23 replies to this topic

[JediPanther]

Hey fellow nerds I'm working on upgrading my old rig. It recently took a hit from a power surge killing the hard drive,video card and possible the cpu. It's been a while since I did anything really with pc hardware. I've decided since I'm low budget to salvage the use able parts and max out the mother board. As it's pretty old parts are fairly cheap. I'm looking at a $500 max budget. The mother board and specs for it are https://www.asus.com...specifications/


For now I've got a new sata internal hard drive 1tb at 70,000 rpm and a new amd-fx-8350 Vishera 8 core cpu coming from new egg which costed me only $140. I'm looking at getting G Skill 32 gig ddr3-1866 after the new-er video card. I think I've got most of what I need covered except for the video card.

Due to the mother board's age and the 650 psu I'm not sure if the msi rx 580 armor mk2 8 gig would work. I want an 8 gig video card but the 5x 580 i think is pcie 3.0 while the mother board is pcie 2.0. Am I furbar on using an older pcie 2.0 video card? Getting a newer and better psu is no big deal.

Here's the old rig tech specs.
1 x Case Chimera Inferno 4 Gaming Case - Flame
1 x iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction Basic - iBUYPOWER Harmony SRS Sound Reduction System - Reduce System Noise
1 x iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion iBUYPOWER Internal USB Expansion System
1 x Processor AMD FX-8150 CPU (8x 3.60GHz/8MB L2 Cache)
0 x iBUYPOWER PowerDrive None
1 x Processor Cooling Liquid CPU Cooling System [AMD] - ARC Dual Silent High Performance Fan Upgrade (Push-Pull Airflow)
1 x Memory 8 GB [4 GB X2] DDR3-1866 Memory Module - Corsair or Major Brand
1 x Video Card AMD Radeon HD 7870 - 2GB - Single Card
1 x Video Card Brand Major Brand Powered by AMD or NVIDIA
1 x Motherboard ASUS M5A97 R2.0 -- AMD 970
1 x Power Supply 650 Watt -- NZXT HALE82N 650W
1 x Primary Hard Drive 1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive
0 x Data Hard Drive None
1 x Optical Drive 24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black
0 x 2nd Optical Drive None
0 x Flash Media Reader / Writer None
0 x Meter Display None
0 x USB Expansion None
1 x Sound Card 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
1 x Network Card Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
1 x Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel) - 64-Bit
1 x Keyboard iBUYPOWER Standard Gaming Keyboard
1 x Mouse iBUYPOWER Standard Gaming Mouse - Blood Red
0 x Monitor None
0 x 2nd Monitor None
0 x Speaker System None
0 x Video Camera None
0 x Case Engraving Service None

[So You Say]

I think it is a mistake going with old tech. There are plenty of "budget builds" on the internet to reference that use up to date tech including pcie-4 and nvme. Here is an example.

https://www.zdnet.co...-for-under-450/

[dwwolf]

Dont spend money on the old rig...total waste of $ at this point.

[Galaxie 500]

You're going to put whatever new rig behind a high quality surge suppressor / spike killer / power conditioner / UPS this time, right? (side note, it's a good idea to read up on how some of them output a good clean near-sinewave AC and other cheaper ones produce a much choppier waveform.)

[Moldur]

There are some pretty killed deals for an RX 580 right now. 650 watts is plenty. RX and 10 series are very efficient cards compared to older generations.

An RX-580 will work with an older mobo, it's just that a PCI-E slot has a max bandwidth. Older ones have lower bandwidth, so at a point, there are diminishing returns with plugging higher end graphics cards into old slots. Don't worry about it too much. The RX-580 is a great value proposition right now and you will probably be able to use it in your next build whenever that is if you're staying at 1080p.

FX-8350 is kinda on its last leg. I say that relatively as a gaming cpu. Less CPU intensive games will be fine, but some titles will expect better single core performance and will tank or will have pretty bad fps spikes. That kinda depends on what you're playing. What I'm trying to say is you might end up saving some money in the long run by just biting the bullet now and getting a more modern chip and motherboard that you won't have to mess with for years besides popping in a new CPU instead of going in on an AM3+ board again, which is already long in the tooth and has no upgrade potential besides replacing everything.

You can probably shave a few bucks for 16gb of ram instead of 32. Most people are not using 32 gigs except for workstation type loads. I know ddr3 ram is not that expensive, but you could probably put that money somewhere else in the build or just save it.

Depending on how old your PSU is, it might be time to replace it. You want to replace it before it fails and damages some other component.

