Possible upgrades for an older budget build?

[lightsunglasses]

I have a budget build that I've been using for several years but have been condsidering upgrades. Budget is extremely important so I may not upgrade everything.

I will be using this for gaming but as always; I never NEED ultra settings 60fps. Gaming graphics were never #1 priority for me but rather, playability.

Current build:

AMD Athlon II X4 620 quad processor
5GB RAM
AMD Radeon HD 5770 1GB
Biostar A770E3 motherboard
Olympia 650w PSU
Windows 7 x64

What would be the most beneficial upgrades? Maybe an upgrade to a SSD?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm thinking, for gaming, more RAM (8GB), a better GPU, and a mild OC to the CPU.

For productivity, an SSD.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I'm thinking, for gaming, more RAM (8GB), a better GPU, and a mild OC to the CPU.

For productivity, an SSD.

Basically.

What's the budget?

 

[lightsunglasses]

Budget is not currently set; but will be limited. This is more to get a general idea of what is possible to get a bit more performance out of my PC, especially for games.

What should take priority between the choices between an upgrade to the GPU or ram? But take into account an upgrade to the GPU would not mean I would buy a top of the line card.

 

[MongGrel]

Just curious a how anyone runs 5 GB of RAM to begin with, sounds out of synch.

I'd at least slap a small SSD in there for the OS.

As far as if gaming, 1GB of RAM on a GPU is really light.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is that a DDR2 or DDR3 mobo? DDR3 is relatively cheap nowadays, you might even consider 16GB ($70). For a GPU, maybe a used 7970 or 7950 for $100?

Edit: If it's a DDR2 mobo, try getting by with a GPU upgrade only, or consider a complete platform swap. (G3258 OC combo for $100-120, or a Skylake i3/i5.)

 

[fourdegrees11]

You can pick up a used Phenom II X4 955 cpu for around $60. You can get a 4gb R9 380 for $210 before rebate.

 

[lightsunglasses]

Motherboard supports up to 16GB of DDR3 1600.

I had 2GBx2 installed but had a spare 1GB stick so I thought I'd put it in as well. Motherboard has 4 slots for ram. Is it not recommended?

 

[Ken g6]

I had 2GBx2 installed but had a spare 1GB stick so I thought I'd put it in as well. Motherboard has 4 slots for ram. Is it not recommended?

Not pairing your sticks slows performance a little. Get at least 2x4 and pair it with your 2x2. Check your motherboard manual for the correct arrangement for dual-channel mode.

 

[lightsunglasses]

Would going from 5GB of ram to 12GB really make a substantial improvement in gaming performance?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Would going from 5GB of ram to 12GB really make a substantial improvement in gaming performance?

Depends on the game. If you're memory bottlenecked, it will. If you're not, it won't.

Generally speaking, it won't.

Your CPU and GPU are both pretty weak. (Like, around 2008 levels of performance.) And either one would probably be a pretty big bottleneck for any other upgrades you did, so short of a complete system replacement, I'm not enthusiastic.

The easiest/cheapest way is probably a used Radeon 270X on eBay - around $130, and way faster than the 5770. I'd also get an SSD, which won't help framerates, but will be a big boost to general usability. (You don't _just_ play games, right? You occasionally surf the internet or launch programs or something?)

If you wanted a platform (CPU/Mobo/RAM) upgrade, you'd be looking at, minimum, ~$210. (If your Athlon is heavily OC'd or if your workload is heavily multithreaded, you might not even see a huge difference unless you go with an i5. The i3 is faster regardless, but at a certain cost level, you want a difference that peels your ears back a bit.)

 

[sm625]

The 5GB of RAM is probably crippling your memory bandwidth. I would remove 1GB so you are left with a pair of identical DIMMS, and make sure they are running in dual channel mode. You can download passmark and run the memory tests on different configurations to see what difference it makes.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Only pick parts that will be moving to your next build.

Overclocked? What resolution screen?

SSD and a GPU will go a long way.

 

[LTC8K6]

The 5GB of RAM is probably crippling your memory bandwidth. I would remove 1GB so you are left with a pair of identical DIMMS, and make sure they are running in dual channel mode. You can download passmark and run the memory tests on different configurations to see what difference it makes.

IIRC, the difference between dual channel and single channel ram is only noticeable in benchmarks, as it's not much.

 

[MrTeal]

For a budget upgrade, I'd look at moving your OS to a small SSD (120GB would be fine), and pick up a cheap used 7950/7970 for around the $100 mark. That would do wonders for your gaming experience, and still give you a much snappier desktop.

 

[lightsunglasses]

I'm not ready to do a whole mobo/cpu upgrade at this moment as my pc is fine for my daily uses so far.

So I guess my next step will be to look for a small SSD and migrate my OS to it, possibly maybe 8GB of ram, and keep my eye out for a cheap GPU, 7950 or 7970 (the 3GB version, right?); any other GPU recommendations? I am a bit hesitant about buying used GPU's on eBay as I've even had bad luck in receiving a faulty new GPU in a physical retail store.

 

[lightsunglasses]

Screen resolution is 1600x900

 

[lightsunglasses]

I've noticed this card is at a reasonable price.

EVGA GeForce GT 610 2048MB GDDR3

Would this card be a worthwhile upgrade, or is it too small of a upgrade to be justifiable?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've noticed this card is at a reasonable price.

EVGA GeForce GT 610 2048MB GDDR3

Would this card be a worthwhile upgrade, or is it too small of a upgrade to be justifiable?

LOL. That's a downgrade. It's slower than the newest Intel integrated graphics.

Edit: You're not going to find a gaming-class card for under $100 new, that will beat your 5770. You either need to go used, or consider a cheap GTX 750ti, or R7 260X. Make sure to get a 2GB model.

 

[lightsunglasses]

LOL. That's a downgrade. It's slower than the newest Intel integrated graphics.

Edit: You're not going to find a gaming-class card for under $100 new, that will beat your 5770. You either need to go used, or consider a cheap GTX 750ti, or R7 260X. Make sure to get a 2GB model.

Ah thanks for the info, I'm not very up to date with GPUs as I haven't had to do any research on them in years.

 

[lightsunglasses]

The ASUS GeForce GTX 750Ti GDDR5 2GB is currently on sale for $100 after rebate. Is that a recommended card for this price?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The ASUS GeForce GTX 750Ti GDDR5 2GB is currently on sale for $100 after rebate. Is that a recommended card for this price?

Generally, yeah. There are other cards around the same price that might be slightly better performing, but the 750 is very low power. Great folder older/smaller PSUs.