New PC Build - What is salvagable in my current pc

Salviati

n00b
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
4
A friend of mine built my budget pc about 9 years ago and I have been extremely happy with it but I am nearing the point of building a new one and I am very much a newbie at this. What I am wondering is what is salvageable from my current pc - my intuition tells me that it is all old but what do I know....

  1. AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition + Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
  2. AMD Radion HD 7800 Series Graphics Card
  3. Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
  4. Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
  5. Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
  6. Corsair 650TX 650W PSU
  7. MSI 880GM-E43 AMD 880G mATX Motherboard
Thank you
 
Assuming you aren't planning to buy anything extravagant (such as pairing Intel 9900K and nVidia 2080TI), the power supply and case should be just fine. The Radeon 7800 video card will function in the new build, but if you are a gamer you'll be a lot happier with something newer.

Since you mention budget builds, the AMD Radeon RX 570 and 580 cards can be had VERY inexpensively - especially used ones. The RX 570 in particular is a lot cheaper AND faster than the nVidia 1050Ti and 1650 "equivalents." You get a LOT of bang for that buck with those cards.

Edit: I'd keep the spinning HDD as a data storage drive, but get at least a small 256G SSD for the OS.
 
Assuming you aren't planning to buy anything extravagant (such as pairing Intel 9900K and nVidia 2080TI), the power supply and case should be just fine. The Radeon 7800 video card will function in the new build, but if you are a gamer you'll be a lot happier with something newer.

Since you mention budget builds, the AMD Radeon RX 570 and 580 cards can be had VERY inexpensively - especially used ones. The RX 570 in particular is a lot cheaper AND faster than the nVidia 1050Ti and 1650 "equivalents." You get a LOT of bang for that buck with those cards.

Edit: I'd keep the spinning HDD as a data storage drive, but get at least a small 256G SSD for the OS.


Sorry, I forgot to add that i have an SSD

Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB ATA
 
IMHO leave it as is & just buy a whole new system. It would be easier to sell as a complete system than in parts & even if you didn't sell it, at least you have a spare machine to run a home NAS from if that sort of thing would benefit you. The case is of the old layout which does not give a good cable management system compared to even the cheapest of chases nowadays - especially if you want to run a decent AIO closed loop. The only things the case has going for it is the number of 3.5" drive bays (if you need them all) and the 5.25" bays (if you want an optical drive still).

I had a similar dilemma recently, and for the extra cost of a modern case (with later I/O front panel connections), PSU & a used m.2 Samsung 970 Pro, I then had a machine that still worked fine for my wife to use & also play games on at a reasonable frame rate with the GTX970 that was in it. I could have got a couple of hundred quid for the bits if I could find a buyer for a Z87 motherboard, 32GB DDR3, a Plextor BD-RW drive & i7 4770K, but it was worth more than that to keep as a complete system. If it was only a couple of generations old & could bring a tidy penny or two then it would be worth parting out.
 
IMHO leave it as is & just buy a whole new system. It would be easier to sell as a complete system than in parts & even if you didn't sell it, at least you have a spare machine to run a home NAS from if that sort of thing would benefit you.

The dilemma with that is nobody outside of big-name resellers wants to sell a complete used system if it's going to be shipped far away. If you don't already have a box that's big enough to accommodate a huge tower case, then getting one at local stores is next to impossible: Nearly all of those that I've seen are almost square cubes. Getting a slim, very rectangular tall box in the local places is almost impossible: They have to be purchased in huge quantities or can't be obtained at all. If anything from that old(er) system is to travel hundreds or thousands of miles, it is much, much easier to disassemble and ship parts from that system, in my experience.

And these days, would-be buyers want to pay far less money for a complete used system than what the owners are asking for. Even if the asking price is extremely low to begin with! So, that's not worth the trouble, IMHO.

With that said, the OP would be far better off donating the entire system to someone local who needs a PC. There is practically nothing that's salvageable from that system - not even the case. And 250 GB on the SSD is a bit skimpy these days, especially with OS updates that bloat the storage usage. And when he builds a new system, he should get a 500 GB or a 1 TB SSD for the OS.
 
Last edited:
Sell the entire machine to someone that needs a PC and use the money towards your new one.
 
