GPU updgrade

Havoc

Member
Good Afternoon All...

I hope you can advise.

My friend is looking to upgrade her GPU but being unsure of what could be upgraded based on her current setup vs what may also need upgrading to accommodate I thought it best to ask the experts.

Current setup is ....

Motherboard: Asus Prime A320M-K
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GTX 1660 Super 6GB
Ram: Corsair 3200 16GB (2x 8GB)
Monitor: MSI Optix G24 C4

Ideally she would just like to do the GPU to whatever this will accept best case due to due to cost restrictions, but I appreciate this may be impossible with the current setup, so any advice on what else would be a good next step without upgrading the whole setup would be appreciated. It is used to stream as well as gaming and some video editing and is mainly used for high FPS games.

As always I appreciate your assistance with this
 

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
Hi, is this a PC Specialist machine? If so do you have (or can you get) the full specs of the machine from your friends order page?
 

Havoc

Member
Hi, is this a PC Specialist machine? If so do you have (or can you get) the full specs of the machine from your friends order page?
I'll try. It is a PC Specialist machine but it's around a year or so old now and I'm not sure if she has the details anymore.

I'll check anyway
 

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
I'll try. It is a PC Specialist machine but it's around a year or so old now and I'm not sure if she has the details anymore.

I'll check anyway
Details will be in her online account if she logs into the main PCS website (with the email she used when placing her order) the details will still be there. Will be helpful to have the whole picture before recommending upgrades is all.

(FYI Details of my orders from 10 year ago are still on there :) )
 

Alltruism

Bronze Level Poster
One of the reviews mentions it has a 450w PSU - if that's right it will limit the GPU upgrade options quite a bit unfortunately
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
I would contact PCS directly, either via Email or Chat, and ask which PSU was offered in that model. I'm not actually sure what it was but I would be surprised if it was anything over 500W.
 

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR

Havoc

Member
Thank you guys, we've got the spec sheet back....

CasePCS SPECTRUM RGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
MotherboardGIGABYTE GA-A320M-S2H V2: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.2 Gen 1, 6GB/s
Memory (RAM)8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 4GB) ****Has now been upgraded to 16GB (2x 8GB) ***
Graphics Card6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY DriveNOT REQUIRED
Power SupplyCORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor CoolingPCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal PasteSTANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound CardONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network CardWIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt OptionsMIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating SystemWindows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System LanguageUnited Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery MediaWindows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office SoftwareFREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-VirusBullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
BrowserMicrosoft® Edge
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
I don't think that sort of system is really worth upgrading to be honest. It's on a really poor platform to begin with and the PSU doesn't cover any meaningful upgrade.

I genuinely wouldn't recommend a GPU upgrade as I would never have a 450w CV near a gaming system in the first place. I wouldn't want to advise on the GPU only for it to cause issues with the PSU.

If your friend wanted to, she could upgrade the GPU & the PSU at the same time (650w+ would be a better starting point, but the 750/850w RMx would be advised, which is £130 ish on its own). For the GPU it would depend on the monitor, if it's 1080p then she could have a look out for a 2060 Super, this would be a nice candidate for high end 1080p. Unfortunately, sooner or later, she will end up CPU bound. The 3600 was a decent offering when it came out but it's being significantly out-shone now. Unfortunately the A series motherboard in the system doesn't really offer a lot of potential on the CPU upgrade front.

As you can no doubt gather from the above, by the time we got the system to a spec I would want, I would have replaced most of the system.

Case, Motherboard, RAM (original), M2 drive, PSU and cooler would all be getting purchased......... just to allow for a CPU & GPU upgrade.
 

Havoc

Member
I don't think that sort of system is really worth upgrading to be honest. It's on a really poor platform to begin with and the PSU doesn't cover any meaningful upgrade.

I genuinely wouldn't recommend a GPU upgrade as I would never have a 450w CV near a gaming system in the first place. I wouldn't want to advise on the GPU only for it to cause issues with the PSU.

If your friend wanted to, she could upgrade the GPU & the PSU at the same time (650w+ would be a better starting point, but the 750/850w RMx would be advised, which is £130 ish on its own). For the GPU it would depend on the monitor, if it's 1080p then she could have a look out for a 2060 Super, this would be a nice candidate for high end 1080p. Unfortunately, sooner or later, she will end up CPU bound. The 3600 was a decent offering when it came out but it's being significantly out-shone now. Unfortunately the A series motherboard in the system doesn't really offer a lot of potential on the CPU upgrade front.

As you can no doubt gather from the above, by the time we got the system to a spec I would want, I would have replaced most of the system.

Case, Motherboard, RAM (original), M2 drive, PSU and cooler would all be getting purchased......... just to allow for a CPU & GPU upgrade.
Thanks for the response. In fairness I did think the motherboard may have its limitations which is why I thought I'd check here with people who actually know and as you suggest, everything else will need similar upgrades to get to something useful.

Really appreciate everyone's help with this
 
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