Hi,

 

my son is a keen PC gamer. His current specs are:

 

i5 7400

nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 2gb

8gb DDR4 RAM

Solid state drive

 

He would like to be running a 144hz monitor but I’m concerned that his CPU and graphics card combo won’t manage that. Can anyone confirm either way please and guide me in the direction of the most cost effective upgrades if required?

 

thanks,

 

Martin

 

The CPU should be fine, the two things you will need is probably a bit more ram (16gb is the norm for gaming nowadays) and the main thing will be the GPU. Is the 144hz montior 1080p or 1440p? Also does it have g-sync or free-sync (the monitor that is). Answers to those two questiosn will give a good pointer to GPU. But you are probably talking AMD 5700/5700XT or Nvidia 2060 super kind of range. So £300-400 price wise.

Edit: if that is a bit much, a 2nd hand Nvidia 1070ti or 1080 or an AMD vega 56 or 64 would also do the job. Though the newer cards would be more future proof, it all depends on if its 1080p or 1440p at 144hz. Also, what games does he play? As the CPU may make a difference then....

Edited 14 September, 20196 yr by robt100

Nvidia cards also now support freesync on some monitors. They have published a list of the monitors that they have "approved". That GPU is a poor gaming choice, but we would need to know what games and what resolution. I suspect you may be looking at a £400 purchase. You also need to make sure that the PC is capable of powering the new card, so what sort of power supply does it have? 

Hi All

 

Just bought a skoda octavia mk3 second hand and just signed up as im keen to learn and have a go at making some improvements to my SE and getting into the VCDS. However when have a quick look through the forum to find my way around and I see this post, PC's and PC gaming is right up my alley so i can offer advice here rather than ask for it!

 

As robt100 and io1901 have eluded too there are a few more questions.

 

The power supply will be critical as the 1050 draws all its power from the motherboard, if upgrading to something faster it will draw more power, so you need to check that the power supply is about 650 watts or higher and has pci-e power connectors.

 

The cpu should be fine but will start to show its age soon at 4 cores, 4 threads. A hyper threaded cpu such as i7-7700k would give it more breathing room but I would consider that optional.

 

Main area of focus is the GPU (obviously), then I would second the need to add more memory, 16GB is basically the norm now to allow enough for the game and they chrome open in the background etc. And the power supply.

 

With the memory you need to add matched kits so you note you have 8gb ddr4 ram (do you know the speed in mhz? might be 2133 or 2666mhz for example). This may be 1 stick of 8gb or 2 stick of 4 gb. So you could buy more of the same and add it in, depending on the number of free slots on the motherboard. As an example if you had single 8gb stick you could buy another matched 8gb stick to get the 16gb, save you having to get rid of the memory you have.

 

Now onto the actual question the GPU (Graphics card) I would probably avoid the 5700/5700xt and the nvidia 20xx ranges, simply from a cost point of view. As those GPU's will be held back by your current CPU. essentially you will be paying for performance you wont realise (unless you upgrade the CPU, but then where does it stop).

 

I agree with the recommendation to pick up a second hand 1070 or 1070ti, that will breeze through at 1080p and deliver at 1440p. If your only on 1080p (full HD) then you could even consider the yet cheaper rx580 and rx590 (the 8gb versions) which can be had for less than £200 new.

 

Comes down to your budget and if your comfortable buying used?

 

The kind of decision process would be along the line of.

• What wattage is the power supply? is it 650w & above and does it have pcie connectors? If its lower than 650 or has no connectors then you need to replace it.
• what setup is the memory, do you have spare slots to easily add more?
• Are you gaming at 1080 or 1440?
• What is your budget?
• Are you happy buying used?
• How much 'future proofing' do you want to build in?

 

Hope that has been of some help. Even if its not a definitive answer, it might at least help you get to a decision.  Ill keep an eye out for a reply if you want any more input.

 

 

 

 

@2SkodaFamily Any update on the questions above? Or have you already managed to find something appropriate?

On 28/09/2019 at 19:56, robt100 said:

@2SkodaFamily Any update on the questions above? Or have you already managed to find something appropriate?

Hi,

 

sorry for the delay, I’m not here often anymore. 
 

I got the monitor first to see, and it works ok for some games. I think a graphics card update will be needed but I haven’t popped the lid yet to have a look at the type of power supply yet. Thanks for your help though, I’ll be revisiting this in a couple of months. 
 

Martin

Short update:

 

a GTX1070 was installed at Christmas, with great success! An SSD upgrade was also done at the same time..

@2SkodaFamily glad you got it sorted!