PC Upgrade/New Build

[Morgen]

Budget (including currency): 200 CAD

Country: Canada, not far from Linus Media Group actually

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: gaming while running discord, browser and recording software at same time (the dream, my current PC barely does one at a time). Gaming is mostly Minecraft, sometimes sims (all editions), and occasionally more but nothing really requiring better hardware than the others.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc):

 

What I currently have to work with is:

 

MOBO - Asus M5a97 R2.0

Graphics Card - EVGA GeForce GTX 650

PSU - Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 550W (rs-550-pcar-e3)

 

CPU is AMD but so slow and old I need to replace. I likely have all the cords I will need and have a large casing, but honestly would prefer to fit everything in as small a case as possible since I live tiny. My monitors are old but fine for now and fit the mobo/graphics card.

 

I'm really just looking for recommendations on the CPU and any other potentially helpful hardware, including what amount of RAM I'll need to get to make it run well. I'd like to be able to use what I have and save money, as I have a tight budget. But if it's really worth my while to replace something let me know.

 

This isn't my first build. I've scrounged old PC's for parts for years and helped ppl upgrade their PC's. I just don't wanna screw myself up on compatibility and I know people know far more than me about what's good for a decent PC build.

 

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

Edit: I also have my own harddrive, mouse, keyboard etc. 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2020 by Morgen

[CPT_BEEMO]

11 minutes ago, Morgen said:

Budget (including currency): 200 CAD

Country: Canada, not far from Linus Media Group actually

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: gaming while running discord, browser and recording software at same time (the dream, my current PC barely does one at a time). Gaming is mostly Minecraft, sometimes sims (all editions), and occasionally more but nothing really requiring better hardware than the others.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc):

 

What I currently have to work with is:

 

MOBO - Asus M5a97 R2.0

Graphics Card - EVGA GeForce GTX 650

PSU - Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 550W (rs-550-pcar-e3)

 

CPU is AMD but so slow and old I need to replace. I likely have all the cords I will need and have a large casing, but honestly would prefer to fit everything in as small a case as possible since I live tiny. My monitors are old but fine for now and fit the mobo/graphics card.

 

I'm really just looking for recommendations on the CPU and any other potentially helpful hardware, including what amount of RAM I'll need to get to make it run well. I'd like to be able to use what I have and save money, as I have a tight budget. But if it's really worth my while to replace what I have let me know.

 

This isn't my first build. I've scrounged old PC's for parts for years and helped ppl upgrade their PC's. I just don't wanna screw myself up on compatibility and I know people know far more than me about what's good for a decent PC build.

 

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

 

You wont get much of an upgrade for only a 200 dollar budget. did you by chance mean 2000? if so, please shoot me some preferences like component colors, rgb compatibility, preference on liquid cooling or air cooling?

[Morgen]

1 minute ago, CPT_BEEMO said:

You wont get much of an upgrade for only a 200 dollar budget. did you by chance mean 2000? if so, please shoot me some preferences like component colors, rgb compatibility, preference on liquid cooling or air cooling?

Sadly no, I meant 200. I could maybe go up as high as 500 but I really do have a limited budget right now. I care not for RGB or anything flashy. Whatever works is all that matters. Cooling all depends on what's compatible and in budget, I don't have a preference.

[CPT_BEEMO]

15 minutes ago, Morgen said:

Sadly no, I meant 200. I could maybe go up as high as 500 but I really do have a limited budget right now. I care not for RGB or anything flashy. Whatever works is all that matters. Cooling all depends on what's compatible and in budget, I don't have a preference.

Okay, so with this all being said, you are sadly bound to what your motherboard supports. I would not go past an FX8120 for a processor, which you can find used on ebay or refurb on newegg. Sadly, the M5a97 (my old motherboard) would not handle the FX8350 or higher AM3+ processors very well without overheating the VRM's. y For a GPU, you could look at getting something like a 1050Ti new or find a used Nvidia GTX 1060, or an AMD RX480, RX570 or RX580. Any one of these cards if found new or used will put you very close to your budget, with not much more headroom to look at more RAM or a better CPU (If I had to make a guess youre probably running an FX6300 or lower). RAM I would try to keep it at a minimum of 8GB, best case scenario would be 16GB, Speed wise, 1600mhz is a happy medium for DDR3 memory, but you again are limited to what the memory controller of the CPU will support. 

 

This is really the best I can offer you for upgrading on a, well I hate to say it, a dead platform. If I could give you some best case advice, I would suggest waiting until you have a budget for a build that will get you on an up to date platform. This could mean that you go onto AM4 if you go AMD, or even wait a couple more years until we start to see AMD's next socket and potentially DDR5 memory. Intel wise, while they dominate, the price to performance crown currently sits with AMD at the moment.

 

*Addendum* If you do not already have a solid state hard drive, get one. Memory Express sells a variety of different kinds, and you can do this a few ways. You can get a low capacity, Kingston 120GB 2.5in SATA SSD for about $35 plus GST and PST, and use this primarily for a boot drive and your favourite game, or two, depending on their size. Or, you can get something like a 250GB or 500GB SSD and load it right up, and this will give you the best possible speed boost for loading times, boot times, etc.

