Tldr: my budget is extremely limited, my computer is very old, and I am trying to upgrade because I’m struggling in Shadowlands.
My current rig is about 8+ years old depending on which components:
I5 3470, 8gb ram, gtx 450 (the one I built with the pc went kablooie and a friend gave me his old card), 1tb hdd and 250gb ssd (both drives bought two years ago)
So, I’ve been looking at used rigs and parts around my area, and came across this one but I’m just knowledgeable enough to know what I don’t know, and I don’t want to get ripped off.
Socket LGA 1150 to Supports Intel 4th and 5th Generation Core/Pentium/Celeron Processors
intel Z87 chipset
1 PCI-E x16 3.0 to Support a Full-length and 2-slot Graphics Card Design with Intel Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0 and WiDi
Plus, the case is a mini tower, and I really like sff builds. Guy wants $350 and I was gonna offer $300.
Should I just look at spending the money on a new gpu instead? Maybe some more ram? I am also worrying also about my components dying because I’ve never gone this long without building a new machine before. I typically replace everything every 3 to 4 years but just haven’t had the money to recently.
Thank you, but that is still twice what I have available for my budget. I realize what I’m asking might even be pretty impossible, and it might be better to just wait until I have more funds available, but I just figured I’d see if there was anything that would be worthwhile for a performance improvement.
The computer you linked is kind of just as outdated, and doesn’t include a graphics card either, unless I skimmed over it.
Is it really SFF? Like real SFF? In which case, you’d need to use low profile graphics cards, which are typically a bit more expensive/limited/less available(when GPUs are already kind of hard to get right now).
Between what you own now, and what you plan on buying, there isn’t a giant leap difference between the two, you’d be essentially throwing away $300 to upgrade to a processor that’s only a little tiny bit faster. It would be much wiser to put that many towards a new graphics card(your i5 will probably start bottle necking it though if you buy any high end cards).
Depending on your power supply, something around the GTX 1660 would probably suit you well for a while. I probably wouldn’t buy a GTX 1050 TI right now though, unless you did get it for really cheap as indicated above. You could probably get a GTX 1650 Super(note the Super) at the least and that should last you decently long, if you don’t mind not having settings all maxed out and will last you until the next time if you need to upgrade the whole system, in which case hopefully you have more money to spend then.
Just don’t buy that system you found used, because you’d be throwing money away for the most part.
the i5 3470 may not give you all the FPS in the world, but its still enough to hold its own in WoW.
You just need a new gpu and if possible some extra ram.
What case and power supply do you currently have?
You can decide to upgrade the rest at a later time.
Thanks for the advice. I also asked a friend about recommendations too, and he said he can send me his old card and some ram, it’s actually a 1050ti and two 8gb sticks, for $150, since he just got a new card from his friend who just upgraded.
We’re thinking my best bet might be to slowly piece together a new pc bit by bit and my next upgrade would probably be the cpu and mobo, since my mobo only supports two sticks of ram.
With your ~$300 budget
you can grab a 650w psu for about $60 and a rx 5500xt/gtx 1660 or better card.
Example.
PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yKQ98J
Video Card: VisionTek Radeon RX 5500 XT 8 GB Video Card ($189.99 @ Dell)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $244.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-29 00:43 EST-0500
If I was in your shoes, I’d try to find a used gtx 1070 for under $200 and get the seasonic power supply. Leaves you with extra to get a new case and if you can find 4-8GB of DDR3 ram to add on to your current build…assuming your motherboard can support it.
My mobo only has two slots so I’d need two 8gb sticks if I want 16gb, which my friend offered to send me with a 1050ti for $150. Is my 450w psu not sufficient?
Your psu is fine, I just don’t recommend using psu that is almost at its 10 year life cycle. Most psu that I worked with tends to go around the 6-7year mark. Granted I had some that just made it passed its 10th 9th birthday.(Happy birthday Corsair TX750)
The gtx 1050ti + 16gb should be okay for $150 (base on quick glance on eBay prices). I can promise you that it will be a big jump from your gtx 450.
That seasonic PSU is mediocre at best and not even made by seasonic. Why would you ever need a 650w unit to power those cards? I have some questions on your PSU knowledge and abilities to accurately recommend them.
Then challenge it and recommend some that are within the price range.
Yes I am well aware 650w is overkill for majority of the users. You can save ~$10 by going with its 500w variance.
Sorry if I come off aggressive or whatnot but out of curiosity why would the S12III be a poor choice given its price. I don’t see it suddenly sparking and exploding. I also don’t see OP suddenly dropping high end parts into this.
That’s correct. I don’t want to waste my money on a junk PSU that’s gonna be a fire hazard, but I also don’t want to spend more on the PSU than I do on the GPU if I can avoid it, you know? Idk, maybe I’ve just been very lucky, but I usually don’t spend more than ~$60 on the PSU. My typical budget for a brand new system is around $600 to $700, but money has just been extremely tight these past several years.
