Upgrade this MicroATX i5 3.5GHz/GeForce GTX 1650 or start from scratch? Budget £1k

[Scam]

First off, I'm not a serious gamer. My obsession when I was younger was CS, and COVID got me back into CSGO and then venturing into others like the Metro series, BF and RDR2. In 2020 I upgraded an old build with a new GTX 1650 SUPER (and case to fit it in ) and nice 144Hz monitor and that has kept me playing occasionally... but mostly CSGO.

Now winter is coming and I'm feeling a little flush, I'd like to play a few of the other games on higher settings and without taking a performance hit. Case in point, I just grabbed Dirt Rally 2.0 on sale and thought that looks lovely on high settings (thanks Youtubers), but I'd never be able to play it like that. Also thinking I might finally start GTA5...

So, vague budget is ~£1,000. Preferably less. Current spec is below.

Windows 10 64bit
Intel i5-4690 CPU @ 3.50GHz
Gigabyte H97N-WiFi motherboard
RAM TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER
Antec VP450P 450W '80 Plus' Continuous Power Supply
1x SSD for OS, 1x SSD for games, 1x spinning disk for media
Thermaltake Versa H15 Micro ATX Gaming Case
AOC Gaming 24G2U 24" 1920x1080 IPS 144Hz Gaming Monitor

Bear in mind I've been out of the build game for a while, so to build/upgrade myself wouldn't be a day of slapping everything together, I'd need to pore over Youtube to remind myself how to seat a cpu, install an OS etc. (e.g. I know nothing about NVMe) I'm certainly more time-poor than money-poor at this point, so the idea of bunging OcUK a cool £1k to ship me something pre-built is very tempting indeed...

Thanks in advance

 

[Tetras]

so the idea of bunging OcUK a cool £1k to ship me something pre-built is very tempting indeed...

Something like that?

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x OcUK Gaming Quartz - Intel Core i5 12400F, RTX 4060 Pre-Built Gaming PC (SKU: FS-PB01-EP) = £849.98

Total: £849.98 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

​

Roughly equivalent spec, but note:
- Upgrade the RAM from 16GB to 32GB.
- Likely to have a significantly better PSU than OCUK will fit.
- An expensive way to get Windows.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-12400F 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AR-IN) = £98.99
• 1 x Asus Prime B760M-A WIFI D4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6KG-AS) = £109.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £55.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4060 Twin Edge 8GB Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-03197) = £259.99
• 1 x Team Group MP44L 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03128) = £50.00
• 1 x Kolink Observatory MX Mesh ARGB Midi Tower Case - White (SKU: CA-086-KK) = £43.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £107.98

Total: £811.88 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Scam]

Something like that?

Thanks Tetras I was just looking at the pre-built systems and thinking there's probably no need for me to spend £1,000! I understand new GPUs are coming soon, none of this is urgent so would I see a price decrease before Christmas? (Guessing not).

Also, I just realised I should be able to upgrade from Win10 for free right? I can only find my WinXP disc currently .. not sure what my upgrade path was there but I will have a hunt tomorrow.

 

[Tetras]

Thanks Tetras I was just looking at the pre-built systems and thinking there's probably no need for me to spend £1,000!

To be honest, if you just want playability in the majority of games you don't even need to do that. You could get an 8 thread i7 CPU (or Xeon equivalent, if cheaper), upgrade to 16GB and something like an RX 6600/6650 XT or 4060.

I understand new GPUs are coming soon, none of this is urgent so would I see a price decrease before Christmas? (Guessing not).

From what I'm aware, the 5060/5070 are probably quite a way out, at least into 2025. AMD's GPUs are likely to start around the level of a 7800 XT or 7900 XT. There have been some deals lately, e.g. 7700 XT around £300 and 7800 XT under £400, so I think that is a sign of what prices might be widespread around black friday/cyber monday.

Also, I just realised I should be able to upgrade from Win10 for free right?

Not having the disc is no issue, you can just download a USB creator from Microsoft, but the activation process is... complicated. I'd recommend having a good read on the best way to tackle that because Microsoft are nowhere near as forgiving as they were before the Windows 7/8.1 key upgrade deactivation.

 

[moppy89]

Definitely start new rather upgrade here, think you've come to the end of the upgrade path! Still will be a decent back up pc or Htpc server or something though

 

[Scam]

Not having the disc is no issue, you can just download a USB creator from Microsoft, but the activation process is... complicated. I'd recommend having a good read on the best way to tackle that because Microsoft are nowhere near as forgiving as they were before the Windows 7/8.1 key upgrade deactivation.

Found my Win8 disc, I guess I upgraded to Win10 from that. Specifically what I have is this; Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614). This is where I veer into the stupid question territory.. How does one install Windows without bothering to buy a DVD drive? And obviously, I'll need to look into if I can get that upgraded to Win11. And if I can use that installer on what is essentially a new build?

Definitely start new rather upgrade here, think you've come to the end of the upgrade path! Still will be a decent back up pc or Htpc server or something though

Thanks. Funny you should say that as my my upgrade as mentioned in the OP was from a lovely little Lian Li PC-Q03 Mini ITX case which I've failed to get rid of. I'd love to turn that into a mini server, looks like the mobo does onboard graphics etc. I'd just be worried about power consumption?

 

[Tetras]

Found my Win8 disc, I guess I upgraded to Win10 from that. Specifically what I have is this; Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614). This is where I veer into the stupid question territory.. How does one install Windows without bothering to buy a DVD drive? And obviously, I'll need to look into if I can get that upgraded to Win11. And if I can use that installer on what is essentially a new build?

So..., the install part is easy, because you can just download the installer for a USB drive. Though, I'm not sure how easy Microsoft make it to download one for 8.1 at this point, you may need to use Rufus or get a direct link to their download archive.

The activation part, that's more difficult.

I honestly don't know what the best way to tackle that is, because Windows 8.1 keys no longer activate Windows 10/11 from a fresh install, so ideally you don't want to lose your existing activation. If you already run Windows 10 (which you do), then your activation would have been transferred to a digital license and if you have a Microsoft account, registered on your account too.

Sometimes if you transfer the install it will just activate no problem, or you can use the troubleshooter, but since they deactivated the old keys from registering on 10/11 that doesn't tend to go so well lately.

If there's an optimal way to handle this, I don't know it, maybe you could start a new thread in the software/Windows section, or have a look on the likes of reddit.