Upgrading an old rig - DDR3 options

DirkVoodoo

I haven't touched my PC in about 5 years, I think.

It's an LGA1150 socket DDR3 system. It's a mini ITX mobo so only 2 RAM slots available. At the time I had bought 1*8GB DDR3 stick (Corsair Vengeance) but I'm finding it hard to source a matching stick that doesn't seem overpriced to me (relative to the price of newer DDR4 RAM).

I know this is the way things go. Older tech still has some demand but supply is very limited so it commands a higher price.

I was hoping I might find someone on here who is looking to sell what I need. Failing that, they might know where to buy some (I just learned hardwareversand.de where I used to buy all my kit is defunct!)

Diarmuid

I'll do you a good deal on 16Gb kit (8Gbx2) DDR3 PC3 12800 1600MHz

BloodBath

What have you been using this PC for?

Your best bet would be looking for another 8gb stick second hand from adverts or ebay.

Luckily you have a popular brand so sourcing a matching stick shouldn't be too hard.

Smiles35

Cex sell ram online.

Personally. I'd by 2 sticks of 4gig no-name ram and sell on the 8gig. We wont need 16gigs for another few years.

DirkVoodoo

BloodBath wrote: »

What have you been using this PC for?

Your best bet would be looking for another 8gb stick second hand from adverts or ebay.

Luckily you have a popular brand so sourcing a matching stick shouldn't be too hard.

Probably not much. I wanted to play Battletech. Bought the game and it ran horribly, so I've a GTX 1650 Super on order.

I can't find any performance analysis articles on the game so I don't know how it will run or if more RAM is even a factor. Will wait until the card arrives but wanted to have something lined up in case it's needed.

Tbh, this is probably going to turn into a completely new build...:D

DirkVoodoo

Diarmuid wrote: »

I'll do you a good deal on 16Gb kit (8Gbx2) DDR3 PC3 12800 1600MHz

This is like when you bump into a colleague at a strip club.

BloodBath

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Probably not much. I wanted to play Battletech. Bought the game and it ran horribly, so I've a GTX 1650 Super on order.

I can't find any performance analysis articles on the game so I don't know how it will run or if more RAM is even a factor. Will wait until the card arrives but wanted to have something lined up in case it's needed.

Tbh, this is probably going to turn into a completely new build...:D

Well you would get a decent performance increase with a second memory stick. You have been running in single channel. Dual channel will be a bit faster.

Homelander

With 16GB of RAM and a GTX1650 Super you should be able to run Battletech very well. 8GB sticks go for very little 2nd hand.

Your RAM also doesn't have to be literally the same stick. As long as it is DDR3 and not slower, it'll be fine. You can get new 8GB 1600mhz sticks for about £35.

What CPU do you have?

DirkVoodoo

Homelander wrote: »

With 16GB of RAM and a GTX1650 Super you should be able to run Battletech very well. 8GB sticks go for very little 2nd hand.

Your RAM also doesn't have to be literally the same stick. As long as it is DDR3 and not slower, it'll be fine. You can get new 8GB 1600mhz sticks for about £35.

What CPU do you have?

Likely another bottle neck: i3 4330

At the time my thinking was go for higher clock speed and fewer cores as, for my budget, it would have the best benefit for my gaming. Modern games seem to like multi core now. Not in my day!

Homelander

I would not have paired a GTX1650 Super with an i3-4330! Your PC would only have been worth about €70 to begin with, it might have been time to consider a new budget build!

I don't know how well Battletech will run on that i3, but generally an i3-4330 doesn't even meet minimum requirements for 90% of new games. A GTX1650 Super was really a waste as it will be horribly bottlenecked in pretty much everything except older games.

It would be worth getting a 2nd hand i5-4440/4460/similar for €40. Still not a great match for a GTX1650Super but much better than an i3-4330.

DirkVoodoo

Homelander wrote: »

I would not have paired a GTX1650 Super with an i3-4330! Your PC would only have been worth about €70 to begin with, it might have been time to consider a new budget build!

I don't know how well Battletech will run on that i3, but generally an i3-4330 doesn't even meet minimum requirements for 90% of new games. A GTX1650 Super was really a waste as it will be horribly bottlenecked in pretty much everything except older games.

It would be worth getting a 2nd hand i5-4440/4460/similar for €40. Still not a great match for a GTX1650Super but much better than an i3-4330.

Now look what you've done!

I promised myself I wouldn't get involved in this business again, now I'm looking online at new parts. A lot has changed in 7 years.

BloodBath

It certainly has. The good news is you can get a good upgrade fairly cheap.

Something like a Ryzen 1600AF with a cheap board and 16GB DDR4 would only set you back around €250.

Hail AMD.