Upgrade PC for parents

[rentierkrieger]

Budget (including currency): 200€ max

Country: Germany

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: YouTube, webbrowsing, Spotify, looking at photos, Solitair, light office work

Other details:

 

Current config:

• MB+CPU: ASRock E350M1 (http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/E350M1/) + AMD E-35
• RAM: 4GB DDR3 @ 666MHz
• 50GB boot SSD + 500GB HDD for storage
• 1080p monitor, mouse and keyboard

 

Hi, I wanna upgrade my parents' PC since it's really slow even during light tasks like browsing the web or watching YouTube. Now I don't know a lot about low-end systems and was wondering whether upgrading the RAM is enough or if I need to upgrade the CPU (and MB) as well. Looking at task manager it often shows the CPU at or near 100% usage. Does that mean I have to upgrade or do you think just adding a discrete GPU might solve the issue?

 

[Pixel5]

a GPU will not solve the problem and more RAM probably also doesnt do much.

 

unfortunately with a setup like this there is no real upgrade path beside reusing maybe the SSD and HDD, probably even the power supply is too old or low powered to be of any use.

 

200€ is not enough you would need to spend at least 300€ for something like this and reuse the SSD/HDD but i would also recommend to buy a new SSD that is a little bit bigger as Windows alone almost completely fills 50GB.

The only cheaper alternative could be to find old office PC´s on ebay or buy used parts in general.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor  (€111.90 @ Alternate) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€61.56 @ Computeruniverse) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory  (€49.99 @ Corsair DE) 
Case: Aerocool CS-1102 ATX Mid Tower Case  (€32.78 @ Alternate) 
Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 11 300 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€45.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €302.13
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-21 12:03 CET+0100

[podkall]

6 minutes ago, Pixel5 said:

a GPU will not solve the problem and more RAM probably also doesnt do much.

 

unfortunately with a setup like this there is no real upgrade path beside reusing maybe the SSD and HDD, probably even the power supply is too old or low powered to be of any use.

 

200€ is not enough you would need to spend at least 300€ for something like this and reuse the SSD/HDD but i would also recommend to buy a new SSD that is a little bit bigger as Windows alone almost completely fills 50GB.

The only cheaper alternative could be to find old office PC´s on ebay or buy used parts in general.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor  (€111.90 @ Alternate) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€61.56 @ Computeruniverse) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory  (€49.99 @ Corsair DE) 
Case: Aerocool CS-1102 ATX Mid Tower Case  (€32.78 @ Alternate) 
Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 11 300 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€45.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €302.13
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-21 12:03 CET+0100

May I ask why does PC for light work and mostly browsing need a quad core processor at 3,5Ghz? I mean I guess it's because it also has integrated gpu, Corsair Vengeance is a bit of a overkill don't you think? Couldn't it be cheapest compatible memory or at least one that has the cooler? (dont kill me if it is the cheapest solution I didn't check)

 

Also is the PC case already owned or bought? I agree with PSU, memory size, and overall everything but I feel like it could actually be possible to go to 200 € unless the CPU with integrated GPU is too expensive...

[boggy77]

this should be enough. maybe a psu upgrade as well, depending on what you currently have

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 3000G 3.5 GHz Dual-Core Processor	€60.90 @ Alternate
Motherboard	Gigabyte B450M DS3H V2 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	€67.49 @ Computeruniverse
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 CL16 Memory	€36.90 @ Amazon Deutschland
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€165.29
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-21 12:11 CET+0100

 

[rentierkrieger]

Quote

a GPU will not solve the problem and more RAM probably also doesnt do much.

 

unfortunately with a setup like this there is no real upgrade path beside reusing maybe the SSD and HDD, probably even the power supply is too old or low powered to be of any use.

That's what I feared...

 

Quote

The only cheaper alternative could be to find old office PC´s on ebay or buy used parts in general.

I've actually been looking at some used PCs from german craigslist (eBay Kleinanzeigen). The ones I've been looking at are:

 

System 1 - 130€:

Intel i5-2500

MB: ???
NVidia GeForce 210
8 GB RAM

500GB HDD

PSU included

 

System 2 - 180€:

i5-4590

Gigabyte GA-H87-HD3
GTX 980 4GB (this is probably overkill and I could maybe sell this?)
16GB RAM

PSU included

118GB SSD + 931 GB HDD

 

Are any of these worth looking at?

