Using components from a pre-built PC to start another build (Lenovo Legion T5)

[Alfred.Asplen]

Budget (including currency): 
Around 500 USD (5000 Swedish Crowns). Give or take a few hundred.

Country: 
Sweden

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 
Priority #1 Adobe Suite

Priority #2 3D render / Game dev

Priority #3 Single-player gaming

Other details

Last year I purchased a prebuilt Lenovo Legion T5 gaming PC to replace my oooooooooold PC (purchased pre-built with even-at-the-time outdated parts), and I'm now considering the possibility of using the components in this pre-build as the "jumping-off point" for a new build. I've never built a PC from scratch, but I've done some light upgrades and such (installing RAM, harddrives, and a CPU-fan). I asked this question in a different, more local forum, but ran into a dead end on that thread, so I figured I'd go international.

Here's the product page from Lenovo:
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/se/sv/products/desktops-and-all-in-ones/legion-series/legion-t5-26amr5/90rc/90rc005jmw

And here's a Speccy link:
http://speccy.piriform.com/results/tJo3JVjCYPxHshTswGy7dpL

What I'm looking for in terms of feedback is:

A: Wether or not it's viable at all. I've been hoarding PC-building knowledge and tips on YouTube (a hefty amount of it being LTT), and I can't seem to find a reason why it wouldn't work, barring Lenovo adding some sort of... I dunno, restrictions on the components? Which seems bizzare to me.

 

B: What should be my top priorities in this build? My goal is to kind of get a solid base to work off of for future upgrades, so I feel my focus should be compatibility.

 

Obviously first thing to grab is the biggest chassi I can find that's still affordable and has good ventilation (Aesthetics is far and away my lowest priority here).

 

In terms of actual components, I'm thinking a new power supply to accomodate an eventual GPU upgrade, and a proper CPU cooler and a batch of thermal paste to replace the stock one that's installed.

[BiG StroOnZ]

While the system is a prebuilt, the specs of it are pretty admirable:

 

Ryzen 5 3600

32GB DDR4 (looks like you added another 16GB)

NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti

512GB PCIe NVMe SSD (plus the other storage you added)

 

Only issue I really see is that it appears your memory isn't running XMP, assuming when you upgraded and added the additional 16GB that it also was 3200MHz. Really all you could do is upgrade to a Zen 3 5000-series processor, assuming the motherboard included in the prebuilt has a BIOS update to accept it. Looks like there was a BIOS update released on April 2022. Would have to check the ReadMe to see if that's what its purpose was for (adding additional support for newer CPUs). It seems the maximum PSU these pre-builts offer is 650w. Might have to specify what your unit came with as it appears there were a few options (ranging from 450w to 650w). Upgrading to a better PSU unit makes sense if you also plan on upgrading your GPU. Although, there really isn't much more you can do upgrade wise for your GPU other than an RTX 3090 (an RTX 3060 Ti is quite fast). With next-Gen GPUs (NVIDIA Lovelace 4000-series) right around the corner you are better off waiting until then to upgrade your video card.

 

As far as moving the pre-built into a new chassis/case, you have to be careful with that because many of these pre-builts have proprietary connectors, motherboards, and other nonsense that makes it difficult to do. This is some research and investigating you will have to do yourself. If you aren't experiencing thermal throttling, not sure if upgrading the CPU cooler is necessary either; Ryzen tends to run pretty well with relatively basic CPU coolers to be honest. Not saying it doesn't make sense if you upgrade to a better CPU, but generally a good air cooler will get the job done. Repasting isn't a bad idea, might be good for a few degrees here and there; with some high quality paste (I recommend GELID GC-Extreme or Prolimatech PK-3; different people will have their own recommendations). 

 

Besides that, I think I covered the majority of your questions/concerns.

[Alfred.Asplen]

18 hours ago, BiG StroOnZ said:

While the system is a prebuilt, the specs of it are pretty admirable:

 

Ryzen 5 3600

32GB DDR4 (looks like you added another 16GB)

NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti

512GB PCIe NVMe SSD (plus the other storage you added)

 

Only issue I really see is that it appears your memory isn't running XMP, assuming when you upgraded and added the additional 16GB that it also was 3200MHz. Really all you could do is upgrade to a Zen 3 5000-series processor, assuming the motherboard included in the prebuilt has a BIOS update to accept it. Looks like there was a BIOS update released on April 2022. Would have to check the ReadMe to see if that's what its purpose was for (adding additional support for newer CPUs). It seems the maximum PSU these pre-builts offer is 650w. Might have to specify what your unit came with as it appears there were a few options (ranging from 450w to 650w). Upgrading to a better PSU unit makes sense if you also plan on upgrading your GPU. Although, there really isn't much more you can do upgrade wise for your GPU other than an RTX 3090 (an RTX 3060 Ti is quite fast). With next-Gen GPUs (NVIDIA Lovelace 4000-series) right around the corner you are better off waiting until then to upgrade your video card.

