Is this PC Worth Upgrading?

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Michael_42

Michael_42

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My buddy wants to upgrade his PC, I told him it's not worth it and should get a new build.

He bought this a couple years ago before they discontinued it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220444

I think its probably worth $600 easily, pretty well taken care of for the most part. He could get some better ram, case, and a better GPU maybe. I would sell it or trade for a ps4 pro and then get a new PC, but hes being persistent on upgrading it. What would you guys do?
 
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bignastyid
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG M9i 48.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.42 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB WINDFORCE OC 6G Video Card ($249.99 @ Jet)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $404.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-29 14:42 EST-0500

Slightly larger SSD with speeds comparable to the 850 Evo. Gpu is $25 less and has a faster factory OC.

Whats the make and model of the PSU? While it will...
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Calculagator

Calculagator

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I don't understand your aversion to upgrading. Your suggestions sound very expensive.
The PC is probably worth $300-$400 if he sells it for a good price. It would cost about $600 to build a replacement with the same performance.

He could very easily upgrade to a newer better GPU and sell off the old GPU. That would give significantly better performance for not too much money. More RAM could give a little better performance for a few games. I wouldn't recommend it unless he actually needs it for some specific game or app.
 
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Michael_42

Michael_42

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He mainly games with it, gta v, arma, rust, etc and wants better performance. Would a gtx 1060 or a 1070 not bottleneck the processor? I definitely think he needs a new case as it has room for 1 exhaust fan... that ram is also kind of slow, I would think some new ram would be a great idea, maybe 2x8.
 
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bignastyid

bignastyid

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1070 probably would be held back a bit by that cpu at 1080p or lower, but it would still massively outperform the 760 he has now. the 1060 is to massively outperform the 760. The ram is ddr3 1600 the cpu and motherboard don't support anything faster than that so adding faster ram would just see it run at 1600 speeds. A GTX 1060 will use less power and produce less heat than his current 760. I would upgrade the gpu and add an SSD before I upgraded the ram as very few games will use more than he currently has.
 
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Michael_42

Michael_42

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING X Video Card ($276.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $441.96

He has a $500 budget hes trying to stick with, would it be a good idea to get a better mobo that supports faster memory in the future? Im guessing the 1060 wouldn't bottleneck the cpu. I put a new case because his GPU runs fairly hot imo, 90c a lot of the time, his current case airflow is horrible and doesn't have room for expansion with fans.
 
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The Paladin

The Paladin

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I looked at the specs of this desktop
The Motherboard uses H81 chipset, and can upgrade it to an I7 if you wanted such as an Intel Core i7 (4th Gen) 4770 / 3.4 GHz would work fine.
upgrade the video card to a 1050ti or higher (would be concerned with power of power supply though)
Ram wise that board will max out at Maximum Memory:16GB seems to need from what I read DDR3L-1600 UDIMM as well
SSD would have to be Sata 6gb/s connectivity
gluck
 
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Michael_42

Michael_42

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING X Video Card ($276.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $511.95

Threw in a new PSU. I think hes going to get all this for now and upgrade to a 4690k and a z97 with more/faster ram in the future.
 
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kjv1611

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I wouldn't bother with the case unless the new GPU will not fit in the old case. Otherwise, that's just throwing money out the window. The original, in this instance, should be fine. Especially assuming the new GPU would run cooler than old GPU, meaning no need to improve cooling either (just going from an earlier post in this thread: I've not kept up much with the details on high-end GPUS in recent years).
 
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Corwin65

Corwin65

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The CPU Cooler is not needed unless he is having temperature issues.

A new MOBO would not change anything.

Is a new case really needed? Is he having airflow issues that are causing heat issues?

The additional RAM would give little to no benefit.

A GPU and probably a new PSU alone would hive him a boost in performance. The SSD would be nice as well, but the GPU is really what will help.
 
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bignastyid

bignastyid

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG M9i 48.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.42 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB WINDFORCE OC 6G Video Card ($249.99 @ Jet)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $404.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-29 14:42 EST-0500

Slightly larger SSD with speeds comparable to the 850 Evo. Gpu is $25 less and has a faster factory OC.

Whats the make and model of the PSU? While it will obviously be able to power the upgrade since the 1060 uses quite a bit less power than 760 if it's a lower quality unit then replacing it may be a good precautionary measure for system health.
 
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Michael_42

Michael_42

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This is his PSU: Delta DPS-500AB-6 A

I think a case is needed as his GPU runs really hot and CPU runs hotter than it should be imo. It has 1 exhaust fan, no room for intake. The stock cooler has about had it I think.

He also doesn't have central heat/air, in the summer his CPU gets pretty hot.
 
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Calculagator

Calculagator

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I agree with the above:

Does your friend really want this sort of upgrade? If he wants the sort of stuff you've been suggesting that's great, but if he just wants better performance in the games you've listed, you're not doing him much of a favor. A new case and cooler won't help much or any; they will be a pain to install. It's easy to break things in this sort of situation.
 
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Michael_42

Michael_42

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He told me he wants $500 to drop in upgrades, hes been telling me how he wants a new case because his airflow is horrible and the summer makes it much worse here in MS.
 
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bignastyid

bignastyid

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That's actually a decent PSU. Delta is one of the better PSU manufactures.
 
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Michael_42

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Sounds good, I'll give him the list you made, ASUS usually makes pretty nice stuff, always been a fan of theirs.

Thanks for the help BN
 
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Michael_42

Michael_42

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Some of you were saying the cooler and case isn't needed, while it may not be needed, he wants the case because he wants better airflow and aesthetics, same as the cooler. It will make him feel better having it, keeping everything cooler. Thank you all for the info on the RAM as well, didn't know it wouldn't make much of a difference
 
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theyeti87

theyeti87

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100% agree with switching from MSI 1060 to a gigabyte windforce 1060. My personal experience w/ that gpu has been phenomenal in regard to heat production, fan noise, and of course performance.
 
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K

kjv1611

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One thing to keep in mind with the temps and airflow. Fans can only do so much when the ambient temperatures around the computer get really warm. Perhaps if heat is really an issue, I'd at least consider a water cooling setup. May sound silly if he's not overclocking, but I think that may be the only way to get any real difference if there is no AC to cool down the ambient room temps. So if the budget allows for it, and he wants a new case anyway, perhaps look for options that include a case and water cooling or else cases that are water-cooling-friendly.
 
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