  1. Corsair 650TX 650W PSU
If that's a Revision 1 650TX, then ya'll wanna keep that till death do you part, 'cos that's a Seasonic PSU infact. The Rev2 is some POS something.

Good:
650tx_rev1.jpg


Bad:
650tx_rev2.jpg


;)
 
I wouldn't reuse a PSU with ten years on the clock. Even with a quality design, there's a finite lifetime you should expect.

Chuck everything except the case and storage.

PPL keep saying this and I am nto sure where it is coming from but testing shows this is a best a rule of thumb and worst just BS

https://www.hardocp.com/article/2019/03/28/seasonic_x750_750w_psu_10_year_redux/

I am running on 10+ yerars PSU corsair/seasonics as well with no issues what so ever full prime95+furmark stable


on topic:
keep case psu storage. ditch the rest
 
PPL keep saying this and I am nto sure where it is coming from but testing shows this is a best a rule of thumb and worst just BS

https://www.hardocp.com/article/2019/03/28/seasonic_x750_750w_psu_10_year_redux/

I am running on 10+ yerars PSU corsair/seasonics as well with no issues what so ever full prime95+furmark stable


on topic:
keep case psu storage. ditch the rest


Every PSU ages differently. We're just suggesting to the OP that the easiest route going forward is to ditch the PSU and start fresh - or he could run into stability issues with the different loads brought-on by his complete rebuild.

We're just saving the OP some mental troubles. You do know that you can pick up a Seasonic Gold PSU today for under $100, right? It's not like they're expensive.

https://www.amazon.com/Seasonic-SSR-750FX-Modular-Warranty-Compact/dp/B073H33X7R?th=1

The longest PSU warranty Seasonic offers is ten years - and that's because even they acknowledge that components have a finite life. If OP still likes his current PSU. he can always toss it in the closet and use it for troubleshooting.
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Every PSU ages differently. We're just suggesting to the OP that the easiest route going forward is to ditch the PSU and start fresh - or he could run into stability issues with the different loads brought-on by his complete rebuild.

We're just saving the OP some mental troubles. You do know that you can pick up a Seasonic Gold PSU today for under $100, right? It's not like they're expensive.

https://www.amazon.com/Seasonic-SSR-750FX-Modular-Warranty-Compact/dp/B073H33X7R?th=1

The longest PSU warranty Seasonic offers is ten years - and that's because even they acknowledge that components have a finite life. If OP still likes his current PSU. he can always toss it in the closet and use it for troubleshooting.

Everything ages differently that not specific to PSU'
it just whenever this claim comes up that for some reasone we should take extra care of psu'es it is never backed up with anything evidencial.

So I see no support for thinking that we should treat a working psu diffrently than a working motherboard, CPU, or graphics cards. All of these products lives up to the argument you are putting out. All of them have a shell life and a time limited warranty.


Price was newer a part of the argument whatever something is expensive or not is a subjective measurement and is still totally irrelevant for treating a PSU differently than other products.
cases can be have cheap as well. if that the argument for replace products for not other reason.



If you want to continue defending the stance that a working PSU' for some reasone should be exchanged differently than other working products, I would appreciate it if you would back it up with some proper evidence and objective measurements.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Assuming you aren't planning to buy anything extravagant (such as pairing Intel 9900K and nVidia 2080TI), the power supply and case should be just fine. The Radeon 7800 video card will function in the new build, but if you are a gamer you'll be a lot happier with something newer.

Since you mention budget builds, the AMD Radeon RX 570 and 580 cards can be had VERY inexpensively - especially used ones. The RX 570 in particular is a lot cheaper AND faster than the nVidia 1050Ti and 1650 "equivalents." You get a LOT of bang for that buck with those cards.

Edit: I'd keep the spinning HDD as a data storage drive, but get at least a small 256G SSD for the OS.
I would ditch the psu also at this point. It is 9 years old and probably go out in the next couple years.
 
Everything ages differently that not specific to PSU'
it just whenever this claim comes up that for some reasone we should take extra care of psu'es it is never backed up with anything evidencial.

So I see no support for thinking that we should treat a working psu diffrently than a working motherboard, CPU, or graphics cards. All of these products lives up to the argument you are putting out. All of them have a shell life and a time limited warranty.


