PC upgrade: PC upgrading noob help please

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Leeus

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Oct 26, 2014
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Hello Everyone,

I am looking to upgrade my desktop, I am pretty new to this, but from what i know i assume I'm going to have to upgrade the graphics card and possibly the processor.


My reason for upgrade is I want games to look better, currently playing X-com 2 and it looks good enough but it could look better. I would like it to look close to PS4 graphics, but not sure how likely that is with what i have.


So here is what i'm working with, this is not a PC i built, I bought it as it is a few years ago as is: -


PSU - 230V
asus, m5a78l-m/usb3
Graphics Chipset - AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series
Memory Size - 2048 MB
Memory Type - DDR3
Core Clock - 800 MHz
Windows Version - Windows 10 (64 bit)
System Memory - 16 GB
CPU Type - AMD FX(tm)-4170 Quad-Core Processor 4.2GHz


in addition i was also thinking of getting a SSD drive but this may have to be a future purchase. I'm currently looking at about 300-400 quid spending power.


Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
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coozie7
If I'm reading your post correctly you have a GTX950 on the way and it's one of those that needs no 6 pin PCI-E connector, right?
If so then you don't need to upgrade the PSU, chances are the '950 will use less power than the HD77xx you already have installed-such are the wonders of tech advancement. :)

If you are in the market for a new PSU look for a 550-600Watt (max) with dual 6+2 PCI-E leads from a good maker: Rosewill (Capstone Series) Antec, Silverstone, Seasonic, Superflower, XFX or the GT2 units from EVGA. If the case is small, consider spending an extra 10-15 quid on a fully modular unit.

Suggestion for non modular...
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coozie7

coozie7

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Jun 2, 2007
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That's a fairly large chunk of cash to spend, how much gaming do you do, and what types of game do you play?
I'm asking because you may be well served with just a faster graphics card, the little FX Quad isn't a terrible part, there's better, but it's still a capable enough CPU for 'casual' gaming.

Suggestion: Grab a GTX950, it's a big upgrade over the HD77XX card and 2Gb parts will set you back <>£100 if you really shop around.
The only cevat here is the power supply, check it has at least one 6 pin PCI-E power lead (it may be attached to the current HD77xx) if not, look for a GTX950 that needs no external power lead, they're not very common but are available.
 
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Leeus

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Oct 26, 2014
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4,510
Hello all,

Ryarwood - sorry thats 16gb or ram, I have 1tb hardrive

Coozie - I play a bit of everything, lots of rpg's mainly though, playing xcom 2 at the moment, dark souls 3, tera, just got the witcher, etc etc, I do play a lot of games. Do u think this upgrade would get my pc close to ps4 graphics? Or am I jus dreaming with the rest of my set up?
 
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Leeus

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Oct 26, 2014
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4,510
One other thing I'm thinking of getting an ssd hard drive, would this make much of a difference to games graphically or just help with the loading times
 
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Leeus

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Oct 26, 2014
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4,510
Looks like i didn't have a spare 6 pin, so I have got a gtx card which doesn't require one, in the post to me, with the Psu any thoughts on which there are loads of them out there
 
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coozie7

coozie7

Champion
Jun 2, 2007
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10
59,215
If I'm reading your post correctly you have a GTX950 on the way and it's one of those that needs no 6 pin PCI-E connector, right?
If so then you don't need to upgrade the PSU, chances are the '950 will use less power than the HD77xx you already have installed-such are the wonders of tech advancement. :)

If you are in the market for a new PSU look for a 550-600Watt (max) with dual 6+2 PCI-E leads from a good maker: Rosewill (Capstone Series) Antec, Silverstone, Seasonic, Superflower, XFX or the GT2 units from EVGA. If the case is small, consider spending an extra 10-15 quid on a fully modular unit.

Suggestion for non modular: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/super-flower-golden-green-hx-550w-80-plus-gold-power-supply-black-ca-003-sf.html There's cheaper but this is top quality and meets the latest standards/requirements.
Suggestion for modular: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/antec-edge-550w-80-plus-gold-fully-modular-power-supply-ca-232-an.html
Either of the above will power a much stronger system, so if you decide to do a big upgrade later on, this is one part you won't need to worry about then.

 
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