[OnlineCape]

So I have an old computer lying in the basement, and I want to upgrade it to a decent low/mid end gaming PC. I have a few ideas on what I can do to make it better, but I'm no component expert, so I thought I would ask over here. The current specs over on the machine is -

Intel 2.9 GHz LGA 1155 G2020 Processor
Gigabyte ga h61m ds2 Mobo
500W non branded PSU 
4Gb RAM
No graphics card
2x 1TB HDD's
Windows 8.1

 

Now, I want to ask whether I should just upgrade the GPU and PSU for right now, to an 770/280x along with the ram, and upgrading the CPU/Mobo combo after a few months, as I am on a pretty tight budget. Or should I just upgrade all the components, with scaling down the GPU to a 265x/750Ti?

 

Thanks!

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  OnlineCape

 

Having looked at the present MB specs I noticed that the maximum speed of  Ram that it will accept is 1333MHz, with this in mind upgrading the PSU and adding a video card would be ok for now but I would not upgrade the Ram to 8GB until the MB and CPU are upgraded this will also allow you to upgrade to a minimum of 1600MHz Ram and so avoid bottlenecking the potentially faster new CPU and GPU.

 

Can I ask what type of Windows 8.1 disk you have as in OEM, downloaded ISO or a full retail disk and is it the 32 or 64-bit version.

[phillpower2]

  OnlineCape

 

Having looked at the present MB specs I noticed that the maximum speed of  Ram that it will accept is 1333MHz, with this in mind upgrading the PSU and adding a video card would be ok for now but I would not upgrade the Ram to 8GB until the MB and CPU are upgraded this will also allow you to upgrade to a minimum of 1600MHz Ram and so avoid bottlenecking the potentially faster new CPU and GPU.

 

Can I ask what type of Windows 8.1 disk you have as in OEM, downloaded ISO or a full retail disk and is it the 32 or 64-bit version.

[OnlineCape]

Sorry, double post.

Edited by OnlineCape, 01 May 2014 - 10:13 AM.

[OnlineCape]

  OnlineCape

 

Having looked at the present MB specs I noticed that the maximum speed of  Ram that it will accept is 1333MHz, with this in mind upgrading the PSU and adding a video card would be ok for now but I would not upgrade the Ram to 8GB until the MB and CPU are upgraded this will also allow you to upgrade to a minimum of 1600MHz Ram and so avoid bottlenecking the potentially faster new CPU and GPU.

 

Can I ask what type of Windows 8.1 disk you have as in OEM, downloaded ISO or a full retail disk and is it the 32 or 64-bit version.

 

Thanks for the reply! 

 

So I would not get into any issues while adding an high end GPU with the current build for the next 2-3 months, until I upgrade the MB/CPU? And what capacity PSU should I go for my current build, with a GTX 770/280x? 

As for the Windows, mine was from the upgrade scheme they had going on when W8 dropped, and it is 64 bit.

[phillpower2]

Apologies for the delay OnlineCape, for some reason I did not get a notification of your reply    Thanks for the heads up iammykyl 

 

You should not have any issues but at the same time you will not get the full benefit of the cards true potential due to the speed of the present Ram, the CPU will not dent the performance as much but having a faster quad core processor will make a big difference.

 

The output requirement of the PSU cannot be determined until a firm decision has been made and the availability of the card has been confirmed by an order being placed, the R9 280x for example is available from many card producers and the power requirements from the various brands that I would recommend are very significant, the MSI version reportedly requires 500W and 38 amps on the +12V rail (source) however the Sapphire version requires 750W.

 

As for the Windows, mine was from the upgrade scheme they had going on when W8 dropped

 

If Windows 8.1 was obtained by way of a free online upgrade of the previous Windows 8 OEM and not by way of the purchase on disk of full retail or an unused Windows 8.1 OEM disk/product/key then you must purchase a new product key if you wish to continue to use the software when you purchase the new MB etc further down the line, Newegg explain the limitations better than I do, please see below;

 

There are two types of licenses for the OEM/System Builder Windows 8 product:

 

1. OEM

2. Personal Use

 

The product is the same for both, but upon installation, one of the two license must be accepted, depending on the use.

