Curious if I can upgrade this old rig and worried about compatibility

[Benical]

Hello everyone!
So I got this older pc I used to sometimes game on more than a couple of years ago, which I can't really game at all right now and won't be able to for a bit more than a year, and so the rig is only seeing some action only from time to time to keep a young nephew or similar kid busy. I thought I might be able to squeeze some action out of it If I upgraded it with from "keep-children-busy" level with games it is running like.. Skyrim, GTA4, Mafia 2, NFS MW(2012), Tomb Raider or similar to "okay to go" level, by adding some newer compatible gpu and enjoy a couple of hours myself with more recent game titles.

My knowledge is rather basic, never really built a pc myself and I don't really have anyone to ask for advice at all. This is the motherboard in question: ECS A790GXM-AD3
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Product/Product_Overview.aspx?DetailID=957&CategoryID=1&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=24&LanID=0

All details are given on the link. So basically it has;
PCI Express Gen 2.0 x16 slots
790GX chipset
AM3 socket, which in this case it has this cpu: AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.40 GHz

Would I be able to upgrade the GPU on it? I think most newer gpus might not be compatible with those older technology, but I think I might be able to plug in a RX 460 with its dx12 and vulkan capability and all on it without issues, probably this one
https://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-NITRO-Graphics-11257-02-20G/dp/B01J1M4HDS
but I am certainly not sure, since these parts are rather old and this one is a new piece of hardware so Im concerned of them being uncompatible. Anyone able to say that they are able to work with no problems? Perhaps a different gpu? Perhaps also add in an AMD fx 8320 and maximise the amount of juice I will ever get from this setup?

Actually the rig is working fine and smooth as it is with less demanging games. So is this a hopeless attempt of salvage and I should leave that kind of older family of technology to die as it is? I plan to build a new rig only after around 2 years time and I would like it if this guy was still alive at that point as a sidekick while giving me a couple of hours of gameplay until then.

Also, any other reccomendations?

Im rather quiet talkative so sorry if your eyesight got damaged from this wall of text, and thanks in advance

Edit: Learnt RX 460, the 400 series, requires UEFl bios. Not to go with legacy bios.

Edit the second: Bought and plugged in an old gtx 560ti for cheaps. Runs just fine!

 

[The Protagonist]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/349048-33-will-pcie-card-work-pcie-slot

You also might consider 1050 & 1050ti.
FX 6300 is also reasonable option.

 

[dontlistentome]

AMD is a better choice for compatibility with older systems. The new Nvidia cards would probably work but if it were me I wouldn't take the chance. Your system doesn't have a UEFI bios so you want a card that'll work with the older legacy bios. If you don't have 8gb ram I'd go with a 2gb 460 plus some ram to get to 8gb. You're paying a premium for the 4gb 460, personally I don't think it's worth it but that's just me.

You didn't mention this, but an SSD would perk up your system. Nothing gives life to an older system like an SSD, it cannot be overstated. Yes, that's a 3gb/s SATA port you have but believe me, even at SATA II speeds an SSD is unbelievably faster than a mechanical hard drive. You can get a 120gb SSD cheap and use it for the OS a couple of games, while your current hard drive holds everything else. It won't cost much.

 

[Benical]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/349048-33-will-pcie-card-work-pcie-slot

You also might consider 1050 & 1050ti.
FX 6300 is also reasonable option.

Yeah I heard that PCI 3.0 and 2.0 doesn't matter at all.Im mostly concerned If I get issues between the old chipset and AM3 cpu with these new gpus.
And I think gtx 1050 might not be actually compatible to this system, but I certainly can't tell. I've gone through several websites and they point out (without being certain) rx460 will be compatible (which in fact wasnt) while I only get gtx 1070 and 1080ti shown to me, even which I doubt the accuracy of this suggestion. I'll look into it more.
FX 6300 is actually seems a better option than my original suggestion FX 8320. I will consider that one over that one, thank you.

 

[amtseung]

Truth be told, an overclocked 965 will handily beat most FX CPU's in gaming. And plus, you already have it. Instead of buying a new CPU, you'd be looking at just an aftermarket CPU cooler, expanding your budget options for your GPU as well.

I miss my 965BE. D:

 

[Calvin7]

The A790GXM-AD3 does not support ANY AMD AM3+ FX processors.

I suggest you take a look at the CPU Support List in your link. See the Support>CPU Tabs

 

[Benical]

AMD is a better choice for compatibility with older systems. The new Nvidia cards would probably work but if it were me I wouldn't take the chance. Your system doesn't have a UEFI bios so you want a card that'll work with the older legacy bios. If you don't have 8gb ram I'd go with a 2gb 460 plus some ram to get to 8gb. You're paying a premium for the 4gb 460, personally I don't think it's worth it but that's just me.

