Old Pc upgrade path

[Mycopia]

Hi,

i5-750 cpu - with a Titan Fenrir cooler
Ga-P55-UD5 Gigabyte mobo
Radeon 4890 Sapphire gpu
Gskill DDR3 2x2gb 1.35v
1TB HDD
Be Quiet Dark Pro 650w psu
Windows 7

I do light gaming ie War Thunder, it does run on this rig but often when hot shuts down, freezes and/or tearing. Also you tube viewing etc.


I am thinking of picking up a couple of 4gb ram sticks

4gb-(1x4gb)-corsair-ddr3l-value-select-pc3-12800-1600mhz-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-11-11-11-28-135v-low voltage £20 each

Also a gpu upgrade

2gb-msi-geforce-gt-1030-aero-itx-2gd4-oc-14nm-384-cores-1189mhz-core-1430mhz-boost-2100mhz-ddr4-hdmi about £80

And finally a sata ssd 1tb to transfer my hdd over to it.

This rig was initially built in 2010, had a period of years with no use and was pleased to still see it boot up, psu seems rock solid
but everything ese is really struggling. Not willing to shell out for a whole new system yet.

What do you guys reckon? Am i missing anything?

Thanks in advance

Ps above examples are from Scan and/or overclockers, i was unable to post Url

[Rob_B]

What's your total budget ? The SSD will make a big difference to day-to-day usability.
If you're happy with the CPU performance then...

- You've got 4 RAM slots so would you keep or get rid of your existing stuff?
- The GT1030 isn't great but neither is your CPU nowadays, if willing to buy 2nd hand you might be better off with an older but more powerful GPU for the same sort of money, you could pick up a 660 for ~£60 as an example.

[Mycopia]

Thanks Bob,

couple of hundred max probably, i actually was going to just add ram, and yes i would try to use the extra ram too.
Hadn't looked at the 2nd hand market, as i have no experience of buying cards like that but it is a thought if it works with the board ok.

Appreciated

[Rob_B]

I'll wait for CAT to swoop in with an awesome build but for a couple of hundred you're not far off being able to replace a lot of your machine. The tried & trusted "buy a cheap Dell Optiplex and stick a GPU in it" method works wonders for someone with your usage.

Or... check out HotUKDeals as I've seen 2200G based machines for very little (e.g. https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hp-...b-nvme-3779478)
The 2200G is a bit slower than a 1030 but still faster than your 4890 and you'd then also have the option to pop in a dGPU at a later date if you wanted more grunt - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXK9Am7MY3Y You can keep your 1TB, add an extra SSD if you need the space and then sell off your old machine for whatever you can get for it.

EDIT: Also, you originally linked to a DDR4 version of the 1030 - DO NOT BUY A DDR4 1030!! https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreview...hics-card-2018

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What sort of budget are you looking at??

Edit!!

The problem is with such an old system,the problem could be quite a few things:
1.)The CPU or GPU coolers needing new thermal compound,and cleaning of the heatsinks as they are overheating
2.)The motherboard is failing under heavier load - again might be worth checking the VRM heatsinks are not loose
3.)The PSU failing under heavier load - but I assume the PSU is not that old??

Unless someone can look at the system,and determine exactly why you are getting shutdowns,you run the risk of throwing money at an old rig,where parts can fail. Its coming to 11 years old,and things such as capacitors,etc will degrade over time(especially electrolytic capacitors).

I would first try and see if you can stop the system from shutting down under load. I would replace the thermal compound on the coolers(Arctic MX2/MX4 isn't too expensive),and removing any dust when the coolers are disconnected. I am uncertain whether you can reinstall Windows 7 again,to make sure there isn't some software issue at play either.

Also make sure you have sufficient airflow in the case. Once you can get the system running again without shutting down,then I would consider an upgrade.

Second Edit!!

You can sort of do a Core i5 10100F,B560 motherboard and 16GB of DDR4 for around £200. A reasonable PSU can be had for around £40(unless OFC its under 5~6 years as I suspect).

Probably around £400ish including a new GPU.

CEX sell a secondhand GTX1050 2GB for £100 with a two year warranty:
https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/...From=boxsearch

[Mycopia]

Hi,

Thanks for replying, i've re-applied thermal compound to the i5, system is out of case on a box for airflow,
system freezes when under load ie War Thunder with a busy map, VRM's are solid, and psu had a 10 yr guarantee.