I would highly recommend getting a Ryzen 3 2200G (or better) instead of the FX-8350. It's a recent quad core that is around the same price and has way better instructions per clock than the FX series. (cpu speed = clockspeed x ipc). That will also mean ddr4 memory which is more expensive, as well as a new motherboard, but I think you would be fine with 8gb. OP is not exactly clear on what is dead or not, but if you're getting a new mobo or cpu, I'd recommend just starting a new build essentially.

[Ruccus]

The Radeon 580 should work fine; I'm running a 480 and it has provided perfectly fine performance at 1080p resolution. Not sure how well it'll do for MW5 but I think it'd at least be adequate. The 650w power supply should be fine for that kind of system as well.

Only thing I'd suggest is to not bother with the 32GB of DDR3. The 8GB you have right now might be a bit light on memory but it's enough to try first to see if you can get by with that amount of memory. If it proves not enough then another 2x4GB of DDR3 1600 or so for around $50 would put you to 16GB total and should be enough for a system of that caliber.

[Peter2k]

The RX580 will run fine

Pcie-e 2.0 offer less bandwidth which might cut fps by 1% or less, but it's working with a weak CPU together anyway and that is more of an issue

Honestly aside from the RX580 I'd not put any more money into the system that you can not take with you to a newer one

An AM4 board for Ryzen gonna set you back 70 bucks or less, unless you really fancy some special features or want to chase overclocking.
Getting a Ryzen 3 would net you less then 100 bucks and a Ryzen 5 less than 150 bucks (you can also do first gen Ryzen, those are fine too)

You can start with one Ram stick if you have to and buy the exact same one a month later or such, like 8GB now and the same 8gb stick next month or so.
Hell for the machine your describing more RAM than 8GB is kinda waste money wise.
A SSD would give you a way more noticeable difference in feel and perfomance, that is for gaming at least
See if you buy DDR3 now it's just wasted money once you do move forward.


A SSD or HDD you can take with, as well as the GPU and PSU, but I'd not invest into that aging platform at all any more, except if you can find the parts for next to nothing

Also 650w PSU is fine, we're looking at mid range parts at most here after all

[JC Daxion]

If i where you..

Id just buy the best chip/board/ram you can.. and if you need the PSU, grab that too. Salvage your old card for the time being. You have horrible timing as i just checked prices on some stuff i was going to recommend, and it is over 500 bucks.. just a few days ago it was about 400

You might even beable to use the ram on your new board and then upgrade later.. I haven't used AMD in years so i don't really know what the boards are compatible with


Just read this article the other day.. Scroll down to AMD and it explains all the latest stuff for budget systems. Tomshardware is another good place to read up on what is a good budget system right now

https://www.pcgamer....sets-explained/

Edited by JC Daxion, 30 November 2018 - 08:57 AM.

[JediPanther]

Thanks for all the imput. i'll swap out the cpu and hhd since I get them this coming week and start sving up for a new build from scratch using newwer low budget parts. I might just go with an already built system. My income varies a lot with seasonal changes so i'll make the old rig last long as it can. I'm not after 4k triple digit fps numbers or into vr so a machine that gets 60-80 fps is fine.

[BlueStrat]

Galaxie 500, on 29 November 2018 - 12:21 PM, said:

You're going to put whatever new rig behind a high quality surge suppressor / spike killer / power conditioner / UPS this time, right? (side note, it's a good idea to read up on how some of them output a good clean near-sinewave AC and other cheaper ones produce a much choppier waveform.)

I worked for many years as a TV/stereo/home-electronics repair technician. Surge/spike suppressor power strips, even very expensive ones, almost never save electronics from nearby lightning strikes, they just fry the power strip and fuse everything in it along with trashing whatever is plugged into it. I've seen it happen too many times to count.

The only safe bet to protect electronics from nearby lightning strike damage is to unplug it from the wall socket until the storm passes.

[JC Daxion]

well you should NEVER plug your computer directly into a wall. You have three pretty safe options though.


1, Get your self a good battery back up with surge protector. If power fails your comp can run for a few hours and the surge protector will save your system. I once got a lightning strike and it cracked my battery back up in two! 100 bucks down the drain but saved my comp.

2, Much cheaper, get yourself a wall mounted surge protector. The typically have multiple plugs, 4-6 they plug into a dual outlet, and have a screw to hold um in place. (had a surge from a generator, blew my protector, but again no comp issues)

3, a high quality power strip with fuse protection. Don't get some crappy power strip, spend 20-30 bucks and get a good one. I prefer the high end metal ones rated for Shop tools.


this should save you from future issues

[LordNothing]

what i do is find a case i like and use it for several different builds. then you can just do core components upgrades every few years.

i managed to get one more build out of my elite 110. mostly by eliminating cables, going to m.2 drives, using an sfx power supply, and dremeling a big hole in the side for an extra cooling fan. its really improved airflow. freed up enough space so i could use a cryorig c7 (copper version) cpu cooler. ultimately a case is just a thing to put your parts in and they are fundamentally all the same. ive seen people run i7s in cases with a 486dx sticker on the front.

