Upgrading my old PC for gaming

fadedorca66 said:It should work fine. It would actually be a smart move to pick up some more Crucial 1600MHz DDR3 RAM.

That is excellent news. Thank you so much for the quick response! Out of curiosity, what is the maximum capacity these components can actually handle?

That motherboard really peaks at 16GB. Honestly, 8GB covers most basic stuff, but you’ll probably need more if you're running heavy software like video editing, Photoshop, or virtual machines. If you want some peace of mind for a while, maybe just grab an 8GB stick now since they're so cheap; having 12GB total would be plenty for the next few years, I guess.

If you're actually looking to speed up the whole PC and make Windows feel snappy, check out an SSD.

I truly appreciate all the suggestions provided here.
If I’m being honest, my heart is still pulling me toward Nvidia, mostly because my last two cards were theirs and I’ve grown accustomed to that particular ecosystem, so I find myself wondering what might sit in that same tier—or perhaps just a step above—the RX 480 8GB GDDR5. I am actually prepared to sacrifice my SSD budget if it means diverting those funds toward a better graphics card instead. Tell me, would this MSI GF GTX 1060 Armor, 6GB GDDR5, DirectX 12 that you all recommended to my colleague just before me be capable of running it?

Yeah, you could go for that card. Honestly, having 6GB is probably the better bet if you're looking ahead, since modern games seem to be eating up VRAM faster than ever lately.

Much appreciated!
I was just sitting here, staring at the prices on Newegg, and I couldn't help but notice how wildly inconsistent everything has become lately; one minute you think you've found a decent deal, and the next, the numbers shift right before your eyes, leaving you feeling utterly disillusioned with the whole process. $728 I was browsing through some hardware listings earlier—you know how it goes, just aimlessly scrolling when you should be doing something productive—and I stumbled upon a bit of a pricing conundrum that honestly just feels like another example of how nothing ever makes sense anymore. I saw an InnoVision Nvidia GeForce GTX 106, the 6GB DDR5 model with the PCIe setup and those dual DVI ports along with HDMI, sitting at a certain price point, yet then I see a Zotac Nvidia GeForce GTX 106, also the 6GB DDR5 version, listed for up to $2,659. It’s enough to make a man lose faith in the stability of the market, isn't it? You look at two cards that are essentially performing the exact same dance under the hood, and the price gap is just... well, it's exhausting to even contemplate.
I find myself in quite a predicament, staring at these options and feeling utterly lost because, frankly, I can’t for the life of me wrap my head around what actually differentiates one from the other. It all seems like a blur of technical jargon that serves more to confuse the average consumer than to inform them. Given the current state of things, I’m also wondering if it might be wiser to simply exercise a bit of patience—perhaps sit tight and wait a while longer before pulling the trigger on a purchase. Do you all honestly believe we’re looking at a continued downward trend in pricing, or is there a genuine chance that these graphics cards will become even more affordable if I just hold out?

just grab whatever has 2 fans

Prices will definitely start dipping eventually, though I guess it might not be worth waiting too long since these cards dropped just a few months ago and prices are already starting to settle.

As for picking a brand, you should probably aim for something with a 3-year warranty, then just check out the cooling setup. You can likely find a review for any model—whether it’s a written article or something on YouTube—where you can get the lowdown on temperatures, noise levels, and all that stuff.

I appreciate all the input, truly. I’m going to spend some quality time digging through various offers and reading every review I can get my hands on; once I finally settle on a direction, I’ll reach back out to this group for one last "blessing" before I pull the trigger.

