Could somebody help me put a shopping list together? (Mobo/CPU/SSD)

[Imrix]

Current specs are as follows;
CPU: 3.00gh AMD Athlon II X4 640.
Motherboard: FOXCONN 2AA9 1.00.
GPU: Sapphire HD6950 2GB GDDR5
RAM: 8 gig, Kingston DDR3
Hard drive: 1tb SATA HDD.
Power: OCZ 600W ModXStream Pro Power Supply
Cooling: Arctic F12 PWM 4 Pin 120mm case fan.
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit.

I put this thing together back in April of 2011, and while it was moderately beastly in its day and it's held up well enough, it is starting to struggle with modern games. Not massively, mind you; I'm talking 'struggle' as in 'has occasional slowdowns with the likes of Arkham Knight or the recent DOOM, and I can't just blindly set all graphics options to maximum anymore'. To be fair, I don't actually mind that last part; a smooth experience is much more important than all the graphical bells and whistles to me. Nevertheless, it's time for some upgrades.

Now, benchmarking tells me that my RAM is fine, and the graphics card is, while a bit behind the curve, still holding up well enough. From what I can tell the bottlenecks are now the motherboard and possibly the CPU. Additionally I've gotten sucked into Total Warhammer, which apparently benefits a lot from an SSD, and my steam backlog is such that I could use a bit more storage space anyway. I've done my homework on how to replace a motherboard, so that doesn't scare me, but I'd like some help, well, as the title says, putting my shopping list together.

For starters, I'm not sure which should be my first priority, and for seconds... Well, it's been a long time since I shopped around for computer parts, and I'm more than a little rusty on what to pay attention to. My price range is flexible, but ideally I'm looking for not more than £150 per part.

 

[trents]

Please give us links to vendors you would consider using. Prices and availability of components vary tremendously from one part of the world to another. I take it you are in the UK?

Are you open from switching from an AMD base to an Intel base?

Are you desiring to overclock?

How much total are you willing to spend for the upgrade? Moving to the newer Intel platforms would entail investing in DDR4 RAM. If you go with the previous generation Intel technologh (socket 1150) which is still very available) you can use your present RAM. What is the frequency of your current RAM?

At the minimum, I would suggest looking at an Intel i3 CPU and socket 1150 motherboard. An i5 would be preferrable. Even the i3 would give you a significant boost.

And you really need to update that video card. It's very dated. Look at a an Radeon R9 480 or an Nvidia GTX 1060.

 

[Imrix]

Please give us links to vendors you would consider using. Prices and availability of components vary tremendously from one part of the world to another. I take it you are in the UK?

I'm in the UK, yeah. Previously I've done my shopping through Amazon, but that's through ignorance of alternatives more than anything. I'd consider using any vendor, so long as I can be assured that it's trustworthy. Which basically means that if people here suggest it, I'm willing to use it.

Are you open from switching from an AMD base to an Intel base?

Potentially, but I'm looking to make a few upgrades, not rebuild the whole rig, so if compatibility issues start becoming a factor, my willingness drops.

Are you desiring to overclock?

No. Like I said, so long as a game runs smooth, I don't care about running maximum settings. Plus, it's been more than five years since I last made major upgrades; the kind of ongoing tinkering that goes into overclocking isn't suitable for me.

How much total are you willing to spend for the upgrade? Moving to the newer Intel platforms would entail investing in DDR4 RAM. If you go with the previous generation Intel technologh (socket 1150) which is still very available) you can use your present RAM. What is the frequency of your current RAM?

The current RAM is some of the old 1066 stuff, and a quick bit of googling tells me that I could probably get 8gig of DDR4 for less than I got the last set, so I should proooobably update that stuff anyway.

As far as total budget goes, when I put this rig together half a decade ago, it cost about £1,000. Part of that was that I was too nervous about building my first rig to really shop around and do most of the assembly myself, but all the same I'd like to not do that again. Ideally I'd like to fit everything under £500, but I can afford more if I spread the purchases out across multiple paycheques. I'm upgrading ahead of urgent need this time, so if you suggest something out of my pricerange, I can still put a tickmark in it to save up for.

