The PC debate

[Missy]

So I have an internal debate going that I wouldn't mind a small bit of input on.

My PC is alright, a more inexpensive model, but much needed at the time I purchased it. It's specs aren't grand and it can't always do the things I want it to do, i.e It cannot run Fallout IV :'(. Although it's mostly good for everything else aside from a few occasional issues, most games I play run fine aside from occasionally a game which will get a little bit slow fps, but thankfully not quite so much as to be completely unplayable, just slightly hampering really.

I'm not a PC expert by any stretch of the imagination and money isn't really a major constriction for me anymore these days. I could just buy a newer better one (though this one is only a bit over a year old) or I could try to look into upgrading this one. Again I'm not really sure what upgrading would cost or how I would do it so I guess that's the question, can anyone help offer me some thoughts on what the best option would be on this?

Windows 8.1
Processor: AMD A4-5000 APU with Radeon(TM) HD Graphics 1.50 GHz
RAM 6.00 GB (5.45 GB usable)
64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

The only other thing then that to consider is I have tried taking the free upgrade to windows 10 with this as well and for some reason it didn't take, I don't know if that should factor into my decision as well.

[Thesunmaid]

Well compareing the specs you have it could be either your processor is not fast enough or you might not have enough RAM. Or it could be a video card issue as well depending on what you have for that.

Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit OS required)
Intel Core i7 4790 3.6 GHz/AMD FX-9590 4.7 GHz or equivalent.
8 GB RAM.
30 GB free HDD space.
NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB/AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB or equivalent.

these are the recommended specs of the fall out 4. I have not played the game myself but my husband has and he had to get a new video card because his old one was not the best.

If you are looking to upgrade I would be happy to suggest some websites to buy parts on.(not a complete computer expert either but I have with some assistance built my own tower. Hehehe my husband got me a new case last year for valentines day) I have a few I have ordered from at pretty good prices and never had a problem with them once they were installed. :)

[LuckyOwl]

So I have an internal debate going that I wouldn't mind a small bit of input on.

My PC is alright, a more inexpensive model, but much needed at the time I purchased it. It's specs aren't grand and it can't always do the things I want it to do, i.e It cannot run Fallout IV :'(. Although it's mostly good for everything else aside from a few occasional issues, most games I play run fine aside from occasionally a game which will get a little bit slow fps, but thankfully not quite so much as to be completely unplayable, just slightly hampering really.

I'm not a PC expert by any stretch of the imagination and money isn't really a major constriction for me anymore these days. I could just buy a newer better one (though this one is only a bit over a year old) or I could try to look into upgrading this one. Again I'm not really sure what upgrading would cost or how I would do it so I guess that's the question, can anyone help offer me some thoughts on what the best option would be on this?

The only other thing then that to consider is I have tried taking the free upgrade to windows 10 with this as well and for some reason it didn't take, I don't know if that should factor into my decision as well.

Hi! I have some experience with building PCs, built several over the last few years and helped Khoraz (from E) build his.

Looking at what you have: you need a new processor, a new graphics card, and probably a new Motherboard and PSU. 6GB RAM is usable, but you'd also benefit from adding another 4GB. As for processors, the Haswell line of intel processors are the best bang for your buck right now (you want an i5, not an i7.) I personally recommend the i5 4690k, it's by far the best cost-benefit processor right now, but I can recommend some cheaper ones if that goes over budget.

As for the graphics card, you're running integrated graphics. That means you don't have a dedicated card rendering stuff. You need one of those. The cheapest you can get for good performance is a Nvidia GTX 960, or its AMD equivalent, the AMD R9 380 4GB (I'd recommend this one over the NVidia counterpart). If you want to future-proof, you can add a bit of money and buy a NVidia GTX 970, or the AMD equivalent, the AMD R9 390 (which is slightly better). That'll last you close to two console generations (so, this one, and it'll also run pretty much every game from the Xbox 2 and the PS5 on max or close to max settings).

