I recently put together a cheap machine for myself (a few months ago) it cost me next to nothing with spare parts from work. Tax time has come about and I feel like I need to upgrade it. Need is a strong word but for the love of tech I cannot help myself, my question is though, what should I upgrade?
So far the problems I have are with the motherboard, RAM and cooling, I cannot for the life of me get the B75M-D3H stable under Windows 10 so have to run Windows 7, the RAM is only 8GB (I would prefer 16) and a single stick/channel, the CPU fan is EXTREMELY noisy when the system is under load or even gaming load, big fights in Overwatch etc. Oh and the motherboard doesn't support RAID which is a bother with my storage as I intended to mirror my larger disks.
The full system specs are:
Core i7 2600, with some loud cooler pulled from a HP machine. 8GB DDRIII 1600MHz (@ 1333MHz, single channel) Gigabyte B75M-D3H Crucial BX200 480GB SSD 2x WD 3TB Reds (no RAID support, have to run as two standard drives, fail) 1x 3TB External for secondary backup. Misc Gamemax mATX case, with no CPU cut out, making it hard to change cooler now.. Seasonic 750W Gold Modular PSU EVGA GTX 980 4GB AOC 24" 1ms 75Hz Gaming Monitor CoolerMaster Master Keys Lite Gaming Keyboard & Mouse Razer Goliathus Large SteelSeries Siberia 200 Headset. Logitech Z623 2.1 Speakers
The GTX 980 seems to run everything at 1080p 75fps / 75Hz so I think it is fine and with current GPU prices thanks to mining, I don't think this is a good time to be changing GPUs.
My question is, if this was you what would you be upgrading? I can spend up to $1500 AUD but would prefer to keep it to $1000 or under.
The machine is used mostly for competitive gaming, some virtualization and is getting me through my Server 2012 MCSA.
Get a 212 Evo... Some 17-18$ depending on where you get it from. Cools better and it's way quieter than any intel box cooler... If you have issues with the ram, just buy new ram... Or second hand. Ram is not really something, that can break easily. Mostly it's a compatibility issues etc... So if you want to be 100% sure get a ram sticks, that are in your mem support list.
Now, if that was my machine - I would not upgrade it. I would just get a replacement cooler for the box and if the memory is causing issues I may simply replace it with other brand or something.
Yes, a Ryzen 1600 or 7600K may give you better framerates, yet I don't think it's worth it, since you will have to get new CPU, Board and ram as well... For gaming it's fine. For the other tasks - I have no idea what their requirements are.
It's the motherboard that I am having issues with, I cannot get that board stable under Windows 10, the CPU and RAM used elsewhere is fine, but for me when paired with this motherboard I can only run Windows 7 stable.
Also, the motherboard doesn't support RAID, ideally I would like to mirror my two 3TB drives as I will never use 6TB's and prefer the redundancy.
The upgrade pathways that I have been looking at are:
Pathway 1: Buy another 8GB of matching RAM to have 16GB, and continue running Windows 7. Buy another CPU cooler, disassemble the machine, install it and have a quieter computer. Forget about running RAID and just have two 3TB drives and potentially develop a porn addiction to use the storage.
Pathway 2: Keep everything except the CPU, motherboard and RAM. Buy a Ryzen 1700/1700x and mATX motherboard with a new 16GB kit of RAM. Install it and be done. Maybe even change cases so that I can have some quieter 120mm fans instead of the one 92mm intake/exhaust.
I'm curious if other people could throw out some other ideas as well in case there is a better way of doing it.
Its not really a bad system basiclly. So in that regards not really much that i see to upgrade.
On the otherhand if you have $1000,- to spend on upgrades. Then you could easally buy something like a Ryzen 1600 (X), with a midrange X370 board, and 2x8GB DDR4 ram. Then there would even be money left for a GTX1070.
You could also go with a Ryzen 1700 (X). However if the main thing you do is gaming, then there wont be much of a difference between a 1600X or a 1700X.
Thanks, it's $1000 Australian Dollars, and GTX 1070s are horrendously expensive over here at the moment thanks to mining, but that is a very good point! The extra cores/threads of the 1700 were good for the virtualization that I do on a VERY rare occasion, so it's not a deal breaker.
I might piece together a parts list and see what you guys think.
Are people still running Windows 7 and getting by? I can't even run TimeSpy to bench my system as it requires Winodws 10 and I believe Windows 7 doesn't support DX12?
So what would your thoughts be on this for an upgrade?
To me it should improve performance, give me Windows 10 support again and improve cooling.
Is it safe to presume that a Ryzen 5 1600X with a modest overclock would be a performance upgrade over my i7 2600 in all tests, including single core performance?
That's a good system you have there. If I wasnt already on Haswell, I'd be just as content with your rig..
For shits and giggles, maybe try simulating a better airflow scenario(box fan pointed at motherboard) while in windows 10? Poor case airflow can be the cause of instability when it comes to motherboards.
You can set up mirroring in W7 via Disk Management; although ReFS is the way to go for W8+ systems.