I suppose it is just old tech, hence the thought of adding a couple of mem sticks and a better gpu to help it all out.

Definitely not willing to buy a whole new system yet so looking at tinkering with what i have.

[Rob_B]

If you're determined to keep the system then just balance the cost/performance/future-proofing.

To keep things cheap you could go with 2x2GB sticks of RAM (doesn't seem like you need a lot more based on your usage?), 1TB SSD (~£70) and a GPU, that last one is up to you, but personally I'd go with an 2nd hand older gen rather than a 1030. This assumes its your GPU that's causing the problems...

[jimborae]

As Cat says, if you're upgrading this system then there's no point spending anything till you can pin point the cause of the freezes.

So first off now that you're cleaned things up and removed all dust and reapplied thermal compound what do your cpu temps look like under load? Use Core Temp or similar app to monitor these and run stress testing app to put the cpu under load.

Next run a memory testing app to check if the RAM is behaving itself under load.

If it passes those then look at voltages and GPU, I've been out of the troubleshooting game for awhile so I'm sure others can recommend ways to test & monitor these.

Once you've got your system stable then look at upgrading other parts. As mentioned before the biggest gain would be adding a cheap SSD as your system drive, a 240-256Gb sort of size can had for as little as £30-35 new. Next I'd look at putting in more RAM as 4Gb aint alot these days and then lastly upgrade the GPU.

[cptwhite_uk]

With regards to the GPU, there's a GTX 960 2Gb available on CEX for £90. This will performance better than the GTX 1050 2Gb, and overclocks well too. My understanding is Maxwell / Pascal as basically the same architecture, so will likely receive similar driver support for the next couple of years. GTX960 is also going to draw 120W max, compared to the 4890's 190W TDP.

If I had a budget of £200 to upgrade the PC....(all links below)


1 no. CEX Used, 2 year guanrantee GTX 960 @ £90
4 no. CEX used, 2 year guanrantee, 4Gb DDR3 1600 @ £20 (£5 each)
1 no. CEX used, 2 year guarantee Intel i5 3570 @ £20
1 no. Ebay used, Socket 1155 motherboard can be picked up for £30 (or even less) on Ebay Buy It Now < click link to see options
1 no. Ebay New 480Gb Kingson A400 SSD @ £34.80

This is basically a brand new system without a case, PSU or CPU cooler. Flog the old system for £40-50 to help towards the cost, so the upgrade is costing you £160 or thereabouts.

GTX 970 are also regularly popping up on the used market now for sub-£100, so if you can find a reputable seller on FB marketplace who seems trust worthy, this would be a big step up from the GTX960. Always go to collect, and ask for a video of the card running a benchmark before handing over cash, ideally.

[cptwhite_uk]

With regards to diagnosing the crashing, if it's crashing randomly under load and the temps for the CPU, GPU seem fine then it's likely to be the motherboard. It's 10+ years old and has many point of failure. It could also be the PSU, or the GPU, or the RAM. Highly unlikely to be the CPU. It's not worth much anymore, and honestly I'm not sure it's worth diagnosing at this point - it's going to cost money to pin point the problem, and that would be better invested into a simply replacing parts with something more modern. For example, the entire CPU/RAM/Mobo combo could be replaced for £90 using the links above, while offering a significant step up in performance. There's some reasonable bundles going on FB marketplace, if you're near Nottingham.

i5 2400
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UDP3
16Gb DDR3
Arctic Cooler CPU cooler

...all for £55, which seems reasonable to me for a basic system upgrade

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If the PSU is from 2010,it could be an issue too.

Having said that if you do intend to go secondhand,Haswell does not cost that much more than SB/IB.

Pascal had Async load balancing implemented,so tends to fall apart less often in Vulkan/DX12 games.

Edit!!

The system freezes when running Youtube too?

I would try and re-install windows and use the last relevant driver set. Also repaste the thermal compound on the GPU too!

You need to fix the freezing problems before spending any money on the rig.

[Mycopia]

Thanks for the input Rob, cptwhite, CAT and jim,

the system doesn't lag watching videos, it's mainly war thunder where the gpu hangs, the memory seems fine (XMP enabled).

So this week i have arriving a ssd, which will no doubt help a ton, and i have ordered some extra ram. Will post on here when the bits arrive.

Happy Sunday !