Upgrading an old PC

[laZboy322]

Hi guys, hope you're safe, healthy, and having a good day.

 

So due to the pandemic and shit happening, I've been using my desktop a lot more than i used to. I purchased it around late 2016; and these are my specs

 

Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit)

i5-6500 @3.2 Ghz (actually runs at 3.5 due to an Intel boost)

Gigabyte H110M-H-CF Motherboard (LGA 1151)

4gb DDR4 Kingston ValueRam (4gb in 2020 is shabby, i know i'm sorry xD)

Nvidia GeForce 1050Ti 

1TB Western Digital HDD

Powerlogic ATX-700-W

 

There's a balance to the time I use this PC; sometimes for gaming and sometimes for word, powerpoint, and excel. I download some movies and music here sometimes too. The games I play are mostly Dota 2 and CSGO.

It was quite something back in it's days, but it's an aged build now. However, this is what i'm stuck with for now. And with online classes coming to play soon, i'm looking to upgrade my PC because, well, it's not entirely sailing smoothly. I've been encountering problems and i don't actually know what to do. Here's a rundown of problems I've been encountering:

- A loud, grinding noise during startup (i'm fairly certain it's from the hard drive)

- Random game freezes while playing Dota 2 (screen stops moving, but the audio still works albeit a little "simplified")

- CSGO crashes (sometime about "failed to lock index buffer dx8 smthg)

- Skyrim crashes (but mostly because my PC doesn't meet the game's minimum RAM requirements haha)

- A recent incident where after cleaning and replacing GPU and CPU thermal paste, the PC was so slow, and it lagging like hell, while simply browsing on chrome.

 

As to why I am looking to upgrade my PC, it's not necessarily to fix these problems, but just to have a better overall experience in handling it, I guess?  And the reason why i'm posting this is because I'm not really certain as to what upgrades i should go for.

I know that m.2 NVMe's aren't supported in my motherboard, but I'll settle for an SSD .

 

I know the RAM support for my motherboard is only 2133 mhz (which is not that common anymore nowadays) so how can i upgrade my RAM if I can't find anything with the supported speeds?

 

Should I just settle for an underclocked RAM (which isn't that bad because i'm looking to buy a new pc after COVID and I can just carry over those new, higher frequency sticks anyway)?

 

Do I need to fix my hard drive, or better yet, replace it?

 

How do I upgrade to Windows 10 when it's not free anymore? (although some sources say it still works for free)

 

So far, those are the upgrades i'm eyeing. I also plan to replace the stock CPU cooler (which i don't know if it's gonna do me any good at all) and buy a newer gpu (prolly something with at least 6 or 8gb vram) but those are only luxury upgrades as they're not really necessary since the stock cooler looks like it's doing well, and the gpu is still working relatively fine (not overclocked, but it still does well in the heaven benchmark).

 

Long read, I know, I apologize for that too hehe. But thanks in advance to all those who took time in reading and genuinely giving thought as to how I can upgrade my PC. Hope you're in top health and have a good one, people. 

 

 

[warmongerp]

What's your budget? That's kinda important.

 

At a glance you should get 16 ram and an SSD. You can use higher memory speeds on your board, the board will limit the speeds.

 

If you have more to spend you can always upgrade to a gtx 1660 super and get twice the gpu performance you have now.

 

Edit: And for the love of god upgrade from that 8.1.

[laZboy322]

As for the budget, I'm not that well-off but since this is an important asset,  I wouldn't mind pooling a little more for the upgrade.

 

Duly noted man, thanks for the information!

 

Might think of going for the 1660 super on a different build, but that's sweet information there man

 

Will do bro XD

[B1ueskycomp1ex]

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- A loud, grinding noise during startup (i'm fairly certain it's from the hard drive)

Harddrives do get louder as they age, so that's a possibility, assuming no fans are rubbing on anything.  

 

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- Random game freezes while playing Dota 2 (screen stops moving, but the audio still works albeit a little "simplified")

Sounds like a GPU-related crash to me, could be the install of windows/Drivers or a thermal issue with the card, I'd recommend giving it a thorough dusting at least.  Consider using DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) to completely remove the driver, then reinstall a fresh driver from Nvidia's website.  

