help with PC upgrade research

susan72 · Mar 27, 2014

Hi Everyone,

Bear with me as I am no PC expert but will attempt to communicate properly-)

Last year I plunged for a PC build for the first time by a company here in the UK, and after completing some research that suggested the company was okay here I am 1 year later with a failing PC desktop and paid for warranty that no longer exists.

I have priced up another build that I would like (with a much better well established company) but honestly right now after paying for my current PC a year ago I am trying to see if I could get away with a few upgrades and get another year -18 months or so if that was possible or if I should just run it into the ground and start again when it fails completely.

my current desktop PC as follows.

ASROCK B75 PR03-M Motherboard
Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz Quad Core Processor
8Gb DDR3 1333MHz RAM
1.5Tb (1500Gb) Hard Drive (says WD on receipt but not sure of brand)
CPU 3.40 GHz
EZCOOL NA-705B ATX CASE
EZCOOL PS-1000800W 80PLUS 12v rail PSU
Nvidia GeForce 650 Ti Graphics card
Windows 64 bit

I contacted a local PC specialist here and after looking at the same specs told me it was reasonably decent for my gameplay which is Sims 3 all expansion packs and a ton of store content but to bring it up to speed it would cost me another 1000 to fix??

The new build I was recently looking at was 17000 so I am not sure I should spend a further 1000 on my old PC.

My problems started with slow game/loading browser being slow. I have decent spyware antivirus in place and do not believe the problems are caused by viruses. I do not play with mods or other CC either so that cannot be the problem.

in the end I completed a clean reinstall of windows and all games but still the problem persists.

So I am presuming its hardware cheap parts, so could anyone please let me know what parts/upgrades I would need to keep my current PC running okay for the foreseeable future using decent part replacements where needed and whether it is worth it or not.

I used HWC CPUID monitor but to be honest cannot be sure which temperatures I am supposed to be looking at but if anyone is interested I can copy and paste the details.

I also made a cd for something called memtest86 but again I left it running for hours but I personally was unable to tell if there was anything wrong or not.

Thank you for taking the time to read all this I just wanted to be as informative as possible.

I look forward to your advice.

Regards
Susan

wanderer11 · Mar 27, 2014

Build it yourself. I can't stress this enough. The company you are paying to do it for you is doing something you can do yourself in a couple hours. Now as for your current build I see several problems. The -k at the end of the cpu signifies having an unlocked multiplier (easy to overclock). You have a B75 motherboard which does not support changing multipliers. Basically you paid for a feature that you can't even use. I've never heard of that psu brand so it's safe to say it's junk and doesn't deliver the rated wattage. A good 500W psu would be more than enough for that build anyway.

There's nothing wrong with your cpu/gpu both are plenty powerful (especially for sims 3). Run dskchk. There's probably something wrong with your hard drive if things are loading slowly. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/using-windows-7-how-do-i-run-chkdsk/a68b3e4d-1a42-e011-9767-d8d385dcbb12

memtestx86 is really obvious when there are errors (top right area shows them I think) so your RAM should be fine.

Rationale · Mar 27, 2014

Your CPU is great, your video card is alright, your motherboard is alright, your RAM is probably alright (depends on the company really),and your HDD is good if it's actually Western Digital.

The main fault is the power supply unit, I wouldn't trust it. An 800w PSU with no reputable name for $40 shouldn't be reliable at all. That's the most likely cause.

susan72 · Mar 27, 2014

Hi both,

I am really grateful for the quick response it has helped a lot.

wanderer11 ,
I have no idea what an un-locked multiplier is and how it exactly it relates to the workings of my motherboard, if you could explain that for me I will be able to understand how can factor that in to an upgrade, for example would it be better to change the motherboard or the processor in relation to the situation? (that's if I am understanding correctly)

I agree regards the PSU I think this is what is probably causing a lot of problems but wanted to ask this community so when I do call another PC repair/upgrade techie I can at least have some idea what I think I need and what upgrades to ask for.

