What do I upgrade?

[AverageDCSplayer]

I have been looking to either upgrade my pc or peripherals but I have a hard budget of only £125 and many issues i would like to solve. Here is the list:

I currently use what i assume in a office mouse

My gpu is a 1660s with 1 fan blade missing making it very noisy with poor performance in the games i play (DCS and ASA) which are very high performance

I struggle with long load times as most my games are long as most my games are on hdd due to my low space ssd without enough storage for games i want to play

I use my monitor speakers and poor Bluetooth headphones

Ideally i would have both more storage and a better gpu but i don't have the budget. If anyone could help me with spending my budget that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Millios]

With 125 pounds you cant do much for a gpu

You can get an ssd or if your mobo supports it an m.2 say its 60-70 pounds maybe and with the remaining money you can etheir keep it for a fund for a future new system or upgrade OR get some speakers that are inexpensive OR peripherals

 

[AverageDCSplayer]

2 minutes ago, Millios said:

With 125 pounds you cant do much for a gpu

I have seen some that are a bit better than what i have and it would also stop the issue of it making loads on noise when i play games bc of the fact it is missing 1 fan blade and i can't replace the fan

[leclod]

You can find fan blades easily on Aliexpress. Probably on Amazon too.

You should undervolt that gpu. It's easy, all you need is MSI afterburner and a YT tutorial.

Undervolting is same performance with less heat/noise/power

Edited December 29, 2024 by leclod

[Millios]

2 minutes ago, AverageDCSplayer said:

I have seen some that are a bit better than what i have and it would also stop the issue of it making loads on noise when i play games bc of the fact it is missing 1 fan blade and i can't replace the fan

You can replace it with smt like @leclod suggested.

the 1660s is by no means an amazing card but itll do some stuff still.

You have more pressing issues with an hdd

[AverageDCSplayer]

3 minutes ago, leclod said:

You can find fan blades easily on Aliexpress. Probably on Amazon too.

You should undervolt that gpu. It's easy, all you need is MSI afterburner and a YT tutorial.

Undervolting is same performance with less heat/noise/power

I have tried to replace the blades but i cannot undo the fans screws but is was extremely difficult and also the fan connector is under a shroud which there is no screws to remove it.

Do u think i could undervolt in the nvida overclocking app? I've tried afterburner but im not sure it works bc my pc in an acer nitro

[AverageDCSplayer]

4 minutes ago, Millios said:

You have more pressing issues with an hdd

not really i do have an ssd its just it doesn't have much space for larger games

[leclod]

6 minutes ago, AverageDCSplayer said:

I have tried to replace the blades but i cannot undo the fans screws

What gpu ?

All the gpus I encountered could be disassembled.

6 minutes ago, AverageDCSplayer said:

I've tried afterburner but im not sure it works bc my pc in an acer nitro

If you're interested, please try it with Afterburner or try to tell us why you can't

10 minutes ago, Millios said:

You have more pressing issues with an hdd

I agree (I do have HDDs too, but my games are on an SSD)

Edited December 29, 2024 by leclod

[Millios]

2 minutes ago, leclod said:

I agree (I do have HDDs too, but my games are on an SSD)

We are talking games

HDDs are fine for NAS or just some data but not games obviously

[leclod]

1 minute ago, Millios said:

We are talking games

HDDs are fine for NAS or just some data but not games obviously

So ? (sorry, can't see your point)

[Millios]

1 minute ago, leclod said:

So ? (sorry, can't see your point)

Bit of a clarifications and also the OP (i might be mistaken on this) doesnt seem to understand that HDDs just arent good for games

[BahnStormer]

GPU:

£125 isn't going to buy you much in terms of a GPU: I think GTX1660S's still go for around £100-£125 on eBay.... so better to repair what you've got - it's a decent 1080P card with fast GDDR6 VRAM on a 192bit bus, even of only 6Gb. You next steps up would be ~£150-£175 for a RX5700XT or RTX2060S or £200 for a RTX3060 12Gb.... so way out of your budget.

 

Depending on the game, a GTX1660S just needs sympathetic settings - my son was using a 1660S even for 4K competitive gaming (Fortnite performance mode) and for Minecraft he was cranking up the eye candy and mods and just dropping it to 1080P... (on a 120Hz TV, so only aiming for 120fps).  

 

Maybe something like this RX5700 on eBay for £132 Buy It Now. But that's your whole budget for a 30% increase in performance.... personally I'd try for some sort of repair!

 

Regarding the repair: There is almost always SOME way to get into them to replace fans. Exactly which model do you have? There's usually some tear-down guides.

 

Absolute worst case (please exhaust ALL other options first!), I'd consider snipping off the shroud, pulling the fan out and just mounting a 120mm/140mm fan (off a motherboard header, if necessary) to blow across the exposed heatsink.

 

Audio:

Make sure they you are using the Bluetooth headphones in HEADPHONE mode and NOT headset mode: if you try to use the built in mic and the headphones at the some time, most headphones will drop the quality of the audio quite dramatically.

Personally I disable the "headset" option and only allow the headphones... if this works well then just buy a separate mic. Good cordless mics are pricey, but there are some VERY good wired ones that clip onto the headset like the Antlion Uni for ~£50 / Uni2 for £60. There are some much cheaper models out there too, but I'd be considering an Amazon Basics condenser mic for £20 rather than those.

 

In terms of audio, provided you have reasonable Bluetooth (5.0?) on the PC, then try these:
£70 new: Lindy BNX60 https://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-BNX-60-Bluetooth-Cancelling-Headphones-Black

(note that these will have the same audio "problem" if you are trying to use the mic + headphone over the same Bluetooth connection)

 

Storage:

Struggling to advise what to get as we have NO idea about the rest of your system. Do you have spare M.2 slots or space for more SATA drives? What is the storage for? Recording video or games library? Or did you want to re-install everything on a one main M.2?

IF you have a spare M.2 slot, then I'd say WD Blue SN580 1Tb for £50 off Amazon is hard to beat for a good balance of performance, reliability, storage and cost.

If you're forced to go SATA (no M.2 at all due to older motherboard?) then consider something like a Crucial MX500 1 TB CT1000MX500SSD1 for ~£85... but then we'll be stretching the rest of the budget.

 

 

Summary:

GPU: repair!

 - ideally a direct replacement for the one on the card, which will be cheaper, but off eBay/AliExpress.

 - might cost you £5-£12.50 for a new fan? (e.g. Arctic P12 for £7.50 if you go down the complete shroud removal route) 

 

M.2 route: 

Audio: IF required (but see above for advice!) Lindy BNX60 for <£70

Storage: WD Blue SN580 1Tb M.2 for £50 (requires empty M.2 slot!!!)

= £127.50 total spend.

 

SATA route:

Audio: again IF you need it (see above for advice!).... but trim the budget back to something like this? JBL Tine 520 BT for <£30

Storage: Crucial MX500 1 TB CT1000MX500SSD1 for ~£85 on Amazon right now as the cheap supplies are out of stock... but I paid <£70 ~2 months ago, so shop around!

= ~£110 total spend