Pc project

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666666

666666

216
United Kingdom
Carmarthenshire
I’m a bit out of touch ( very rusty used to be good with pc stuff ) with regards to pc spec’s ect , so need a bit of advice.
I’m not looking to build a gaming machine to play newer games just want to play my old cod games ect and have a working pc again.

In my garage I have an old pc case that I intend to restore. I’ve bought a oldish cheap motherboard it is an Asus A55BM-E, it came with an amd dual core A4-6300 processor and Corsair XMS 4 GB DDR 3 single channel .

Now here’s my question’s , I would like to add more ram can I just get some and slot it in (ie 8 GB DDR 3 ) to increase it to 12 GB or should I just use the 8 GB ram.

Here’s where I get stuck graphic’s cards I have no idea about specs and how good they are ect , i’m looking to spend less £100 looking for something better than a Nvidia GTX 550 Ti or a Radeon HD 5870.

I know i will have to get a sata dvd drive. I do have several sata hard drives and for my old ide drives I have usb dock thingy. Can’t think of anything else for now if I do ile come back .
Thanks in advance.
 
It looks like that motherboard can support up to two sticks of16GB of DDR3. I'm not sure how much difference it makes but I've always heard that you're supposed to keep your memory the same to use dual channel, but that might not be terribly important.

For the graphics card, assuming I'm reading everything correctly, it has the equivalent of an HD 7000 GPU (is that right? :odd:). See the hierarchy chart for reference. One problem you'll need to check on if you get a GPU is if your power supply can handle it.

Personally, if I was in the market for a DVD drive, I'd get a BR drive instead but that might just be because I ripped all my movies to the hard drive.
 
Definitely try to stick with dual channel memory. I did a quick test recently and saw a noticeable improvement when going from single channel to dual channel.

For a GPU, an RX 550 should suit your needs fine. Having said that, you'd get better value for money by buying a used older generation GPU, such as a HD 7870 (though as TB said, check what your power supply can handle).

Your CPU would most likely hold back any modern GPU, but I don't know how bad the bottleneck would be. If you're only planning on playing old games, though, you should be fine.
 
Thanks TB and Nexus , I forgot about the power supply ( said I was rusty ) . I need to see what my current one is I did upgrade it twice on my old pc and can’t remember what it is now.
Does someone know how much mixing different ram sticks affects its performance ?

Just had a thought when setting this up is it possible to use a usb drive or sata hard drive to install the MB drivers instead of an optical drive ?

I did find and download a manual for the MB and will have to use my sons laptop to get all the drivers for it so hopefully by the weekend I could have it up and running.
 
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666666
Does someone know how much mixing different ram sticks affects its performance ?
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I'm running two different brands of RAM in my PC (two 4GB Corsair sticks and two 4GB G.Skill sticks), and everything seems to be running fine. All sticks are running at their rated speed (just needed to enable XMP in the BIOS), though I suspect I got lucky as the timings and frequency are exactly the same. Try to get matching RAM if you can, though.
Just had a thought when setting this up is it possible to use a usb drive or sata hard drive to install the MB drivers instead of an optical drive ?

I did find and download a manual for the MB and will have to use my sons laptop to get all the drivers for it so hopefully by the weekend I could have it up and running.
Click to expand...
Yep, you can use a USB device to install drivers. If you plan on using Windows 10, the OS should download and install the drivers for you automatically when it's connected to the internet.
 
Nexus
Yep, you can use a USB device to install drivers. If you plan on using Windows 10, the OS should download and install the drivers for you automatically when it's connected to the internet.
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Ok that question goes in the brain fart file forgot after installing OS then you update MB drivers.
I meant to ask can you install the OS via a usb or sata drive because at the moment I don’t have an optical drive ?. At 6am I was not properly awake will triple check my posts next time.
 
666666
I meant to ask can you install the OS via a usb
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If it's Windows 10, and if your CPU supports Windows 10 (or vice versa), then yes. You'll need to use your son's laptop to create the installer, look up "Media Creation Tool", it's very easy now.