I ran dskchk as suggested and there appeared to be no problems.
Thank you for the explanation regarding memtestx86 I do not believe I saw any errors.

Hi Rationale ,
Thanks for the info I really am not sure regards the WD on my receipt I suspect it may be trying to masquerade as if it is given what happened to the company who put it together-)

one question I did forget to ask was if I keep my current PC, upgrade to a better PSU and other bits and pieces would my specs support a GeForce GTX 770 or 80 graphics card or is that pushing it? If that is too high for my system could you suggest which one above a 650Ti I could comfortably run.

Also I have another desktop that overheats with too much use but I has I think a NVidia GeForce GT 430 in it so would I be able to make use of that in my current PC as a secondary card?

Another thought is could I add SSD if that would that make anything any faster or run more smoothly?

Thanks both...........

Rationale · Mar 27, 2014

susan72 :

You were mislead, it won't take even close to $1000 to get your PC up to speed. It'll probably really take between $400 and $600 to turn yours into a strong gaming PC.

A 770 should work well, if your case fits it. I don't actually know if the case would fit it, since it's a virtually unknown case I can't find the maximum video card dimensions. but it wouldn't harm the motherboard or anything. A 760 would even be a huge improvement over your current card. You would certainly need a different PSU though.

I'd suggest you go for a 650w XFX, Corsair, SeaSonic, Rosewill Capstone, or EVGA power supply if you intend to get a 760 or 770. A 780 might take more, but I haven't checked that.

Unfortunately, no. A GT 430 can't be used with a GTX 750. Even if they could, the GT 430 would just handicap the 750's VRAM.

I have an interview to attend, I may write more later but I'm in a hurry now.

mc962 · Mar 27, 2014

The unlocked multiplier means the cpu can be overclocked, basically making it run on faster settings than what Intel usually sets in/locks in for the average non "k" processor. So, for example, if a 3570 can go as fast as 3.2-3.8 Ghz, an overclockable cpu can go past that (assuming you have proper cooling). However this is something that is not (normally) covered by Intel and generally voids their warranty, the K just allows you do it if you want. However, you also need a motherboard that has the capability to handle the overclock. Generally the Z series boards are the ones that have these features. However, it sounds like at the moment you just want things running smooth again so you probably don't want to overclock right now.

In terms of the hard drive, you could open the computer up and take the hard drive out of the bay it is sitting in, if I remember right my WD drive had the serial number on it, which you could probably look up on WD's website. I feel like 500W is too low for a 780, but I would wait for someone else to comment on that

The ssd should make things faster/smoother if you put windows on it.

susan72 · Mar 27, 2014

Hi All,

Hi mc962,
Thanks I think I understand re the overclocking now and for now I don't mind not having that ability yet.
I will wait until the guy who is going to install this new equipment for me to tell me if the hard drive is genuine or not and if not consider upgrade to a better brand. I had a quick look around and Hitachi appeared to get good reviews for hardrives?

I have been reading about SSD and consensuses seems to be it does not matter a lot but from my limited understanding with you saying if I put windows on It be it will be smoother I would like to have that option so I have looked on Amazon and found many makes/ prices and wondered if Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5 inch Basic SATA Solid State Drive would be enough to make a difference? 65.00 pounds for 120GB and 98.00 for 250Gb are these the correct model/spec for my current PC? all initial prices are based on Amazon UK.

Rationale,
I have already decided I need to upgrade my case with now and future upgrades in mind however after searching for an hour trying to understand what differs between them apart from the price I wondered if I could find one that would do for around 100 UK pounds if you could advise one that would be right and help cooling with better as well?? or do I need to spend more?

I have had a little more time now to look at cases and it is still a little confusing while I understand space is required the following case was a space beast.