Edited by LordNothing, 30 November 2018 - 11:30 AM.

[Spheroid]

How did you verify that your existing motherboard posts without a working videocard?

[BlueStrat]

JC Daxion, on 30 November 2018 - 11:00 AM, said:

well you should NEVER plug your computer directly into a wall. You have three pretty safe options though.


1, Get your self a good battery back up with surge protector. If power fails your comp can run for a few hours and the surge protector will save your system. I once got a lightning strike and it cracked my battery back up in two! 100 bucks down the drain but saved my comp.

2, Much cheaper, get yourself a wall mounted surge protector. The typically have multiple plugs, 4-6 they plug into a dual outlet, and have a screw to hold um in place. (had a surge from a generator, blew my protector, but again no comp issues)

3, a high quality power strip with fuse protection. Don't get some crappy power strip, spend 20-30 bucks and get a good one. I prefer the high end metal ones rated for Shop tools.


this should save you from future issues

Your number 1 suggestion is good, but your number 2 and 3 suggestions will not protect against any serious nearby lightning strike in most cases. I can't tell you how many of those protectors I've seen fried along with the stuff that was plugged into them in my many years as a repair tech. They do provide some protection against power surges/spikes that are not lightning-related, but in most places damage from nearby lightning strikes are far more likely

If you're not going to employ a good UPS system then you need a way to quickly and conveniently unplug the entire system from the wall, usually done by plugging PC, monitor, etc into a single power strip and plugging the strip into a wall socket that is easily reachable. If you plan on being away long enough that a storm may occur before you return or if a storm is imminent while home, unplug the system.

Unplugging the system is like dusting off and nuking the site from orbit: It's the only way to be sure.

[JediPanther]

Spheroid, on 30 November 2018 - 11:28 AM, said:

How did you verify that your existing motherboard posts without a working videocard?

I opened the side panel and powered it on. motherboard lit up,cpu cooling fan tried to run, video card's fan also tried to run with no sounds from the sata mechanical hdd telling me the read/write heads were not moving nor the platters of the drive spinning which they would have had some activity for post and loading windows.

As others have suggested it's far better for me to work on a new system with modern parts but i'll use the new parts i've already ordered to see how much of the old rig is use able. For mwo,skyrim,mgsv, blender and photoshop the old rig might still be service-able. I also retro game a lot with emulation and the system is more than enough for that.

From here I'm going with the ideas for building newer with better. It'll be slow going with only able to build it part by part as money allows but that's how it is for me.

[dwwolf]

Return the 32 gb..utter utter waste of money.

[Aura Natsumi]

Hope the fx 8350 works ok for you, I have a fx 8370 and I can't get this game to run right no matter how i change my settings. i'll get a normal of 40fps (50 to 60 at start of match) to maybe 30's but in battles drops below 30 to 22 or 18 depending on the map.

[Scout Derek]

dwwolf, on 30 November 2018 - 02:35 PM, said:

Return the 32 gb..utter utter waste of money.

Agreed. At most one needs just 16gb of RAM for majority of games out there, hell, 8GB is plenty enough as is.

[JediPanther]

RampageReborn, on 30 November 2018 - 02:57 PM, said:

Hope the fx 8350 works ok for you, I have a fx 8370 and I can't get this game to run right no matter how i change my settings. i'll get a normal of 40fps (50 to 60 at start of match) to maybe 30's but in battles drops below 30 to 22 or 18 depending on the map.

That's exactly the type of frame rates I had. It's not super great but good enough i could run locusts. I had all settings on low except for environment and textures which I had at medium. For skyrim and mgsv i could go medium or very high. I also turned off cockpit glass. I also tried to minimize all background proccess that I could when running mwo. At most I ran fraps,anti virus and bare minimal background processes.

[JediPanther]

Scout Derek, on 30 November 2018 - 04:16 PM, said:

Agreed. At most one needs just 16gb of RAM for majority of games out there, hell, 8GB is plenty enough as is.

I didn't buy the memory. Just have the 8 gig. 32gig would have been the most the board could have supported. I don't think it would have helped mwo much as a lot of other hardware threads mention it seems mwo needs all the cpu on a single thread you can shovel mwo through.