One thing though, SSDs are pretty cheap so if you only want to play old games that load entirely into the RAM (you mentioned Call of Duty, that's definitely one such game), I'd strongly recommend installing your OS on an SSD (128GB would work, 256GB would be better) and then use hard drive(s) to store your games. If you think you might want to do that, do it from day one, don't install on a HDD then try to migrate because it's annoying and not worth the hassle. The performance boost going from HDD to SSD is honestly night and day. Scan has the 250GB Crucial BX500 for £36.
 
At this time I not looking to spend to much on this going to reuse as much of what I already have with as much as I can . Plus I only have a copy of win 7 and an old XP disc somewhere
 
I just got my old pc case out of the garage and had a look at the PSU it’s a 520w. Can’t see name of manufacturers.

Is it ok for my MB and for a Graphics card like the RX 550 and or something newer ?

Edit
I’m reading the manual I downloaded now to refresh my old noggin.

The manual states a PSU of 300w is the minimum to be used.

Just did some digging around on internet and think my 520w PSU will be ok.
 
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666666
I just got my old pc case out of the garage and had a look at the PSU it’s a 520w. Can’t see name of manufacturers.

Is it ok for my MB and for a Graphics card like the RX 550 and or something newer ?

Edit
I’m reading the manual I downloaded now to refresh my old noggin.

The manual states a PSU of 300w is the minimum to be used.

Just did some digging around on internet and think my 520w PSU will be ok.
Click to expand...
Yep, 500W should be more than enough for an RX 550.
 
I’ve stripped out my old pc case and fitted the motherboard and a couple of hard drives and connected all the bits I need to the connectors ie usb and front panel bits
Until I get this delivered Asus BC-12D2HT Blu-ray dvd/rw there’s not a lot else I can do to get it running fully.
In case there’s any problems with it not working I’m not going to get more ram or a graphics card, until I’m sure it’s ok.

Thanks to all for all the help and advice
 
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Been doing some looking around for gfx cards and have found an Asus nvidea gtx1050 ti 4gb card. I think it will be ok and think my psu can support it.
 
666666
Been doing some looking around for gfx cards and have found an Asus nvidea gtx1050 ti 4gb card. I think it will be ok and think my psu can support it.
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I don't know what the prices are like where you live, but in Australia at least, the RX 570 is cheaper than the 1050Ti, and is significantly more powerful than it. As long as your PSU has an 8 pin connector, it should be able to handle it.
 
Nexus
I don't know what the prices are like where you live, but in Australia at least, the RX 570 is cheaper than the 1050Ti, and is significantly more powerful than it. As long as your PSU has an 8 pin connector, it should be able to handle it.
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@Nexus thanks for the above info I looked at the link you gave and going by that the extra 550 does look the better option. I’m trying to brush up on my pc knowledge. I have 2 questions.
1.what does the 8 pin connector look like as my psu does not have any other than the ide and old floppy drive connector and the two that go on the Motherboard ?
2.is a msi gtx 770 2gb a good alternative to the rx 550 I’m going by this as my guide
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-770-vs-AMD-RX-550/2174vs3925.?
 
Nexus
I don't know what the prices are like where you live, but in Australia at least, the RX 570 is cheaper than the 1050Ti, and is significantly more powerful than it. As long as your PSU has an 8 pin connector, it should be able to handle it.
Click to expand...

@Nexus thanks for the above info I looked at the link you gave and going by that the rx 550 does look the better option. I’m trying to brush up on my pc knowledge. I have 2 questions.
1.what does the 8 pin connector look like as my psu does not have any other than the ide and old floppy drive connector and the two that go on the Motherboard ?
2.is a msi gtx 770 2gb a good alternative to the rx 550 I’m going by this as my guide
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-770-vs-AMD-RX-550/2174vs3925.?
 
