Upgrade or Start Over?

[Jamusuk]

Hi all

I am unsure as to whether I should upgrade my existing build (I’ve not touched it since 2011) or start over from scratch.

This is my current set up:

Case: Antec 900

PSU: Cosair HX 520W

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge)

GFX: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS – 2722MB

MOBO: MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge)

RAM: Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

HDD: Seagate Barracuda – 7200RPM – 500GB

I’m currently on Win 7 (will upgrade to Win 10), I don’t need a mouse, keyboard, speakers or screen.

I definitely need a new case and would prefer something that runs a bit quieter as well.

I would like to get an SSD and use my existing HDD for storage.

I’ve only just started getting back into gaming again and I’ve realised that my current GFX is woefully inadequate but I’m bit out of the loop with what constitutes good value these days.

Budget: £500 - £600 (but if I’m just upgrading then less the better).

Thanks!

 

[pastymuncher]

Just upgrading the gpu to a modern card will be a significant upgrade by itself. Overclock that 2500k to 4.5Ghz and you have another nice upgrade for free (unless you need a decent cooler). What res do you game at? For 1080p you are looking at AMD RX480 or Nvidia GTX 1060. For 1400p a GTX 1070 and anything over that res a GTX 1080. I would be tempted to upgrade the psu as well as it's 6 years old now.

 

[Jamusuk]

Thanks, how does this look?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x be quiet! Silent Base 800 Midi Tower Case - Orange Window= £119.99
• 1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)= £98.99
• 1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 1060 "Reference Design" 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £188.99
• 1 x Super Flower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black= £59.99

Total: £467.96
(includes shipping: £0.00)



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[pastymuncher]

Looks good to me. The 1060 will be a massive upgrade from your 8800gts.

 

[lee32uk]

Avoid the 3GB version of the GTX 1060 as it has some things cut down from the 6GB model. I would either go with the 6GB version or get an RX 480 8GB instead.

 

[mistersprinkles]

16gb ram, ssd, faster gpu, overclock cpu

 

[Doogles]

2x8GB RAM, 250GB SSD, GTX 1060/RX 480, upgrade the cooler so you can overclock the 2500k. Should come in at <£400.

 

[Jamusuk]

Thanks all, I think this is my final choice:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Asus Radeon RX 480 Dual OC 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £194.99
• 1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply= £119.99
• 1 x Kingston HyperX Fury Red 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX318C10FRK2/16)= £109.99
• 1 x Fractal Design Define S Midi Tower - Black= £77.99
• 1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)= £89.99

Total: £592.95
(includes shipping: £0.00)


Added the RAM as per advice.

From what I've read my current cooler (Hyper 212 Plus) should be fine for me overclock the CPU with?

I know the 750W PSU is overkill at the moment but I want to have the scope to upgrade more significantly in the future.
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[Jamusuk]

OK so the upgrade didn't go so well, long story short, after trying to update the bios the mobo is bricked.

Therefore may as well go the whole hog and get a new CPU as well, budget is around £400 - £450.

Thoughts on this please, is the bundle good value? Seem to be mixed reviews on the X370?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Asus Prime X370-Pro - AMD Ryzen 7 1700 CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£12 Saving**= £442.98
• 1 x Kingston Fury Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C15 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX424C15FB2K2/16)= £128.99

Total: £582.47
(includes shipping: £10.50)



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[Threepwood]

All you needed was an extra 4GB ram and ssd, a cheap 120mm coller and a newer gpu.

Sorry to hear it has been a pain though!

 

[Jamusuk]

All you needed was an extra 4GB ram and ssd, a cheap 120mm coller and a newer gpu.

Sorry to hear it has been a pain though!

I know! In hindsight I shouldn't have touched the BIOS but not much I can do now. I guess it's a good excuse to go for the Ryzen!

 

[Threepwood]

I know! In hindsight I shouldn't have touched the BIOS but not much I can do now. I guess it's a good excuse to go for the Ryzen!

From another site : "The only way you could possibly recover it without an SPI flash programming device would be to put the bios file previously used on an bootable USB stick and having that connected when starting."

See if you have any local pc shops with one? If the previous BIOS with usb stick don't work.

 

[pastymuncher]

You most likely would have had to update it anyway. Newer gpu's usually give a black screen if the motherboard bios is out of date meaning a bios flash to make the board compatible with the gpu. That's why I won't touch MSI motherboards, they have never had a safe method to flash the bios without bricking the board.

 

[queeg]

I have an msi gaming 7 z97 mobo the bios update exactly the same as my asus x99 board download bios onto flash drive plug in back of mobo enter bios and point at it have updated the z97 board a few times never been a problem theres a few msi z87 boards around family & friends they have all been updated aswell no problem. im no msi fan either I stopped buying there gpus because my experience was one of the fans kept stopping on there 670 cards and I have seen people moaning about the same problem again on newer cards

 

[Jamusuk]

Yup been through the whole process of trying to fix it and spent far too long on it.

Have also now read up on how many bios upgrade issues there are with MSI boards.

Rather not waste any more time on it and just move on, I really need a functioning PC!

Would you guys say the X370 and Ryzen bundle is a good deal?