These gaming components are usually power hungry, which means you need a new PSU as well. The PSU is what gives power to your system and arguably the most important part in the machine. If it fails, your entire rig might be ruined. For the specs I recommended, you want around 650W / 700W PSUs. Particularly, you want one with good capacitors; generally speaking, as a rule of thumb, just look for something that says 650W/700W or higher and that has the 80+ quality certificate (it's in their name) of at least Bronze. Gold is ideal, but they're more expensive. So just look for anything that says over 650W 80+Bronze. EVGA is a good, reliable brand for PSUs. I can recommend some if you'd like.

As for RAM, pretty much everything will do. The Motherboard just needs to be compatible with the processor and have a slot for the graphics card. I can also recommend a few depending on your budget.

Generally speaking, upgrading / buying parts is much cheaper than buying prebuilts, and gets you a whole lot more bang for your buck.

Feel free to shoot any questions my way, and check this link out for some other cool build ideas you can take stuff from: https://www.reddit.com/r/PCMasterRace/wiki/builds

Also, http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc is very helpful with quick questions if you want second opinions on what I'm suggesting.

How much it would cost? For these parts, you're looking at about $500 to $600. Which is a lot cheaper than getting a pre-built that can run Fallout 4 acceptably. How you would go about doing it? I can suggest some websites where you can buy the parts, some of which can assemble them for you for something like 20 extra bucks if you take your tower in.

[Livrainbows]

I managed to pick up a half decent pre-built system on ebay last year that I shoved some extra components in. Running an i7, gtx 960, 16gb ram, 1tb HDD, system only cost me about $500, perhaps a little less (working out currency conversions in my head).

[LuckyOwl]

I managed to pick up a half decent pre-built system on ebay last year that I shoved some extra components in. Running an i7, gtx 960, 16gb ram, 1tb HDD, system only cost me about $500, perhaps a little less (working out currency conversions in my head).

Yeah, my figures were for new pre-builts in stores like Best Buy. Sites like ebay might vary in price, plus there's the disadvantage of having no warranty.

[Missy]

I've thought on and off about looking into PC building, but I never imagined it could be so affordable. That's really great and thanks!

Any suggestions for parts and where to find them would be awesome :)

[Thesunmaid]

The places I have bought my parts are www.newegg.com and www.tigerdirect.com and NCIX.com(I use the .ca versions being a Canadian but they have the same things except in Canadian currency and ship with in Canada.)

I also bought a new battery for my mothers laptop on amazon as well as I have bought a battery for an older laptop I had on Ebay as well. ( it was not on my usual sites because it was an older model that was out of stock but I used it as a make shift media server.Not good for much else other than watching movies and streaming on.)

Good luck :)

[LuckyOwl]

I've thought on and off about looking into PC building, but I never imagined it could be so affordable. That's really great and thanks!

Any suggestions for parts and where to find them would be awesome :)

Newegg, like thesunmaid said, is probably the best choice. They generally have the best prices.

I'll throw you some recommendations once I get home.

[Missy]

So looking over the Reddit list of suggestions I think I might look into about $750, it's affordable for me if it will likely take a month or two to assemble all the pieces, plenty of time to sort through ti all I suppose.

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-10 23:55 EST-0500

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor	$174.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	MSI H81M-E34 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard	$51.99 @ SuperBiiz
Memory	*Team Elite 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory	$29.99 @ Newegg
Storage	*Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$46.89 @ OutletPC
Video Card	XFX Radeon R9 390 8GB Double Dissipation Video Card	$274.99 @ Newegg
Case	Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case	$44.99 @ Micro Center
Power Supply	EVGA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply	$66.50 @ Newegg

Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts   
Total (before mail-in rebates)   $750.24
Mail-in rebates   -$60.00
Total   $690.24
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria


Any more thoughts on that general concept there would be greatly appreciated.

I had two other questions:

1) What are the odds I could set it up to accept two monitors, I've wanted to be able to do something like that for years.

2) If I were to go ahead and buy a RAM strip and install it into my current PC, how much would you say it would improve the performance on my current PC and would that effect it's viability to move over to the new PC once I had it built?