The OEM license allows the OEM to resell the PC.

The Personal Use license is for individuals who are building (and supporting) their own PCs.

Neither are transferable once on the PC, but the OEM license allows for transferring the entire PC to different users.

 

You are welcome btw 

[iammykyl]

Gday Phillpower2.

Still a glitch somewhere.

Looks like OnlineCape is not flagged as following the topic. 

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the heads up iammykyl 

 

I have sent OnlineCape a PM to see if they have received notification of either of our replies.

[OnlineCape]

Thanks for the heads up iammykyl 

 

I have sent OnlineCape a PM to see if they have received notification of either of our replies.

 

 

Gday Phillpower2.

Still a glitch somewhere.

Looks like OnlineCape is not flagged as following the topic. 

 

 

 

Apologies for the delay OnlineCape, for some reason I did not get a notification of your reply    Thanks for the heads up iammykyl 

 

You should not have any issues but at the same time you will not get the full benefit of the cards true potential due to the speed of the present Ram, the CPU will not dent the performance as much but having a faster quad core processor will make a big difference.

 

The output requirement of the PSU cannot be determined until a firm decision has been made and the availability of the card has been confirmed by an order being placed, the R9 280x for example is available from many card producers and the power requirements from the various brands that I would recommend are very significant, the MSI version reportedly requires 500W and 38 amps on the +12V rail (source) however the Sapphire version requires 750W.

 

As for the Windows, mine was from the upgrade scheme they had going on when W8 dropped

 

If Windows 8.1 was obtained by way of a free online upgrade of the previous Windows 8 OEM and not by way of the purchase on disk of full retail or an unused Windows 8.1 OEM disk/product/key then you must purchase a new product key if you wish to continue to use the software when you purchase the new MB etc further down the line, Newegg explain the limitations better than I do, please see below;

 

There are two types of licenses for the OEM/System Builder Windows 8 product:

 

1. OEM

2. Personal Use

 

The product is the same for both, but upon installation, one of the two license must be accepted, depending on the use.

The OEM license allows the OEM to resell the PC.

The Personal Use license is for individuals who are building (and supporting) their own PCs.

Neither are transferable once on the PC, but the OEM license allows for transferring the entire PC to different users.

 

You are welcome btw 

 

 

I thought that I had clicked on the follow button, atleast from my side, but it didn't register, or I overlooked it. I will be getting proper notifications from now on! Thanks, to both of you for taking your time to reply!

 

For the graphics cards, I have shortlisted the following three cards, 

 

http://www.amazon.co...s radeon r9 290

 

http://www.amazon.co...1&keywords=280x

 

http://www.theitdepo..._C45P18271.html

 

And while I know that these cards may be complete overkill  for my current build, and may not even support it properly, I want to be future proof, as I will be upgrading the Mobo/CPU combo in about 2-3 months. What are the power requirements for these cards, and do I need to set up proper cooling (i.e. A bigger case/Fans) if I put these in my system? Or am I really going overkill with this? I don't mind to scale down, so that I can upgrade all of my components in one go. I'll be mostly gaming on a 1080p display, which I may have two of in the future. And if I /do/ go with these cards, what changes do you suggest that I should do, right now, to give me a proper working PC, except for the Mobo/CPU combo. 

 

Phew, that is a lot of questions. Take your time when you reply. I am just really confused about what I should do. 

 

And about W8, I will look into the matter, as I have upgraded my Windows 7 licence to a W8 pro one.

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply, again! You guys are awesome.

[phillpower2]

As per my reply #5 OnlineCape;

 

 

You should not have any issues but at the same time you will not get the full benefit of the cards true potential due to the speed of the present Ram, the CPU will not dent the performance as much but having a faster quad core processor will make a big difference.

