Upgrade advise needed

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
T

tbsc2017

Prominent
May 29, 2017
2
0
510
Morning All.

I've had the same PC spec for about 3 years now, and I notice that I am falling behind on FPS / Crashing out regularly on more GPU intense games.

Can somebody please suggest an improvement to the below, looking to spend £250 - 300 ideally, but can spend more if the marginal gain is worth it!!!

CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 950 @ 3.07GHz
Memory Size Corsair 6GB DDR3 10700
Mainboard Model Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
GPU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2gb GDDR5
Windows Version Microsoft Windows 7 (6.1) Ultimate Edition 64-bit Service Pack 1
DirectX Version 11.0

Tom
 
Solution
coozie7
The overall system is getting dated now, personally, I'd consider this spend as the last before replacing the entire rig and retiring this one, maybe to a younger sibling, parent or even grandparent.

Swapping the CPU/MB/RAM isn't going to help gaming very much, your main problem is the GTX760, with only 2Gb of memory and a core that's several generations old IT is your main holdup.

Memory can be increased quite cheaply, the motherboard supports dual and triple channel memory, you could try to hunt up another module to match the three you currently have and move all 4 into dual channel configuration (cheapest but most work) or grab a pair of 4Gb modules for about £60 and Ebay or Gumtree the other 3.

Finally, that i7 like to be given a...
Sort by date Sort by votes
CRO5513Y

CRO5513Y

Expert
Ambassador
Mar 15, 2017
1,777
0
4,960
My recommendation would be a CPU/Motherboard/RAM upgrade. 6GB RAM would more than likely be a hold back in many modern games that are already wanting systems with 8GB or more. By this point there are many games recommending 16GB with 8GB minimum, any less will cause performance issues. Your GTX 760 while a little older, is almost on par with a GTX 1050 Ti which is still good enough to handle most games fairly well. Your CPU isn't hugely weak but it is very dated and if you are going to get more RAM it wouldn't be a bad idea to up to a brand new CPU with much more power to pair with it that also supports the latest technologies that your Motherboard would not such as the latest PCI, USB, RAM, etc. Hope this helps :)

Here is my recommendation:

PCPartPicker part list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/tCTZD8
Price breakdown by merchant: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/tCTZD8/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£166.74 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350M-A Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£71.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£63.60 @ Aria PC)
Total: £302.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-29 08:42 BST+0100

OR an Intel based build:

PCPartPicker part list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/9WbkzM
Price breakdown by merchant: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/9WbkzM/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£175.00 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£65.12 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£59.30 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £299.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-29 08:48 BST+0100

If you're happy to spend more i would consider upgrading to 16GB RAM or even a new Graphics card but neither are needed unless you want them to improve performance in games.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
coozie7

coozie7

Champion
Jun 2, 2007
10,015
10
59,215
The overall system is getting dated now, personally, I'd consider this spend as the last before replacing the entire rig and retiring this one, maybe to a younger sibling, parent or even grandparent.

Swapping the CPU/MB/RAM isn't going to help gaming very much, your main problem is the GTX760, with only 2Gb of memory and a core that's several generations old IT is your main holdup.

Memory can be increased quite cheaply, the motherboard supports dual and triple channel memory, you could try to hunt up another module to match the three you currently have and move all 4 into dual channel configuration (cheapest but most work) or grab a pair of 4Gb modules for about £60 and Ebay or Gumtree the other 3.

Finally, that i7 like to be given a little overclocking goodness and it really helps these 'old timers' in current CPU hungry titles, so I've added a modest CPU cooler into the mix.

The mix: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/coozie7/saved/#view=6Gs3CJ
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
T

tbsc2017

Prominent
May 29, 2017
2
0
510
Thanks for the advice both.

I will retire this rig probably in the next 12 - 18 months, then looking to put another £1200-1500 into a new project. Hopefully that will yield better results!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom