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Build Advice Add life to my old HTPC

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Chunkers, 3 Jan 2015.

  1. Chunkers

    Chunkers Meat Popsicle

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    I have a HTPC which I assembled in 2011 which looks like this :

    Intel i5-2500
    Gigabyte H67M-UD2h
    4Gb RAM
    ATI 5450
    Corsair 64 Gb SSD for the OS
    2Gb SAmsung drive for storage
    Blackgold 3620 tuner
    Windows 8.1 running Windows Media center
    System has a decent 500W Silverstone PSU

    Its all squeezed into a Silvertech case which looks half decent under the telly.

    It works fine as an HTPC but recently my son and I have decided to play some games on it (mainly FIFA 15) and it really struggles for obvious reasons. Can it be juiced up a bit, and is it worth it?

    According to Gigabyte the motherboard supports the i5-3570, up to 32gb of RAM and PCIE 16x the case fits graphics cards of up to 11" so I thought I could make a very quick upgrade of :

    i5-3570
    Additional 4GB of DDR3 1333 RAM
    Gigabyte NVIDIA GTX 750Ti 2GB (chosen for its supposed small size and low power requirements

    I really like the case and am thinking this will last a few more years, how does this look to you guys? Am I wasting my time trying to re-use the old mb?

    Chunks
     
  2. IvanIvanovich

    IvanIvanovich будет глотать вашу душу.

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    I agree 100%, just need a more powerful gpu to play games. The CPU is totally fine and upgrading it would just be a waste. Since only gpu is needed, you have much more budget for one now so go for something like gtx970, or if you don't mind used see about a 770 or 670. If you don't want ot go used to get a real bargain, and will only play lower requirement type games, then sure just stick with the 750ti.
    As far as memory, you don't really need to do that either. Only if you start playing a lot more demanding games that are 64bit will additional memory help any.
    Get a bigger faster SSD instead, it would be of more benefit.
     
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  3. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    Like the previous posters said, CPU is fine, you could potentially shove another 4gb of RAM in there, definitely get a GPU upgrade.
     
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  4. Chunkers

    Chunkers Meat Popsicle

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    Thanks all, awesome advice as ever

    Chunks
     
  5. wolfticket

    wolfticket Downwind from the bloodhounds

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    Yeah, even a relatively cheap modern GPU should give that system a whole new lease of gaming life as long as you're not after cutting edge performance. The rest of the system is basically sufficient not to bottleneck the GPU too much in most cases.

    Wouldn't bother with anything else if you just want a relatively basic system that can play a few games. You might find you have to install games on the HDD though. Installs can be crazy big these days.
     
    Last edited: 3 Jan 2015

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