12 year old system options

[AndyH86]

Long time lurker looking for a bit of advice. I’ve recently been thinking of getting back into gaming, mostly older games at the moment, e.g. GTA V, Asetto Corsa, Project Cars. Trying to do it without spending a lot.


MB: Asus P5QL Pro

CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9400

RAM: 4GB DDR2 800mhz

GPU: XFX HD4850 512MB

Storage: 500GB WD HDD

PSU: CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU


Options 1:

Spend ~£100 and upgrade existing setup with another 4GB RAM, HD7870 GPU (or similar) and a SSD


Option 2:

Spend a bit more (~£250?) and upgrade to approx. 5 year old parts, core I5-6500/Z170MB, 8gb ram, GPU (recommendations?) etc.


Option 3:

Or are both these options a waste of time and money and I should only be looking for something using newer components? Any suggestions for a good setup, happy to go second hand.


Would only be gaming at 1080p 60hz, don’t plan on purchasing a new monitor at the moment,unless I manage to get back in to it properly


Thanks for any advice.

 

[Sparx]

That rig has served it's time - as you highlight it's 12 years old! Done well... I would say it's throwing good money after bad, by even trying to do any kind of upgrades to it.

I'd try find a used rig... Even like an older AMD Ryzen 1600/1700/2600 CPU based build or Intel 8th gen, with a GPU like Nvidia 970 or AMD RX 570.

Going brand new, for a half decent 1080p budget build you could do it with about £570 as spec'd some recently. That was with a Ryzen 3100, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD, AMD RX 580 etc...

 

[Darey]

I recently went with option 2 as I had an old core duo 2 and upgraded to an i5, 8gb of ram and a 770gtx.
I suppose it depends what games you want to play and if you are bothered about how nice they look.

The kit I got was a big upgrade on what I had previous and runs the games I want to play, but am under no illusions that it will struggle on anything recent.

 

[AndyH86]

Thanks both for your comments, kinda what I was thinking, would be a waste of money for a small improvement on the current system. Would a modern SSD even offer an improvement on original SATA compared to the existing 7200rpm HDD?

Thanks for the pointers for what to look for in either a budget new build or a second hand system. I'll have a look around and see what's around out there. May hold off a bit before making the jump though.

I'm under no illusions that it would play anything modern at high settings but anything will be an improvement over current.

 

[mickyflinn]

An ssd is a massive improvement over an old hard drive and you could always reuse it in a new system. Loading times will be substantially quicker and system may feel quicker to respond.

Goggle ssd v hdd

 

[Quartz]

If you get a new GPU and SSD now you will be able to transfer them to a new system.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Crucial BX500 480GB SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive= £47.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER TUF OC 4096MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £169.99

Total: £227.88 (includes shipping: £9.90)​

​

 

[Sparx]

Yeah the system would feel much snappier and more responsive using an SSD over the HDD.

@Quartz suggestion is a good shout actually. The CPU will bottleneck it somewhat, but you'd still see a big improvement for gaming. That 1650 Super combined with an SSD on a fresh W10 install would work well I expect. Long as that PSU holds up, should be ok though.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

4gb of ddr2?

The full rig needs an upgrade. You could build a new rig for cheap.

3600 - £160
B450 motherboard - £100
16gb ddr 4 - £70
500gb ssd - £50
500w gold psu - £60
Case - £50 is enougg
Cpu cooler £30 is more than enough to run cool.

Get a 1650 super or rx 580

That psu could blow and so could the motherboard at any point.

So spending money on upgrades would be a complete waste.

 

[Rroff]

Just not worth throwing money at it - even a lower end rig with modern components will blow away any gains you can make on a system like that. (Unless you can find someone willing to part with a Q9550 or QX9xxx @ 4.5GHz and some OCZ Blade ULV RAM hah - even then it wouldn't be money well spent).

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Just not worth throwing money at it - even a lower end rig with modern components will blow away any gains you can make on a system like that. (Unless you can find someone willing to part with a Q9550 or QX9xxx @ 4.5GHz and some OCZ Blade ULV RAM hah - even then it wouldn't be money well spent).

You might be able to get those parts for buttons on ebay.

The problem is gta v requires a modern pc to run well. I doubt it would show any improvement in a game like that as he's using ddr2 at the end of the day and his pci express won't be able to handle a modern gpu either.

Upgrading the cpu and ram may help with multi tasking but not gaming.

It's literally an antique in the pc world. I can't even remember when I last saw ddr2 never mind used it.

 

[Rroff]

You might be able to get those parts for buttons on ebay.

The problem is gta v requires a modern pc to run well. I doubt it would show any improvement in a game like that as he's using ddr2 at the end of the day and his pci express won't be able to handle a modern gpu either.

Upgrading the cpu and ram may help with multi tasking but not gaming.

It's literally an antique in the pc world. I can't even remember when I last saw ddr2 never mind used it.

OCZ Blade (DDR2 variant) are DDR3 modules on a DDR2 DIMM and with the right motherboard (not all work at the frequencies required) and paired with the upper end Q9xxx or QX9xxx CPUs you get a pretty decent performance gain from it. However the money is still better spent on newer stuff.

