Upgrade path

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  1. Posts : 1,502
    windows 10 PRO
       #1

    Upgrade path


    My grand daughter has a pc awarded to her through a special scheme for severely autistic children.

    she likes playing sims and recently planet coaster.....she does get upset when the games don’t perform well.

    planet coaster is, as far as I can tell very demanding of resources..

    here red is the current spec..

    wondered my best upgrade patth bang bang for bucks.....

    Asus Nvidia GTX 750 Ti 2GB DDR5 - 6 PEG 20A 450W - - 2x DVI-D VGA HDMI Full height
    Asus Micro ATX H81M-P-SI LGA 1150 2x DDR3 DVI-D VGA USB 3.0 Front x2 & Back x2 Mono Speaker 1K LAN
    1155/1156 Fan CPU Cooler
    PC31037 MicroATX Gloss Black Stone Chrome Mini Tower PSU Chieftec 500Watt APS500S ATX12V 80 Plus PSU
    Intel Core i5-4690 3.50GHz 22NM 6MB Cache 4 Cores 4 Threads HD 4600 Turbo Boost vPro VT
    Kingston 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Non ECC CL11 DIMM F/Height PC3-12800
    Windows 10 pro 64 Bit Digital Key
    Samsung Black Sata 24 X DVD Writer
    Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gbps 7200RPM 64Mb Cache

    thanks
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 809
    Win10
       #2

    What sort of performance issues are you hitting? Is it long load times, low frame rate, something else?

    For new games your graphics card is probably the limiting factor, though you can adjust graphical settings to mitigate that. Graphics cards prices are through the roof right now due to cryptocurrency mining so it may not be worth it to get a mid- to high-end card at the moment.

    8GB of RAM is also borderline for some games. You should check Task Manager while the game is running to see if you're getting close to the limit. Unfortunately DRAM prices are also very high at the moment.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 7,724
    3-Win-7Prox64 3-Win10Prox64 3-LinuxMint20.2
       #3

    Hi,
    You might start with an ssd instead of a hdd for the os and programs :/
    About the bang for bucks and gain in performance
    1tb will leave a mark though just click on edit next to the price for other sizes and prices
    SSD 850 EVO 2.5" SATA III 1TB Memory & Storage - MZ-75E1T0B/AM | Samsung US

    You can also look at ram upgrade options using this
    Crucial System Scanner | Crucial.com

    A new graphic's card will probably be last but leave the most of a mark 1050 would be a nice upgrade all on auto notify though
    EVGA - Products - Graphics - GeForce 10 Series Family - GTX 1050 Ti
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 1,502
    windows 10 PRO
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Thank you so much for the advice.....what is crypto currency mining ? And how does that put up GPU prices ?
    also no mention of CPU upgrade so I assume that’s ok for now..

    had already thought an ssd could be the way forward forward enough for os and 2-3 large games

    thanks
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1,502
    windows 10 PRO
    Thread Starter
       #5

    It seems the motherboard is faulty and to be replaced under guarantee....is there an obvious mono upgrade that could be done, or is this one fairly future proved ?

    thanks again
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 1,502
    windows 10 PRO
    Thread Starter
       #6

    My granddaughter has

    Asus Nvidia GTX 750 Ti 2GB DDR5 - 6 PEG 20A 450W - - 2x DVI-D VGA HDMI Full height

    Intel Core i5-4690 3.50GHz 22NM 6MB Cache 4 Cores 4 Threads HD 4600 Turbo Boost vPro VT

    the game she most likes, planet coaster, suggests GTX 560 and I5 2300 as minimum spec....

    Not sure of the numbers ! Is she a long way from the minimum ?
    And I Assume if it met the minimum it still wouldn’t play well....

    someone suggested running FRAP at the same time, not sure what this should display and what it will tell me

    thanks
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 1,560
    Windows 10 Home 20H2 64-bit
       #7

    Is it running a single RAM stick? If so upgrading it to x2 4GB (8) or x2 8GB (16) in dual channel will help. Other than that, the GPU is probably the best upgrade path. And the best bang for the buck would be a GTX 1050 Ti (like ThrashZone recommended) or a GTX 1060, but cryptomining are ruining the value on these at the moment, so now is a bad time to upgrade. Same with memory prices, they are expensive.

    reddwarf4ever said:
    What is crypto currency mining ? And how does that put up GPU prices ?
    also no mention of CPU upgrade so I assume that’s ok for now..

