Upgrading gaming PC (cheap as possible)

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Just looking for some advice on a new build and if the route I take is the best route. I am having some issues with my PC, which have gotten worse over the past 2 years. I upgraded for BF4, but I always got a "Battlefield 4 has stopped working" error. I always put it down to the game, but now it is happening with most games I play, (Farcry 3, The Talos Project, BF4 & Fallout 4), WOW and COD World at War work fine, along with War of the Vikings, War of the Roses, Mount and Blade. So I have tried a lot of different options, formatting, changing key registery for specific games, updating drivers, rolling back drivers, changing compatability settings, chaning power settings etc.

I think my machine is pretty good, but I will start swapping out pieces bit by bit, with the old pieces I will make an attempt at setting up a small home server.

Current computer spec (listed in order of preference for swapping out).

G.Skill Ripjaws 1600 MHz DDR3 CL9 8GB
ASRock pro3 LGA1155
Intel i5-2500k 3.30GHz
Geforce GTX 660Ti
500W power supply
1TB HDD 720rpm
120Gb SSD
250Gb SSD



1. What is your budget? I don't have a set budget but if I had to change everything in my PC I would like to keep it below €1000

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Playing computer games, BF4, Farcry 3, Fallout 4 etc. I also would like to process pictures with lightroom 10 and process videos (my machine is a little slow when it comes to videos).

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Yes, Mainly HDD & Power supply. I am not sure if the remaining hardware is working.

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [N/A]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1920*1080, not anytime soon.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes.

8. How can you pay? Credit Card or, Paypal or bank transfer.

9. When are you purchasing? ASAP

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? I am good, cheers. I am in Germany though, so maybe there's a better site to buy from than the normal site?

ED E

First thing I'd do is run extended stress tests. Mem86, Prime95 and Furmark. That'll give you an idea of whats failing. I'd guess its likely a slightly unstable GPU that some games aren't pushing hard enough to hit the problem (or arent filling the VRAM). May be worth using afterburner to check VRAM usage in the titles that crash vs those that don't.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

ED E wrote:

First thing I'd do is run extended stress tests. Mem86, Prime95 and Furmark. That'll give you an idea of whats failing. I'd guess its likely a slightly unstable GPU that some games aren't pushing hard enough to hit the problem (or arent filling the VRAM). May be worth using afterburner to check VRAM usage in the titles that crash vs those that don't.

So yesterday I ran the programs you mentioned and I received no errors. Furmark crashed when I tried to close it. GPU temperature was 75 degrees at this point.

Can you recommend replacement parts for my pc and I will start swapping them out. I am thinking of getting the same ram but in larger pieces. I tried to install Windows on my second SSD but the GPU drivers wouldn't install, I also couldn't detect my wireless network either.

What's the best place to buy a legitimate windows 7 key?

Cheers

Dcully

I have very similar specs although 6 months ago I upgraded to a GTX970 from a 660ti and running games at ultra/high and getting 144+ fps on my 144hz 1080 monitor.
My i5 2500K is overclocked to 4.5ghz and is rock solid at that.

I recall a friend having similar issues to you last year and a fresh windows install sorted it for him, have you done so?

I have to question do you really need to splash out on a whole new rig?
That spec is far too good to just give up on mate.

Get yourself a windows 10 key on G2play ,

http://www.g2play.net/product/191029/windows-10-professional-oem-key/

After that and if and when your system is running stable.
Get a decent cooler for your i5 [those 2500k are legendary overclockers] and upgrade your card and maybe your PSU and you too will be easily rocking 100+ fps with any game on the market.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I tried to reinstall windows, but on another hard driver to avoid any problems. Absolutely impossible, no matter what I tried. I got plenty of errors regarding the most important driver updates (GPU and internet).

This is proving to be incredibly difficult, i'd nearly set the damned thing on fire and purchase a brand new rig. I purchased a license key but I am unable to find an ISO anywhere. When I try to download from microsofts site using the serial key I bought, it tells me that it's OEM and I cannot download it. Any ideas?