At the minimum, I would suggest looking at an Intel i3 CPU and socket 1150 motherboard. An i5 would be preferrable. Even the i3 would give you a significant boost.

Hnn. Okay, that gives me somewhere to start looking, thanks. Cheaper than I'd feared at first glance too, and that's only looking at the shopping tab on Google, so I expect it'll be cheaper still after some digging.

And you really need to update that video card. It's very dated. Look at a an Radeon R9 480 or an Nvidia GTX 1060.

I really don't, honestly. I know full well that it's dated, but it does an acceptable job still, and with how expensive graphics cards are, 'acceptable' is, well... Acceptable.

 

[knoober]

I really don't, honestly. I know full well that it's dated, but it does an acceptable job still, and with how expensive graphics cards are, 'acceptable' is, well... Acceptable.

Its against my inclination to argue with someone who has a frugal wallet, but perhaps you arent aware of the great value the 480 represents to the GPU community. Rx 480 price ranges

The GTX 1060 will set you back a bit more, but is a modest price for what you get. I also dont know how the exchange rate will affect those prices, but I just wanted to point out that a new card may not break your bank. A new GPU and an SSD may get you to where you want to be with your rig, while setting yourself up for future upgrades for mobo/cpu/ram. Just my .02 Good luck!

 

[trents]

Imrix, you might as well move up to socket 1151 and DDR4 once DDR3 1066 will just not cut it with newer motherboards and CPUs.

So, look at a Skylake i3, 8 gb of DDR4 2133 or DDR4 2400 and a socket 1151 motherboard. If you are not overclocking then you can get by with an inexpensive motherboard.

Tell us about your computer case. Is it a mini tower, mid tower or full tower. I ask this because it will influence what we can recommend for motherboards. Motherboards come in different sizes to fit in different kinds of cases.

So here's a tentative stab:

CPU - https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i3-610...e=UTF8&qid=1483654345&sr=1-1&keywords=13+6100

Motherboard - https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-Micro...&sr=1-7&keywords=socket+1151+matx+motherboard or https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Arsenal-...3654933&sr=1-1&keywords=socket+1151+Z170+matx Would like to see you go with the Z170 chipset because it gives more options for memory frequency/amount and other potential future upgrades.

RAM - https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Tec...UTF8&qid=1483654731&sr=1-3&keywords=DDR4+2400 or https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Tec...UTF8&qid=1483654731&sr=1-3&keywords=DDR4+2400

Would like to see you go with the Z170 chipset because it gives more options for memory frequency/amount and other potential future upgrades.

 

[Mjolnir]

The 6950 is still okay, and for 1080p will 'do the job'. But your overall system is aging and I think just by trents suggestions above you'll get some increase in performance. But definitely consider an SSD as well (250/256gb, anything lower is a waste IMO). Then you can decide from there if it's good enough with the old card, or if you upgrade it too. I'd also consider bumping that to an i5 6400... I think the quad core will be worth it in general over the 6100. But I know you have budget constraints (but if you go for a cheaper board, I think the trade off will work well)

 

[trents]

If you decide to go with a cheaper motherboard than those with the Z170 chipset then go with DDR4 2133 RAM instead of DDR 2400. All the non Z170 chipset socket 1151 motherboards will have RAM frequency max of 2133 mhz and if you go with higher speed RAM than that you will be down clocking the RAM anyway and losing out on the ability to just set the RAM to XMP and forget about it (no tweaking of the RAM timings). 2133 is a tad cheaper than 2400 as well.

 

[Imrix]

Imrix, you might as well move up to socket 1151 and DDR4 once DDR3 1066 will just not cut it with newer motherboards and CPUs.