 

The output requirement of the PSU cannot be determined until a firm decision has been made and the availability of the card has been confirmed by an order being placed, the R9 280x for example is available from many card producers and the power requirements from the various brands that I would recommend are very significant, the MSI version reportedly requires 500W and 38 amps on the +12V rail (source) however the Sapphire version requires 750W.

 

As for the Windows, mine was from the upgrade scheme they had going on when W8 dropped

 

If Windows 8.1 was obtained by way of a free online upgrade of the previous Windows 8 OEM and not by way of the purchase on disk of full retail or an unused Windows 8.1 OEM disk/product/key then you must purchase a new product key if you wish to continue to use the software when you purchase the new MB etc further down the line, Newegg explain the limitations better than I do, please see below;

 

There are two types of licenses for the OEM/System Builder Windows 8 product:

 

1. OEM

2. Personal Use

 

The product is the same for both, but upon installation, one of the two license must be accepted, depending on the use.

The OEM license allows the OEM to resell the PC.

The Personal Use license is for individuals who are building (and supporting) their own PCs.

Neither are transferable once on the PC, but the OEM license allows for transferring the entire PC to different users.

 

You are welcome btw 

 

 

 

If I or anyone else were to say go ahead and purchase a GTX 770 or an R9 280x for your computer and you were less than impressed with the performance of the card would you be happy 

 

Based on the information provided, if you were to fit a high end video card and PSU now the present CPU will cope but not be the best, the Ram will hinder the performance but the OS will be legitimate, the aforementioned can and will be significantly changed should you upgrade the MB etc.

 

Two other considerations are the size of the present MB + the size/type of the case you have, the MB is the smaller micro ATX type and these are often used in SFF (small form factor) cases, both can cause problems with upgrading/adding an add on video card as the cards can be quite large and will take up two slots at the back of the case or they will not fit due to a Northbridge/Southbridge chip heatsink being in the way, your MB manual

 

Can you tell us what type of case you have as in full tower, mid tower or SFF.

 

Have you considered upgrading the MB, CPU and Ram now and the PSU and video card later, this would be the correct approach, it will cost you less now + you would not be trying to second guess what the required output of the PSU needed to be, I will add a list of suggested parts for you to look over.

 

OnlineCape list of parts.

The suggested MB and CPU would allow you to use the integrated graphics solution until you were able to add the add on video card and PSU.

Edited by phillpower2, 04 May 2014 - 06:00 AM.
Additional information & link added.

[OnlineCape]

As per my reply #5 OnlineCape;

 

 

You should not have any issues but at the same time you will not get the full benefit of the cards true potential due to the speed of the present Ram, the CPU will not dent the performance as much but having a faster quad core processor will make a big difference.

 

The output requirement of the PSU cannot be determined until a firm decision has been made and the availability of the card has been confirmed by an order being placed, the R9 280x for example is available from many card producers and the power requirements from the various brands that I would recommend are very significant, the MSI version reportedly requires 500W and 38 amps on the +12V rail (source) however the Sapphire version requires 750W.

 

As for the Windows, mine was from the upgrade scheme they had going on when W8 dropped

 

If Windows 8.1 was obtained by way of a free online upgrade of the previous Windows 8 OEM and not by way of the purchase on disk of full retail or an unused Windows 8.1 OEM disk/product/key then you must purchase a new product key if you wish to continue to use the software when you purchase the new MB etc further down the line, Newegg explain the limitations better than I do, please see below;

 

There are two types of licenses for the OEM/System Builder Windows 8 product:

 

1. OEM

2. Personal Use

 

The product is the same for both, but upon installation, one of the two license must be accepted, depending on the use.

The OEM license allows the OEM to resell the PC.

The Personal Use license is for individuals who are building (and supporting) their own PCs.

Neither are transferable once on the PC, but the OEM license allows for transferring the entire PC to different users.

