Is my Consumer PC upgradable ?

[Bobigno]

Hi Everyone, First post here so I might not be in the right place to ask but I need help to know what things can or cannot do with my consumer Acer Aspire PC. I bought this PC a long time ago (When Windows 8 just came out for Home PC) and I was not a techy dude at the time (not much more now but I know a lot more thanx to Linus and some others). Thing is its an Acer IPIMB - AR rev 1.02A motherboard with an Intel core I7 3770 CPU a Nvidia GeForce GT640 GPU and 8GB of DDR3 Ram. Imstill very new to Tech and I wanted to know if  I can even upgrade things on this motherboard; although I got 1 HDMI and 1 VGA port which aren't connected to the GPU and for now are pretty useless. My Goal with this Rig is to get a "decent" Streaming PC while I'll make a new build later on for a dedicated professional on rack streaming PC for a professional usage. This one can be my "backup" PC for streaming events. I already stream on this PC but not fancy 3D full of graphics games. And other question, can I keep my OS and data and transfer them to a more modern PCB? 

[Uptivuptiz]

If you want to stream and game on the machine at the same time I would suggest that you get a new system as the CPU is old and it's only a quad core. if you want to use it as a machine dedicated to encoding the stream and a second pc somewhere else to take the stream footage on it could be possible.

[iBabySlapper]

That mobo appears to take standard ATX power connectors, so you should be able to upgrade GPU/PSU pretty easily without changing boards. As far as upgrading mobos are concerned, you'd need to reinstall windows and get a new key (you can get one on ebay for £4).

You could probably stream esports games with a GPU upgrade on that i7.

[Uptivuptiz]

1 minute ago, ibabyslapper said:

That mobo appears to take standard ATX power connectors, so you should be able to upgrade GPU/PSU pretty easily without changing boards. As far as upgrading mobos are concerned, you'd need to reinstall windows and get a new key (you can get one on ebay for £4)

Just out of curiosity: is it possible to install a new CPU (that supports the socket) in the system and still have windows working?

[tikker]

1 minute ago, simonbyrial said:

Just out of curiosity: is it possible to install a new CPU (that supports the socket) in the system and still have windows working?

AFAIK the license is linked to the motherboard, so yeah that should be possible.

[iBabySlapper]

Just now, simonbyrial said:

Just out of curiosity: is it possible to install a new CPU (that supports the socket) in the system and still have windows working?

Yeah, windows keys are linked to motherboards, so you can change CPUs as often as you want. Windows installs are usually okay as long as you stay on the same chipset/socket, but W10 will demand another key.

[Bobigno]

My plan here is to stream Console games mostly. I'm not very into AAA gaming whatsoever. So you think the motherboard won't accept other CPU ? I wish I could upgrade the i7 to a more recent one.. If ist not possible its okay as I said this should be a backup Streaming PC in the future and my Browsing machine. Also its running Windows 7 just for info.

[Uptivuptiz]

1 minute ago, Bobigno said:

My plan here is to stream Console games mostly. I'm not very into AAA gaming whatsoever. So you think the motherboard won't accept other CPU ? I wish I could upgrade the i7 to a more recent one.. If ist not possible its okay as I said this should be a backup Streaming PC in the future and my Browsing machine. Also its running Windows 7 just for info.

If you want to upgrade the CPU to a more recent one you would have to change the motherboard too as the socket doesn't support newer CPUs. The socket supports up to 3000 series Intel CPUs...

[Bobigno]

Okay so never mind the CPU That should be ok to stream Console Games and indie Titles. which graphic card would you recommend getting the extra VGA and HDMI output I want? And also can I get an SSD for  Windows so it won't take ages to boot?

 

[Bobigno]

Anyway, Thx all for all your responses.   I'm glad this community is that reactive! ^^

[Uptivuptiz]

13 minutes ago, Bobigno said:

Okay so never mind the CPU That should be ok to stream Console Games and indie Titles. which graphic card would you recommend getting the extra VGA and HDMI output I want? And also can I get an SSD for  Windows so it won't take ages to boot?

 

 

12 minutes ago, Bobigno said:

Anyway, Thx all for all your responses.   I'm glad this community is that reactive! ^^

If you only are going to be playing not-so-demanding Indie titles i would suggest a GTX 1050 Ti or a 1060 3GB to be on the safe side  as for the SSD how much space would you like. I would assume that it runs on the SATA interface?

[SupaKomputa]

Your CPU is already the top of the line. Cannot upgrade cpu without change motherboard.

I would add 8gb more memory, change the gpu and add ssd.