 

As far as moving the pre-built into a new chassis/case, you have to be careful with that because many of these pre-builts have proprietary connectors, motherboards, and other nonsense that makes it difficult to do. This is some research and investigating you will have to do yourself. If you aren't experiencing thermal throttling, not sure if upgrading the CPU cooler is necessary either; Ryzen tends to run pretty well with relatively basic CPU coolers to be honest. Not saying it doesn't make sense if you upgrade to a better CPU, but generally a good air cooler will get the job done. Repasting isn't a bad idea, might be good for a few degrees here and there; with some high quality paste (I recommend GELID GC-Extreme or Prolimatech PK-3; different people will have their own recommendations). 

 

Besides that, I think I covered the majority of your questions/concerns.

Thanks for the in-depth info, really appreciate it!

To clarify, when you're talking about the potential issues with moving the components to a new chassi, would it make sense to invest in a new motherboard as well to get even more of a "clean slate"? It seems to me that as long as I pick something with matching specs and compatibility to the existing components, there shouldn't be any issues (plus I'd appreciate some more expansion options)? Or is there something I'm overlooking there?

Also, the wattage for the PSU is 550 according to the product page of the retailer I bought it from.

[BiG StroOnZ]

6 hours ago, Alfred.Asplen said:

Thanks for the in-depth info, really appreciate it!

To clarify, when you're talking about the potential issues with moving the components to a new chassi, would it make sense to invest in a new motherboard as well to get even more of a "clean slate"? It seems to me that as long as I pick something with matching specs and compatibility to the existing components, there shouldn't be any issues (plus I'd appreciate some more expansion options)? Or is there something I'm overlooking there?

Also, the wattage for the PSU is 550 according to the product page of the retailer I bought it from.

 

It almost wouldn't make sense (upgrading the motherboard too) because at that point you would be upgrading your CPU and Motherboard at the same time. Which always leads you into the next ordeal, that which is, should you move to a newer platform. That would provide the most clean slate scenario, but at the same time limits your options considering your budget. AMD and Intel are releasing new stuff relatively soon. Problem is, to fit a new CPU, Motherboard, Memory, Video Card, PSU, and Case all in a $500 budget is quite a difficult task (especially if you were to go to the newest platforms: Zen 4 / Raptor Lake). Also worth mentioning, that budget of $500 USD limits your potential increase in performance where upgrading would be meaningful.

 

You might not have to upgrade the motherboard, the motherboard might slot into a new case just fine. You would have to examine the motherboard to see if it has any proprietary connectors. Usually system integrators like Dell do this, a good video to watch that is entertaining and explains this would be this one:

 

 

Really the only thing you're overlooking is you want to do a lot of things that for the budget seems quite limiting and sort of sways you in a direction where you should almost do a fresh build from scratch carrying over minimal parts (like your SSDs/HDDs and that's about it ). 

 

As far as the PSU goes, being 550W, even a new NVIDIA 4000-series Lovelace RTX 4060-4070 level card will probably want at least a 650-750w unit. So that will definitely need an upgrade for sure if that's the direction you want to go in.

 

You really are in a tough spot because the base system you have really isn't that bad. Honestly, if I were you, I would see if I could update the motherboard BIOS. Drop in a 5000-series Ryzen Zen 3 CPU (Ryzen 7 5700x) and get a decent Air Cooler for it (you can look through the threads in "New Builds and Planning" and see what people generally recommend). Then I would see if I could equip the current case/chassis with a larger PSU (where the proprietary motherboard comes into play), and upgrade the GPU/Video Card when the new NVIDIA products launch. Problem is even when doing that you're going to be over-budget. You want to do a lot of upgrades, expecting a lot of performance increase (where it would be meaningful), however your budget doesn't quite allow it.

 

You would definitely have to sell some of your old hardware to increase your budget. Something to consider.