 

You are welcome btw 

 

 

 

If I or anyone else were to say go ahead and purchase a GTX 770 or an R9 280x for your computer and you were less than impressed with the performance of the card would you be happy 

 

Based on the information provided, if you were to fit a high end video card and PSU now the present CPU will cope but not be the best, the Ram will hinder the performance but the OS will be legitimate, the aforementioned can and will be significantly changed should you upgrade the MB etc.

 

Two other considerations are the size of the present MB + the size/type of the case you have, the MB is the smaller micro ATX type and these are often used in SFF (small form factor) cases, both can cause problems with upgrading/adding an add on video card as the cards can be quite large and will take up two slots at the back of the case or they will not fit due to a Northbridge/Southbridge chip heatsink being in the way, your MB manual

 

Can you tell us what type of case you have as in full tower, mid tower or SFF.

 

Have you considered upgrading the MB, CPU and Ram now and the PSU and video card later, this would be the correct approach, it will cost you less now + you would not be trying to second guess what the required output of the PSU needed to be, I will add a list of suggested parts for you to look over.

 

OnlineCape list of parts.

The suggested MB and CPU would allow you to use the integrated graphics solution until you were able to add the add on video card and PSU.

 

So, a crazy thing happened! A close friend of mine, who knew that I wanted a PC, and was saving up for one, just went ahead and brought some parts for me. The specs of the components that I have now are - http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3DEYF

 

CPU - AMD FX 8350

 

Motherboard - ASUS M5A97 R2.0 

 

RAM - CORSAIR VENGEANCE 4GB X 2 DDR3 (1600 Mhz)

 

PSU - Seasonic S12II 620 Watts PSU

 

HDD - 1 TB WD Blue

 

So, these are the components that were gifted to me. And about the case, I have a Mid Tower NZXT Lexa S cabinet now, too. And about the windows 8 problem, I confirmed that I can put my license on a new PC, as it was not an upgrade, but rather a complete purchase. 

 

Again, thanks for taking your time and replying!

Edited by OnlineCape, 04 May 2014 - 07:11 AM.

[phillpower2]

You have a good friend there 

 

What video card are you planning on.

 

As ever, you are welcome 

[OnlineCape]

You have a good friend there 

 

What video card are you planning on.

 

As ever, you are welcome 

 

Haha, yeah! Must have been the constant moaning about the PC. I have literally been wanting this for a year now, and just now have just enough money to make a decent rig. Are the components fine for a mid/high end gaming PC? And for the graphics card, I still am thinking about the 280x/770. Which one would fit my wants better? I would be playing a really varied genre of games, but AAA titles will be my main focus. And now that I have some extra cash, I am thinking about splurging for another screen.

 

What do you think about the overall setup, with the 280x/770 added in it? PSU will be enough? Will it be compatible? 

[phillpower2]

The R9 280x is 384-bit and so will be able to provide excellent in depth video quality but the card depending on the brand is slower than the GTX 770 and you need to be mindful that some brands of the R9 as stated by Sapphire for example require a 750W PSU, this obviously rules out the 620W Seasonic PSU as being suitable, just shades it for me due to the lower power requirement + the 4GB of VRam evens things out a bit with R9s 384-bit as opposed to the GTX 770s 256-bit, EVGA GTX 770

[iammykyl]

Gday.

+1 for a GTX 770.

Info. Some reviews are for cards with 2GB of memory, with 4GB will give 2/4 more FPS but better performance for large or multi monitor displays.

In most Pro review I have read, the GTX 770 is slightly better thanthan the R280X and has much lower power requirements.

> http://www.hardwarez...tman-absolution

> http://www.pcadvisor...parison-review/

> http://www.tomshardw...ew,3519-28.html

> http://www.legitrevi...ard-review_2218

> http://www.anandtech...nd-msi-compared

 

The RAM purchased is 2 separate stick, not a 2 x 4GB kit. FYI.   Only RAM kits are guaranteed to be compatible and work together, single sticks are not.   This is not usually a problem but,  You should run Mentest86+ after the build to make sure there are not problems. 

> http://rog.asus.com/...g-motherboards/

[phillpower2]

Thanks iammykyl