Thanks for your answer btw  

Edited January 21, 2021 by rentierkrieger
added PSUs to list

[podkall]

3 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

this should be enough. maybe a psu upgrade as well, depending on what you currently have

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 3000G 3.5 GHz Dual-Core Processor	€60.90 @ Alternate
Motherboard	Gigabyte B450M DS3H V2 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	€67.49 @ Computeruniverse
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 CL16 Memory	€36.90 @ Amazon Deutschland
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€165.29
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-21 12:11 CET+0100

 

I agree with this guy I guess.

 

I wanna ask something OP, what Power Supply does the PC have?

[boggy77]

4 minutes ago, rentierkrieger said:

System 2 - 180€:

i5-4590

Gigabyte GA-H87-HD3
GTX 980 4GB (this is probably overkill and I could maybe sell this?)
16GB RAM

PSU included

118GB SSD + 931 GB HDD

get this and sell the gpu. the gpu market is very expensive at the moment, so you should get a good price on it if it's working.

[rentierkrieger]

1 minute ago, podkall said:

I wanna ask something OP, what Power Supply does the PC have?

I'm not 100% sure and I can't check right now but it's a rather cheap low-end one. Probably around 400W. 

[podkall]

1 minute ago, rentierkrieger said:

I'm not 100% sure and I can't check right now but it's a rather cheap low-end one. Probably around 400W. 

400W is pretty solid if you are going low end no matter the quality.

 

 

[boggy77]

10 minutes ago, rentierkrieger said:

System 2 - 180€:

 

10 minutes ago, rentierkrieger said:

GTX 980 4GB (this is probably overkill and I could maybe sell this?)

just checked and the gtx 980 sells for between 150 and 200 euros, so you'd be getting this pc for free. i say go for it if you can test it to make sure everything works.

[podkall]

5 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

get this and sell the gpu. the gpu market is very expensive at the moment, so you should get a good price on it if it's working.

yeah GTX 980 is faster than my gaming PC it won't be hard to sell somewhere

[podkall]

Just now, podkall said:

yeah GTX 980 is faster than my gaming PC it won't be hard to sell somewhere

if it's telling the truth about what GPU it has

[boggy77]

1 minute ago, podkall said:

yeah GTX 980 is faster than my gaming PC it won't be hard to sell somewhere

or just use it in your gaming pc and sell your current card if weaker

[podkall]

1 minute ago, boggy77 said:

or just use it in your gaming pc and sell your current card if weaker

if the comment was targeted at me, I'm not the OP

 

but true that's a good point

[rentierkrieger]

Alright thanks for the advice guys. I just checked the description of the offer again, and apparently the GPU shuts down under heavy load but the system keeps running. Under normal load it seems to be working fine. So that means I probably can't sell it. Unless I can figure out the issue. Maybe a bad driver or something...?

[boggy77]

1 minute ago, rentierkrieger said:

Alright thanks for the advice guys. I just checked the description of the offer again, and apparently the GPU shuts down under heavy load but the system keeps running. Under normal load it seems to be working fine. So that means I probably can't sell it. Unless I can figure out the issue. Maybe a bad driver or something...?

maybe a bad psu or something. still, the system is worth it.

[boggy77]

2 minutes ago, podkall said:

if the comment was targeted at me, I'm not the OP

 

but true that's a good point

oh yeah sorry, mixed things up

[podkall]

Just now, rentierkrieger said:

Alright thanks for the advice guys. I just checked the description of the offer again, and apparently the GPU shuts down under heavy load but the system keeps running. Under normal load it seems to be working fine. So that means I probably can't sell it. Unless I can figure out the issue. Maybe a bad driver or something...?

Person that's rich enough to buy 980 probably knows that the GPU needs drivers to work properly,

who would buy fast GPU that can't go fast because once it does it shuts down? (I'm not saying it couldn't be sold I'm saying the price would have to be reasonable for it's issue)

[rentierkrieger]

OK, I just messaged the seller. Thanks for the advice everybody!
I will update later if I can figure out what's wrong with the GPU.

[podkall]

1 minute ago, boggy77 said:

maybe a bad psu or something. still, the system is worth it.

I never thought about that yeah fast GPU need lot of power

[rentierkrieger]

Soooo, the seller just responded and apparently someone is coming today to pick up the system... 

 

[podkall]

1 minute ago, rentierkrieger said:

Soooo, the seller just responded and apparently someone is coming today to pick up the system... 

 

they saw juicy 980 almost for free they yoinked it, good for them, perhaps they know electronics and know how to repair this stuff on perhaps even hardware level