Upgrading an old rig bit by bit.

bmac

bmac

bmac

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19 Oct 2014
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Hi all,

I have been out of building/upgrading PC’s for a number of years now but I am keen to get back into it and build a gaming rig. In order to do this I need to upgrade my current desktop as it doesn’t even have a graphics card (I didn’t bother replacing it when it broke due to not playing games anymore).
The dilemma I am in is I would like to gradually build up the spec of my PC rather than just replace every part but I would like to start gaming straight away. I would like to buy the best I can afford and to do this I will have to do it part by part. The current spec of my PC is pretty poor and what I need to know is what can I add to it currently to be in a position to start gaming again? I know that certain components will be a bottleneck but that is fine until I can replace them.

Current Spec:
Window XP 32bit
Intel Core i3 530 overclocked to 2.93 GHz
Gigabyte H55M-UD2H Motherboard
4Gb Corsair XMS3 1600
OcUK Swift 450w PSU
Some random old HDDs

Obviously the above is in no fit state to start gaming again. However if I replace the motherboard and CPU I will pretty much have to buy every component from new. Instead would the following upgrades be enough to start playing games to a fairly decent standard?
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £289.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 850 PRO SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-7KE256BW) £144.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02733) £77.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
Total : £564.52 (includes shipping : £8.00).


(The extra RAM is just to increase current to 8Gb)

Then in the future when DDR4 is cheaper, I can start to replace the Motherboard, CPU, RAM and PSU and maybe add an extra GTX970 if needed.
Would the above changes get me back to gaming again and would they all work with the older mobo, CPU and PSU?

Thanks in advance.
 
Hi and welcome.

One problem I can see is your PSU is not one I would recommend or trust to run such expensive equipment.

Also instead on Win7, go for Win8. It is faster over all and once you get use to it it becomes enjoyable to use.

Also the Samsung SSD is expensive. A Crucial MX100 is half the price and in everyday use you wont now the difference.


YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £293.99
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £53.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
Total : £557.54 (includes shipping : £8.00).




That is what I would do if I was you, its better and cheaper than what you selected.
 
Yo,

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £293.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 750W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £95.99
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £77.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
Total : £599.54 (includes shipping : £8.00).



This would all round be better I think. The PSU covers you for future SLI, the MX100 is almost as fast and much cheaper
I wouldn't trust your PSU at all, and also stulid makes a good point for Win8.1
You could also look at getting a used i5/i7 for your socket for a bit more longevity though it's not really needed massively, and obviously you could save that money for later on

There are also cheaper 970s you could look at, still very good performance

YOUR BASKET
1 x Inno3D GeForce GTX 970 OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £275.99
1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (ZT-90101-10P) £265.99
Total : £551.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Would slightly lower the price point, but this is up to you :)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I was hoping to get away without a new PSU but it was a concern so I will add one to the list.

The only reason I picked Win7 over 8 is that I use 7 at work so I am more familiar with it and I haven't heard a lot of great things about Win 8. Although to be honest I haven't done much research into to so perhaps I should and consider 8 as you all suggest.

I new CPU is a good suggestion, I will keep an eye out on ebay and see if I can pick one up cheap.

Is there any reasons why a SATA 3 SDD wouldn't work with that motherboard with it only being SATA 1. I appreciate it won't be as quick until I upgrade the motherboard.
 
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