I’d say try to get a GTX 1650 Super for now if you can find one at a decent price, if not, then just take the GTX 1050 TI offer from your friend(even though the 1050 TI is a bit dated now and won’t last you too long, but it’ll last you a couple more years if you only play WoW at medium settings). 1050 TI won’t play some of the newer hard to run games that well though as a warning, and you’d probably be better off with just a RX 570 at that price maybe if you can’t find a 1650 Super at a decent price, unless you really want the 16 GB(but you can’t re-use it anyway on a new build). I’d take the 1050 TI only if you can’t find any other decent card at that price range, since like I wrote, it’s not that great of a performer anymore. 1650 Super > 5500 XT > RX 570 > 1050 TI
But I’d say just get a cheap upgrade for your current computer to tide you over until you have enough money to just re-build the whole thing all together with all new parts. Because everything is going to have be replaced anyway(motherboard, processor, power supply, GPU, memory, etc.). You could probably spend more on a GPU that’s better now(than the ones I mentioned) though if you wanted to spend the money or just save it for a re-build. By the time you re-build whatever GPU you get now will probably be a bit dated, but probably not in WoW. Then one year you can decide to build it yourself, or just buy one of those pre-builts on black friday one year that offer decent deals around the $600 mark when you have the money.
Thanks, I really appreciate the advice. Pretty much all I play is WoW so I don’t ever really need a beast of a machine. The only other game I sometimes play is FF14, which I only play because I enjoy playing with my friend who also plays, can’t really get into the game and lore. It runs decent enough on low settings and I’m fine with that. I don’t need a machine that’ll play the bleeding edge titles at 1080p ultra max setting 60fps, just something to give me decent enough WoW performance that I can raid and actually be able to see the spell effects without turning the game into a slideshow.
I’m OK with only getting a few years out of this card, I’m really hoping sometime in the next two years I’ll be able to build a fresh machine, just not counting on it.
Ive stated in other threads to avoid purchasing a power supply until February or later if possible as tariffs should drop by then and new units will start arriving. If you need one today and looking at Amazon & Newegg, I would go with the Super Flower Leadex III 550W for $85. The platform is well reviewed and has a ten year warranty. It will deliver just as much power as that seasonic 650w unit when placed in a hot box (if not more and stay in spec). For cheaper you have the corsair cx550m for $65 after sale price and MIR. It uses a more modern DC-DC design to the S12iii. I would not go cheaper than that unit unless you need something to hold the line until you can save up for a better unit which according to the OP he has a 450w and something like the Nvidia 1660s would only push that unit to 50% of power.
You would still pay money for mediocre unit that may not be much of an “upgrade” from his current unit (I’m not sure of his exact make and model PSU other than it’s a 450w unit).
One - the unit is made by RSY not seasonic and if you know anything about Seasonic they love getting their units reviewed. I’m not knocking them as I’ve owned many of their units over the decades but their business model is based on getting rave reviews (caps in cables) and a cult following who screams “if it ain’t seasonic it’s trash” yet they refuse to send that unit out for any review tests (and it’s not RSY call on that).
Two - From PSU fans who have bought the unit and taken it apart; it uses a cheap LLC resonant designs with dual mag-amp, mediocre OV protection and cheap teapo caps hence why Seasonic refuses to send it out for testing.
Three - people are stating the 12v can go out of ATX spec when pushed. Without legit reviews the unit’s performance can’t be verified but would not be shocking as many cheap units have the same issue.
Four - I’ve seen that unit go as cheap as $35 with MIR so even at $50 it’s overpriced.
Corsair CX line or evga B5 are just better budget units for your money. Even the b3 line from evga, the superflower oem units not the RSY (it’s them again) made units as they suck and failed Tom hardware’s testing see their notes below
It looks like Super Flower(see my note below) made a huge mistake in its design, which poses a major safety risk. We noticed that the over-power protection triggering point is set way too high. Even under normal operating temperatures, one of the primary FETs in our store-bought sample, along with some other components, blew up. Either SF should set its OPP point much lower or use components able to handle higher amperage. We were also disturbed by the fact that, after the primary side shorted out, the PSU’s fuse didn’t blow. Every time we applied power, we saw sparks. Obviously, that’s a fire hazard.
note - SF design but RSY made as confirmed by EVGA as the reviewer bought four units with just the RSY unit having this issue
Like I said above, if you include MIR you can get the Corsair CX 550m for $65 or wait until late winter/early spring and you may see cheaper units as tariffs will go down, part supply & demand becomes better and new units from CES 2021 come to market and inventory needs to be cleared out for them. I bought my Seasonic 650w gold unit for $79 a few years back so if you stretch your budget just a bit and have patience you can score a good deal.
Idk, maybe I’ve just been very lucky, but I usually don’t spend more than ~$60 on the PSU. My typical budget for a brand new system is around $600 to $700, but money has just been extremely tight these past several years.