New Build/Upgrading a gifted PC - First Timer

meltor13

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Aug 6, 2014
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4,510
I had a friend who gifted me his PC he built a couple of years ago (Note: it was not built with gaming in mind). But it was free, and since I have spent no money on it I thought I would splurge a bit and re-rig it into my own personal gaming machine, as I have been considering buying a new rig anyways. Unfortunately, I am pretty much ignorant concerning PC knowledge, and thus am coming for some help/suggestions.

Here are the current specs, if it matters:

CPU: Intel Core i5-650
Motherboard: Intel BOXDH55TC LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI Micro ATX
Internal Hard Drive: Western Digital 1TB Hard Drive 32M SATAII
RAM: Kingston 2x2G
Power Supply: Antec PSU 430W

I am willing to upgrade any/all parts even though I am hesitant about the work required. I filled out the suggested template below so hopefully that covers any questions? My main concern is running a game like Guild Wars 2 at a nice frame rate and decent graphic settings (as best as manageable). Please help a computer noob learn some things! I appreciate any/all help!

Approximate Purchase Date: Can purchase immediately

Budget Range: Would like to stay under/around $600-800 or so (would be willing to go higher if necessary to accomplish goals)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: mainly for gaming, but office work/watching videos/etc. as well

Are you buying a monitor: Yes, I probably need to. This can stay on a separate budget though.

Parts to Upgrade: Would be willing to replace/upgrade all parts, if necessary

Do you need to buy OS: I’m interested in Windows 8 (would be considered outside of previously stated budget) but would like to hear some opinions?

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: no preference, although I’m familiar with newegg/amazon

Parts Preferences: No preference, whatever best fits the situation

Overclocking: I am completely unfamiliar with this, so preferably no? unless I can be convinced otherwise

SLI or Crossfire: I have no idea what this is

Your Monitor Resolution: Would like to have suggestions on monitors as well, if possible

Additional Comments: I mainly play Guild Wars 2, and my current PC can struggle mightily sometimes with it. So I’d love to have something that runs it at relatively good settings and best framerate manageable. I am interested in playing other games as well, provided I have the rig to run them!

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: having trouble running GW2 occasionally and would just like an upgrade. My current PC is a standard stock Dell PC circa 2009.

 

numanator

Honorable
Probably the only thing that could be reused from your friends build is the Hard Drive and maybe the RAM (depends on if it is DDR2 or DDR3). Also maybe the case if it is in good shape and you like it (is the case microATX or ATX?)
 

plywrlw

Admirable
To simply repurpose it you will need more ram (I bet that motherboard only has 2 slots so you will need 2 new 4Gb sticks otherwise you could have just bought the exact same ram it came with again)

A new power supply, a 500-600w from EVGA, XFX, Seasonic, Antec or Corsair Hx, Tx, Ax

A new graphics card like an R9 270 or 280.

This will probably cost around $400 all in

If you don't want to buy a new PSU you could just grab a 750ti though the performance is quite a bit lower than an R9 2xx series card
 

numanator

Honorable
This is basically a full build (without a HDD):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($88.99 @ Mwave)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Vapor-X Video Card ($169.99 @ TigerDirect)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $788.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-06 18:43 EDT-0400

You could keep your friends cpu/mobo but it would start showing it's age on CPU intensive games like GW2 (especially the PVP). Case and HDD are probably all I would keep from the build.
 

meltor13

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Aug 6, 2014
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4,510


The case is this: Antec Black Aluminum / Steel Fusion Remote Black Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case
It was a media PC for him. It's massive, and heavy.

I appreciate the parts list! I'll check them out. Just for clarification, and this may be a stupid question - but - since I could probably keep the hard drive from the current build, would I need that extra storage module?

And also just so I have an idea of how that would perform, would you have any comment on how that setup you quoted would run GW2? (or a similar workload)

And lastly...would I benefit significantly if I were to up my budget to say, $1000? or would I really need to go much higher to see a bigger gain? Again, I really appreciate the help. Thanks guys.

UPDATE: Could someone also suggest a decent monitor, for maybe around $200 or less? Thanks!
 

plywrlw

Admirable
The mx100 storage that was suggested is an SSD (solid state drive). If you install windows on to that it will only take seconds for Windows to boot up and anything installed on it will also load up very quickly though if you want to put several games on there I'd recommend a bigger 250Gb one.

A $1000 build will almost certainly let you have a more powerful graphics card which will allow more demanding settings in games like higher antialiasing.

If you keep that case you'll have to get a mATX motherboard and may be limited to smaller graphics cards (not sure as the Antec website won't load on my phone).

Why not sell the whole gifted PC on eBay and put the money towards a new one rather than cannibalising it for parts?
 

meltor13

Reputable
Aug 6, 2014
8
0
4,510


I hadn't really thought of that as an option just because I wanted to try and do something with it, but, if I can't make much of it useful for my purposes then it might be better to just sell it off or something.

Thanks for the explanation on the SSD. I knew of the term solid state drive but wasn't familiar with what they were good for. That does seem pretty nice.