Upgrading a PCS Tornado R3 (purchased 2018)

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DylBee

Bronze Level Poster
I brought my son this PC a few years ago (spec below) off the shelf from Currys and he's at the stage where he requires a bit more graphics power. He's currently running this with a 1080p 144Hz monitor (MSI OPTIX MAG241CPUK). He plays Fortnite, CS GO and occasional some of the older Black Ops games. I think he'd play more if he felt his spec could handle it.

Without having to upgrade anything else I'd been thinking that a 1650 super would be a nice little upgrade and maybe another 8gb of ram. Do we think this is possible, or should I look at a more comprehensive upgrade? Does anyone happen to know if you could send the unit back to PCS and ask them to upgrade to a given spec? I've not seen this listed on the site but I may have missed it.

Thanks all,
Dylan

Processor: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G Processor | Quad-core | 3.5 GHz / 3.7 GHz | 6 MB cache
RAM: 8 GB DDR4 (2133 MHz) | 32 GB maximum installable RAM
Storage: 1 TB HDD (7200 rpm)
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 | 2 GB DDR4 (2 GB VRAM)
Colour: Black
Operating System: Windows 10 (64-bit)
Dimensions: 492 x 210 x 433 mm (H x W x D)
Weight: 9.6 kg
SKU: PCS-D1350189
Connectivity• WiFi: Dual-band AC WiFi | 2x2 | Up to 300 Mbps
• Ethernet: Gigabit Ethernet port
• USB: USB 3.0 x 4 | USB 2.0 x 2
• Video connections: HDMI x 1 | DisplayPort x 1 | DVI x 1
• Audio connections: 3.5 mm jack
Features• Mouse / trackpad: No
• Keyboard: No
Performance• Processor: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G Processor | Quad-core | 3.5 GHz / 3.7 GHz | 6 MB cache
• RAM: 8 GB DDR4 (2133 MHz) | 32 GB maximum installable RAM
• Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 | 2 GB DDR4 (2 GB VRAM)
• Storage: 1 TB HDD (7200 rpm)
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Looking around online, it looks to me like the power supply is a 350W one. I'm going to guess the motherboard is an A320, but I can't be certain of that.

The power supply in particular will be a problem for you: 350W is probably not enough to run a 1650 Super. I'm not sure, but I reckon there's also a decent chance that that processor will also bottleneck a 1650 Super.

The ideal upgrade would be to go for 16GB of 3200MHz memory, an M.2 NVMe SSD (depending on what the motherboard actually is) and the 1650 Super, but my guess is that you would also need to upgrade the power supply as well. I'm not sure that would be a value-for-money upgrade, personally, given the limitations of the 2200G...
 
Bhuna50

Bhuna50

Author Level
When you bought the PC, did you register it with PCS directly to ensure that it had the warranty etc with it.

If you did, then you should now have a PCS account with the full specifications of that machine detailed in there along with an Upgrade button when you log in - this then lets you select areas of the machine you can upgrade so you will be able to see if under the Graphics card option if the one you want is available - if its not listed there then it is unlikely compatible with that build.

When you then select what you want to upgrade, there is an option on you fitting it yourself or you sending in the machine for PCS to fit it for you - it is quite easy to do yourself.

If, of course, as most people who buy from Currys dont do it, you havent registered with PCS, then give them a quick call (well actually it might not be quick due to wait times) and speak to them about where, when you bought the PC etc and they might still be able to register it to you on an account to let you get them to upgrade it.
 
D

DylBee

Bronze Level Poster
andjef796 said:
When you bought the PC, did you register it with PCS directly to ensure that it had the warranty etc with it.

If you did, then you should now have a PCS account with the full specifications of that machine detailed in there along with an Upgrade button when you log in - this then lets you select areas of the machine you can upgrade so you will be able to see if under the Graphics card option if the one you want is available - if its not listed there then it is unlikely compatible with that build.

When you then select what you want to upgrade, there is an option on you fitting it yourself or you sending in the machine for PCS to fit it for you - it is quite easy to do yourself.

If, of course, as most people who buy from Currys dont do it, you havent registered with PCS, then give them a quick call (well actually it might not be quick due to wait times) and speak to them about where, when you bought the PC etc and they might still be able to register it to you on an account to let you get them to upgrade it.
Click to expand...
thanks for the very helpful advice. I (of course) havent registered so will get in touch and see what help they can give me. Thanks again
 
jamiephillips909

jamiephillips909

Godlike
[Link removed]

Did a mock of your system says power requirement is 245w so with your 450w power supply should be fine to upgrade to a 1650 super tho I agree with above the ram could use a upgrade

Found out motherboard from another thread on forum then best tried to match what parts it may be

Personally with whats coming in future may be better to have a updated base build
 
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sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
jamiephillips909 said:
[Link removed]

Did a mock of your system says power requirement is 245w so with your 450w power supply should be fine to upgrade to a 1650 super tho I agree with above the ram could use a upgrade

Found out motherboard from another thread on forum then best tried to match what parts it may be

Personally with whats coming in future may be better to have a updated base build
Click to expand...
Can I check where you got 450W from? This Curry's listing suggests it's actually 350W, though perhaps that will be enough after all. 350W is quite close -- closer than is comfortable in my book...
 
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