Xmas Upgrade advice plz

Spiller

Spiller

Spiller

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20 Jun 2013
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In 2013 I built my first PC for my son thanks to the excellent advice on this forum. Now he's a teenager he wants to upgrade and do the build with me over the Xmas period.

We're unsure about what to get so here's what we already have from 6 years ago:

1. Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU)
MY-132-CR

2. Intel Core i3-3240 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail
CP-441-IN

3. Asus P8Z77-V LX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
MB-514-AS

4. Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gbs 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD
HD-257-SE

5. OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
CD-003-OK

6.
Zalman Z9 Plus Midi Tower Computer Case - Black​

7. EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SC 2GB GDDR5 Graphics Card

8. TP-LINK TL-WDN3800 N600 Wireless Dual Band PCI Express Adapter

9. XFX 450W Core Edition 80+ Bronze Wired Power Supply

So...the budget for the upgrade is about £500 and he mainly uses his pc for gaming (nothing majorly heavy though - fortnite for example although as he gets older that will probably change) and internet browsing. He already has mouse, keyboard, monitor and we have windows 10 on cd as he currently runs windows 7.

My initial thoughts are - how much can be reused ? The RAM or Hard drive for example ? Or has technology advanced so much in the last 6 years that it needs to be a new build ?

Having read other posts the mobo/chip combination is always one where I seek advice as I simply don't know enough about this. I have always used Intel but from looking at other people looking to build I can see a lot are looking at Ryzen. We don't mind either way - whichever is better really.

He will need wireless connection - hence the TP link at number 8. (which works really well) - again we don't mind if it's built in to the mobo or we have to get a new adapter - whichever works best as nearly all the games he plays are online.

Any thoughts on where the money would be best spent would be very welcome.

Many thanks

Pete
 
I'd be tempted to just add in a nice sized SSD and do a clean install of Windows 10, and put in a new graphics card for now as your budget isn't that big for a whole new system.

You'll be very surprised how much faster the system will be, and consider keeping what you have saved to upgrade the base unit later when a bit more budget is available. :)

EDIT:

Here's a system, that is actually not bad.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £438.01 (includes shipping: £11.10)


I've not added a case or PSU to the bundle, but you'll need about ~£50 for the PSU, and maybe the same again for a nice case.

Maybe you could sell off the old system, and put that budget to increasing the quality of the new one, obviously keeping the wireless adapter. :)​
 
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My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £518.86 (includes shipping: £0.00)​
​

Reuse your old case and storage drives, you could consider spending a little more on a slightly larger SSD if budget allows, but the one listed will be enough for the O/S and important apps, as well as one or two games.
 
Thanks fellas; it seems the way to go is Ryzen 5 chip so we'll do that. Increasing the RAM sounds good too so we'll do that also. Does either of you know if there is a major difference between the motherboards ? We're thinking maybe get the slightly cheaper motherboard but the more expensive graphics card and get the 500GB SSD and new PSU. So a bit of a mix and match of the two ideas. It'll take us a little over but we can stretch the budget a bit if it's worth doing. There's no doubt he'll have a much better machine though so your ideas are much appreciated.
 
In performance terms there is pretty much zero difference on the motherboards, however the more expensive board does offer better upgrade in future due to the superior power delivery. As an example, you could happily put a Ryzen 9 3900X on the MSI board, but the ASRock might struggle to run a CPU like that long term.

The RX 590 i a much better graphics card, and definitely worth spending the extra on it, even if it was just for the VRAM alone.

If he is happy to keep the case that he already has, then the PSU above is very nice and will provide more than enough power for the whole system. I'd also look at the 500GB SSD as a minimum, and in the M.2 form factor it means no messy power cables etc. s it will just fit directly in a slot on the motherboard.
 
Thanks for that explanation - I think from all you've said there that the extra £18 or so for the more expensive motherboard would be a wise investment. Who knows how much more he'll want the machine to do as he gets older!?! The possibility of being able to upgrade the chip in the future is nice to have. We can use his current case and that's something he can save for in the future if he wants to upgrade further. I think we're set - thanks again for taking the time to help.:)
 
Spiller said:
Thanks for that explanation - I think from all you've said there that the extra £18 or so for the more expensive motherboard would be a wise investment. Who knows how much more he'll want the machine to do as he gets older!?! The possibility of being able to upgrade the chip in the future is nice to have. We can use his current case and that's something he can save for in the future if he wants to upgrade further. I think we're set - thanks again for taking the time to help.:)
Click to expand...

You'll need to go with the following SSD to be compatible with the MSI board

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/teamgroup-mp34-512gb-nvme-pcie-m.2-solid-state-drive-hd-00a-tg.html
 
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