Question Upgrading gaming pc

[aislinganna97]

So I am going to be upgrading my gaming pc GPU and CPU.

The games I want to play are: Second Life - I know this requires a processor with SSE2 support. Hogwarts Legacy GTA 5 Cities Skylines

So I need help. If I get an Intel Pentium instead of Intel i5 6th generation (runs HL)

I know GTA will run on an Intel i5 (3rd generation) and Cities: Skylines is the same.

So I basically want to know if I get Intel Pentium 4 or Intel Pentium M, will HL be able to run on it too?

I'm upgrading the pc on a budget, so please no expensive recommendations 😂

System Info attached. Checked out the motherboard, I do think it's time to upgrade that, but please I am new to the gaming pc world, so any help would be great! 🙂

System Information

PS. Just so you have to look for the baseboard model this is the link to the motherboard that I currently have. https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-F2A68HM-HD2-rev-10#ov

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Hi 🙂

Do you know what the make and model number of your motherboard is? Without that information we cant tell you what model of CPU will be compatible. Intel sockets for CPU's change often and if you have a very old motherboard you may not have any good options without a full system upgrade, sorry to tell you.

 

[Volverine]

I think you should make PC for GTA 5, other games will work too (if they supported by your OS)

 

[aislinganna97]

Hi 🙂

Do you know what the make and model number of your motherboard is? Without that information we cant tell you what model of CPU will be compatible. Intel sockets for CPU's change often and if you have a very old motherboard you may not have any good options without a full system upgrade, sorry to tell you.

Yes, silly of me. I have added it to the original post. Thanks in advance! 🙂

 

[Volverine]

Yes, silly of me. I have added it to the original post. Thanks in advance! 🙂

AMD 880K is the best you can install to your PC without motherboard replacement. You can't install Intel CPU to your chipset

 

[aislinganna97]

AMD 880K is the best you can install to your PC without motherboard replacement. You can't install Intel CPU to your chipset

Yes I just found out about the Intel situation lol.

Just asking out of curiosity, would it be worth upgrading the motherboard? I do want to get a new GPU also, was thinking something like AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT?

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

The CPU @Volverine linked is the strongest you can get, and its quite a bit weaker than the minimum required Intel 6600K for Hogwarts Legacy. It would struggle with the other games too.

Problem number 2 is that I suspect you don't have a strong enough power supply to install a new GPU. Would you be able to list the exact make and model, or at least upload a picture of the label ? Without knowing that we couldnt recommend a GPU either.

Whats the maximum amount youre willing to spend on this and what country are you in?

 

[Volverine]

Yes I just found out about the Intel situation lol.

Just asking out of curiosity, would it be worth upgrading the motherboard? I do want to get a new GPU also, was thinking something like AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT?

Your system is pretty old, upgrade of CPU (and mother board, DDR) is necessary for use all possibilities of RX5700

 

[aislinganna97]

This is the power supply. Yes I am considering upgrading motherbaord also. Budget is about £400. I'm in the UK. I would be getting second hand/refurbished stuff, obviously after making sure they're in good condition etc.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Unfortunately that's a pretty old 324 Watt power supply of questionable quality. I dont recommend using it on anything new you might be going to buy if you want it to last a while. It also doesnt have enough power output to run many modern cards.

Fortunately, prices are not so crazy anymore at the lower end, and something like this system would run all the games you mentioned a ton faster than upgrading what you have.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor (£97.01 @ Technextday)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME H610M-A D4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (£53.16 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£40.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus DUAL OC Radeon RX 6500 XT 4 GB Video Card (£159.89 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair TX550M 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£52.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £404.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-01-27 17:50 GMT+0000

Its what I'd do with your budget, you'd need to watch a few videos to get an idea how to put it together but its easy enough if you put in a little time. I'd also recommend you get an SSD as soon as possible if you don't have one already, but if you dont have the budget for it now then it can be added in later. It makes a lot of difference.

You'd need to do a fresh install of Windows on your current storage, but you can use Windows 11 without a license completely legally until you choose to get one. You'd also need to figure out networking if you didnt have a wifi card already, but they are very cheap.

Also could you tell us what model of case/tower you have? To be sure that a new graphics card would physically fit.

 

[aislinganna97]

Unfortunately that's a pretty old 324 Watt power supply of questionable quality. I dont recommend using it on anything new you might be going to buy if you want it to last a while. It also doesnt have enough power output to run many modern cards.

