Looking for upgrade suggestions

[treisdorf]

Budget (including currency): $250–500 CAD

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Microsoft Office, Google Chrome, Adobe Acrobat, Twitch TV streaming, YouTube, WordPress, OBS

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): No fucking clue 

 

Hello everyone, 

 

I'm really behind in the tech and everything. I built my current PC back in 2015 with the help of my room mate, and before that the last time I had tried to do any kind of PC build was too many years before in my high school networking class. I built it on a budget of a little over $1,000 CAD and I know that some of the parts are so obsolete that it would require a significant overhaul to modernize this rig. What I'm looking for is how to improve this old beast so that it's good enough that: 

 

(1) My Twitch streams never stutter. I work from home (primarily on the Microsoft Office program) and use Chrome extensively in my subcontracting. It's the most commonly used browser by my clients, so I have to work with their expectations. Plus, I prefer it over other browsers like Firefox, and I really don't care about how much of a hog it is on computer power, especially when I have 30 or so tabs open. I watch Twitch all the time because I like the sound of other people, and sometimes the stream will lag like it can't quite buffer. This often happens when Twitch chat is going nuts or predictions are rolling, but sometimes my computer seems to just decide it wants to be an asshole. 

(2) I can play some new games. I built this PC to be able to run The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The requirements for that game formed the baseline for the components, which I'll include below. I tried playing a few other games recently, including Hitman 3 and Baldur's Gate 3, and my computer just couldn't handle them. No more than 10% of the game textures from Hitman 3 rendered properly, and my PC couldn't handle the cinematics of Baldur's Gate 3. 

(3) I stop running out of memory. Occasionally, I'll go to open a PDF and my computer will tell me I don't have enough memory. I have over 150 free gigs on my harddrive and an external harddrive that has the better part of a TB, so I have lots of space. I don't know what the problem is, but it's irritating me. 

(4) I can stream reliably. I'm about to start streaming some D&D content on Twitch, and I want my computer to be able to handle it. It already can't run Twitch and programs like MapTools or Inkarnate at the same time, which makes me leery about how it will hold up streaming with those programs open. 

 

Ideally, I would like to spend no more than $250 to $500, but I have no clue if this is a reasonable budget at all for costs these days. I've heard that graphics cards are ridiculously expensive now, which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. 

 

CURRENT SPECS

 

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-4360 CPU @ 3.70GHz   3.70 GHz 

RAM: 8.00 GB 

Display Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 

OS: Windows 10 (Home) 

 

I'm not sure what else might be needed to come up with recommendations, or how I'd go about finding that information. Like I said, I'm behind in terms of computer stuff. 

 

Thanks in advance!

[KhakiHat]

Assuming that you have a trustworthy PSU and that it is high enough wattage...

 

A new GPU would likely do the most for a game's performance but they are nearly impossible to find right for a decent price.

 

Getting a new CPU(LGA 1200, or AM4 socket types), motherboard(LGA 1200, or AM4 socket types, some RAM(DDR4), and a corresponding cooler for the CPU((LGA 1200, or AM4 socket types) would probably do you wonders.

The PC as a whole would probably run way more efficiently as you are currently using some pretty old hardware.

 

You could probably get away with buying the cheapest motherboard you can find for the current socket type and from a trustworthy brand. For a CPU, you could even just grab a current gen i3(11th gen, not 12th gen). Snag 16GBs(DDR4) of a RAM. Lastly just any cooler outside of the stock cooler. Make sure it comes with some thermal paste or you'll have to buy some separately. 

 

CPU - $130-$200+

RAM - $40-$100+

MOTHERBOARD - $80-$150+

COOLER - $30-$100+

 

Here are some rough estimates, speculative to change.

 

[treisdorf]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

Would sharing my PSU and the wattage help at all? I don't know how to find that information out. 

 

edit: Fixed question mark in first sentence to exclamation point. I don't know how it ended up like that, but it made the sentence seem sarcastic. 

[VEXICUS]

This is what I will recommend you...

 

1. Get an old used lga 1150 xeon (like xeon e3-1270 V3) from sites like eBay/AliExpress. They go for around $40-50. And would give significant increase in performance. It should be compatible with your existing motherboard, just make sure you are on the latest BIOS version for your motherboard. Also, you can sell your existing CPU to recover some of the cash later on.
2. Get another matching 8gb stick of RAM.
3. Get a cheap 500gb SSD. It will help in increasing the snappiness and responsiveness of your system.

This will be the cheapest possible way of improving your system performance.

[KhakiHat]

On 12/19/2021 at 1:52 AM, treisdorf said:

Thanks for the suggestions?

 

Would sharing my PSU and the wattage help at all? I don't know how to find that information out.

Sharing that info would help significantly. You would have to open up the PC to find out as it isn't listed anywhere within the PC specifications.

[treisdorf]

On 12/19/2021 at 3:44 AM, VEXICUS said:

This is what I will recommend you...

 

1. Get an old used lga 1150 xeon (like xeon e3-1270 V3) from sites like eBay/AliExpress. They go for around $40-50. And would give significant increase in performance. It should be compatible with your existing motherboard, just make sure you are on the latest BIOS version for your motherboard. Also, you can sell your existing CPU to recover some of the cash later on.
2. Get another matching 8gb stick of RAM.
3. Get a cheap 500gb SSD. It will help in increasing the snappiness and responsiveness of your system.

This will be the cheapest possible way of improving your system performance.

Thanks! I'll have to check out the xeon you're talking about. I take it that my friend who built this rig for me after I bought all the pieces is likely to know what to do with it? 

 

Question: I have a 1TB external that's perma plugged in. Can I use it to do what you're suggesting? 

 

Also, KhakiHat, I just realized that my original reply to you had a question mark in the first sentence instead of an exclamation point or just a period. It made it look super sarcastic, which wasn't my intention. Sorry. I appreciate your reply.