[Bobigno]

13 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Your CPU is already the top of the line. Cannot upgrade cpu without change motherboard.

I would add 8gb more memory, change the gpu and add ssd.

That was kinda what i figured out thx to you all

[Droidbot]

If you don't mind minor deterioration of stream quality then just use NVENC or QSV encoders which use the hardware encoding chips on Nvidia GPUs and Intel CPUs. 

 

As long as you have a capture card, you should be good for streaming console games easily. Even some harder games would be fine on this hardware while streaming.. (once upgraded so you can use NVENC, at least.)

 

All SSDs will work with your system as long as they are SATA 2.5in SSDs. M.2 form factor drives will work with an adapter, but only the SATA type. NVMe is out of the question, but you won't gain from raw boot time with that anyway. 

 

For GPUs, I'd recommend a 1050Ti or a 1060 3/6GB (both will require PSU upgrade, go into the Power and Case section and check the Tier list for some recommendations). Both will handle NVENC for if you need it. 

[Bobigno]

15 minutes ago, simonbyrial said:

 

If you only are going to be playing not-so-demanding Indie titles i would suggest a GTX 1050 Ti or a 1060 3GB to be on the safe side  as for the SSD how much space would you like. I would assume that it runs on the SATA interface?

I will defiantly check on these GPU Thx For the SSD I only want Windows on it and maybe streaming stuff so I can access things like Layout vids and everything I need for streaming on the SSD and have a copy on the hard drive for storage only. 

[Uptivuptiz]

2 minutes ago, Bobigno said:

I will defiantly check on these GPU Thx For the SSD I only want Windows on it and maybe streaming stuff so I can access things like Layout vids and everything I need for streaming on the SSD and have a copy on the hard drive for storage only. 

From that description i would suggest a Kingston SSDNow A400 120GB

[Bobigno]

3 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

If you don't mind minor deterioration of stream quality then just use NVENC or QSV encoders which use the hardware encoding chips on Nvidia GPUs and Intel CPUs. 

 

As long as you have a capture card, you should be good for streaming console games easily. Even some harder games would be fine on this hardware while streaming.. 

 

All SSDs will work with your system as long as they are SATA 2.5in SSDs. M.2 form factor drives will work with an adapter, but only the SATA type. NVMe is out of the question, but you won't gain from raw boot time with that anyway. 

 

For GPUs, I'd recommend a 1050Ti or a 1060 3/6GB (both will require PSU upgrade, go into the Power and Case section and check the Tier list for some recommendations). Both will handle NVENC for if you need it. 

Thx for the pieces of advice, I will definitely check for these items I'll probably tell  you guys what I want to buy so you can see if it's coherent with my needs. Till then a huge thx for you all <3

[Droidbot]

Just now, simonbyrial said:

From that description i would suggest a Kingston SSDNow A400 120GB

No. No, no, no, no. 

 

Shit drive. It's faster than a HDD but drives like the https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K8A29BE/?tag=pcpapi-20 run rings around that. 

 

[Uptivuptiz]

12 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

No. No, no, no, no. 

 

Shit drive. It's faster than a HDD but drives like the https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K8A29BE/?tag=pcpapi-20 run rings around that. 

 

Is that in terms of random read/write performance?

[Droidbot]

1 minute ago, simonbyrial said:

Is that in terms of random read/write performance?

Both sequential and 4k QD32. 

[Bobigno]

One quick question how can i use this HDMI port and this VGA? the ones in black on the I/O Shield

[Uptivuptiz]

Its integrated in the motherboard. You would have to enable it in the BOIS...

[Bobigno]

Just now, simonbyrial said:

Its integrated in the motherboard. You would have to enable it in the BOIS...

Oh okay, so I only need a 2 HDMI output GPU or a 1 HDMI 1DP?  My goal is to have a triple monitor setup: One for Chat one for Xsplit and the last one for everything else Browsing and games if I stream PC Game.

 

[Uptivuptiz]

1 minute ago, Bobigno said:

Oh okay, so I only need a 2 HDMI output GPU or a 1 HDMI 1DP?  My goal is to have a triple monitor setup: One for Chat one for Xsplit and the last one for everything else Browsing and games if I stream PC Game.

 

If you want 2 monitors for chat and stream monitoring and one for gaming a HDMI splitter for the chat and streaming screens could be an option.

[Bobigno]

If I have a display port and 2 HDMI supported why would I take a splitter?  I can already have 3 monitors rn by enabling the mobo HDMI and VGA output. Or I'm missing something?