PC - Components Upgrade - Advice Required!

J

Jacob Hobbs

Member
Hi All,

I am looking to upgrade my old "gaming" computer to bring it somewhat up to date to be able to handle games, looking to gift to a family member. It was built by PC Specialist in 2017 but looking to install/upgrade everything myself.

It doesn't have to be able to be a beast just something that can handle games and run comfortably. I'll be breaking down what I will be reusing from my previous build and if I am looking to replace. Please feel free to make comment if you think I should be replacing a certain part even if its not down to be replaced. By no means a experience builder.

COMPONENTCURRENT BUILDNEW BUILD
CPUIntel® Core™i5 Six Core Processor i5-8600K (3.6GHz) 9MB CacheKeep same
CPU CoolerCorsair H55 Hydro Series High Performance CPU CoolerKeep same
MotherboardASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBsKeep same
Memory16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 8GB)
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory
Storage2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHEKeep same plus installation of
1TB M.2-2280 NVME SSD (Windows to be installed to)
GPUNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GBKeep same
CaseInWIN GT1 BLACK GAMING CASECorsair Carbide Series 275R ATX Mid Tower Case
Power SupplyCORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLYKeep same
Wireless Network CardWIRELESS 802.11 AC1900 1,300Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
Keep same​

Please let me know your thoughts and whether or not I will run into issues that I am unaware of. Looking to spend under £300.

TIA.

Jacob
 
J

Jacob Hobbs

Member
Sorry I dont think you understand, its going to be gift for someone else. I already have a much better gaming setup. Just wanted some advice on a “moderate” build.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hiya,

Will they be pairing it with a 1080p monitor? 1080p 144Hz would be very achievable with the GTX 1070.

If it were me, personally I'd want to up the cooler as well, wasn't a fan of anything under the H80i in the longer term, although that may well be a preference thing.

Regarding the M2 drive, any ideas on make and model? My preference would always be with Samsung Evo's. Remember though, that's a PCIe 3 board, so won't benefit from the newer PCIe 4 SSD's. A Samsung 980 Evo would be a winner IMHO, and you can find them really good prices nowadays, there's currently a crazy deal going on on Amazon for 1TB PCIe 3 @ £85!


Case looks decent:
 
J

Jacob Hobbs

Member
Really appreciate your comments. As you can see this build is quite old, was hoping to upgrade and give to my dad to get him back into the RTS gaming!

Would you recommend getting a newer (budget friendly) motherboard that supports PCIe 4? I was looking at the Samsung Evos so thats probably what I will go with. Please let me know what you would recommend for a cooler as well as you are not the first to mention how bad the current one is.

As I mentioned in the post this will be my first real time of "building" a PC from scratch. If I did keep the motherboard is it worth re-applying thermal paste to the CPU? If I replace the motherboard I guess I will have to do it anyway!

I did also need some help with my own PC build as I am looking to upgrade that slightly. I currently have one M.2 SSD in my motherboard (ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING). Its a PC Specialist own brand one I believe, which is 512GB. I was looking to install another M.2 SSD however I have noticed that my motherboard only has one PCIe 4 slot, the remaining is PCIe 3. Is this correct? Therefore would have to get a PCIe 3 M.2 like the one you linked. Its purely to load games from thats all.

Full build below.

Case CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
MotherboardASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics CardGTX 1070 (Donated to the gifted build - This will be replaced shortly with either a 3070 Ti or 3080 Ti)
1st Storage Drive2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY DriveNOT REQUIRED
Power SupplyCORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor CoolingCorsair H100i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Jacob Hobbs said:
Would you recommend getting a newer (budget friendly) motherboard that supports PCIe 4? I was looking at the Samsung Evos so thats probably what I will go with. Please let me know what you would recommend for a cooler as well as you are not the first to mention how bad the current one is.
Click to expand...
Motherboards fit the CPU socket, so if you upgrade the motherboard, you have to upgrade the CPU and the RAM, etc etc, it's basically a platform upgrade.
Jacob Hobbs said:
If I did keep the motherboard is it worth re-applying thermal paste to the CPU? If I replace the motherboard I guess I will have to do it anyway!
Click to expand...
Any time the cooler is moved, you have to reapply thermal paste.

Jacob Hobbs said:
Please let me know what you would recommend for a cooler as well as you are not the first to mention how bad the current one is.
Click to expand...
I would suggest a minimum of H80i, but preferably an H100i.

Jacob Hobbs said:
I did also need some help with my own PC build as I am looking to upgrade that slightly. I currently have one M.2 SSD in my motherboard (ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING). Its a PC Specialist own brand one I believe, which is 512GB. I was looking to install another M.2 SSD however I have noticed that my motherboard only has one PCIe 4 slot, the remaining is PCIe 3. Is this correct? Therefore would have to get a PCIe 3 M.2 like the one you linked. Its purely to load games from thats all.
Click to expand...
Probably worth opening a separate thread on that otherwise it's going to get confusing between systems.
 
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