So, look at a Skylake i3, 8 gb of DDR4 2133 or DDR4 2400 and a socket 1151 motherboard. If you are not overclocking then you can get by with an inexpensive motherboard.

Tell us about your computer case. Is it a mini tower, mid tower or full tower. I ask this because it will influence what we can recommend for motherboards. Motherboards come in different sizes to fit in different kinds of cases.

So here's a tentative stab:

CPU - https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i3-610...e=UTF8&qid=1483654345&sr=1-1&keywords=13+6100

Motherboard - https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-Micro...&sr=1-7&keywords=socket+1151+matx+motherboard or https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Arsenal-...3654933&sr=1-1&keywords=socket+1151+Z170+matx Would like to see you go with the Z170 chipset because it gives more options for memory frequency/amount and other potential future upgrades.

RAM - https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Tec...UTF8&qid=1483654731&sr=1-3&keywords=DDR4+2400 or https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Tec...UTF8&qid=1483654731&sr=1-3&keywords=DDR4+2400

Would like to see you go with the Z170 chipset because it gives more options for memory frequency/amount and other potential future upgrades.

Hmm, yeah these look solid. Much cheaper than I could find, too - thanks for that. Given the pricerange on show here, I might want to shell out the extra for an i5.

In truth I've never encountered the difference between towers before. Off the top of my head I'd have guessed a mid tower, but I managed to track down the order in my Amazon history; it's a P6740UK, 56 by 50 by 26 cm, which I believe makes it a full tower. Nice and roomy.

EDIT:

The 6950 is still okay, and for 1080p will 'do the job'. But your overall system is aging and I think just by trents suggestions above you'll get some increase in performance. But definitely consider an SSD as well (250/256gb, anything lower is a waste IMO). Then you can decide from there if it's good enough with the old card, or if you upgrade it too. I'd also consider bumping that to an i5 6400... I think the quad core will be worth it in general over the 6100. But I know you have budget constraints (but if you go for a cheaper board, I think the trade off will work well)

It's too late to go window-shopping at the moment (oh god why can't i sleeeep), but I'll put a pin in the i5 6400 to look at tomorrow. And yes, I'm definitely considering an SSD. Total Warhammer is my main game at the moment, and from my research it benefits a lot from a solid state drive, particularly on the loading times.

 

[trents]

Hmm, yeah these look solid. Much cheaper than I could find, too - thanks for that. Given the pricerange on show here, I might want to shell out the extra for an i5.

In truth I've never encountered the difference between towers before. Off the top of my head I'd have guessed a mid tower, but I managed to track down the order in my Amazon history; it's a P6740UK, 56 by 50 by 26 cm, which I believe makes it a full tower. Nice and roomy.

EDIT:

It's too late to go window-shopping at the moment (oh god why can't i sleeeep), but I'll put a pin in the i5 6400 to look at tomorrow. And yes, I'm definitely considering an SSD. Total Warhammer is my main game at the moment, and from my research it benefits a lot from a solid state drive, particularly on the loading times.

Not likely a full tower. Looks more like a mid tower. A micro atx (matx) motherboard will fit in that for sure. You may have to make some modification to the front panel wire connectors where they fit onto the motherboard front panel pin out block. Those OEM mass producers often have nice little one piece block connectors on the front panel wires (start button, hard drive LED light, Power LED, etc.) that won't match the pin out on an after market motherboard.

 

[Mjolnir]

I doubt any game will have better fps from an SSD, though depends how slow the old drive/how filled it is, because I suppose loading in textures depending how they're loaded can cause stuttering? (I had this issue in the online game Aion). In which case an SSD can help, but yes it will help load times.

i5, ssd, 16GB of RAM and I think you'll be good for a little while.

 

[trents]

An SSD will dramatically shorten boot and program loading times. Besides, it would be a good idea to not reuse your old hard drive anyway as it may have quite a few miles on it. Or use the old drive for data storage and put the programs and OS on the SSD.

Do you have OS installation media to put Windows on the new PC?

