT AC1200 867Mbps 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac + Bluetooth 4.2
Click to expand...


  • I think this was around £1600, I'd be willing to save up whatever is needed for me to get a pc that will be decent enough to run VR in the future, games such as erm, Apex, Sims lol... I'm probably slightly more than a casual gamer but I don't think even the most expensive PC build will help my awful gaming sills so I don't really want to overspend on specs that probably won't make a difference too me, as long as it can run adequately then the cheaper the better really (but also the VR capability, just incase) so i'm not even sure wether the specs above are right for me or wether i could shave off a little

    (look wise i'm not really bothered about either)

CuriousTomCat said:
It's easy if you know how. Why not dismantle your current PC and then rebuild it? Then you'll know if you're up to it.
Click to expand...

oo That's quite a good idea.



Thanks you all for all the replies
 
Right now it's hard to recommend a 9900k system
AMD is way forward
Something like a 3700x and a B450 motherboard would probably suit your needs
I am no good at making lists but one of the guys will come along that is
And do you a list of stuff
 
What monitor/resolution do you intend to play at?

After you get the bloody cooler over with building is easy. And always plan ahead, like don't screw the motherboard in before attaching the IO shield to the case, annoying little stuff like that can add so much time and frustration when 30 secs of thought prevents it.
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
Right now it's hard to recommend a 9900k system
AMD is way forward
Something like a 3700x and a B450 motherboard would probably suit your needs
I am no good at making lists but one of the guys will come along that is
And do you a list of stuff
Click to expand...

ooo, oki, Thank you. will look into that.

Tetras said:
What monitor/resolution do you intend to play at?

After you get the bloody cooler over with building is easy. And always plan ahead, like don't screw the motherboard in before attaching the IO shield to the case, annoying little stuff like that can add so much time and frustration when 30 secs of thought prevents it.
Click to expand...

ermm, well i actually bought a monitor not too long ago when my tv broke, don't know if it's good enough or anything but it's been fine for console. it's the " Acer Nitro VGC240 24 Inch FHD Gaming Monitor"

oo, thanks for the tips, yep I would definitely be looking to make sure i've planned ahead, Don't want to be making mistakes like that
 
Right, best i could do for £1k & all parts in stock. You could drop to a B450 Tomahawk MAX & to a Seasonic Core gold GC 500 at a pinch, Then upgrade the GFX to a 2060. That should be able to run even the latest VR games such as Half-life Alyx at 1080p.


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,071.62 (includes shipping: £11.70)​
​
 
Grimley said:
Right, best i could do for £1k & all parts in stock. You could drop to a B450 Tomahawk MAX & to a Seasonic Core gold GC 500 at a pinch, Then upgrade the GFX to a 2060. That should be able to run even the latest VR games such as Half-life Alyx at 1080p.
Click to expand...

ooo Thank you!
 
Hi sorry, Could have your advice on this one, i forgot I added this one, If i'm patient I will be able to up the budget, as I had no idea what I was added I had copied a build from a pc builder site.


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,717.15 (includes shipping: £12.30)​
​


Is this worth the extra?
 
It is mainly the wireless card and the graphics card that's responsible for the price difference. Those graphics cards aren't really in the same bracket of performance. If you're fine with decent performance at 1080p then I'd put the extra money aside for an upgrade later, rather than spending so much more on something you don't need yet.
 
Tetras said:
It is mainly the wireless card and the graphics card that's responsible for the price difference. Those graphics cards aren't really in the same bracket of performance. If you're fine with decent performance at 1080p then I'd put the extra money aside for an upgrade later, rather than spending so much more on something you don't need yet.
Click to expand...

ahh right yeah, does graphics card have anything to do with how VR would run? although I'm not looking to get VR yet I would like to make sure i'd be able to run it without having to upgrade anything, incase i ended up getting one in the near future

and yeah unfortunately I have to go wireless as the routers downstairs.. I've seen some motherboards have wireless built in, i presume that wouldn't give as good as a connection as a stand alone network card?
 
NiaNova said:
ahh right yeah, does graphics card have anything to do with how VR would run? although I'm not looking to get VR yet I would like to make sure i'd be able to run it without having to upgrade anything, incase i ended up getting one in the near future

and yeah unfortunately I have to go wireless as the routers downstairs.. I've seen some motherboards have wireless built in, i presume that wouldn't give as good as a connection as a stand alone network card?
Click to expand...
You'll need a good graphics cards for future VR titles for sure.
 
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