Price was newer a part of the argument whatever something is expensive or not is a subjective measurement and is still totally irrelevant for treating a PSU differently than other products.
cases can be have cheap as well. if that the argument for replace products for not other reason.



If you want to continue defending the stance that a working PSU' for some reasone should be exchanged differently than other working products, I would appreciate it if you would back it up with some proper evidence and objective measurements.
there are plenty of posts around here were "perfectly good" 10 year old psus dont work right with new tech.
 
Keep the case and PS you'll be fine.. just keep in mind you may need to swap out the tried and true PS sooner than later.
 
my suggestion would be keep the storage as data drives and maybe the case and ditch everything else. If you are on a tight budget and want/need to do it in stages, keep the storage, PSU and Case and replace everything else. Once you core rig is upgraded i'd replace the psu, case and look at your storage in that order.
 
Can't *believe * all this alarmism about the PSU being dodgy!?

That 650TX, assuming it is Rev1, will go on past any motherboard it's had to serve.

But honestly, why pre-emptively ditch it just because it's old? If it proves flaky, sure, but I highly doubt that. That 650TX is bulletproof. Quote me a dead one. Go on, find a single case on the entire internet of someone, anyone, saying their Rev1 650TX has died.

Good luck with that... (y)
 
I would keep the case, the heatsink, SSD and MAYBE the psu, depending on its connectors.
 
While I do not doubt the robustness of the PSU, having got several seasonic PSU's from various brands that run 24/7 for years, we have no idea of what temps its been running at, how many power on hours its got on it, how clean his mains power is and whether or not the system is looked after or a total dust bunny.

my older PSU's just run my DC rigs and if they go and take out the hardware they are attached to I can afford to replace it, If i couldn't and it was my main rig i would be a lot more cagey
 
Can't *believe * all this alarmism about the PSU being dodgy!?

That 650TX, assuming it is Rev1, will go on past any motherboard it's had to serve.

But honestly, why pre-emptively ditch it just because it's old? If it proves flaky, sure, but I highly doubt that. That 650TX is bulletproof. Quote me a dead one. Go on, find a single case on the entire internet of someone, anyone, saying their Rev1 650TX has died.

Good luck with that... (y)
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/corsair-tx650-dead.2231136/
https://hardforum.com/threads/corsair-tx650w-power-supply-questionable.1854453/#post-1041467085
 

2nd link there is definitely a Rev2, and the first link there is a 2nd hand tale of one failing inside 2 years making crackling noises?! Reckon that was a CWT made Rev2 as well. ;)

They're totally different PSUs. It's outrageous Corsair just quietly changed them, and it's not even officially labelled Revision2, you just have to know by the design of the label. :cautious:
 
2nd link there is definitely a Rev2, and the first link there is a 2nd hand tale of one failing inside 2 years making crackling noises?! Reckon that was a CWT made Rev2 as well. ;)

They're totally different PSUs. It's outrageous Corsair just quietly changed them, and it's not even officially labelled Revision2, you just have to know by the design of the label. :cautious:
the CWT is rev a.5 I guess. nobody specifies but there are plenty of old thread with these dying. times have changed and requirements are different so you do have to upgrade at some point in time.
 
The case, the HDD, and the PSU are all likely salvageable, specifically if you are looking to stay on a tight budget this time around.

Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case: If you are anything like me, you don't care as much about style as you do fit and functionality. I want a case that can hold all my stuff, have no LED's and has good airflow. I would still use this case. The one downside may be lack of USB 3.0 support on the outside but that's not as big of a deal as some make it out to be.

Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive: A hard drive of this age is closer to dying than new, but if you start with a lower capacity SSD for your OS you could easily use this for your games or things that may not need SSD like latency such as photos, videos, etc.

Corsair 650TX 650W PSU: A good PSU for it's day, it's likely lost some efficiency, but if you build a system with a moderately powered GPU and CPU this would still suffice. It has an 4+4 pin EPS and 2x 4 pin PCIe connectors so almost all CPU and GPUs are supported.
 
I replace nothing unless I have a compelling reason to do so. Voodoo mind games mean nothing to me.