 

[psionic98]

Loading times will work on local stuff, but anything internet related means your map loads faster than most others. but you're just going to sit there waiting for everyone else to catch up.. usually games won't start till everyone is on the same pages so to speak.

 

[Imrix]

An SSD will dramatically shorten boot and program loading times. Besides, it would be a good idea to not reuse your old hard drive anyway as it may have quite a few miles on it. Or use the old drive for data storage and put the programs and OS on the SSD.

Do you have OS installation media to put Windows on the new PC?

I'm pretty sure the original installation disc is Around Here Somewhere, and I can track it down by the time packages arrive. That or I'll have to order a new copy, but I can handle that easily.

As far as i5 CPU's go, does this look like a winner?

 

[trents]

I'm pretty sure the original installation disc is Around Here Somewhere, and I can track it down by the time packages arrive. That or I'll have to order a new copy, but I can handle that easily.

As far as i5 CPU's go, does this look like a winner? Yep, that one. The "k" in he model number means it has an unlocked core speed multiplier and can be overclocked - easily I might add. But if you want to do that, get a Z170 motherboard for sure. And also an aftermarket cooler. If you don't care to overclock then you can get by with a cheaper i5 like the 6600 or 6500 and stay with stock cooling.

 

[Imrix]

Yep, that one. The "k" in he model number means it has an unlocked core speed multiplier and can be overclocked - easily I might add. But if you want to do that, get a Z170 motherboard for sure. And also an aftermarket cooler. If you don't care to overclock then you can get by with a cheaper i5 like the 6600 or 6500 and stay with stock cooling.

Mm, mostly what I was paying attention to was quad core and base processor speed. Given that, I suspect this is probably a better bet.

 

[trents]

The 6600 non k would do you fine.

 

[Imrix]

Saves a bit of cash, too. Would the motherboards you linked earlier work with it? And what's the difference between them, given one's almost double the price of the other?

 

[trents]

Saves a bit of cash, too. Would the motherboards you linked earlier work with it? And what's the difference between them, given one's almost double the price of the other?

Yes, all those motherboards would work with your CPU choice. The differences between the Z170 boards and the Hxxx boards are basically three:

1. The "H" boards have a memory frequency ceiling of 2300 mhz. Not really much of a performance issue.
2. Memory expandability. The Z boards I listed have four memory slots. You would use two of them to begin with and could add two more later to increase total memory amount. If you only have two slots and start with 8 gb of memory, then to move to 16 gb of memory you would have to discard the current two and buy two new ones. So instead of 2x4 + 2x4-=16 gb you would have to take out the existing 2x4 and replace it with 2x8. Do you follow?
3. Overclockability of the CPU. The Z170 boards would have settings allowing for the overclocking of a "k" CPU. The Hxx chipset boards would likely not.

My thought was to have you buy one of the more expensive Z boards to give you more options for the future. But it's your money.

Hope this helps.

 

[NewbieOneKenobi]

Current specs are as follows;
CPU: 3.00gh AMD Athlon II X4 640.
Motherboard: FOXCONN 2AA9 1.00.
GPU: Sapphire HD6950 2GB GDDR5
RAM: 8 gig, Kingston DDR3
Hard drive: 1tb SATA HDD.
Power: OCZ 600W ModXStream Pro Power Supply
Cooling: Arctic F12 PWM 4 Pin 120mm case fan.
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit.

I put this thing together back in April of 2011, and while it was moderately beastly in its day and it's held up well enough, it is starting to struggle with modern games. Not massively, mind you; I'm talking 'struggle' as in 'has occasional slowdowns with the likes of Arkham Knight or the recent DOOM, and I can't just blindly set all graphics options to maximum anymore'. To be fair, I don't actually mind that last part; a smooth experience is much more important than all the graphical bells and whistles to me. Nevertheless, it's time for some upgrades.

