New to PC Gaming - Can do with Advice

Associate
Joined
16 Aug 2020
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5
Hi all

I recently just bought a gaming PC off a friend that was passed down to him from his dad. I gave him £300 for it. Ill list the parts below as it was custom built;

Motherboard - Asrock FM2A88X Extreme 6+
Processor - AMD A10-7870K
Ram - Corsair Vengeance 16gb
Graphics Card - AMD Radeon R9 380
Corsair cooling system

The graphics on the monitor are abit speckly but I think thats down to it being an old monitor? Hooker it up to a TV and was a lot clearer so probably just need a new monitor.

My main questions are if anyone can help are;

1. Does this need upgrading anytime soon?
2. Would the motherboard be able to withstand the latest graphics cards or processors?
3. Any advice on what I should be looking at to improve this PC?
4. How should it fare if I loaded Warzone on to it?

Thanks for your time and appreciate any response.
 
Man of Honour
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The pc is old platform fm2 so your at the limit for the cpu.

The 380 Is not a bad gpu but anything more powerful will be serverly limited by the cpu.

An ssd hard drive can dramatically enhace a pc, quicker loading times and system feels snappier.

It mite play warzone at low settings but not sure.
 
Associate
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Sadly, I think you have been sold a bit of a pup. You could have put a brand new 3200g based box together, with better cpu performance, ddr4 ram, an ssd for a fair bit less than that, that you could have popped a graphic card and better cpu in down the line.

That is 6/7 year old tech you have bought.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
16 Aug 2020
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I can't unfortunately but I appreciate the honesty and good to know so thank you for your replies. The monitor is old so I have replaced that with a MSi Optix 31.5 inch quad HD to do me for hopefully a long time.

I will probably play the older games that I have not been able to play on PS4 for the mean time before upgrading the cpu like Micky suggests. I am not looking to get another console moving forward.

Thanks again for all your advice.
 
Soldato
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Does the system not have an SSD? If not get one, that will be a huge upgrade. But yeah unfortunately that wasn't worth £300 at all. :(

Also, you can't upgrade the CPU to anything meaningful - you'll need a new motherboard and RAM too... Hence the bad deal

P.S. Your monitor cost more than that whole system? :D
 
Associate
OP
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I have 2 ssds and 2 hhds but types I don't know. Loaded warzone and it is quick loading times and what not but like I said I'm new to all this haha. (2tb in one ssd and 1tb in another if that makes sense).

h100igtx corsair is the cooling system.

I know the monitor is more than whole system but I got the PC as I thought it was something to build from but obviously didn't do enough homework before hand! I don't want to buy something new which I then will be tempted to upgrade again a year or two down the line thats why i just got the monitor now .

But I agree Sparx, realise now I will have to upgrade pretty much every part sooner rather than later.

Is there a motherboard thats recent that I could still use this old graphics card or something at the same time so its not one large expense at once? Or will it literally be a new motherboard, cpu and graphics card at the same time?

The base is big, its the shape of a mini fridge instead of a tower so should be able to keep using that.
 
Associate
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You can feel slightly better that if that's the case, you have 1tb and 2tb SSDs and a Corsair H100 AIO, whoever built it put in some good peripheral components that can be taken to a new system.

You could get a new system and reuse that card, something like a B450 Tomahawk Max, 16GB DDR4 and a Ryzen 3300x.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-b450-tomahawk-max-socket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-33t-ms.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...hz-socket-am4-processor-retail-cp-3c0-am.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team...-3000mhz-dual-channel-kit-grey-my-0aa-tg.html

About 300 quid for that lot, but infinitely better than what you now have, you may need to get an AM4 bracket for the H100 but they're only a fiver.
 
Associate
OP
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Heaton thats brilliant, thanks for that. I will definitely be looking at that and possibly upgrade to that in the coming months. Not as expensive as I thought it might be.

Might be silly question but if I change the motherboard would the windows pro that came with it still be there once I've upgraded? Just as obviously I wasn't the original buyer of the system and don't want it to ask for any Serial Keys i will not have?
 
Associate
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Thank you Charlatan.

I have got more than I hoped so thanks everyone. I am sure ill be back looking for more guidance soon and will keep an eye on the stock for the 3300x. Thanks again.
 
Associate
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More than welcome mate. And Like I say, it's not all bad news as 2 high capacity SSDs and that Corsair AIO are nice things to have in a system. Plus, seems like you have a big case too. So any newer system you put in there will be able to breathe.

Some good parts to keep there.
 
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