This is my thought also. What is the REASON for the upgrade? does the current computer fail to post? fail to boot? crash often? really, really unforgivably slow(that would probably be a software issue anyway)? If not, why upgrade?

If you're a gamer wanting to play 2019 AAA titles at 100+fps in QHD, you probably wouldn't be asking what you can salvage.

Maybe just get 8GB of 1600Mhz RAM and find a better used GPU like the RX 570 mentioned above.
 
This is my thought also. What is the REASON for the upgrade? does the current computer fail to post? fail to boot? crash often? really, really unforgivably slow(that would probably be a software issue anyway)? If not, why upgrade?

If you're a gamer wanting to play 2019 AAA titles at 100+fps in QHD, you probably wouldn't be asking what you can salvage.

Maybe just get 8GB of 1600Mhz RAM and find a better used GPU like the RX 570 mentioned above.

The OP's cpu makes my 3570k look fast. I'd say that's a good enough reason to upgrade.

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/88?vs=701
 
The OP's cpu makes my 3570k look fast. I'd say that's a good enough reason to upgrade.

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/88?vs=701

So his CPU is slow in benchmarks, I have two FM2+ desktops that get daily use by my kids (one even pulls an 8400 on Firestrike), with an SSD and good RAM and OC settings, I'm pretty sure neither of my kids would notice a practical difference in a CPU upgrade, even gaming at 1080p with medium setting presets most games play pretty smoothly (Grim Dawn and AotS being the most used title currently). My main workstation was another matter as I use Adobe PP and needed more horsepower.

Again, I ask what is prompting the desire to upgrade? There is still room to enhance the current system cheaply, so why dump a ton of money into a new system? If it's for gaming I would suggest a monitor upgrade first, if the OP is using an older panel.

If it's a workstation for rendering or heavy use of an Adobe work suite of tools, then yes, obviously and upgrade is in order, but so far the only info we have is that his "intuition" tells him to upgrade.
 
I'm playing Grim Dawn atm it's heavily CPU bound due to only using one major thread. It's not a problem until elite/ultimate where there are a ton of mobs.

I don't know the reason the OP has to upgrade as he didn't say. A friend told me recently after replacing his laptop he had thought before that the reason there was a delay loading webpages was that his internet was slow. However, with the new laptop, he said the delay disappeared and that it was his old laptop that was the cause and not his internet connection.
 
If OP is having problems loading websites with a Phenom II X4 955, it's not the processor, it's software.

Case in point, my friend was complaining about slow load times and pop ups (CPU:Athlon X4 something). It took me about an hour and I cleaned up a ton of bloatware, and about 5 instances of spurious chrome and IE toolbars, and suddenly the computer is running smooth as silk...
 
I'm playing Grim Dawn atm it's heavily CPU bound due to only using one major thread. It's not a problem until elite/ultimate where there are a ton of mobs.

I don't know the reason the OP has to upgrade as he didn't say. A friend told me recently after replacing his laptop he had thought before that the reason there was a delay loading webpages was that his internet was slow. However, with the new laptop, he said the delay disappeared and that it was his old laptop that was the cause and not his internet connection.

Running Grim Dawn on an Athlon X4 860K OC'd to 4.4Ghz with an RX 580 8GB, and you're right it gets a little bit of chop in the absolute biggest of mobs, but it's still very playable and on the whole proves an FM2+ CPU is still capable of being a useful piece of equipment even today.

Similar build (other child), X4 860K with 8GB of 1866mhz RAM and R7 250 and an SSD running Windows 10; sees very little gaming use, but all kinds of school/work tasks and runs very smooth and snappy.
 
Running Grim Dawn on an Athlon X4 860K OC'd to 4.4Ghz with an RX 580 8GB, and you're right it gets a little bit of chop in the absolute biggest of mobs, but it's still very playable and on the whole proves an FM2+ CPU is still capable of being a useful piece of equipment even today.

Similar build (other child), X4 860K with 8GB of 1866mhz RAM and R7 250 and an SSD running Windows 10; sees very little gaming use, but all kinds of school/work tasks and runs very smooth and snappy.

