Possible low cost steam link build?

site_owner

Haven't built a gaming pc in a few years so not sure where I stand on budget. Lost my gaming / office to 2 kids a few years back !

Got a cheap steam link last week and want to give it a go, currently playing a couple of older games but would like to get a bit more up to date.

I was initially thinking of throwing a more up to date CPU and gfx card into the existing machine, but it's more outdated than i thought and the few second hand parts that are available are expensive and don't offer much of a bump. But maybe I'm way off on what i think I'll be getting on a newer build.

Current system is running an x4 phenom 965, 7700 and 6gb ram. The mb is am3 and won't even support am3+


1. What is your budget? 500eu. Less if i can get away with it, maybe a few euro more if it's a small stretch

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming via steam link, Plex server

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
2x 120gb ssd, 5x1tb data hdd

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5a. If yes, what size do you need.

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? Max Res for steam link is 1080p. TV it's connected to is 1080p

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Won't rule it out

8. How can you pay? Any

9. When are you purchasing? Any time in the next few weeks

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? No problem self building

TerrorFirmer

I would probably go for something like a Bitfenix Nova case, G4560, H110M board, 8GB DDR4 and an 8GB RX480 - re-use your SSD and PSU (your case too if decent?). Should come to about €500 ish.

Gives you pretty good performance for now (the G4560 is basically a much cheaper Skylake i3) with option to switch to i5/i7 at a later date.

Your old AM3 board, 965, HD7700 and 6GB ram should get you back at least €100.

Depending on the games the X4 965 is old but still moderately capable in most titles (will struggle around 30-35fps in some heavy ones like BF1 online, Fallout 4 etc - but pretty decent for say some of the Call of Dutys, Doom, Witcher 3 and GTA V).

Probably better to just flog the old stuff and get all new though given the budget.

site_owner

Thats interesting info about my current setup, If i wanted to hold off a few months, what could I do with the existing machine to improve performance without throwing money away?

site_owner

My PSU, case and ssd should all be fine to keep if i upgrade

Lu Tze

You could just get the graphics card, it would be a big upgrade over the hd7770 and you could carry it over to a new build down the line

site_owner

Cool, i see rx480 for about £150 on Amazon, is that a good price? Edit.. was 4gb model and out of stock. Looks like about 230 for the 8gb

Just to check, this is the motherboard i have, will that support the newer graphics card?

http://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-MA785GT-UD3H-rev-10#ov

Am i ok with 6gb of ram

wotzgoingon

How have you 6GB's of RAM? Is it a 4GB and 2GB?

Tbh I have 6GB's of triple channel RAM 2GB's x3 and it I have yet to come across a situation where I do not have enough RAM. I also game at 2560x1440 @ 144Hz.

site_owner

Yes, 4 and 2. There's 4 slots available

ED E

Are you going to use KB+M on the link? Or just the Steam Controllers? If the latter itll be mostly arcadey games and things like Mirrors Edge so the requirements remain quite low.

site_owner

Intention for both options.

Is the rx580 much better than the 480 and still compatible?

https://m.cclonline.com/product/231982/RX-580-ARMOR-8G-OC/Graphics-Cards/MSI-Radeon-RX-580-ARMOR-8GB-OC-Graphics-Card/VGA3801/?siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-TLfaTx9TdbVNLU0wspCmEQ

site_owner

i picked up this in the amazon warehouse deals, for £166.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01IQS6NI0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

site_owner

For 95eu I picked up a new motherboard, fx 6300 and an additional 4gb of ram.
I needed these as the phenom didn't support sse4.1 so a bunch of games I wanted to play wouldn't run.

I'm getting about 75-80fps in doom on ultra which is great for me as the system is limited to 60fps. Doom doesn't work over Steam link which is another issue

So next question, I have a 512gb m2 ssd from a notebook. Is it possible, or worthwhile​, to install this in my desktop?

wotzgoingon

You will need a PCIe to M2 adaptor and then a free PCIe slot on motherboard.

site_owner

wotzgoingon wrote: »

You will need a PCIe to M2 adaptor and then a free PCIe slot on motherboard.

Is it worth doing? Would it be much improvement over a sata ssd and would it impact the PCI bandwidth for the graph is card?

wotzgoingon

site_owner wrote: »

Is it worth doing? Would it be much improvement over a sata ssd and would it impact the PCI bandwidth for the graph is card?

What motherboard and CPU do you have?

site_owner

MSI 970 g43a and fx6300

wotzgoingon

site_owner wrote: »

MSI 970 g43a and fx6300

Yes you can use a PCIe to M2 adapter with that motherboard and there is a free slot. Yes you can use the adapter and it will not affect the graphics card.

site_owner

Cheers for your help.

Do you think it would be worth it? Or just stop dragging this out and sell the M2 (and mb, CPU, ram ) and get a new mb / ryzen / ram.

wotzgoingon

I do not know. It's up to you. If you have the money I see why not but if you are strapped then maybe not.

TerrorFirmer

Well, you said you got the FX, board and ram for €95 which is a good deal so I would stick with it. It's would be broadly similar to a G4560 in most games (without the upgrade path obviously) and better in a few, so I'd stick with that for now unless you have the money to upgrade to Ryzen handy.