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Gaming on a $500 Budget with a Used case

Discussion in 'Computer Hardware' started by EcoWagon, Dec 14, 2017.

  1. EcoWagon

    EcoWagon
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    I'm planning on using an old standard ATX case from 2007 that has a working 600W Nvidia bronze power supply and it has a GTX 480 inside. for the CPU it uses an overclocked I3 7350K 5th generation. any sugestions on what i could upgrade for parts on a $400 budget? also i plan on running at a maximum of 50 cars at more than 30 FPS at 1080P maximum setting on the west coast USA map. the reason I'm only aiming for 30 FPS is because my eyes cant really see more than 24FPS.
     
  2. Gavril T85

    Gavril T85
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    50 cars with 30 fps on ANY map would require a supercomputer or something...
     
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  3. ManfredE3

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    I'm going to assume you mean 5 cars... As far as I can tell, WCUSA performance is all over the place for various set ups, so being able to recomend a specific set up for specific performance requirements would be difficult short of someone recommending their own set up from their own experience.

    FPS is also tied to tied to the speed of input and physics, so having higher FPS than the eye can see isn't a waste.
     
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  4. Iro

    Iro
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    uh, no.
     
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  5. EcoWagon

    EcoWagon
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    yes i did mean 5 cars.
     
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  6. bob.blunderton

    bob.blunderton
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    RX 480 works fine, I have one of these, make sure it has the latest driver, and you should be good. 55~60fps on West Coast avg, with near-minimum reflections, everything else maxed. Reflections hit performance hard, turn them off if needed.
    Make sure you have 16gb of RAM, while Beamng might not use it all, it's worth having for any game you might play.
    Get the speed of RAM that's supported by the motherboard, DDR4~2133mhz is base speed, some boards go up to DDR4-3200mhz, but really, going past 2933~3200mhz speeds has diminishing returns.
    An i5 7600k or such should be good to go, but snag an aftermarket cooler for it, since these will keep it cooler as those chips can get HOT under the stock cooler and it's not the greatest for your motherboard to run at high temps all the time.

    A 240gb SSD (about 80$ USD) might be a nice purchase if it's in the budget, or a 525gb crucial mx300 or something. Avoid the Bx300 though as performance is rather, "poo".
    The Sandisk Ultra 3d and WD Blue (same chips different label!) is also a good purchase and near to this in price.
    Usually a 500 gb or so SSD on budget labels should cost around 140~150 US $. That's a good price, anyways.
    Make sure to buy an extra sata cable and you have a screw to mount it if needed so it doesn't bang around in there.

    Make sure the case you're using has 1(or two!) good intake fan(s) (front) and one good exhaust fan (rear or top or both), so cool air can enter the front and exit the rear of the PC. Good fan names include Noctua, Fractal, Antec, etc (there's more).
    If you buy a fan to mount horizontally, get a RIFLE bearing or ball bearing, sleeve bearings don't lube properly when the fan is mounted 'flat'. They will wear out, rattle, get loud, and eventually no longer spin.
    Noctua is most expensive, rather hideous, but last a long time. Fractal fans are absolutely beautiful and my 3 here in this Fractal Arc XL case have worked 3 years without a hitch, with regular cleaning of course! Antec fans should last a decently long time also, especially if they're ball-bearing. If your case has filters make sure they're cleaned regularly and clean when you start building with that case. Filters are very good, mine get cleaned monthly if not more.
    Noctua has a classic series or something similar, that's grey instead of brown, so you may wish to look there.
    PWM fans are the best, because you'll be able to hook them to the motherboard and they won't go full blast all the time. However, if your case has a fan controller, you can hook them there too (even if they're not PWM 4-pin plugs, and only legacy 3-pin fans). PWM = 4-pin plug 'pulse width modulation' regulated fans. 3pin = legacy fans, voltage regulated (if at all, on cheaper boards they'll run full blast, ASUS has DC-managed fan controls in BIOS though as I do here).

    Make sure your fans fit. 140mm, 120mm, larger/smaller on a case by case basis. Most cases fit 120mm and bigger cases often take 140mm. You should take a picture of the case and upload it.
    Make sure the power supply has enough current on the 12V rail to support the RX 480!!!
    If it's been used quite a few years chances are your power supply's capacity has dwindled a little bit.
    Regardless, PC's power requirements are much less and often 600W is more than double what's needed for gaming, so you should be fine provided you have the amperage needed on your 12V rail for the RX 480.

    Save the last 100$ aside for the next time your PC takes a dump, or in-case one of your parts turns out to be faulty.
    No, seriously, resist temptation to spend more money or all of it. Consider keeping the i5 upgrade until last & scour the net for a used one with some type of warranty (maybe FLEAbay?).
     