The SSD makes all the difference I think. I was getting frustrated with the work computer it takes an age to turn on and connect to the VPN. It's a 4th gen i5 without an SSD running Win 7 Pro with 4GB ram. It's not too bad once it's up and running but snappy it is most definitely not.
 
  1. REPLACE AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition + with AMD FX-8350 ($60 USED on eBay)
  2. Add another pair of Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM ($20 USED on eBay)
  3. keep the AMD Radion HD 7800 Series Graphics Card as a backup and get a GTX 1060 6GB graphics card ($130 USED on ebay)
  4. Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156 IS compatible with FX-8350 as long as you don't overclock the CPU
  5. Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case is ok
  6. Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive is ok but with NEW 120 GB SSD HDD's at $30 shipped go digital for OS and use 1TB for games, iTunes, etc
  7. Corsair 650TX 650W PSU is very ok
  8. MSI 880GM-E43 AMD 880G mATX Motherboard needs to be replaced. GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P (rev. 2.0) currently seeing as NEW on eBay for $70 shipped (similar to mine just less bells/whistles)
Those are SUGGESTIONS ... it's totally up to you what you buy, from where, etc. Links in YELLOW are links to ebay but for $280 you can have a very good gaming PC for 1080p @ 60 Hz, $310 if you add the SSD drive (I buy @ Newegg)
 
Last edited:
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
  1. REPLACE AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition + with AMD FX-8350 ($60 USED on eBay)
  2. Add another pair of Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM ($20 USED on eBay)
  3. keep the AMD Radion HD 7800 Series Graphics Card as a backup and get a GTX 1060 6GB graphics card ($130 USED on ebay)
  4. Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156 IS compatible with FX-8350 as long as you don't overclock the CPU
  5. Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case is ok
  6. Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive is ok but with NEW 120 GB SSD HDD's at $30 shipped go digital for OS and use 1TB for games, iTunes, etc
  7. Corsair 650TX 650W PSU is very ok
  8. MSI 880GM-E43 AMD 880G mATX Motherboard needs to be replaced. GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P (rev. 2.0) currently seeing as NEW on eBay for $70 shipped (similar to mine just less bells/whistles)
Those are SUGGESTIONS ... it's totally up to you what you buy, from where, etc. Links in YELLOW are links to ebay but for $280 you can have a very good gaming PC for 1080p @ 60 Hz, $310 if you add the SSD drive (I buy @ Newegg)

For the price of the FX 8350 and 970A combo he could get a Ryzen 3 1200 (new) and a B450 Mobo (used) and have a viable future upgrade path on a socket that isn't dead. The Ryzen would definitely be an upgrade to the Phenom, the only caveat is OP would need DDR4 RAM.

I believe OP stated in a later post that they have and SSD.

Also, I personally think the RX 570 (in OC 3rd party form) is a better value than the 1060, as they regularly go for <$80.
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
For the price of the FX 8350 and 970A combo he could get a Ryzen 3 1200 (new) and a B450 Mobo (used) and have a viable future upgrade path on a socket that isn't dead. The Ryzen would definitely be an upgrade to the Phenom, the only caveat is OP would need DDR4 RAM.
I believe OP stated in a later post that they have and SSD.
Also, I personally think the RX 570 (in OC 3rd party form) is a better value than the 1060, as they regularly go for <$80.

yea, that's a much better path to take :)
 
Usually, there's something 'wrong' that makes an older pc seem slow--not enough ram, storage speed, gpu speed. A newer system will always be faster, but it's also a lot more work to get to where you can just sit down and enjoy it. So, with that in mind, what specifically is the issue? gaming? booting? Because there's a lot of room for a $100 upgrade that will wake that system up a lot and have minimal downtime.
 
Usually, there's something 'wrong' that makes an older pc seem slow--not enough ram, storage speed, gpu speed. A newer system will always be faster, but it's also a lot more work to get to where you can just sit down and enjoy it. So, with that in mind, what specifically is the issue? gaming? booting? Because there's a lot of room for a $100 upgrade that will wake that system up a lot and have minimal downtime.

THAT'S WHAT I'M ON ABOUT!!!
 
I would personally sell the rig on Craiglist as a HTPC or something, and rebuild. If you need to keep something I'd say PSU and case.
 
Back
Top