Need some upgrade advice!

wanderingbison9 said:It's done right in the BIOS... just using a standard Microsoft's Q-Fan profile.

Huh. Didn't realize it supported 0rpm mode👍

wiredotter14 said:Huh. Didn't realize it supported 0rpm mode👍

It doesn't technically support it for the CPU fan, but as long as you set your fan curve to stay below 40% for a specific temperature range, the fan won't actually spin up. For instance, if you notice your CPU stays around 40°C while idling, you could just set the curve so the fan stays at a minimum of 20% until it hits about 50°C—just to give yourself some breathing room—and then let it start ramping up from there. In that scenario, wouldn't the cooler itself just keep the fan from spinning until the CPU finally reaches that 50°C mark?

wanderingbison9 said:It doesn't technically support it for the CPU fan, but as long as you set your fan curve to stay below 40% for a specific temperature range, the fan won't actually spin up. For instance, if you notice your CPU stays around 40°C while idling, you could just set the curve so the fan stays at a minimum of 20% until it hits about 50°C—just to give yourself some breathing room—and then let it start ramping up from there. In that scenario, wouldn't the cooler itself just keep the fan from spinning until the CPU finally reaches that 50°C mark?

Right, so the cooler is "smart" enough to just not move the fan if the voltage is too low. 👍🎉

crimsonstag84 said:Honestly, the version with better airflow for $55 is a total no-brainer.

bought 😁

A buddy of mine is running this rig:
Intel Core i3
2 x 2 GB PC3-10600 DDR3
ASUS M4A77T motherboard
750 GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce (256 MB DDR2)

His graphics card finally died on him recently—it was about 7 or 8 years old. He picked up this replacement, but now the games he used to play (like Far Cry 4 or Call of Duty) are totally stuttering...

The PC actually sat unused for a few years. He just started using it again after that old GPU gave out, and he grabbed this one (he claims it's new, but who knows true?...)
He doesn't care about heavy gaming that much, just plays occasionally. He wants to run Windows 10.

Anyone got advice on what to upgrade?
Maybe a 120GB SSD and 4GB of RAM... would that be enough to handle Windows 10?

That GPU was pretty underwhelming ten years ago, and now it’s just... well, 😬

An SSD is definitely worth it for any build... I'd grab the 240GB one; the price gap is negligible ($50 vs. $80).

Windows 10 isn't really that much more demanding than Windows 7, so you might as well go for it.

Regarding the graphics card, maybe look for something like this if you can still find it (are you guys located in San Francisco?):

https://www.craigslist.org/vi/graphics-card-listing-28077902

crimsonstag84 said:That GPU was pretty underwhelming ten years ago, and now it’s just... well, 😬

An SSD is definitely worth it for any build... I'd grab the 240GB one; the price gap is negligible ($50 vs. $80).

Windows 10 isn't really that much more demanding than Windows 7, so you might as well go for it.

Regarding the graphics card, maybe look for something like this if you can still find it (are you guys located in San Francisco?):

https://www.craigslist.org/vi/graphics-card-listing-28077902

Not from ST,
How big is the quality difference between the one on Craigslist and this one:
https://www.newegg.com/p/graphics-card-product-08043/product/

Tyler Ross86 said:Not from ST,
How big is the quality difference between the one on Craigslist and this one:
https://www.newegg.com/p/graphics-card-product-08043/product/

The power difference is basically like comparing a Tomos to a police-issue Yamaha.

#1:

#2:

#3:

Maybe one of these will work, though I doubt any of them are quite enough. I guess the first one is a bit weaker than the other two; the second is slightly behind the third, but it’s newer and still under warranty.

The power supply???