Cooler Master HAF X USB 3.0 XL ATX Case and it has great reviews but then I saw the size dimensions lol so I went looking for other quality makes I could find and found some people were complaining that while they had the room certain cases motherboards or other PC equipment was not supported or did not fit so I figure I need something that will fit everything I have now and yet allow for upgrades of whatever equipment I might want to buy in future, is such a case possible? the HAF is around 135.00 over here as far as I can tell.

Depending on how much the overall upgrade is going to cost I have taken your advice and looked at the EVGA GeForce GTX 760 Graphic Card (2GB GDDR5/PCI Express 3.0/980MHz-1033MHz/6008MHz
however I am not sure if this is the exact spec card that will work with my system, if this is the right card it retails over here at 184.00

I just realized the card detailed above says DDR5 and my Ram states 8Gb DDR3 1333MHz RAM, sorry for being a numpty but does this mean it is not the right card for my system?

Because eventually I really want the GeForce GTX 780 Ti I thought maybe I should go for a better PSU from the outset and found the Corsair CP-9020055-UK RM Series RM750 80 Plus Gold 750W ATX/EPS Fully Modular Power Supply Unit at around 97.00 and am presuming that PSU will be able to run the GTX 780 Ti when the time comes?

I found a semi modular whatever that means for 69.99
Corsair CXM 750W Semi Modular 80+ Bronze Power Supply but am not sure what the difference is apart from price?

I hope your interview yields the successful results you may be looking for and am grateful you are taking the time to help me when you must pushed for time already, that said I appreciate the time and responses from everybody, I am learning and that always helps in these matters and especially when throwing good money after bad lol

Once I know the brand of a case to purchase and if the graphics card and SSD detailed above are the right products for my PC I will have about finished and hopefully be able to find someone to help me over here that is not going to try rip me off so much.......

Rationale · Mar 27, 2014

susan72 :

Hitachi is pretty good. They get mostly good reviews, and I've had a 1TB Hitachi HDD for 4 or 5 years now without any problems. It's slow at this point, of course, since it's 5 years old. But a new Hitachi HDD should be fine.

I don't use SSDs, I'm not going to weigh in on that since I don't really know.

100 pounds will probably be higher than necessary, really. Most good cases for moderate gaming and high end general use run from 30 pounds to 60 pounds. The 100 UK pound cases, or about $160 USD, are usually meant for extremely high end gaming. In PC cases, there are a several things that matter. The few biggest factors are the supported motherboard (for most people ATX is best), size, and aesthetics. It's pretty straightforward.
There's a wide selection of good options, and they're not very hard to pick.
Something simple like one of these would work well, but there are also more expensive, flashier options if you want to go that route.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146108
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146109

I'm out of time again, but I will quickly point out that GDDR5 or DDR5 graphics cards work perfectly with DDR3 RAM.

susan72 · Mar 27, 2014

Hi Rationale,
I understand you are busy and as said am grateful for your ongoing thoughts.

I have found the pc cases in the UK thanks and if you get a moment sometime if you could let me know which is the right corsair PSU between the fully modular and semi? both are 750W and only decided to go higher because by hook or crook I will be getting my GeForce GTX 780 Ti as soon as possible and I thought it may be better to go higher than the 600W for that if it is necessary?

Also I have chosen the NVidia card of your suggestion the 760 but just need to know if the EVGA GeForce GTX 760 Graphic Card (2GB GDDR5/PCI Express 3.0/980MHz-1033MHz/6008MHz is the card you mean and will fit with my current spec as I don't know if there are several different version of the same card?

Then I have more or less finished and can price everything up, then I shall see what other PC techies have to say when I speak to them now as I will be more clued up thanks to everyone's help and be telling them what I want instead of the other way around.

Thanks so much.........

sora · Mar 27, 2014

susan72 :

Hi Rationale,
I understand you are busy and as said am grateful for your ongoing thoughts.

I have found the pc cases in the UK thanks and if you get a moment sometime if you could let me know which is the right corsair PSU between the fully modular and semi? both are 750W and only decided to go higher because by hook or crook I will be getting my GeForce GTX 780 Ti as soon as possible and I thought it may be better to go higher than the 600W for that if it is necessary?