(Mine were clocked at over 1300MHz - I can't remember exactly what now - which is around 70-75% RAM performance increase over standard 800MHz DDR2 - which did help a bit in games when paired with an overclocked Q9550).

 

[Psycho Sonny]

His motherboard or psu could give up at any moment. I'm amazed it hasn't already. I have had a psu die on me and it took the motherboard with it. That was before I started building my own pcs.

He may get some improvement. If money is an issue. He could get a decent second hand setup for a few hundred.

I sold a 2500k rig with a 1060 a couple of years back for £300 iirc. Clocked well too. It is a risk though buying second hand parts.

If I was that strapped for cash I'd buy a console.

 

[Darey]

I would have to agree with the above, you will struggle running GTA V on any core duo 2 setup so would be more inclined to replace the lot as just adding a new gfx card alone didn't do much for me so I got the i5, motherboard and ram from the members market for less than £100 and it runs really well now.

Only issue you have is you will probably need a new PSU and to make it worth while a ssd as well so a bit more expense.

 

[Journey]

If you can use google well enough, you could buy a Gigabyte B550 DS3H, 16GB DDR4 4000, and a Ryzen Pro 4650G for £280. The GPU inside the CPU is better than what you have, and the CPU itself is as fast/faster than a 3600/X, and you can add a graphics card when you get more cash.

 

[Quartz]

you will struggle running GTA V on any core duo 2 setup

He has a Core 2 Quad.

 

[Quartz]

Or are both these options a waste of time and money and I should only be looking for something using newer components?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x MSI B450M Mortar MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £99.95
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £169.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £59.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER TUF OC 4096MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £169.99
• 1 x Crucial BX500 480GB SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive= £47.99
• 1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh Micro-ATX Case - Black= £44.99
• 1 x Corsair CV Series CV450 450W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (CP-9020209-UK)= £46.99

Total: £651.59 (includes shipping: £11.70)​

​

 

[Blackjack Davy]

12 year old system is only fit for a museum don't waste any more money on that I'd be looking for used parts either a complete or preferably putting it together myself, I wouldn't chuck away the old until the new is fully tested up and running though.

 

[AndyH86]

Thanks for all the comments. I appreciate it is a very old system and it hasn't been used much in the last couple of years which may go towards the PSU not giving out just yet. Recently been trying to play on it due to having a bit more free time.

The money isn't necessarily the problem with not wanting to spend much, it's not wanting to waste it, if circumstances change again and then it just sits there again.

Thanks for the suggested builds, will keep an eye on things over the next fer weeks, those 4650G processors look interesting, as used prices don't seem that much lower than new. Guess lots of people have been having the same idea!!

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Thanks for all the comments. I appreciate it is a very old system and it hasn't been used much in the last couple of years which may go towards the PSU not giving out just yet. Recently been trying to play on it due to having a bit more free time.

The money isn't necessarily the problem with not wanting to spend much, it's not wanting to waste it, if circumstances change again and then it just sits there again.

Thanks for the suggested builds, will keep an eye on things over the next fer weeks, those 4650G processors look interesting, as used prices don't seem that much lower than new. Guess lots of people have been having the same idea!!

If you don't use something sell it.

I sold my ps4 Pro after I stopped playing it.

I sold a top end 50" plasma TV for £100 and another top end couple of years old 55" Sony for £300 before that.

The problem with today's society is they don't re use stuff or sell on stuff they don't use.

I have away 9 bin bags of designer clothing to a charity shop last week, sold a double ike wardrobe at the weekend and sold a double bed last week too.

It's literally a waste of money if it sits there. If you use it and then stop using it sell it whilst it's worth selling.

 

[AndyH86]

Time for a little update.

Having recently received a slightly bigger bonus from work I had thought again about building a budget PC again.

Was going to go for the spec (or similar depending on offers) suggested by Quartz but prices and availability have gone in the wrong direction by the looks of things. I have already purchased a 1TB WD Blue SSD (which has remarkably increased the boot time of the current setup) but doesn't make it play anything better. So have had a look around and have come up with two different spec, is one significantly better than the other, I know one is a 4-core/8-thread CPU and the other is 6/12, but prices are pretty similar for ones in stock. Is there anything that sticks out should be changed for increased performance?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh Micro-ATX Case - Black= £32.99
• 1 x MSI B450M Mortar MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £94.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Quad Core 3.9GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £109.99
• 1 x Corsair TX550M 550W 80 Plus Gold Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020133-UK)= £69.95
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £55.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER Twin Fan 4096MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £179.99

Total: £555.60 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​

or

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh Micro-ATX Case - Black= £32.99
• 1 x Corsair TX550M 550W 80 Plus Gold Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020133-UK)= £69.95
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £55.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER Twin Fan 4096MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £179.99
• 1 x MSI MAG B460M BAZOOKA (Socket LGA 1200) DDR4 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £99.95
• 1 x Intel Core i5-10400F 2.90GHz (Comet Lake) Socket LGA1200 Processor - Retail= £139.99

Total: £590.56 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​

Thanks for any guidance,