Well, here I am once again, crawling back to this corner of the internet,

Since I’ll be the first to admit that I’m hardly some high-level hardware guru—certainly not someone who spends their weekends overclocking silicon just for the thrill of it—I was completely blindsided by the sheer, staggering range of prices out there. Looking through all these options, my mind is starting to spin with a few nagging uncertainties.
Initially, I had this idea of building a budget-friendly rig without an SSD, but now I’m wondering if it might actually make more sense to pivot slightly—perhaps opting for a somewhat less powerful graphics card in exchange for a rock-solid power supply and a decent case.
As it stands, the machine currently sitting under my desk is running this setup:

CPU Intel I5 4570 MBO Gigabyte Ga-H87-HD3 Corsair 2
MBO Gigabyte Ga-H87-HD3
Corsair 2x4GB DDR3 1600 C9
Monitor AOC IPS 23" 12367Fm
Nvidia GTX 650 2 GB
Two 1 TB Western Digital HDDs
500W MS Power Supply

It’s my son who does the gaming, and he isn't the type of kid demanding every single setting be cranked to ultra; he’s quite reasonable. With what we have now, he’s managed to get through the entire Battlefield series, Watch Dogs, and the whole Call of Duty franchise, and he’s currently counting down the days until the new Battlefield arrives.
What I’m really wrestling with is the qualitative difference—the actual, felt impact—if I were to choose a card with 3 or 4 GB of VRAM instead of the 6 GB model, and then take those savings and dump them into a proper SSD. Specifically, I'm weighing these two against each other:

MSI Geforce GTX 106, 3GB $633
versus
MSI Geforce GTX 106, 6GB DDR5, PCIe, DVI, HDMI $800

My gut feeling tells me that even the weaker card would still represent a massive leap forward from our current situation, and adding an SSD would provide that extra layer of snappiness that makes a system feel modern.
We tend to lean toward Nvidia, though I'm certainly not closed off to something from the other camp if the value is right, so I would truly appreciate any wisdom you all might care to share.

And I have one more question regarding the chassis itself. My son has his eyes set on this "space-age" looking thing: http://www.newegg.com/p/cases/atx-cases/space-case-example
Or would it be wiser to go with something more standard like this:

If anyone could weigh in on the build quality or aesthetics, I'd be eternally grateful.

Did you mention what kind of budget we're looking at for this upgrade? I've been reading through, but I don't see it in your last post... 🤷

Anyway, if we're talking about a card in the $0.67 range, I'd honestly pick the RX480 4GB over the GTX1060 3GB. Look, the RX480 and GTX1060 are pretty much neck and neck depending on whether you're playing DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 titles, but that only really holds true for the GTX1060 6gb version. The 3GB model isn't just short on memory—it's running a weaker chip altogether. Meanwhile, the RX480 8gb and 4gb versions use the exact same chip...

You’re also going to need a new power supply; that MS unit labeled '500W' looks like it might just fall apart given what you're running right now.

Found an old post mentioning somewhere around $3,000 to $3,500, and you could probably pull it off through Newegg too. 😬

Found this one over at Newegg for about $475. $1.00 The power supply is a bit overkill, but it fits within the budget—plus it's Gold rated and comes with a 7-year warranty. As for the case, it’s exactly what you mentioned that everyone seems to love, and a card in this tier is definitely a step up from the GTX1060 3gb.

Sapphire RX 480 nitro + 4 GB - AeroCool Syclone ii
EVGA SuperNOVA G2 80 Plus Gold 550W
AeroCool Syclone II.

You could probably do something similar over at Centro.hr for the price. $1.00 It’s just as good of a power supply, only it comes with a 5-year warranty.

Sapphire RX 480 nitro + 4 GB - AeroCool Syclone ii
AeroCool Syclone II.
Flower Golden Green HX 80 plus Gold 550 w EDIT

EDIT: Honestly, if you swap out the case and the power supply for some cheaper options, you could probably squeeze an SSD into the build at Newegg without blowing the budget. $1.25...☕

crimsonstag84 said:You’re gonna need a new power supply too. That 500W MS unit you've got right now is basically a ticking time bomb with this setup; it'll probably fall apart at any second.

And he mentioned that he’s thinking about changing that, too:

rapidpuma59 said:Back again.