Xenoronin

If you are on Windows 7, update to windows 10 and you should be able to reinstall windows from the settings after the update has completed.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Xenoronin wrote:

If you are on Windows 7, update to windows 10 and you should be able to reinstall windows from the settings after the update has completed.

Going to stick with win7 for the time being. Not a fan of win 10.

So I completely formatted both SSD drives. Both the wireless drivers and GPU drivers installed but I had to connect to the Internet first. Something to do with. Net framework. I'm ask for afk few days, but I will update asap and let you know if all is good. If computer is still not working I will start buying the parts.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

So the format didn't work, if anything it's worse. The bloody code I bought is a duplicate (hope to get a new one soon). No games work now which is a pain in the arse. Will run some tests later and see if I get any results. Can anybody recommend a good motherboard (atx only please). Will take a look at the gtx 970 too. I think the psu is OK. I'll look into that later too, calculate the power output. Oh, also looking for a good case with front ports, my case is on the way out.

Lu Tze

Katherine Rancid Squash wrote: »

So the format didn't work, if anything it's worse. The bloody code I bought is a duplicate (hope to get a new one soon). No games work now which is a pain in the arse. Will run some tests later and see if I get any results. Can anybody recommend a good motherboard (atx only please). Will take a look at the gtx 970 too. I think the psu is OK. I'll look into that later too, calculate the power output. Oh, also looking for a good case with front ports, my case is on the way out.

If you have run memtest to check the ram and it is coming back fine, and suspect it is a hardware problem i would try and remove the graphics card and try and replicate the problem on the onboard graphics card.

If you cant it is likely not to be the motherboard, and likely to be the card or the power supply. What is the power supply you have currently?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I think I havee a 500w power supply. I will open my pc when I get home and double check. I ran a memtest before reinstalling windows and all was good. The games worked before. Sometimes days/weeks on end. Can the psu deteriorate over time? Psu, mobo and case are approximately 4 years old.

I want to replace the motherboard due to the connections at the back are on the blip. Couldn't it be possible that the northbridge is damaged or the bus is not working great?

Forgot to mention. I will try out codwaw without the GPU and see how that works. I think everything else is too advanced for the on-board GPU.

Lu Tze

Katherine Rancid Squash wrote: »

I think I havee a 500w power supply. I will open my pc when I get home and double check. I ran a memtest before reinstalling windows and all was good. The games worked before. Sometimes days/weeks on end. Can the psu deteriorate over time? Psu, mobo and case are approximately 4 years old.

I want to replace the motherboard due to the connections at the back are on the blip. Couldn't it be possible that the northbridge is damaged or the bus is not working great?

Forgot to mention. I will try out codwaw without the GPU and see how that works. I think everything else is too advanced for the on-board GPU.

They can deteriorate, more likely with no name brands. It could well be the motherboard, its best to narrow it down if you can do to avoid unnecessary replacement of parts (although it sounds like you want to replace the motherboard regardless due to other issues.)

Even better if you could rob a decent PSU from another PC that you know is working fine, and can cope with the load, if the problem replicates itself you can at least rule out the power supply

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Lu Tze wrote:

Even better if you could rob a decent PSU from another PC that you know is working fine, and can cope with the load, if the problem replicates itself you can at least rule out the power supply

I moved country recently so it might be a little difficult to source a psu. I think the psu I have is a decent one. Will look at the name later too. Busy night ahead

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

The PSU I have is a Blue Storm 2 500W. I don't think that's the problem though. Going to start with some new ram and a mobo and take it from there

What do you think of the following? I don't mind what the case looks like, once it performs well. I picked the one below as it was the second cheapest in the list. I also can't find any decent ATX LGA 1155 mobos. My Asrock P67 Pro3 is obsolete

8GB G.Skill RipJawsX DDR3-1600 DIMM CL9 Dual Kit €41.85

2048MB Asus GeForce GTX 960 STRIX OC Edition Aktiv PCIe 3.0 x16 €214.91

LC-Power Gaming 978BG Tank-Buster €92.94

ponzook

You really need to isolate the problem before going out buying new parts. Since all the bench tests are coming back okay I think its your copy of windows. Upgrade to windows 8.1 or windows 10 and test your games on this, I take it since you have no cd-key your windows might not be legit and this could be a problem as some of the free ones can be a bit dodgy. You can download an ISO of windows 8.1 from the Microsoft site and see how that goes and can upgrade it to windows 10 then. Try this before buying new parts. Windows 10 is better than windows 8 and a huge improvement over windows 7.

