Cheap but worthwhile PC upgrades?

[Clarkey2110]

Afternoon, having recently picked up a cheap gaming PC, I was wondering if there were any upgrades I could do to it that would make a difference but wouldnt break the bank? I know the more expensive the component the bigger difference it will make but this is my first time dabbling in PC gaming so not really sure what to expect!

Specs of current tower are -

i5 3470 3.2ghz
8gb ram - have looked at this is in 2x4gb sticks with 2 spare slots so potential for another 2x4gb for not much?
Windows 10 Pro
Graphics - GeForce GTX 750 Ti
500gb HDD but seems very fast start up, perhaps 90 seconds?

Running it on an HDMI to my 40" LED Tv.

Any help much appreciated!

Cheers

[Glosphil]

SSD.

[Nigel_O]

RAM - 2 x 4GB will be very inexpensive

[Type R Tom]

SSD won't make much difference in FPS of games but will make the PC load a lot quicker. How much have you got to spend? I assume you'll look to game at 1080p on a 60HZ TV?

[triggerhappy21]

Glosphil said:

SSD.

+1

No other upgrade will come close for bang/buck.

5 year old Lenovo currently goes from cold to having browser/Office program open in just over 10 seconds.

You'll be looking to for a fresh operating system install ideally though, rather than attempting to transfer PC image from HDD to SSD.

[Clarkey2110]

Thanks for the quick replies!

Not really got a budget in mind but only paid just over £100 for the computer so don't want to pump too much into it. Have seen some small SSD's for about £20 on eBay, presume these would be fine and easy enough to fit? As I understand it the OS goes on the SSD and then use the HDD for storage? If thats right I'll only need a small one I presume. Had a look at RAM, how do I know which DDR to look for? Sorry for all the questions but I really am new to all this, used to having a laptop and just plug and play! As it is this plays fortnite on around 90fps high settings, but I'm aware its not the most demanding of games to run. Just looking at general upgrades to make it feel a bit more my own and not someone else's build, keyboard mouse and gaming pad are all sorted so just the tower really!

[mr_fibuli]

A 256gb SSD is only about £30 these days, and you should be able to fit a fair few games on there as well as the OS - they'll be a lot quicker to load up. Or splash out and get a 500gb one for under £60.

[Type R Tom]

You'll need DDR3 ram for that motherboard but you'll also need to match it with the same kit so might be easier to sell what you have and buy a new matching 16gb (2 x 8gb sitcks)

Yep Os will go on SSD and games etc. on HDD

Graphics card, I'd be looking at the second hand market, something like a RX580 8gb version or GTX1060. That will allow you to play most new games at 1080p high settings.

If the MB allows you could upgrade to a I7 2700k and a mild overclock with an upgraded cooler but that is probably going a bit far.

[Mr Pointy]

Clarkey2110 said:

Not really got a budget in mind but only paid just over £100 for the computer so don't want to pump too much into it. Have seen some small SSD's for about £20 on eBay, presume these would be fine and easy enough to fit? As I understand it the OS goes on the SSD and then use the HDD for storage? If thats right I'll only need a small one I presume. Had a look at RAM, how do I know which DDR to look for? Sorry for all the questions but I really am new to all this, used to having a laptop and just plug and play! As it is this plays fortnite on around 90fps high settings, but I'm aware its not the most demanding of games to run. Just looking at general upgrades to make it feel a bit more my own and not someone else's build, keyboard mouse and gaming pad are all sorted so just the tower really!

I wouldn't go cheap with an SSD as it's going to be the core of your system. I've always used Samsung & they have a very good reputation. Amazon have a 250GB 860 Evo for £52 today which I think is a good price:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B078WQJXNF

As for the RAM try & get a picture of the current one & someone will be able to decipher what you need. You can also search using the motherboard type number if you know that.

[Clarkey2110]

Unfortunately the £150 graphics card will have to wait for now

Regards the SSD, how about https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samsung-2-5-128gb-SSD-S...f:0

I shall try take a picture of the RAM and post it up, cant imagine it's anything special though.

It's an almost fresh install, I've only added fortnite, chrome and bluestacks so won't be a problem starting afresh with the new SSD as long as windows is easy enough to sort?!

[Rawwr]

Worth checking if your motherboard can take an M.2 NVMe SSD. Fitting an SSD is all well and good but when it's using SATAIII its going to cap at 600MB/s, which is obviously going to be a lot quicker than a scabby little mechanical disk (60-100MB/s) but pale into nothingness next to a current generation NVMe drive (over 3,000MB/s).

Samsung 870 Evo SATAIII:

500GB, 550MB/s Read, 520MB/s Write, 98k/42k IOPS @ £86

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/samsung-500gb-860-e...

Samsung 970 Evo M.2 NVMe:

500GB, 3400MB/s Read, 2500MB/s Write, 500k/480k IOPS @ £99

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/samsung-970-evo-pol...

[snuffy]

This month's PCPro magazine has an article on SSDs and a group test. It actually says that if you haven't got an SSD you need your head examining.

[snuffy]

Type R Tom said:

You'll need DDR3 ram for that motherboard but you'll also need to match it with the same kit so might be easier to sell what you have and buy a new matching 16gb (2 x 8gb sitcks)

I upped the ram in mine last week and having different size sticks has worked fine. My old MB only had 2 slots and I had 2x8GB. My new MB has 4 slots, so now it has 2x8GB and 1x16GB. I did fit the same manufacturer and range, same speed etc. I did before and after benchmarks and they came out with the same figures in both cases.

[snuffy]

Rawwr said:

Samsung 970 Evo M.2 NVMe:

500GB, 3400MB/s Read, 2500MB/s Write, 500k/480k IOPS @ £99

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/samsung-970-evo-pol...

That won the PCPro test. I feel I my have to buy myself one very shortly.

[Clarkey2110]

Here's the pictures, RAM is samsung so maybe not too bad afterall..

[Rawwr]

Well, that's answered the M.2 question

[Clarkey2110]

Rawwr said:

Well, that's answered the M.2 question

Does it?

[Mr Pointy]

Clarkey2110 said:

Unfortunately the £150 graphics card will have to wait for now

Regards the SSD, how about https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samsung-2-5-128gb-SSD-S...f:0

I shall try take a picture of the RAM and post it up, cant imagine it's anything special though.

It's an almost fresh install, I've only added fortnite, chrome and bluestacks so won't be a problem starting afresh with the new SSD as long as windows is easy enough to sort?!

Well for £18 I suppose it's worth a punt although there's no way of knowing how old it is. I would strongly suggest you get in the habit of imaging the SSD as if it does fail you can quickly restore the image (When SSDs it's almost always impossible to get any of the data back). I'd certainly use ebay for a graphics card though.

[Mr Pointy]

That Hitachi drive is seven years old so I'd think about replacing it at some point. They don't last forever.

[snuffy]

Looks like this stuff:

https://www.mrmemory.co.uk/all-products/4gb-ddr3-p...