 

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I know the RAM support for my motherboard is only 2133 mhz (which is not that common anymore nowadays) so how can i upgrade my RAM if I can't find anything with the supported speeds?

RAM past 2133 will run at 2133Mhz.  The motherboard determines the speed of the memory, not the memory itself.  If it's 2133 or higher, it'll run at 2133.  
 

Quote

Should I just settle for an underclocked RAM (which isn't that bad because i'm looking to buy a new pc after COVID and I can just carry over those new, higher frequency sticks anyway)?

Yes, that sounds like the best idea to me.  Consider a 2x8GB kit.

 

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Do I need to fix my hard drive, or better yet, replace it?

It's likely fine if SMART hasn't warned you of an issue at POST, but harddrives are horrendous for a system drive in 2020, even a fairly basic SSD is going to be better than just about any spinning disk.  Samsung's EVO line of SATA drives is great.  You can keep the 1TB Drive for storage or games you don't play as often, and assuming the Grinding you're talking about is just louder than usual drive noise, it should be okay for storing things you can afford to lose.  


 

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How do I upgrade to Windows 10 when it's not free anymore? (although some sources say it still works for free)

There are a number of alternate places you can get yourself a Windows 10 License key for less money, none of which I'll address here.  You can download the windows 10 media creation tool and make a bootable USB drive to install windows 10 from, and even without a key it will still install and run just fine, if you don't get a key and activate properly you'll have an activate windows watermark and you won't be able to change your wallpaper.  

As for what to upgrade,

Definitely get yourself an SSD, even a SATA SSD is going to run circles around your aging harddrive, guaranteed.  With windows 10 installed, that drive will easily move over to a new machine and reconfigure itself to work with the new hardware in most cases.  

Memory? I'd go for 16GB DDR4 in a 2x8 configuration.  This leaves you open to 32GB in the future if you suddenly start designing spacecraft or whatever, and it'll be the easiest component to move over to a new build in the future.  

GPU?  With what you play, I don't imagine the 1050Ti is holding you back in any meaningful way at 1080P.  If you're looking to go higher resolution, or if you're looking into more AAA titles, I'd consider an entry level Nvidia card, 2060 Super or similar.  

However, and this is going to sound crazy but I promise you it's pretty important, please consider starting with a replacement PSU.  I can almost guarantee you that that powerlogic's claims of being a 700W power supply are really stretching the truth.  Replace it with a quality PSU that has an 80+ Bronze Efficiency rating at least.  Power supplies like that claim 700W, but only supply maybe half of that power on the 12V rail, and the rest supposedly resides with the 3.3 and 5V rails, but no computer is ever going to use 300W on the 5V Rail.  Ditch that thing before making any other upgrades to your current system, you'll thank me later. 

[warmongerp]

8 minutes ago, laZboy322 said:

As for the budget, I'm not that well-off but since this is an important asset,  I wouldn't mind pooling a little more for the upgrade.

 

Duly noted man, thanks for the information!

 

Might think of going for the 1660 super on a different build, but that's sweet information there man

 

Will do bro XD

The GTX 1050 Ti is still a very capable card and I'm always amazed how it performs considering the wattage it draws, to play medium 1080p is still amazing and it chews through esport tittles, I had it in the past.

 

 

That said, with just 16GB Ram and an SSD you would get basically a new PC, the difference in performance will be abysmal.

 

I recommend the Crucial MX 500 SSD and as for memory get the cheapest you can get. 

 

 

[dfsgsfa]

from your specs , shouldnot cause lag, maybe overheat or bad windows config.

before any hardware upgrade, fix the windows first, backup your data, download media creation tool and install windows 10 from usb

 

then a better gpu will do

[warmongerp]

4 minutes ago, dfsgsfa said:

from your specs , shouldnot cause lag, maybe overheat or bad windows config.

before any hardware upgrade, fix the windows first, backup your data, download media creation tool and install windows 10 from usb

 

then a better gpu will do

He has far better upgrades to make before even thinking of GPU.

[laZboy322]

Thanks for the excellent advice guys! I appreciate the effort you poured into helping me make my pc better. Stay safe, wishing you the best!