666666
@Nexus thanks for the above info I looked at the link you gave and going by that the rx 550 does look the better option. I’m trying to brush up on my pc knowledge. I have 2 questions.
1.what does the 8 pin connector look like as my psu does not have any other than the ide and old floppy drive connector and the two that go on the Motherboard ?
2.is a msi gtx 770 2gb a good alternative to the rx 550 I’m going by this as my guide
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-770-vs-AMD-RX-550/2174vs3925.?
Click to expand...
For your first question. I assume you are talking about the old, small four pin connector? If so, you can get a 4 pin to molex, and a molex to 8 pin adapters. I would strongly suggest getting two 4 pin to molex adapters and the 2 molex to 1 8 pin adapter as pulling power through one 4 pin cable might cause a heat issue when playing more intensive games.
 
@Rallywagon my son has ordered one of those 2 molex to 8 pin adapters for me thanks for the advice. Learning every day about build a new pc not touched a pc in last 5 years .
 
@666666 That link I posted above referred to the RX 570, the RX 550 is in the same performance league as a GT 1030 (which is less powerful than a GTX 1050Ti).

A GTX 770 is more powerful than an RX 550, though significantly less powerful than an RX 570.
 
@Nexus in your opinion which of these 2 is the better on performance . The gtx 1050 ti 4gb or the gtx 770 ti 2gb ? . I can spend a bit more than I thought ie more than £100 , the1050 is £130 and the 770 is £65.
 
666666
@Nexus in your opinion which of these 2 is the better on performance . The gtx 1050 ti 4gb or the gtx 770 ti 2gb ? . I can spend a bit more than I thought ie more than £100 , the1050 is £130 and the 770 is £65.
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I'd avoid getting a GPU with less than 4GB VRAM, the 1050 Ti is the best option out of the two.

PCPartPicker lists 570's as cheaper than 1050 Ti's (570 - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=392&sort=price&page=1 , 1050 Ti - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=380&sort=price&page=1), so I'd recommend getting one of those instead.
 
Nexus
I'd avoid getting a GPU with less than 4GB VRAM
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No offence or anything but this isn't good advice when you look at the use case.

- We don't know the target resolution, more VRAM is mainly useful for higher resolution textures which you'd only need for higher resolution displays and 2GB was fine for 1080p as recently as 2017.

- We know the CPU - sorry, APU - is weak, so that's likely to be a bottleneck anyway, so there's only so much GPU performance that can be leveraged.

- But that's ok, because the use case here specifically says old games, if the APU was capable of playing them 5.5 years ago (which is when it launched) then it'll still be good now - but playing anything much more recent won't work so well. Therefore, a recent GPU is pointless.

- If it needs to be able to play anything more recent the whole thing will need to be rebuilt because a slow AMD dual core APU isn't going to be up to much these days.

Basically you're talking about pairing what was already a bottom of the range APU in 2013 with a mid-range graphics card from 2017, to play games from before 2013, when there's a strict budget to consider.

My advice is therefore to buy a decent card of the time - even a GTX 660 would do, I reckon - a new PSU and an SSD, maybe some RAM too.

@666666, can you give us names of the specific games you want to play and either the resolution or model number of your monitor?
 
The most recent game I bought for the pc was call of duty ghosts which never ran on my then pc setup. I didn’t like how the cod games were going in my opinion they got stupid with the style of game play ie jumping arround and running along walls ect.

As for newer games since ghosts I’ve not looked at the specs for them my plan is to build this as a temporary pc as my wife wants a pc to do her stuff on and me to play a bit . When we hopefully move from our current place I will have more room to have a play room away from the living room.

Yes I would like to play other newer games but they will have to wait till I build my dream machine .
 
@666666 thanks, so would you say Ghosts is the most recent game you might attempt to play?

Looking at the minimum specs on Steam, Ghosts should run on your APU but it's at the bottom end of the scale. Weirdly they claim a GTS 450 is the minimum GPU, I can't imagine how low their definition of "minimum" is but that's properly minimal hardware - that could mean 30fps at the lowest possible resolution which is a bit too low.

They recommend a GTX 760 with 4GB but that's bizarre because even the 960 was too slow to really make good use of 4GB, so a 2GB 770 should be perfect. You'll have to turn down some CPU-dependent settings but I would've thought you should be able to get 1080p at 60fps.