  7. EcoWagon

    EcoWagon
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    Thank you for the advice i knew that the old 480 was still good for gaming and i forgot to mention that the CPU was burnt out so i have to get a new one because my dad was playing rise of the tomb raider on it and one day when he didn't notice the CPU fan burnt out and he fried the CPU because it didn't have thermal throttling enabled (for some dumb reason).
    Also the motherboard only supports DDR3.
     
  8. bob.blunderton

    bob.blunderton
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    Make sure your DDR3 is 1.35V, which is called DDR3L, *NO* Skylake (170, 1xx) board supports DDR3, it fries the memory controller, likely what happened, as those chips have heat throttling on them.
    Make sure it's not the board that's dead, but if it is, there's plenty of cheaper asus and gigabyte models.
    DO NOT USE MEMORY OVER 1.35V WITH SKYLAKE OR 7xxx CPU's. IT WILL BURN UP THE CPU MEMORY CONTROLLER. IT IS NOT DESIGNED FOR THAT. If your cpu's underside has one or two specific dark pins on the bottom, it's likely what did it. The board will do it all day but the CPU will die.

    See used market on fleabay (EBAY) or hardware forum places for something used. Amazon may have used stuff too (they usually do).

    Again, just incase anyone misses this:
    DO NOT USE DDR3 ON A DDR3L BOARD, IT BURNS UP THE CPU's MEMORY CONTROLLER IF OVER 1.35V. 1.35V IS MAXIMUM THAT IS PERMITTED WITHOUT RISK OF CPU FAILURE.
    1.5V or anywhere above 1.35v = FAIL.
     
  9. Codeslamer

    Codeslamer
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    It doesn't apply to me right now, but you've succeeded in scaring me. Is there any, like, indication on the board of whether it's a 3L board? I would've thought the RAM slot would've been slightly different or something, stopping you from putting the normal RAM type in or something
     
  10. bob.blunderton

    bob.blunderton
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    Do *NOT* be intimidated (scared).
    Use brain and instructions as followed and you will be fine - done this 22+ years now.
    Get the serial # off the RAM, and find out if it's DDR3 or DDR3L by putting it into a search engine.
    If it's DDR3 sell it and use the money for some DDR3L (there's <15% difference in CPU perf between DDR3L and DDR4 overclocked speeds, usually, until you go past DDR4 2800mhz or higher in comparison).
    If it's DDR3L then when you get your new CPU make sure it runs at 1.35v or less in the BIOS and you'll be fine.
    An i5 is fine. Like I said, just make sure your memory is 1.35v or less, that's called DDR3L.
    Running it above that for a few minutes (while you lower the clocks and adjust it or are checking out bios to see if it boots) won't hurt it at all, but leaving it like that for any extended period of time will murder it.


    Non-required but still informative reading:

    Keep in mind many RAM modules will run at less voltage the lower the speed. If you make it use XMP profile with in bios (Careful!), it may 'overclock' the ram in BIOS to a tested-and-approved speed by the RAM manufacturer, and it may then run higher than your intended 1.35v after this, so if it is DDR3 or DDR3L use caution when applying XMP profiles in BIOS.
    If it boots up at 1.35 you need not change anything. If it boots up even lower voltage and the machine is stable - great - just don't go over that magic 1.35 as that is what kills the memory controller on the CPU (and it is very very likely what killed the i3 in that machine - heat + high voltage = faster death than just high voltage alone - it's called ELECTROMIGRATION, and it causes shorts inside the chip causing circuts to no longer function). Lots of CPUs die this way with novice and intermediate computer users putting more than 1.35v through the CPU's memory controller (or anywhere for that matter on the cpu), thinking that GEE, my ddr3 fits, I can use it, WRONG.
    14nm CPU = 1.35V MAX - above enters the RED ZONE (death imminent!)
    22nm CPU (Anything 4xxx and below) = 1.65V MAX - above enters the RED ZONE (death imminent!)
    For what it's worth, I have run my machine 38 months now with RAM at 1.65v @ 2400mhz on DDR3 (non-L) on a 4xxx i7 cpu and it hasn't flinched. Not even after the informants threw my 85lbs computer tower down the stairs (and we had 9 foot ceilings, too). I merely put a fan back in and it was good to go (they come out for cleaning easily). They're idiots, but I'm not, and by the time I am done speaking with you on this - you won't be either (I mean it in a good way).


    If you have any other questions, feel free to respond back, I check the forum at-least daily, so no worry.

    I have spent over a dozen and a half years (almost two dozen) scouring every orifice of the internet for more INPUT.
    INPUT INPUT INPUT! Must read, read every forum, every article, every review, every horror story... and I do.
    Action! Suspense! Romance??? Well not quite...
    There's nothing wrong with not knowing something.
    There IS something wrong with not attempting to ask or figure it out though - have to learn somewhere :)
    Ask away, I'll be lurking around here somewhere!

    List your motherboard model and RAM model if you need it & I can do the leg work on looking it up, only takes a minute.
     
    #10 bob.blunderton, Dec 17, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2017
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