    had already thought an ssd could be the way forward forward enough for os and 2-3 large games
    Cryptomining are messing up the prices on graphics cards because everyone are keen to"mine" currency these days, so they buy every card they find, gaming cards included. Higher demand in GPUs means higher prices. The CPU is fine, and SSDs are good upgrades, but will only be noteworthy for the OS and not games. Apart from reduced load times -- which of course can be a valid complaint -- they don't offer better performance in games over a good 7200 rpm HDD.

    reddwarf4ever said:
    The game she most likes, planet coaster, suggests GTX 560 and I5 2300 as minimum spec....Not sure of the numbers ! Is she a long way from the minimum ?
    And I Assume if it met the minimum it still wouldn’t play well....
    This depends from game to game and how well it is optimized, but generally speaking the minimum requirements are the minimum for it to run properly and are usually aimed for low graphics quality and low framerates. A GTX 750 Ti paired with a i5-4690 is above it so no problem there, but if better performance is to be expected then the quality needs to be reduced. Or a better GPU needs to be installed.

    reddwarf4ever said:
    Someone suggested running FRAP at the same time, not sure what this should display and what it will tell me
    FRAPS is used to display framerates and record gameplay footage. If she needs a framerate counter it's better to use the Steam Overlay, assuming that Planet Coaster is running through Steam?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1,502
    windows 10 PRO
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Thanks again for the advice

    was looking at maybe starting afresh with a new pc, could sell the existing one....

    looking at


    PC Cases1 x CiT Dark Star Black Midi Case With 'Zombie Killer' HD Armour Processor1 x AMD Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5Ghz (3.7GHz Turbo) Quad-Core Processor Cooling1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler Graphics Card1 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Graphics Card Motherboard1 x ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR VI HERO AM4 AMD RYZEN Motherboard Memory/RAM1 x 16GB 2133MHz DDR4 (2 x 8GB) Memory Hard Drives1 x 500GB Samsung 850 Evo Solid State Drive Power Supply1 x Aerocool Integrator 600W 80+ Power Supply Internet Connectivity1 x 300Mbps TP-Link WIFI Card

    The zombie case will appeal t my grand daughter....this is from a company who make up pc’s To order, I went for the highest CPU, GPU and MOBO in the upgrade options...


    I hope this exceeds the requirements of planet coaster......should this spec give it room to play without being crippled ?

    as this won’t have a secondary HDD, I thought an SSD the way to go....would really appreciate any comments re changes or if this looks balanced ok......

    thanks
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 1,560
    Windows 10 Home 20H2 64-bit
       #9

    Looks good to me. :) Planet Coaster is a demanding game, see it recommends a GTX 980, which is on-par with a GTX 1060. But a 1050 Ti will do the job just fine for it. The game is also very versatile since the gap between the minimum (560 Ti) and the recommended (980) is pretty substantial. If the performance is not to her liking you can always dial down the in-game quality settings. But there should be a good performance increase with that upgrade either way.

    As far as storage devices goes. If she's only planning to play 2-3 games at a time then a single 500GB SSD will do, but in the long run 500GB is not much storage these days. I usually recommend a 128 to 256GB SSD for OS & essentials and 1-2TB regular HDD for games and storage. This is currently the best option for price, performance and space. If she's susceptible to long load times in games then SSDs will be better than regular HDDs, but performance will be the same on both.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 1,502
    windows 10 PRO
    Thread Starter
       #10



    Background......
    Still Trying to design a pc for my severely autistic grand daughter, the present I5 PC, which was supplied by ‘ family fund’ is struggling to play planet coaster....she loves this game and sims 4.


    I need one that will allow her to play the game, without any performance restrictions. Also I must get it right or she will be extremely upset, she trusts me in all things computer related.


    I have configured the following.


    https://www.ebuyer.com/gaming/pc-builder/configurator/433/a4167c92feb88fa9299c394db3d4701a46c60129


    But it comes out a bit higher then desired, was aiming around £1200...


    The specs for planet coaster are demanding, bit also want to future proof it also...


    She will use her existing keyboard mouse etc.....she does like her internet to be fast, which is why I chose a high speed wireless adapter.
    any suggestions you think appropriate for this situation


    Thanks

    UPDATE

    my research suggests the I7 outperforms the new Ryzen 7 chip

    So based on this have the following

    an I7 with 1080 GPU

    https://www.ebuyer.com/gaming/pc-bui...d4c45ca552bbbc


    Last edited by reddwarf4ever; 21 Feb 2018 at 05:30. Reason: Update
      My Computer


 

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