Look, I'm no hardware expert, so I didn't realize the price range was this insane. Going through all these listings just leaves me with a bunch of questions.
I started out thinking about building a budget rig without an SSD, but... I'm wondering if you could put together a build using a slightly weaker GPU, but paired with a solid power supply and a decent case..

My mistake, I didn't read that closely enough.

Something like this:

1 x Sapphire RX 480 nitro + 4 GB - AeroCool Syclone ii
1 x Fortron Hydro 500W Power Supply, 80+ Bronze
1 x Sharkoon VG5-W Case, 3x120mm, black, plexiglass, USB3.0
1 x SanDisk Z400s 256GB SSD, 2.5” 7mm, SATA 6 Gbit/s - 60mj

Total: $1117 Futura-IT

If you're really set on that specific case, you might want to grab it separately from a local shop (it'll probably be about $67 more than this total).

Thanks.
crimsonstag84, look, it doesn't strictly have to be that specific case. It just caught his eye, you know? But if the ones you’re suggesting are actually superior—which, let's face it, they probably are—then we are absolutely going with your recommendations instead. So, that settles the second part of our dilemma right there. If you could just toss a few more case suggestions my way, I think we'll finally have this sorted out.

Greetings to you all!

We have finally made our decision and decided to go with the offer from crimsonstag84. So, here is what we currently have on hand:

CPU Intel I5 4570 MBO Gigabyte Ga-H87-HD3 Corsair 2
Gigabyte Ga-H87-HD3 motherboard
Corsair 2x4GB DDR3 1600 C9
AOC IPS 23" 12367Fm monitor

What I am looking to add to the mix is:

1 x Sapphire RX 480 nitro + 4 GB - AeroCool Syclone ii
1 x Fortron Hydro 500W, 80+ Bronze power supply
1 x Sharkoon VG5-W case, 3x120mm, black, plexiglass, USB3.0

Now, seeing as graphics card prices have dipped quite a bit lately—which is always a relief for the wallet, though I remember when they were practically gold bullion—I find myself wondering about the actual performance gap between an RX 480 4 GB and an RX 480 8GB version. Is the jump truly worth the extra cash, or should I instead pivot my budget toward
SanDisk Z400s 256GB SSD, 2.5” 7mm, SATA 6 Gbit/s - 60mj.
My son isn't exactly one of those enthusiasts who loses sleep over every single pixel or hyper-detailed texture, but if there is a substantial difference in how his games run, I suppose I might lean toward the more powerful GPU after all.

I would dearly appreciate your collective wisdom on this matter before we pull the trigger and head out to make the purchase.

If you're planning on upgrading to a higher resolution monitor, definitely go for the 8GB version; otherwise, if you're sticking with 1080p, 4GB should be plenty enough.

The monitor is barely a year old, so there’s really no sense in tossing it out just yet—we're sticking with this one. Does anyone have any final thoughts or parting suggestions, or are we basically looking at a finished plan here?
I did give some serious thought to picking up an RX 470, but honestly, when you look at the price gap, it feels like a fool's errand to pass up the RX 480. It just makes more sense to go for the better card.

There isn't a massive difference between the 4GB and 8GB models. If anything, you might want to look into this one since it's currently on sale (assuming they still have it in stock)

Honestly, I'd take a 250GB SSD paired with an RX 480 4GB over just a lone RX 480 8GB any day of the week...☕

I truly appreciate all the suggestions you've thrown my way.
If the consensus is that the performance gap isn't actually that massive, then I think we’ll pull the trigger on the SSD instead. It seems more logical to prioritize that and just plan on swapping out the graphics card again in maybe three or four years—though, honestly, looking back at how much mileage I squeezed out of my old GTX 650, which was a decent middle-of-the-road card when I first picked it up, that timeline feels realistic. My only lingering anxiety, if I'm being completely honest, is whether the CPU and motherboard will actually have the longevity to handle another upgrade down the road, or if I'll find myself stuck in that inevitable cycle of having to replace the entire core system all over again.