Ditched it late last year, and am contemplating going back /or dumping windows alltogether..
W10 has its optimizations, but I really hate dealing with all the software nannys it forces on you. Not to mention, DX12 in its current state offers 0 benefits over DX11(besides, the only games exclusive with DX12 are M$ titles; Vulkan has a real shot going forward)..
My living room PC is running w8.1. With classicShell, I find it offers a more pleasant experience than w7(subtle UI optimizations, and such). I might end up downgrading my main rig to 8.1 if W10 continues to grief me after the following major release.
Holy hell, that's ludicrously expensive for what you're getting. If I were paying that, I'd try my damnedest to stretch out what you currently have, atleast until Ryzen 2.0
What competitive online game and any other games? If you just eat and breath one and only one E-sport title and single thread rating is everything then I would say the I3 7350K overclocked from 4.5 to 5 ghz on a good board. I just don't see ryzen as having a good enough single thread performance over your current cpu.
Ryzen is clearly a superior choice for most gamers because more cores are just the future of AAA titles IMHO and price. The top 5% of CSGO or (fill in the blank) players I would recommended the overclockable I3.
I HATE that my daughters case has no cpu cutout. Thats why she has a T2 and the Hyper 212 is in a box somewhere.
24" Monotor from AOC.........dude this seriously need and upgrade:)
I couldn't truly answer this question having little experience with intel based systems. Especially since I use my rig for gaming/streaming/general use. That being said, if you're keeping your GPU, K+M, monitor, case and other peripherals, and HDD's I'd just spring for a new platform in general that was within my budget. As probably has been stated in the thread (if not its all over forums and YT vids) the time to upgrade is when the rig you have isn't doing what you want it to do.
I also play AAA titles when I have time but being a father of two, working full time and studying normally I only have the time to play Overwatch / QuakeLive etc.
On weekends however I have been able to play newer, more demanding titles.
My main issue with keeping my CPU/MOBO/RAM is the fact I cannot get it to run stable with Windows 10 and all temps are in check, also my 1600MHz memory is being down clocked to 1333MHz thanks to the i7 2600 (non-k).
When making decisions like this, ask yourself: "Does my computer feel slow? Do I feel like my machine is holding me back in some way?". And this shouldn't necessarily be asked with a glancing look at the shiny new machines with Ryzen 7s and Skylake-Xs. Imo, if your machine is performing just fine and your hardware isn't hampering your experience or workflow, I don't think there's any need to upgrade.
I'm on a 2600K, and for what I do (which isn't a lot) it's completely fine. My builds have never been about getting the greatest performance on planet earth. As much as I like to drool over Ryzen, Skylake-X and 1080Tis, for what I do, a 2600K with a 7970 or equivalent is more than enough for basically anything I could ever want to do. The R9 Nano I have right now maxes out every game I ever play, at 1440p with no problems.
I tried going to Skylake once. It was a stupid thing to do, because I went to an i3, but even disregarding that, I neither saw nor felt any noticeable advantage from having gone to what was a much more current platform at the time.
OK, if the system is stable on some other OS ... it is not a hardware issue. Just for shits and giggles you could stress test it a bit with mamtest86, Aida, Realbench, Prime, Furmark and so on. Other than that you could disable powersaving stuff in the bios and see if that helps.
If you don't want to trouble shoot and rather invest in something new, here is what I would do: get the cheapest modular seasonic PSU you can find and switch that one with the 750W. That way you don't even have to touch the cabling. Get the 980 out and stuff a RX550 in there. Also rip out all the drives you want to use in your new system. At this point your old system is a dedicated linux machine and you have the best parts from your old rig free to use. Now build a Ryzen machine.
With your schedule yea I understand now, Dad with 16 yr old dau here. When you have time to game you want it to work right now.
Here in the states monitors are best bought during the Christmas shopping season so yea I would say go for the cpu,ram,mb,cpu cooler upgrade. There are just so many really really good choices, a good KabyLake I5 is hard to beat. Ryzen is better bang for the buck. The new hyperthreaded Pentium G is so good and so cheap (but going up) it is scary It is hard to say "so and so" is the best cause local sales and combo deals and such.
Treasure every moment during the "cute years".......once the teen years hit the Daddy worship comes to a screeching halt!
Thank you for the advice on both fronts, two boys here, one 4 and the other 2.
I also want it to work when I have spare time, because I am a technician by trade, the last thing I want to do when the boys finally go to sleep and I get an hour spare is keep troubleshooting my own, old, computer.
It's looking like a motherboard, CPU and RAM swap is on the cards. Then ill install Windows 10, get my DX12 compatibility back and be able to game and benchmark without any issues.
Thank you everyone for the advice, keep it coming if you have anything else to suggest.
Really depends on the said workloads. But basiclly yes its an improvement, also in single core tasks. Because your current sandy bridge setup cannot really overclock. Wenn it comes to productivity workloads its going to be a significant stepup in allot tasks. Wenn it comes to gaming with your current gpu, it really depends on the said game.
