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Is it time for me to get a whole new pc, or is there anything I can salvage from this one? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I'm not very tech savvy so please bear with me.

I bought a premade in 2018 and I've only updated the graphics card and ram since then. I'm using a 55" Samsung TV as a monitor. It's really starting to get sluggish/finicky. Gaming example: it can run BGate3 on medium but starts having issues any higher.

Processor: Intel Core i3-8100 Coffee Lake CPU, 4 Cores, 3.6GHz
Graphics Card NIVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8gb
CPU Cooler: Intel Stock CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASUS Z370-P Motherboard
Memory: 8GB DDR4 2400MHz Memory (2 x 4GB Sticks) + Crucial Ballistix BL2K8G36C16U4B 3600 MHz, DDR4, DRAM, Desktop Gaming Memory Kit, 16GB (8GB x2), CL16, Black
Hard Drive: Seagate 2TB Firecuda Hybrid Hard Disk

EDIT for more info

It's hooked up to my TV because I use it for everything from simple browsing, YouTube, streaming TV/movies, to gaming. For games the most taxing is something like BG3, but I can't think of anything else in terms of taxing programmes.

I don't think I'd have a use for it if I kept it. Even if I kept the hard drive I'd have to research How and What To Save To Which Drive On Your PC, but if that's what y'all recommend then I can.

I'm not against investing a few grand if it's the right money spent at the right time, if that makes sense? My worry about changing individual parts is the standard worries about installation and compatibility, but if it's too soon to be changing the whole rig then I can get over that

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Your setup looks like it's showing its age. How much you could/should salvage depends entirely on how much of an upgrade you want and what your budget is. You can of course keep using your peripherals as long as they aren't giving you any trouble.

If you are looking for some inexpensive upgrades, I would look at getting an m.2 SSD and at least 8gb additional ram. You could also do some things like uninstall unused software, clean out any crapware or any unneeded processes, defrag your hard drive, or even reinstall your OS.

No idea where you live or what performance targets you would be looking for, but you can get a decent prebuilt for around $800 USD.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Isn't 24GB enough??

I'd go SSD for convenience but the real bottleneck here is the CPU! You got DDR4 with a wheezy i3. Chuck in a 8500 after checking the PSU is up for the extra watts.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah if you're going for trying to get the most bang for your buck, you could consider getting a match set of either 4x8 gig or 2x16 gig ram, an i7 8700 flavor CPU, and upgrade the graphics card from your 1070 to a 3070 or even a 4060, and put in a nice two terabyte SSD

That would probably run you in the neck of $500.

If it's helpful and you want to stick with prebuilt I saw a $900 computer at Costco that had an i7 14700, 32 gigs of ram, a 512 gig SSD and a 4060 in it.

If 900 is too much, consider going to your local pawn shops. A lot of people have been all floating their 10th and 11th gen computers with 3070s in them and I've seen them for sale for sub $500.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

Sure, but I think your ram swap won't do much, and with too nany upgrades better roll an amd mobo + proc I think.

So I stick to my guns, SSD (there are 1tb evo samsung for dirt cheap) & a better CPU (and thus maybe a beefier PSU), more and I'd personally reroll with as said a newer amd kit

But well, that's just my gut feeling:-)