LAN Party PC Upgrade/Rebuild

SuperShermanTanker · July 18, 2017

So I want to rebuild my LAN party PC as it's a older PC and ever since I got a new MSI laptop with a i7 7700HQ and GTX 1060 6gb in it the PC has been unused as it's running on a Haswell i5 and a R7 370 4gb. Here;s the part list to it https://pcpartpicker.com/user/SuperM4Tanker/saved/2tTYJx. I'm still debating weather I should upgrade it or just rebuild it into a Sleeper PC in a old ivybridge MATX HP case I have that I got from the flea market in which the motherboard inside was dead. If I do reuse some old parts from the old machine I would probably reuse the GPU, CPU, RAM, SSD, and/or HDD as I can move those over. I can also reuse the PSU as it's a good one but I have some other 500 watt PSUs I can use too that are slightly lower quality and are only regular 80plus rated and not 80plus bronze. My budget if I was building a entire new machine and/or reusing stuff from the LAN PC would be $500, and if I was just to upgrade the old LAN PC the budget would be $200-300. So what should I do????

chris76816 · July 19, 2017

Ok firstly, this is what I would recommend in regards to upgrades -

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fcD3pb
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fcD3pb/by_merchant/

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - C7 40.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Mini Video Card ($299.00 @ B&H)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo EVOLV ITX Mini ITX Tower Case ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $384.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-18 21:51 EDT-0400

The i5-4690k in your previous build is still a great CPU that is slightly faster than the i7 7700hq in your laptop -http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-4690K-vs-Intel-Core-i7-7700HQ/2432vsm211019

The GPU that you could upgrade your R7 370 to is a GTX 1060 6GB model. This is equivalent to your GPU in your gaming laptop. I also chose the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Mini Itx case because it looks really nice. This is personal preference and it is up to you wether or not you would like to upgrade the case to another case or keep your case that you have. Your motherboard, ram, ssd and hdd is fine and does not need to be upgraded at all. If you are not impressed with your current cpu cooler, I would definitely recommend upgrading to the Cryorig C7 to give you a quieter and better performing system. You can keep those cougar fans if you would like but I would scrap them due to my OCD. Your power supply should be alright but an upgrade wouldn't hurt. In conclusion, the pc would be pretty much on par with your laptop and you will definitely be giving the computer a facelift. Good luck with it all and I look forward to hearing about what you decide to do with it.