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Do I upgrade hardware or not

Sam0117
By Sam0117
in New Builds and Planning
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Posted

Hi guys, 

 

new to this forum but been watching linus tech tips for awhile an thought it's about time I brought my pc up to scratch, it's been sitting around doing nothing for about 18 months now an I built it about 4 years ago, I've booted it up today an everything works good just my ssd has only 3gb left so I'm thinking of doing a fresh install and go from there and weather to upgrade hardware while in at it.

 

My current set up is:

 

Motherboard z77-ds3h
CPU intel i5 3750K 3.4ghz
CPU cooler zalman cnps10x
Ram corsair 8gb 4x2gb 1600mhz 1.65v 
Gpu msi r7770
Ssd corsair force 120gb

hdd 2tb
Psu tagen 480w 
Case zalman z11 plus

 

all I won't to do is have a pc that will runs games ok as I'm not a heavy gamer and run solidworks (CAD) and for my daughter an wife to use office, so dunno weather just add a extra ssd for programs and maybe upgrade gpu an psu? I'd like to run dual monitors too but unsure if current card would be ok with it as it dos have hdmi and dvi-I port but not sure if it's best to run two monitors using the same cables, i.e. 2 hdmi or 2 dvi, or weather ruining the same gpu with hdmi in one monitor and dvi in the other. 

 

Id love for some feedback as to what people think is best to do 

 

Regards

 

Sam 

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A new GPU would be nice. 

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4 minutes ago, Sam0117 said:

 

Regards

 

Sam 

Getting a gpu would be nice for you. Also, having more space on ssd, either by upgrade or by reformatting and starting over. Finally, depending on how much you would be multitasking, having more ram, if you could just slot two more 4gb sticks in, would be nice. Have a great day! 

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Really all you need is a better GPU and a PSU is practically a necessity. I wouldn't trust that unit as far as I can throw it.

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The CPU is totally fine for now and upgrading it would be silly since then you would need a new mobo+ram as well for very negligible performance increases with what youre throwing at the computer

 

The current GPU will have no problem running 2 monitors, and using different cables makes no difference. But an upgrade would be nice for gaming. If you upgrade the GPU, definitely go for a new PSU as well.

When in doubt, re-format.

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I would go for something like an RX 470 (they are great especially if you can find them as low as $149 after rebates) and a new PSU, a 240 GB SSD wouldn't be a bad idea either.

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36 minutes ago, Sam0117 said:

 

Just slap in an RX 470 and you should be good, the CPU is fine

 

next step would be some kind of free-sync display

I edit my posts a lot, Twitter is @LordStreetguru just don't ask PC questions there mostly...
 

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What is your budget/country for your new PC?

 

what monitor resolution/refresh rate?

 

What games or other software do you need to run?

 

 

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38 minutes ago, Aelar_Nailo said:

Getting a gpu would be nice for you. Also, having more space on ssd, either by upgrade or by reformatting and starting over. Finally, depending on how much you would be multitasking, having more ram, if you could just slot two more 4gb sticks in, would be nice. Have a great day!

Well I thought about the ram as I got 4 slots but it's got a seperate fan block for the 4 sticks of ram so changing them to get 16 or 32gb would be a good idea.

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16 minutes ago, Sam0117 said:

A free-sync display?? I'll google it lol 


A replacement for V-sync to fix screen tearing, unlike G-sync, it doesn't usually massively increase the cost of a display

Depends on the type of display you'd want, this one's 27" 4k 60hz TN, shouldn't ever have to replace a 4k display really, of course a 470 can't run most games at high-ultra 4k, but 1080p scales perfectly with it

IPS is a bit nicer of course though, adds about $100
 

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I edit my posts a lot, Twitter is @LordStreetguru just don't ask PC questions there mostly...
 

Spoiler

 

What is your budget/country for your new PC?

 

what monitor resolution/refresh rate?

 

What games or other software do you need to run?

 

 

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