You didn't mention this, but an SSD would perk up your system. Nothing gives life to an older system like an SSD, it cannot be overstated. Yes, that's a 3gb/s SATA port you have but believe me, even at SATA II speeds an SSD is unbelievably faster than a mechanical hard drive. You can get a 120gb SSD cheap and use it for the OS a couple of games, while your current hard drive holds everything else. It won't cost much.

First of all your comment was really helpful. Thanks a lot.
My main concern is about any incompatible issue I might get between old system and new builds and I truly only have basic knowledge about the situation and would't particularly enjoy buying a card and let it gather dust in a corner due that issue. I don't know what UEFl bios is at all, is there a way to guess if my "new" card will work with the older type of bios of this system?
I just checked, this rig has 2 out of 4 slots fitted with 2x 2GB ddr3 rams fitted on it. After your comment I've browsed some benchmark videos that was pointing out there are no difference at all between 2gb and 4gb version of RX 460, and pretty much made me consider the 2gb version now. Im sure it will be easy to grab another cheap couple of ddr3 sticks and plug them in.
I actually had no idea how SSD or similar had a big impact on performance. And I certainly don't have a good grasp of knowledge on this topic. Appears this is the disk wired to this system:
Samsung hd102uj ata
Details being in this link:
http://www.hdsentinel.com/storageinfo_details.php?lang=en&model=SAMSUNG%20HD102UJ
I see that as HDD in defragment and optimize drives tool of windows.
Anything to be made out of this? I am not sure what to make of this information at this point, will grabbing an extra 120gb or similar ssd bring life into this old guy, then?

 

[Benical]

The A790GXM-AD3 does not support ANY AMD AM3+ FX processors.

I suggest you take a look at the CPU Support List in your link. See the Support>CPU Tabs

Oh thanks a lot for this. At this point I really thought they are compatible, if thats the case I should not just throw out names like that. Thinking of that fx cpu was only from the top of my head without really investing in the issue. I'll go ahead and invest more time into the cpu issue. My primary concern is rather with the GPU at this point, then if that issue is settled I could search if there are any worthy upgrades to be had.

 

[Benical]

Truth be told, an overclocked 965 will handily beat most FX CPU's in gaming. And plus, you already have it. Instead of buying a new CPU, you'd be looking at just an aftermarket CPU cooler, expanding your budget options for your GPU as well.

I miss my 965BE. D:

Ohhh. I certainly didn't noticed this guy is that capable, even though I remember getting suprised by the random smooth performance I got from this pc back when there was some demanding tasks to be run.

I should stick with your comment and pay more respect to him, in that case. I've just split the rig to pieces a couple hours ago and saw that the thermal paste on it was long dried to dust Poor old chap.

 

[dontlistentome]

I would email or call the company whose name is on the card(MSI, ASUS, etc) and ask if that model requires a motherboard with a UEFI bios, that's the only way to be sure...besides nuking them from orbit.

The SSD will not increase framerate, neither will more memory. What more system ram and an SSD do for you is more in the area of making the system more responsive and smoothing out hitches and stuttering due to swapping data in and out of the pagefile.

 

[Benical]

I would email or call the company whose name is on the card(MSI, ASUS, etc) and ask if that model requires a motherboard with a UEFI bios, that's the only way to be sure...besides nuking them from orbit.

The SSD will not increase framerate, neither will more memory. What more system ram and an SSD do for you is more in the area of making the system more responsive and smoothing out hitches and stuttering due to swapping data in and out of the pagefile.

Ahh alright, thats a good idea. I'm certainly going to e-mail and bother some people, since I am actually busy with military service at the moment, and nicking away a couple of nukes would make my lt. colonel kill me right on the spot before I finish up with this little project.

After your comment and learning what a pagefile is and how it works, I've a better grasp on what you said, now it makes a good sense. I'll look into ssd and ram deal to prevent the need for rig to use the pagefile. Or perhaps after some sort of benchmarking with the addition of extra ram and gpu to see if I get stuttering due lack of space, I should get on with the ssd deal.

edit: Appears 400 series are only working with UEFl. Certainly wouldnt knew the issue beforehand without your advice, thank you again.

 

[Joshua French]

Just wait for ryzen. It'll be here within a month, then you can get a I5 for the price of a Pentium. That whole combo is kinda old to be honest.

 

[Benical]

Just wait for ryzen. It'll be here within a month, then you can get a I5 for the price of a Pentium. That whole combo is kinda old to be honest.

Yeah, I'd go as far as describing it ancient. Appears theres quiet some trouble to attempt salvaging this guy into recent games capability. I don't have much time for gaming myself at this time so I wasnt really considering making a new rig in a near future, but some time in next year.. who knows, perhaps I should be on the look for aftermath of the ryzen. Seem to be a lot of hype out there about it.

I actually really want to sit down and try out the VR stuff with a new rig and good gpus, with stuff like Star Citizen or similar. I just lack the time :<