Upgrade 2-year-old Budget Gaming PC

[byss66]

Hey folks,

I'm trying to help my sister upgrade her family desktop so her teenage sons can play more games on it. They're wanting to play Overwatch, and finding their current PC lacking. I know enough about PCs to have put them together, but I'm not sure how to figure out what components will fit their budget and improve the system enough without the rest bottlenecking it up.

They live in another state, so I've cobbed together the parts below with a handful of phone calls, video chats, and them taking pics of components inside. The kids are ok at being computer savvy, my sister (the mom) not so much.

I'm thinking the video card and maybe an SSD are there best bets for upgrades? Probably looking at something like a $200 budget, since they only paid 600 or 650 for the whole machine when they bought it about 2.5 years ago.

Here's the components I got from them:

• 
  Motherboard - ASUS A55 Chipset Motherboard
  Processor - AMD A10-7700K APU (Quad Core)
  Memory - 8 GB DDR3-1600 (2 4GB sticks)
  Video Card - AMD Radeon R7 240 (2GB)
  Primary Hard Drive - 2TB @ 7200RPM
  Power Supply - They thought they'd ordered a 500W, but pics inside showed 350W. I think they got scammed on this.

Anyone willing to give me/them some recommendations? Thanks so much, in advance.

 

[dontlistentome]

That computer should do alright on Overwatch. The R7 240 is not a gaming card, which is why they aren't having a good time with it. Overwatch doesn't require a lot of vram, so a 2gb GTX 1050 would be an ideal budget choice. A 1050 Ti gives them a bit of extra power in case they try to play something more demanding, like PUBG.

A basic 120gb SSD, for the OS plus Overwatch would be fine. I use a Sandisk Ultra, which is slow as far as SSDs go but it is amazingly fast compared to a mechanical hard drive. They can still use their 2tb drive for data and games plus whatever else they have. The SSD will not improve game performance. It will make the computer more responsive overall, and everything will load faster.

 

[guanyu210379]

1. you have pretty good cpu but your gpu is sh*t weak. Thi R7 240s is junk gpu and was never a gaming gpu from the start.
2. 8GB RAM is still ok but 16GB is recommended
3. No SSD? SSD is not a must but highly recommended
4. It seems that the PSU is a junk, I would get a proper one.

The most effective upgrade is to get the GPU first but you need to replace that most-likely sh*tt* PSU before getting any new stronger GPU.

 

[byss66]

That computer should do alright on Overwatch. The R7 240 is not a gaming card, which is why they aren't having a good time with it. Overwatch doesn't require a lot of vram, so a 2gb GTX 1050 would be an ideal budget choice. A 1050 Ti gives them a bit of extra power in case they try to play something more demanding, like PUBG.

I'm scared their power supply won't handle it. I found this thread talking about the power supply needs for the GTX 1050, saying minimum of 300W PSU. For reference, here is the pic my newphew took of their PSU. It says 350W, but then in smaller print says it can't sustain that and can only sustain 286W.

Am I correct in that their PSU probably won't handle that video card? Or is the 350 rating good enough to meet the 300W demands?

 

[maxalge]

That computer should do alright on Overwatch. The R7 240 is not a gaming card, which is why they aren't having a good time with it. Overwatch doesn't require a lot of vram, so a 2gb GTX 1050 would be an ideal budget choice. A 1050 Ti gives them a bit of extra power in case they try to play something more demanding, like PUBG.

I'm scared their power supply won't handle it. I found this thread talking about the power supply needs for the GTX 1050, saying minimum of 300W PSU. For reference, here is the pic my newphew took of their PSU. It says 350W, but then in smaller print says it can't sustain that and can only sustain 286W.

Am I correct in that their PSU probably won't handle that video card? Or is the 350 rating good enough to meet the 300W demands?

borederline on a gtx 1050


for sure you want a gtx 1050 ti, so i would also upgrade the psu to a decent 450w unit
like the corsair CX(2017 version, black and white)


the ssd adds no fps, i would just skip on it to get them the psu + gpu

 

[guanyu210379]

What for brand is that PSU?
I would really replace the PSU as top priority, if I were you

 

[madmatt30]

amn mate,those acbel psu's are awful.

Id replace them anyway,they would probably 'manage' a 1050/1050ti fine but honestly 2 years is more than id expect lifetime wise from them personally.

Your issue at the minute is gpu prices in all honesty.
Before christmas you could do a decent 450w psu & a 1050ti for $200,now with th e cryptocurrency price hikes in full flow a 1050ti alone is more than that.

If you're buying now or soon then Id go gtx 1050 & a corsair cx 450 for a combo under $200.

 

[byss66]

Before christmas you could do a decent 450w psu & a 1050ti for $200,now with th e cryptocurrency price hikes in full flow a 1050ti alone is more than that. If you're buying now or soon then Id go gtx 1050 & a corsair cx 450 for a combo under $200.

Yeah, the prices are gonna prevent them from buying a GTX TI. It's already $200 and that's getting to the upper end of their budget. I can point them towards these two for $185 before taxes & shipping.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/sc4NnQ/evga-geforce-gtx-1050-2gb-acx-20-video-card-02g-p4-6150-kr

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Q7L7YJ/corsair-cx-2017-450w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-cp-9020120-na