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looking to upgrade my son's rig

sfl-freak
By sfl-freak
in Graphics Cards
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like the title says looking to upgrade my son's set up some the specs of his system are below. wanting to up the graphics and maybe throw some more ram at it if it will help some but the graphics are his main concern....looking for a few suggestions in a few different price points thanks for any and all help

  • AMD FX-4300 3.80GHz Quad-Core Processor
  • 8GB DDR3 Memory
  • NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 Graphics
  • 1TB Hard Drive
  • 500 Watt Power Supply 
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A GTX 1050ti would be a nice pairing with the fx 4300, thats what i have now.

 

What kind of games does he play? whats the budget of the new graphics card?

 

 

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Model name of power supply?

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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You could probably upgrade to 16 GB of RAM, but I don't think it would be nearly of an improvement as a new graphics card and/or CPU.

 

A cheap GT 1030 could go a long way here. If you're willing to get something used, you could probably pick up a Radeon HD 7850 or a GTX 660. This would cost around $70. There's also the RX 550 which is $85, the GTX 1050 for $115, or an RX 560 (1024) for $125.

 

There's also the 1050 Ti, which thanks to all of the nearby Radeon cards being jacked up in price is actually a pretty good value now at around $160. For slightly cheaper, you can get a used GTX 960, too, though make sure you look at how much VRAM - there are 2 GB and 4 GB cards and they may be priced very similarly. You may also be able to find a used HD 7970 at around this price, too, and this would be even better, but it consumes a lot of power.

 

Be wary with used cards. If you find a GTX 960 listed for something unbelievably cheap, like $60, then it's not a GTX 960.

 

I'd also look into a possible CPU upgrade. You could upgrade to an 8-core FX CPU like an FX 8300 or the faster 8350 (though you can overclock either processor), and this can give you further improvement in games without costing too much. FX-8300s go for around $90-$100, and 8350s are about $20 more.

 

Another option is Ryzen 3, a massive improvement over either processor, but this would carry a significant cost due to requiring new RAM in addition to a new motherboard and CPU, or around $240. Judging by your PC's current specifications, it sounds like you're on a tight budget, so this might not be an option, especially if it meant not having enough for upgrading the GPU.

 

So here are some options:

 

If you have $75, I'd upgrade the GPU to a GT 1030 or consider either a used 7850 or 660.

 

If you have $100, I'd upgrade the GPU to an RX 550.

 

If you have $125, I'd consider the RX 560. Make sure you get the 1024 core model.

 

If you have $200, I'd get an FX 8300 CPU and an RX 550.

 

If you have $225, I'd get an FX 8350 CPU and an RX 560 (get the 1024 core model).

 

If you have $275, I'd get an FX 8350 CPU and a new GTX 1050 Ti or used GTX 960 (4 GB) or get a used HD 7970 (assuming your PSU is up to snuff).

 

Again, I would not worry about RAM. Upgrading from 8 GB isn't likely to give you a big performance boost at this time with those specs.


If you replace a part, consider selling the older part to recuperate a little bit of the money you spent. If it still works, there's certainly someone out there who wants it.

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55 minutes ago, sfl-freak said:

like the title says looking to upgrade my son's set up some the specs of his system are below. wanting to up the graphics and maybe throw some more ram at it if it will help some but the graphics are his main concern....looking for a few suggestions in a few different price points thanks for any and all help

  • AMD FX-4300 3.80GHz Quad-Core Processor
  • 8GB DDR3 Memory
  • NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 Graphics
  • 1TB Hard Drive
  • 500 Watt Power Supply 

 

That processor will probably bottleneck a higher end card so the suggestion on the GTX 1050Ti would be my go to especially if he is still gaming at 1080p.

 

If you can find an 8GB stick of DDR3 for cheap it cant hurt anything. 

 

Another thing would be to look for a cheap 128GB SSD and do a fresh install of windows on it this will drastically speed up boot times and load times in games and make the whole computer feel much faster.

 

Cheers!

 

 

If you have a much larger budget I would just purchase an AM4 Ryzen platform and start from scratch you should be able to build a pretty badass 1080p gaming machine for a fair price.