Fortunately, prices are not so crazy anymore at the lower end, and something like this system would run all the games you mentioned a ton faster than upgrading what you have.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor (£97.01 @ Technextday)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME H610M-A D4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (£53.16 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£40.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus DUAL OC Radeon RX 6500 XT 4 GB Video Card (£159.89 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair TX550M 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£52.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £404.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-01-27 17:50 GMT+0000

Its what I'd do with your budget, you'd need to watch a few videos to get an idea how to put it together but its easy enough if you put in a little time. I'd also recommend you get an SSD as soon as possible if you don't have one already, but if you dont have the budget for it now then it can be added in later. It makes a lot of difference.

You'd need to do a fresh install of Windows on your current storage, but you can use Windows 11 without a license completely legally until you choose to get one. You'd also need to figure out networking if you didnt have a wifi card already, but they are very cheap.

Also could you tell us what model of case/tower you have? To be sure that a new graphics card would physically fit.

Thanks for all of the advice. I have searched everywhere on the case, inside the case, I cannot find a model or serial number.

 

[Brian Boru]

Welcome to the forum 🙂

I have searched everywhere on the case, inside the case, I cannot find a model or serial number

Take a pic, upload it somewhere—I use Imgur—and post the link here.

 

[aislinganna97]

PC casing images - couldn't link the actual image media, kept saying (Something went wrong. Please contact the administrator).

PS. Thanks guys for helping me with this. I really appreciate it! 🙂

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Its good, looks like you have plenty of room in there even if its an older case. It was a custom build at some point?

 

[aislinganna97]

Its good, looks like you have plenty of room in there even if its an older case. It was a custom build at some point?

Yea I think my brother had it custom-made, it was his one previously.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Let us know how it goes 🙂

 

[aislinganna97]

So update.. Finally in the middle of upgrading the PC.

I decided to use these parts https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/wTMDcH. I am still waiting on the GPU to be delivered so decided to put my other GPU in the PC instead for now.

I have added all the parts and wired everything up however, the display won't come on, I've tried using HDMI and VGA, with and without the GPU in, but still no luck.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Hi again, CPU is a 12100F. The F denotes the fact it doesnt have integrated graphics on the CPU.

What is your other GPU? Are you sure you plugged the cable into the back of the GPU and not the motherboard?

 

[aislinganna97]

Hi again, CPU is a 12100F. The F denotes the fact it doesnt have integrated graphics on the CPU.

What is your other GPU? Are you sure you plugged the cable into the back of the GPU and not the motherboard?

Yes, I know it doesn't have integrated graphics. The other GPU is GTX 750TI. Yes, I have plugged the PCIE from the psu to the GPU. The GPU is on as the LED is on and the fans are on.

 

[Colif]

Newest Nvidia drivers support GPU still so its not that...

what make 750 TI? might help narrow down

what display is it? has it worked with GPU before?

 

[aislinganna97]

Newest Nvidia drivers support GPU still so its not that...

what make 750 TI? might help narrow down

what display is it? has it worked with GPU before?

Hi, It's Asus.

The gpu has always worked with the display I'm using. Tried using one ram in it too, still didn't work. Resetting cmos, would that help?

 

[Magatach]

So update.. Finally in the middle of upgrading the PC.

I decided to use these parts https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/wTMDcH. I am still waiting on the GPU to be delivered so decided to put my other GPU in the PC instead for now.

I have added all the parts and wired everything up however, the display won't come on, I've tried using HDMI and VGA, with and without the GPU in, but still no luck.

You've decided on the parts but are having trouble with the display not coming on, despite trying HDMI and VGA with and without the GPU. Check connections and troubleshooting steps for a solution.

 

[Magatach]

Hi, It's Asus.

The gpu has always worked with the display I'm using. Tried using one ram in it too, still didn't work. Resetting cmos, would that help?

Resetting CMOS might help, but if the GPU has always worked with the display and using one RAM stick didn't resolve the issue

 

[Colif]

i wouldn't try too hard if you getting the actual GPU soon. Wait and see if problems continue.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Yes, I have plugged the PCIE from the psu to the GPU. The GPU is on as the LED is on and the fans are on.

Its fairly common for people to accidentally plug the HDMI into the motherboard instead of the GPU and get no display, thats what I was meaning 🙂