Your PC is perfect except for the graphics card really but the 660 TI is still a very good card. A GTX 970 would be a good upgrade. No need for the extra 8gb of ram yet if just gaming.

Splashing out on parts when you need to find the problem is a huge waste of money when it good be something simple. 2500k is an excellent processor.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Tried two copies of windows, it's not windows. I don't want win 8 or 10. The copy I have is oem paid for. Not free.

Extra ram is for video/picture processing.








Thanks for the advice but I would appreciate help with selecting parts at this stage as I have spent too long on trying to fix the issues.

Lu Tze

Katherine Rancid Squash wrote: »

Thanks for the advice but I would appreciate help with selecting parts at this stage as I have spent too long on trying to fix the issues.

If you want to buy new for the motherboard, you are limited to whatever left over stock the shops have, and some of the prices are ridiculous, especially for z77 boards if you can find any.

Maybe have a look second hand on whatever equivalent they have of adverts/done deal/craigslist/Gumtree they have over there?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Lu Tze wrote:

If you want to buy new for the motherboard, you are limited to whatever left over stock the shops have, and some of the prices are ridiculous, especially for z77 boards if you can find any.

Yea there's very little stock in the ATX form factor. Is the LGA 1155 finished then. May try and source a Asrock p67. I rather not get a different chip.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Any opinions on the following motherboard and case?

Asus P8Z68-V LX Mainboard Sockel 1155 Z68 ATX DDR3 €109.95

Sharkoon VG4-W PC-Case with Window Kit (2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, ATX) €36.53

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

So I have installed Windows 10 and things have gone from bad to worse. First impressions of windows 10, it's awful. At least in Windows 7 I could CTR ALT Del to get out of a game, and if that failed I could use WIN+R, cmd, alt+enter, alt+enter. Tested Farcry 3, worked for about 10 minutes then crashed. Fallout 4 won't even play, it is stuck in a loop. I select play in steam, it launches the game, I click on play on the initial screen, the system asks me do I want to run the game, I click on yes, it then goes back to launching the game in steam again... Tried launching as admin too, didn't work.

Can somebody please help me with selecting some new parts for this heap of crap I am stuck with?

Lu Tze

Katherine Rancid Squash wrote: »

So I have installed Windows 10 and things have gone from bad to worse. First impressions of windows 10, it's awful. At least in Windows 7 I could CTR ALT Del to get out of a game, and if that failed I could use WIN+R, cmd, alt+enter, alt+enter. Tested Farcry 3, worked for about 10 minutes then crashed. Fallout 4 won't even play, it is stuck in a loop. I select play in steam, it launches the game, I click on play on the initial screen, the system asks me do I want to run the game, I click on yes, it then goes back to launching the game in steam again... Tried launching as admin too, didn't work.

Can somebody please help me with selecting some new parts for this heap of crap I am stuck with?

Did you try running it without the GPU? We are only encouraging you to try and isolate the problem so that you aren't replacing parts which are in perfect working order.

Regardless, you are looking at parts, motherboard, ram, case and GPU yeah?

Any special requirements for the motherboard? If you are intending to over clock you are limited to z68,z75 and z77 boards if you can find them. I have two asrock boards, they are owned by Asus I think, and are solid and tend to be a bit cheaper. If you don't think you will over clock you could look at h61 and b75 boards as well.

Assuming you are going to run the additional ram alongside what you have try and get the same set as you already have to minimise any problems. And a board that has 4 ram slots.

You should be grand on a good quality 550watt PSU. Good brands include seasonic, bequiet, superflower, corsair though not all of their ranges are top quality, this is usually reflected in the price. If you are particular about cable management or maximising airflow consider a semi modular or modular PSU.

The r9 390 seems to be the sweet spot at the moment for GPUs for maxing out 1080p gaming, although both nvidia and amd are releasing new cards a little later in the year if you want to wait.