Now, benchmarking tells me that my RAM is fine, and the graphics card is, while a bit behind the curve, still holding up well enough. From what I can tell the bottlenecks are now the motherboard and possibly the CPU. Additionally I've gotten sucked into Total Warhammer, which apparently benefits a lot from an SSD, and my steam backlog is such that I could use a bit more storage space anyway. I've done my homework on how to replace a motherboard, so that doesn't scare me, but I'd like some help, well, as the title says, putting my shopping list together.

For starters, I'm not sure which should be my first priority, and for seconds... Well, it's been a long time since I shopped around for computer parts, and I'm more than a little rusty on what to pay attention to. My price range is flexible, but ideally I'm looking for not more than £150 per part.

If that Windows is an OEM, replacing the mobo means replacing the OS. At which point it kinda makes little sense upgrading, as you might want to try and sell the old computer whole (or hand it down within family or friends or retire it as a LAN server) and buy a new box without wasting your time learning about old hardware and comparing all the options. Upgrading old computer is a pain because of the learning curve and time consumption. There are so many stats, aged tests, obsolete benchmarks and old reviews to compare, and then adjust the comparisons to account for better or worse prices, special deals etc. that it really really pays more to just spend all that time generating additional income instead if you have that option. People don't normally think this way, but money is often easier made than saved and a bigger budget quickly solves a lot of questions that seemed so important and so difficult before. So, if you can, just take more hours at work or get a second job before you think about submerging yourself in the world of dated hardware — unless you've kept yourself up to date all that time since 2011. I learned this the hard way. I literally lost the opportunity to increase my budget by 50–60% this summer because I was too busy and tired catching up on old tech when opportunity came. Ugh.

If that Windows is a box, though, then you're quite fortunate in how landing a good deal on just about any pre-Skylake (not first-gen but second and up) i7 or top-end i5 plus mobo plus cooler could give you a lot more power for very little money. Those CPUs aren't that much weaker than modern Skylakes. However, for the same reason they often aren't much cheaper either. So if you don't want to wait, or waste time actively seeking and pondering, and if you don't want to OC then it's probably better to just get a cheap Skylake (or even Kaby Lake) + mobo, although that also means DDR4. But if you're more of a tinkerer limited by a budget, then it might better to get an older unlocked Intel and make it sing.

Upgrading your GPU without upgrading the CPU wouldn't make much sense — chances are your CPU is already bottlenecking your GPU, so while there would still be some gain from a stronger card, the returns would be drastically diminished. Like you said, your card is still a good performer for slightly older games anyway. The CPU is much higher priority if upgrading rather than replacing that computer.

Bottom line, I'd start checking out auctions for good deals on used i5s and i7s (used Skylake i3's will be probably be popping up soon) with an open mind. Not set on anything specific, just keeping an eye out for the best fps per dollar. Special emphasis on combined mobo + CPU deals, especially mobo + unlocked CPU + strong cooler (unless you already have one with alternative mounting for Intel's 115–).

If you stay with DDR 3 (i.e. replace the CPU and mobo and that's it), then perhaps grab another 8 GB for 16 total, but this is not a high priority. Obviously don't buy any more DDR3 RAM if you don't rule out switching to DDR4 in foreseeable future.

Also, get an SSD. If you don't feel comfortable spending the money on a new 500GB SATA SSD, then get a used one, whatever's the best bargain. But since you'd need to check out transfer rates very carefully (no sub-500 values, unless it's like 560/490) and avoid the oldest SSDs because of their durability issues, it would still be more practical to just increase your budget a little and avoid the hassle by getting something more modern and larger. No need to subject yourself to a 64GB sysdrive unless for some morbid reason you actually enjoy that sort of thing. New 250's aren't all that expensive any more, and there are already used 500's in the market.