[Morgen]

4 minutes ago, CPT_BEEMO said:

Okay, so with this all being said, you are sadly bound to what your motherboard supports. I would not go past an FX8120 for a processor, which you can find used on ebay or refurb on newegg. Sadly, the M5a97 (my old motherboard) would not handle the FX8350 or higher AM3+ processors very well without overheating the VRM's. y For a GPU, you could look at getting something like a 1050Ti new or find a used Nvidia GTX 1060, or an AMD RX480, RX570 or RX580. Any one of these cards if found new or used will put you very close to your budget, with not much more headroom to look at more RAM or a better CPU (If I had to make a guess youre probably running an FX6300 or lower). RAM I would try to keep it at a minimum of 8GB, best case scenario would be 16GB, Speed wise, 1600mhz is a happy medium for DDR3 memory, but you again are limited to what the memory controller of the CPU will support. 

 

This is really the best I can offer you for upgrading on a, well I hate to say it, a dead platform. If I could give you some best case advice, I would suggest waiting until you have a budget for a build that will get you on an up to date platform. This could mean that you go onto AM4 if you go AMD, or even wait a couple more years until we start to see AMD's next socket and potentially DDR5 memory. Intel wise, while they dominate, the price to performance crown currently sits with AMD at the moment.

So my current GPU would need replacing? I thought it seemed decent.

 

How big of a budget would I be looking at for a AM4 system? Would my CPU or GPU still be usable with it?

 

Thank you again for ur help.

[CPT_BEEMO]

1 minute ago, Morgen said:

So my current GPU would need replacing? I thought it seemed decent.

 

How big of a budget would I be looking at for a AM4 system? Would my CPU or GPU still be usable with it?

 

Thank you again for ur help.

That GPU was released in 2012, alongside many of the other components in your PC. If you are planning on playing a game at 1080p resolution and want it to be playable, then 60fps is the framerate to which you will want to aim for. I dont know which games you are playing, that GPU would not be able to handle something like Warzone or other graphics intensive games at 60fps. Therefore, I would recommend an upgrade.

 

If you were to upgrade to AM4, without upgrading the graphics card, You can definitely get a CPU, motherboard and RAM for less than 500. If you lets say had a 700 budget, and you already have peripherals such as mouse, keyboard, monitor etc, you already have a case, you already have fans. you could get yourself something like a Ryzen 3 (newest gen), Ram, decent motherboard as well as a GPU and be within a 700 budget. Your CPU would no longer be compatible as it is a different socket, but your GPU if you chose not to get a new one would work, albeit it would be a hefty bottleneck. I will do up a PC Partpicker list for you momentarily just as a hypothetical for a 700 or less budget.

 

[Morgen]

3 minutes ago, CPT_BEEMO said:

That GPU was released in 2012, alongside many of the other components in your PC. If you are planning on playing a game at 1080p resolution and want it to be playable, then 60fps is the framerate to which you will want to aim for. I dont know which games you are playing, that GPU would not be able to handle something like Warzone or other graphics intensive games at 60fps. Therefore, I would recommend an upgrade.

 

If you were to upgrade to AM4, without upgrading the graphics card, You can definitely get a CPU, motherboard and RAM for less than 500. If you lets say had a 700 budget, and you already have peripherals such as mouse, keyboard, monitor etc, you already have a case, you already have fans. you could get yourself something like a Ryzen 3 (newest gen), Ram, decent motherboard as well as a GPU and be within a 700 budget. Your CPU would no longer be compatible as it is a different socket, but your GPU if you chose not to get a new one would work, albeit it would be a hefty bottleneck. I will do up a PC Partpicker list for you momentarily just as a hypothetical for a 700 or less budget.

 

Sorry I meant PSU not CPU. Obviously the CPU would not be compatible. Also I mostly play Minecraft and sims, 780p tops, 1080p is more than I need.

[CPT_BEEMO]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($149.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($80.28 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory  ($76.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Western Digital Blue 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($94.50 @ Vuugo) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB MINI ITX OC Video Card  ($209.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Total: $611.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-09 18:18 EDT-0400

 

 

Okay. So what we have here is AMD's newest Ryzen 3 quad core processor, with a motherboard, 16GB of DDR4 Memory which can run at 3000mhz, a Nvidia GTX 1650 and even a nvme SSD which you could put Windows on as well as a bunch of games! This overall is not a bad build by any means, and you would have a MUCH better gaming experience as well as be able to have your game, multiple chrome tabs, discord and everything you would need. It would probably even be okay to stream on, but I cannot confirm that.

[CPT_BEEMO]

2 minutes ago, Morgen said:

Sorry I meant PSU not CPU. Obviously the CPU would not be compatible. Also I mostly play Minecraft and sims, 780p tops, 1080p is more than I need.

If you are only gaming at 720p, You could keep your GTX650, but eventually you would want to upgrade that. The PCPP build I just replied to you with would be 100% good to go on 1080p 60+ frames per second. 

[Morgen]

Just now, CPT_BEEMO said:

If you are only gaming at 720p, You could keep your GTX650, but eventually you would want to upgrade that. The PCPP build I just replied to you with would be 100% good to go on 1080p 60+ frames per second. 

Excellent thank you. I will look into all those recs. Just confirming my PSU at 550w is compatible? I don't want to fry it or anything else.

[CPT_BEEMO]

Just now, Morgen said:

Excellent thank you. I will look into all those recs. Just confirming my PSU at 550w is compatible? I don't want to fry it or anything else.

It would be more than enough power for those components. to give you perspective, people running high end 8 core processors with cards like RTX2070 are using power supplies in that range of wattage.