Beginner Questions (Apols in advance)

[Bettsy2110]

Hi all,

I'm after some advice on the best/most efficient way to upgrade my system:

UserBenchmarks: Game 28%, Desk 55%, Work 19%
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 - 46.9%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060-6GB - 61.9%
HDD: Toshiba DT01ACA100 1TB - 76.4%
RAM: Hynix HMT351U6EFR8C-PB Kingston KHX1600C9D3/4GX HMT351U6EFR8C-PB Kingston KHX1600C9D3/4GX 16GB - 27%
MBD: Asus H87M-E

I use it for work but during lockdown have started to use it more for a little 'light' gaming - mostly Warzone but I'd also like to try some esports titles and driving games, maybe even Red Dead. My system seems to have trouble with Warzone on low settings so I'd be interested in opinions on what would be best to do to upgrade what I have to make gaming a bit smoother. I don't need to play ultra-demanding games on ultra settings, just a smooth gaming experience would be great.

Any advice would be hugely appeciated.

Matt

 

[Why_Me]

You could do something like this (you can also find this on Amazon).

I'll use these boards for example but there's plenty of others.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813157950
ASRock B460M STEEL LEGEND LGA 1200 Intel B460 SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $104.99

or a full size MB.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813157944
ASRock B460 STEEL LEGEND LGA 1200 Intel B460 SATA 6Gb/s ATX Intel Motherboard $119.99

https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i5-10400f-core-i5-10th-gen/p/N82E16819118132
Intel Core i5-10400F 6-Core 2.9 GHz LGA 1200 65W BX8070110400F Desktop Processor $150.99

https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232417
G.SKILL Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Intel XMP 2.0 Desktop Memory Model F4-3000C16D-16GISB $74.99

Or you can wait until next month when Intel releases Rocket Lake (11th gen.) for native support of 3200MHz RAM, improved IPC and PCIe 4.

btw a cheap 1TB SSD would also be a nice addition. I'll use this one for an example.

https://www.newegg.com/team-group-1tb-cx2/p/N82E16820331561
Team Group CX2 2.5" 1TB SATA III 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) T253X6001T0C101 $77.99

 

[newtekie1]

The question that needs answered first is what kind of budget are you looking to spend? You could do a full motherboard, CPU, RAM replacement or just upgrade your CPU with a used one off ebay.

Right now, you're pretty much stuck with the 1060 unless you want to pay outrageous prices thanks to there being no graphics card supply. But a 1060 should be able to handle Warzone at 1080p with medium-low settings.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Get an SSD. It's the one single best upgrade you can do.
Put your OS on it.

 

[Bettsy2110]

Thanks everyone, really do appreciate all advice, it's all really useful.

I guess budget wise I can spend pretty much anything, but I basically want a system that can run the games I want at medium-ish settings for the most cost effective price. I realise I could spend a fortune on a top end machine but it seems overkill for what I want to do, I'm basically looking to pass a bit of time with a smooth gaming experience.

Couple of further questions if I may:

If you were going to change a couple of components, which ones should I be looking at?
And, would an SSD make much/any difference to gaming? I realise it's a good general upgrade but didn't think they'd be much of an improvement in gaming particularly.

Thanks again.

 

[ebivan]

First of all, get a SSD! It will feel like a new machine, trust me! Make a fresh OS install on it and get the latest drivers.
For the Games you mentioned you really shouldn't need an upgrade.

Right now (during the "Second Big GPU-Crysis") there is basically no affordable GPU that would be worth upgrading from your 1060. Your 1060 should be able to handle Warzone and Red Dead at 1080p at low to medium settings without much hassle! Do some tweaking in the setting and it will rum smooth on your current hardware, if you are willing to make some smaller sacrifices in visual quality.

If you ever start playing more demanding titles, you would probably need to upgrade all of your components, but with the prices right now and you describing yourself as a casual gamer, there is just nothing to recommend that was worth the money.

 

[Bettsy2110]

First of all, get a SSD! It will feel like a new machine, trust me! Make a fresh OS install on it and get the latest drivers.
For the Games you mentioned you really shouldn't need an upgrade.

Right now (during the "Second Big GPU-Crysis") there is basically no affordable GPU that would be worth upgrading from your 1060. Your 1060 should be able to handle Warzone and Red Dead at 1080p at low to medium settings without much hassle! Do some tweaking in the setting and it will rum smooth on your current hardware, if you are willing to make some smaller sacrifices in visual quality.

If you ever start playing more demanding titles, you would probably need to upgrade all of your components, but with the prices right now and you describing yourself as a casual gamer, there is just nothing to recommend that was worth the money.

Thanks really appreciate it.

I'm struggling to play Warzone on the lowest possible settings, so something is wrong somewhere. I'll start with an SSD and go from there. I'll update when the SSD arrives incase anyone is interested.

Appreciate the advice.

 

[Hyderz]

do you have a decent cpu cooler and power supply? might be able to squeeze out a few more fps by overclocking.

 

[jjnissanpatfan]

I see 54% cpu usage. Maybe try getting the processes down and cpu usage. I honestly think besides an SSD your system meets what you want. I think its a matter of optimization...divers and what is running.

 

[Bettsy2110]

do you have a decent cpu cooler and power supply? might be able to squeeze out a few more fps by overclocking.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I just have the standard CPU Cooler and a a Corsair 550w VS Series Power Supply which I presumed would be enough - I don't think it gets noticably hot but I could be wrong.

CPU is not OC-able (I think), I have XMP enabled for the RAM (which scores terribly on the UserBenchmarking tool) and have overclocked the GPU a little with MSI Afterburner.

I'll monitor temps more closely, thanks for the suggestion.

I see 54% cpu usage. Maybe try getting the processes down and cpu usage. I honestly think besides an SSD your system meets what you want. I think its a matter of optimization...divers and what is running.

Sorry I should have mentioned, the CPU Usage spikes (particularly on start up) to 100% and I probably didn't wait long enough for it to come down. I've run the UserBenchmarking again today and got broadly the same results with a more normal CPU Usage.

I'm fairly sure I have up to date Drivers (using Driver Easy) but I was thinking the same as you, that the system SHOULD be able to do what I'm asking it to. It's not smooth running Warzone on the lowest possible settings at 720p, so I'm really lost.

Thanks for the comment though and I've got an SSD ordered to hopefully help things along.

 

[ebivan]

About the CPU, maybe you are expriencing thermel throttleing. The boxed cooler in combination with 6 year old, dried out thermal paste...? Maybe take off the cooler, clean the surfaces of cooler an cpu with alcohol and apply freh thermal paste just to be sure...