 

[Imrix]

If that Windows is an OEM, replacing the mobo means replacing the OS. At which point it kinda makes little sense upgrading, as you might want to try and sell the old computer whole (or hand it down within family or friends or retire it as a LAN server) and buy a new box without wasting your time learning about old hardware and comparing all the options. Upgrading old computer is a pain because of the learning curve and time consumption. There are so many stats, aged tests, obsolete benchmarks and old reviews to compare, and then adjust the comparisons to account for better or worse prices, special deals etc. that it really really pays more to just spend all that time generating additional income instead if you have that option. People don't normally think this way, but money is often easier made than saved and a bigger budget quickly solves a lot of questions that seemed so important and so difficult before. So, if you can, just take more hours at work or get a second job before you think about submerging yourself in the world of dated hardware — unless you've kept yourself up to date all that time since 2011. I learned this the hard way. I literally lost the opportunity to increase my budget by 50–60% this summer because I was too busy and tired catching up on old tech when opportunity came. Ugh.

If that Windows is a box, though, then you're quite fortunate in how landing a good deal on just about any pre-Skylake (not first-gen but second and up) i7 or top-end i5 plus mobo plus cooler could give you a lot more power for very little money. Those CPUs aren't that much weaker than modern Skylakes. However, for the same reason they often aren't much cheaper either. So if you don't want to wait, or waste time actively seeking and pondering, and if you don't want to OC then it's probably better to just get a cheap Skylake (or even Kaby Lake) + mobo, although that also means DDR4. But if you're more of a tinkerer limited by a budget, then it might better to get an older unlocked Intel and make it sing.

Upgrading your GPU without upgrading the CPU wouldn't make much sense — chances are your CPU is already bottlenecking your GPU, so while there would still be some gain from a stronger card, the returns would be drastically diminished. Like you said, your card is still a good performer for slightly older games anyway. The CPU is much higher priority if upgrading rather than replacing that computer.

Bottom line, I'd start checking out auctions for good deals on used i5s and i7s (used Skylake i3's will be probably be popping up soon) with an open mind. Not set on anything specific, just keeping an eye out for the best fps per dollar. Special emphasis on combined mobo + CPU deals, especially mobo + unlocked CPU + strong cooler (unless you already have one with alternative mounting for Intel's 115–).

If you stay with DDR 3 (i.e. replace the CPU and mobo and that's it), then perhaps grab another 8 GB for 16 total, but this is not a high priority. Obviously don't buy any more DDR3 RAM if you don't rule out switching to DDR4 in foreseeable future.

Also, get an SSD. If you don't feel comfortable spending the money on a new 500GB SATA SSD, then get a used one, whatever's the best bargain. But since you'd need to check out transfer rates very carefully (no sub-500 values, unless it's like 560/490) and avoid the oldest SSDs because of their durability issues, it would still be more practical to just increase your budget a little and avoid the hassle by getting something more modern and larger. No need to subject yourself to a 64GB sysdrive unless for some morbid reason you actually enjoy that sort of thing. New 250's aren't all that expensive any more, and there are already used 500's in the market.

I honestly don't know if it's an OEM. When I linked to the P6740UK, that was the original one that I purchased. I was too new to the game to really put everything together myself, so I basically bought that, then ended up swapping out the graphics card and power supply, slotting in extra RAM, and eventually giving it a new fan, and I haven't upgraded it since. I suspect that makes it an OEM but, honestly, I had to look up the term - you'd know better than me.

The problem with replacing the computer wholesale is that this isn't a dedicated gaming rig. I work from home in an online business, which means I need the machine to be reliably accessible throughout the working week. I can swap out parts and iron out OS problems over an afternoon or a weekend and recoup part of my investment afterwards by selling replaced parts, but selling the computer outright to help fund a later upgrade would take too long. It's not a workable option.

That in mind, my current plan is to get this core, this mobo, and this RAM, see how that runs as stage 1, then look into an SSD. Maybe this.

That said, I'd forgotten about auction sites. You're right, they're a good option to keep an eye on, but I only really know eBay, so if you have any recommendations for sites to keep checking, I'd appreciate it.