Looking to upgrade my PC, have never messed with computer parts before...

[Shawn789155]

Hello there!

Thanks for stopping by... My name is Shawn and I have a PC that I would love to upgrade in preparation for several games coming out this fall (mainly BFV). I have had the computer for about 4ish years now, during which I have been able to play any game I want on pretty much max settings. However, recently I began playing Rainbow Six Siege and Battlefield 1 and have not been able to set graphics to max. This made me realize that it may be time to upgrade the old computer. As such, I would very much appreciate some advice / suggestions for upgrades, as I have never messed around with computer building before (got my built comp from a friend). Also, if there is some things/info that you wished you knew but didn't when you started your own journey of upgrading your own PC, please do share!

My computer specs, obtained from a program called Speccy:

Operating System
Windows 8.1 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 4670K @ 3.40GHz 30 °C
Haswell 22nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z87-A (SOCKET 1150) 28 °C
Graphics
S240HL (1920x1080@60Hz)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 (EVGA) 29 °C
Storage
223GB Seagate ST240HM000-1G5152 (SATA (SSD)) 24 °C
931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 (SATA ) 27 °C
Optical Drives
ASUS DRW-24B1ST i
Audio
High Definition Audio Device

I hope that is all I need to share to start this off. Please let me know what else I can share. My goals for upgrading my PC are:

1) play BFV on "High" or higher (depending on cost) settings
2) upgrade Windows to the current version
3) essentially continue to be able to play any game for the next few years I want on "Max" or "High" settings

Thank you and have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,

Shawn

 

[Danny75]

Hello Shawn,

Speccy (or any software) can't provide info on which PSU is installed. You could have a look inside. It should have at least 2 x PCIe power cables to run that GTX 770, so it ought to be capable of running plenty of newer graphics cards, if not all. Depending on how old the PSU and its quality, and also how expensive your next graphics card is, it might be wise to also replace the PSU.

The main thing to upgrade is graphics card, as 770s can't provide max graphics on such games at 1080p 60Hz. You shouldn't upgrade with anything less than a GTX 1060 6GB or RX 580 8GB. Obviously you'll need to make sure that its length does not exceed the max GPU length for your case, whichever it is.

A secondary issue is the 4670K with only four cores and no hyper-threading. You'll get smoother performance and sometimes more fps with a newer CPU (but that would mean having to buy DDR4 RAM and a new motherboard as well), especially in online multiplayer games, and it would also be better for any streaming that you might do. Or if only gaming and wanting to keep cost down, you could hunt for second-hand 4770K or 4790K chips (don't pay much more than £100 for one) and keep the board and the DDR3 RAM. Your motherboard is a Z type so it can overclock those K chips as long as you have a decent CPU cooler.

I would suggest upgrading the graphics card first and seeing how it goes with the 4670K and if you're happy with the smoothness, and check to see the CPU usage. If it's hitting near 100% much of the time, then consider a different CPU.

As for upgrading Windows, you can do that right away if you have a USB flash drive handy. You can download the Windows 10 ISO from the Microsoft website and follow the instructions. Recommend a clean install rather than upgrading over Windows 8 which means make sure anything you need to keep from your SSD is backed up. You can start using Win 10 but will need to find a key at some point (or purchase a USB/DVD with the key) and activate if you want to customize settings and get rid of the watermark which will appear after a month or so. I heard that free upgrades were still available even after the official end date but it's been a while now so not sure if there's still a way to upgrade (activate) for free.

Tip: Always unplug any additional drives when installing Windows. Ground yourself by touching a radiator or the PSU casing when messing about inside the case. If replacing CPU have thermal paste handy and watch videos to see what amount to use.

The 4770K/4790K + GTX 1060 6GB/RX 580 8GB upgrade could cost around £350. If you can spend more than that, then perhaps wait for the new graphics cards coming out in September hopefully. And if you can spend a lot more than that, then state an actual budget to consider new CPU, new RAM, new motherboard as well as GPU.

 

[orbitalwalsh]

as above ^^^

wait till intel 9th series cores come out to buy second hand I7 4***k as prices will drop, specially when new cores will feature double the core/thread count.
Next Gen cards will be coming out soon, ** 80 will be the first , FE edition for a bit and should have a knock on effect of higher costing cards. GTX 1060/1050Ti are listed still to much currently, but dont think they'll have the drop in price as much as they still sell in he highest volume . Fancy some power, wait till 1070/80 start flooding second hand market . Would allow you to splash out on a nice 144hz monitor

 

[VermilionChaos]

Might be worth, if you can find a good deal, upgrade that there RAM, 8GB is alright but 16GB now a days will be more than adequate for what you need with resources to spare. It's worth picking up an anti static band too, just to be more safe than you most likely already will be lol

 

[Randomface74]

Danny's post sums it up well if you're only considering upgrades, I'm happy to +1 that.

I'll offer another option:

I think you will need:
- new GPU
- new CPU

and may need:
- new PSU
- more RAM
- bigger SSD

So it begs the question - "at what point are you better off just buying a whole new PC".

I think you're really close to that point, but you'll have to make that judgement based on your personal circumstances.

 

[Shawn789155]

Hello everyone! Thanks for all the information so far, lots to digest.

I have a Corsair - RM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply. I have no idea what any of that means though... Does this need replacing, especially if I decide to upgrade the GPU to say something like 1060 or 1070, maybe even a 1080?