 

Ryzen 5 1400, AM4 B350 MOBO, 8GB DDR4 3000-3200, GTX 1050ti 

 

This would allow for a gpu upgrade in the future as well as another 8GB ram and you would be set.

 

 

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20 hours ago, Tz000 said:

 

That processor will probably bottleneck a higher end card so the suggestion on the GTX 1050Ti would be my go to especially if he is still gaming at 1080p.

 

If you can find an 8GB stick of DDR3 for cheap it cant hurt anything. 

 

Another thing would be to look for a cheap 128GB SSD and do a fresh install of windows on it this will drastically speed up boot times and load times in games and make the whole computer feel much faster.

 

Cheers!

 

 

If you have a much larger budget I would just purchase an AM4 Ryzen platform and start from scratch you should be able to build a pretty badass 1080p gaming machine for a fair price.

 

Ryzen 5 1400, AM4 B350 MOBO, 8GB DDR4 3000-3200, GTX 1050ti 

 

This would allow for a gpu upgrade in the future as well as another 8GB ram and you would be set.

 

 

Or hell if it even needs to be cheaper than this, could downgrade it to ryzen 3 1200, am4 b350 and slightly cheaper 2133-2400-2666 RAM.

 

But if the budget is no where near this size, upgrade to a 1050ti, and then save to upgrade to something like these 2 suggestions.

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Throw an SSD in it. You can clone the data off the HDD to the SSD pretty easily nowadays. The faster boot times and program load times make it pretty much the #1 upgrade you can do for an older system running a mechanical HDD.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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  • Author

thank you for the replies I forgot about this thread and was thinking about it again today and went oh yeah lol

 

I have about a 300-400 dollar budget for this trying not to go all out and just build a new system at triple the cost.

 

As far as specifics on the pc now I'd have to go open it up it is a cyberpower system I got of Amazon a couple years ago (fit the budget and specs I thought where good at the time) 

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https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pWzzTH

 

The power supply would leave a lot of room for upgrading in the future while majorly upgrading the graphics card. SSD would make for much faster loading times.

 

Doesnt have to be this exact thing but something similar at the least

 

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55 minutes ago, silasjdemone said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pWzzTH

 

The power supply would leave a lot of room for upgrading in the future while majorly upgrading the graphics card. SSD would make for much faster loading times.

 

Doesnt have to be this exact thing but something similar at the least

 

having a 750w psu is totally stupid. a cx550m is all you need for even a 1080ti with an 8700k. all any cheap build needs is a cx450m

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Honestly the entirety of the build is equally archaic it depends what you want him todo with it...

 

Productivity, Old Video Game Emulation, General Browsing? Upgrade CPU/RAM depending on budget and sub usage either just new CPU or entirely new platform like Ryzen/KabyLake/CoffeeLake

 

Pure Gaming? Video Rendering? Mining? GPU upgrade.

5820k4Ghz/16GB(4x4)DDR4/MSI X99 SLI+/Corsair H105/R9 Fury X/Corsair RM1000i/128GB SM951/512GB 850Evo/1+2TB Seagate Barracudas

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18 hours ago, Prqnk3d said:

having a 750w psu is totally stupid. a cx550m is all you need for even a 1080ti with an 8700k. all any cheap build needs is a cx450m

That is exactly why it said it would be plenty for future upgrades/safe overclocking etc.

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6 minutes ago, silasjdemone said:

That is exactly why it said it would be plenty for future upgrades/safe overclocking etc.

its not, its just a waste of money. why spend an extra $30 on power you will never need

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  • 3 weeks later...
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he basicly wants to play games he's a typical teenage boy doesn't leave the pc unless it's for food or school he does some of his school work on it but most of that is done in school so he can play games more lol times comin to make up my mind for this tanks again for all the help 

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anyone still following along I think I made my mind up here is what I found that I'm probably going to do i checked on the cup and the cost isn't terrible so figured I'd do that the ram is the same brand that's in the computer so it can't hurt and the gpu prices are INSANE from the last time I priced out video cards (has been at least 7 or 8 years) but this 1050 2gb isn't unreasonable in my thought process 

Screenshot_20180211-221010.jpg

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