Also I have chosen the NVidia card of your suggestion the 760 but just need to know if the EVGA GeForce GTX 760 Graphic Card (2GB GDDR5/PCI Express 3.0/980MHz-1033MHz/6008MHz is the card you mean and will fit with my current spec as I don't know if there are several different version of the same card?

Then I have more or less finished and can price everything up, then I shall see what other PC techies have to say when I speak to them now as I will be more clued up thanks to everyone's help and be telling them what I want instead of the other way around.

Thanks so much.........

That one is the one he means and I think it should fit with your current specs. Use PCPartPicker for the parts.

susan72 · Mar 28, 2014

Hi sora,

Thanks so much for that website address it has been really helpful. I have managed to match up all the parts I want apart from a warning saying I need an additional PCI slot?

I have taken a look at my motherboard specs (ASROCK B75 PR03-M Motherboard) and it does have ◾1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 Slot so after a frustrating hour I changed NVidia 760 graphics card types around but still it gives the same warning so am wondering if the motherboard uses the slot for anything else instead of the video card?

Or have I got this totally wrong LOL

Rationale · Mar 28, 2014

susan72 :

The video card does use a single PCI-E x16 3.0 slot, but I doubt that's the one it means.
There are smaller slots just called PCI slots, which are often used for optional cards like sound cards, or WIFI adapters. If you post a link to your PC Part Picker list, I or another person should be able to tell pretty easily what the problem is.

susan72 · Mar 28, 2014

Hi Rationale,

please remember some of the items I will not need I just went along adding what I have got and parts/graphic card we had already discussed, I added things like sound card as I had to choose something not because I need it.

CPU Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core £153.98
CPU Cooler Be Quiet Shadow Rock 2 87.0 CFM Rifle Bearing £33.74
Thermal Compound Arctic Silver Ceramique 2 Tri-Linear 2.7g £9.64
Motherboard ASRock B75 Pro3-M Micro ATX LGA1155 £46.98
Memory Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 £126.98
Storage Western Digital VelociRaptor 600GB 3.5" 10000RPM £119.99
Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB £184.00
Case Lian-Li PC-8N ATX Mid Tower £82.58
Power Supply Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V £91.99
Optical Drive Sony 5280S-CB-PLUS DVD/CD Writer £41.72
Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) £69.96
Sound Card StarTech PCISOUND4CH £9.95
StarTech PCISOUND4CH £9.95
Wired Network Adapter StarTech ST100S 10/100 Mbps PCI £4.75
Fan Controller NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller £22.99

Warm regards ..............

Rationale · Mar 28, 2014

susan72 :

You don't need to fill every spot on the PC Part Picker list.

Remove the second sound card (did you mean to just list it once?), and that'll free up a PCI slot. You actually don't really need a sound card at all since motherboards have them built in, but if you want one it may improve sound quality on high end speakers.

I'd also suggest you switch to a full ATX motherboard. The motherboard you've picked is microATX and your case is full ATX. They'll still work together, but you could get more space, durability, and slots by switching to a full ATX motherboard. It's not required by any means, but it would help.

This would be a good example.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157330

susan72 · Mar 28, 2014

Hi Rationale.

Thanks for your last response I have been able to put everything in order with a reasonable understanding of what I am doing so with coffee cup in hand I am preparing to make my techie calls and make some purchases.

I would not have felt confident enough to attempt this without everyone's help on this forum and I am eternally grateful to you all for sharing your knowledge.

Search

help with PC upgrade research

susan72

Reputable

Rationale

wanderer11

Honorable

Rationale

Admirable

susan72

Reputable

Rationale

Admirable

mc962

Honorable

susan72

Reputable

Rationale

Admirable

susan72

Reputable

sora

Splendid

susan72

Reputable

Rationale

Admirable

susan72

Reputable

Rationale

Admirable

susan72

Reputable

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page