Another thing you can do is look up benchmarks of old cards that were around when Ghosts was new, although typically benchmarks use the fastest realistic CPU and loads of RAM to remove any bottlenecks so you get a fair representation of how good the card is so your performance will vary. Point is, though, you can see if 2GB is enough or if you should go for 4GB. I'd look it up myself but my SO is hogging the laptop AND the TV...
 
neema_t
No offence or anything but this isn't good advice when you look at the use case.

- We don't know the target resolution, more VRAM is mainly useful for higher resolution textures which you'd only need for higher resolution displays and 2GB was fine for 1080p as recently as 2017.

- We know the CPU - sorry, APU - is weak, so that's likely to be a bottleneck anyway, so there's only so much GPU performance that can be leveraged.

- But that's ok, because the use case here specifically says old games, if the APU was capable of playing them 5.5 years ago (which is when it launched) then it'll still be good now - but playing anything much more recent won't work so well. Therefore, a recent GPU is pointless.

- If it needs to be able to play anything more recent the whole thing will need to be rebuilt because a slow AMD dual core APU isn't going to be up to much these days.

Basically you're talking about pairing what was already a bottom of the range APU in 2013 with a mid-range graphics card from 2017, to play games from before 2013, when there's a strict budget to consider.

My advice is therefore to buy a decent card of the time - even a GTX 660 would do, I reckon - a new PSU and an SSD, maybe some RAM too.
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That's fair enough, I was just thinking of maximising the performance for the budget (no use going for a 1050 Ti when a 570 is faster, more powerful and cheaper). Going for a more powerful card would also alow for running games at a higher resolution and downsampling, which should help alleviate the CPU bottleneck.

I still maintain that 2GB is insufficient for 1080P, though (from my experience, at least - though this obviously depends on the games being played).

@666666 If you're thinking of going for a used GPU, this might be useful.
 
@neema_t and @Nexus and everyone else . I appreciate all the advice you have given . As of yet I’ve not got my pc running yet not had time to do anything else to it I hope to get it running this week ( optical drive coming today ) , when I know it’s working ok I will be getting more ram and a gfx card . Ile let you know how I get on.
 
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An update on how things are going ! . I started up the pc tonight in front room with misses and son watching tv. It started up ok was checking out the asus start up menu ie apu temp amount of ram ect. All was well for about 5 mins when all of a sudden there was a bang and a fizzing and a lot of smoke coming out of the psu.
Wife and son very worried while I calmly turned of mains supply which had tripped anyway.

So I guess I need a new psu going to get a 800w for future proofing .Fingers crossed as far as I can see the MB is ok not seen any burnt out bits on it
 
@666666 800W is incredibly overkill, I'd recommend going for a decent quality PSU instead of a unit with a large wattage. Something like this would be perfectly sufficient for your needs.

If you're buying a PSU with the intention of transferring it into a newer build eventually, I'd go for a higher end one (eg. SeaSonic Focus Gold, EVGA SuperNova G-series, etc.).
 
I was asked a question which at first I thought was a daft question by wife “ could it of been the motherboard and or what I had connected up put a strain on psu ? “

It got me wondering here’s a list of of things I had done installed MB, connected it up to psu. Then power switch hdd drive led ect , connected usb panel, 2 sata hard drives and 1 optical drive .my thoughts on this are if I had made a mistake with the connectors it wouldn’t of turned on or it would of burnt out the MB.

It was running for about 5 mins with the asus start up screen bios type thing had not installed windows.
Anyone got any thoughts on this ?.
 
666666
Anyone got any thoughts on this ?
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Can you give us any details on the dead PSU? Make, model, age...? If it's a no-name cheap thing that was already old before you left it for five years, my guess would be the capacitors.

Edit: the simple explanation is the capacitors, which are normally an open circuit to DC, have degraded as a result of not being used and become a short circuit (or at least low impedance), overheated then exploded. They're known to explode when they go wrong, they're even built with a weak point so they don't explode like tiny frag grenades and cause injuries with shrapnel flying everywhere, there's usually a lot of smoke involved too.
 
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