And I am not sure if I can upgrade the CPU, since that would require getting new RAM, motherboard, etc... The budget I had in mind is like $1000 bucks (£762.80 according to Google; also have no idea if this is low or high for custom computer upgrades). I've also thought about simply upgrading this PC a bit (like just RAM and GPU - I've actually ordered 8 GB more RAM identical to what I have now) and then saving a bunch and maybe building a complete new comp in a year or so... (is that normal? I thought one of the beauties of having your own built computer is being able to upgrade/exchange parts, but it seems the CPU restricts this with the RAM and motherboard requirements???).

Regarding overclocking, I have no idea what that is or how to go about doing that... my CPU cooler is a Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing. Could I overclock with that?

Finally, upgrading Windows... is upgrading from Windows 8 to 10 as simple as buying the product key and installing? I have been nervous of doing this having a custom built computer, wasn't sure if it would mess with anything? When you say make sure to have everything from my SSD backed up, does this simply mean any saved files on my computer that I want to keep should be put somewhere else temporarily (like a large USB drive or external hard drive)? Regarding unplugging drives, what do you mean by this? Like I have a Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive. Would I need to somehow uninstall this from the inside of the computer prior to upgrading Windows?

I apologize if my questions are really naive! Thank you all again for the information, I really appreciate all your guy's help!

Cheers,

Shawn

 

[Danny75]

Hello everyone! Thanks for all the information so far, lots to digest.

I have a Corsair - RM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply. I have no idea what any of that means though... Does this need replacing, especially if I decide to upgrade the GPU to say something like 1060 or 1070, maybe even a 1080?

Keep. Would even power a 1080Ti if you don't overclock or overclock much.

And I am not sure if I can upgrade the CPU, since that would require getting new RAM, motherboard, etc... The budget I had in mind is like $1000 bucks (£762.80 according to Google; also have no idea if this is low or high for custom computer upgrades). I've also thought about simply upgrading this PC a bit (like just RAM and GPU - I've actually ordered 8 GB more RAM identical to what I have now) and then saving a bunch and maybe building a complete new comp in a year or so... (is that normal? I thought one of the beauties of having your own built computer is being able to upgrade/exchange parts, but it seems the CPU restricts this with the RAM and motherboard requirements???).

DDR3 RAM won't work with new CPUs and motherboards. Unless you cancel that order, your CPU upgrade options are the 4770K/4790K as mentioned (second-hand). When it comes to the CPU upgrade options can be limited, yes.

If you do cancel that order, $1000 is a very nice sum for new CPU, 16GB DDR4 memory and motherboard and graphics card. I had a look at US prices and you can easily get (as an example):

Ryzen 5 2600X
Asus Rog Strix B450-F Gaming
G.Skill Trident Z 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz DDR4
EVGA FTW2 Gaming iCX GTX 1070

for $940 right now.

With current GPU prices falling you may even be able to squeeze a 1070Ti or 1080 in. But now I know your total budget I have to recommend waiting for the new graphics cards instead of buying any current model.

Regarding overclocking, I have no idea what that is or how to go about doing that... my CPU cooler is a Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing. Could I overclock with that?

Yes, a little or more depending on the chip. Some would be too hot for too much overclocking with that cooler, and some chips just don't overclock much anyway and would be fine. If you go with AMD Ryzen 5/7 you'd be fine. If you went with Intel 8600K/8700K you'd want something beefier for overclocking.

Finally, upgrading Windows... is upgrading from Windows 8 to 10 as simple as buying the product key and installing? I have been nervous of doing this having a custom built computer, wasn't sure if it would mess with anything? When you say make sure to have everything from my SSD backed up, does this simply mean any saved files on my computer that I want to keep should be put somewhere else temporarily (like a large USB drive or external hard drive)? Regarding unplugging drives, what do you mean by this? Like I have a Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive. Would I need to somehow uninstall this from the inside of the computer prior to upgrading Windows?

I apologize if my questions are really naive! Thank you all again for the information, I really appreciate all your guy's help!

No worries, all good questions for first time tinkerer.

You can save any files you wish to keep on your 1TB mechanical drive or whatever you prefer. Point is that when you install Windows on your SSD everything that was on the SSD will be lost. So yes that's what it simply means.

You need to physically unplug the two cables from your 1TB drive, yes, or just the data cable. There's another way of doing it (setting Disk Offline) but recommend you do it physically. Once Windows is installed, turn the computer off, and plug the cables into the 1TB drive again.

As for your question about upgrading Windows, I'll explain the process more thoroughly:

Go here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Download onto a USB flash drive stick, choosing the "Create installation media" option when prompted. Follow the instructions for that method. It will create an ISO on the USB stick. When it says it's completed, you turn the computer off, and unplug the 1TB drive's cables. Then you startup the computer, and see if you get the option to Boot from USB, if you do you choose it and the Windows install process will begin. If you don't get the option, then restart and enter the BIOS by pressing the Del key during startup (it may be another key for your motherboard, you'll need to check beforehand). Once in the BIOS, navigate to where you can select Boot Priority options and select the USB stick with Windows on it. Once Windows is installed, change Boot Priority back to SSD.

So you don't even need a key yet to start using Win 10. But when you decide to activate it, you can online purchase just a key alone, or a copy of Windows and use the key it comes with. The latter is more expensive but you may prefer to just buy the Windows 10 DVD* and use the DVD writer you have, and not have to create installation media etc.

* Or Windows 10 USB.

See here for more explanation: https://www.windowscentral.com/you-do-not-need-activate-windows-10

And watch this Paul's Hardware vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXTqz3Fd28M