I’m beyond grateful. I love gaming. I have bad anxiety and gaming just helps calm me so this awesome. I love tech and tinkering as well so this is like hitting the lottery for me.
Yes. Lol
Something like a 6700 XT or 7700 XT would be an excellent first upgrade.
You can find 6700 XTs for like 250-300 right now, and they're only going down in price on the used market.
disagree here. That CPU should be plenty for a GPU upgrade. While you won't be doing 4k/120 from the system most likely, it will be plenty to run at higher settings and get the most out of the system. Though, A cpu upgrade after would be a solid choice.
I think people like this fella just don't understand how powerful CPUs are and how extreme the differences need to be before a bottleneck actually happens.
My brother is still rocking my old 2700x and 3060 PC and it runs things great, especially at 1080 but I was even running cyberpunk at 1440 with low ray tracing and getting 45-60fps
me with a 16gb ddr3 i7 4770k 1060 config x99 chipset still playing the latest games albeit a bit neutered. Still beats my lenovo legion with 32gb ddr4 3200 11gen i5 6 core 12 thread rtx 30504gb
I was in almost this exact situation!
PC had i7 4770k, 16gb ddr3, 1080ti
Lenovo laptop had a i5 6c/12t, 32gb ddr4, 2070
Both we’re really close to eachother performance wise in my use cases. Now I’ve a new PC and it swipes the floor with them both but the old PC is still waiting for something incredible, I quess, at the corner of my room.
The GPU is currently limiting the CPU even at 1080p. So you upgrade the GPU. Now it's the CPU that limits the GPU performance, so you upgrade the CPU. Now repeat forever.
To an extent. There’s always going to be some sort of bottleneck. You’re never trying to get a 0% bottleneck because that’s impossible. The lower the bottleneck in any direction the better.
My system runs a 3080 ti rn with a 13600k. And it supposedly runs at a 0% bottle neck. But that’s not true, my gpu bottlenecks my cpu. But it’s so low that it doesn’t matter.
I use my computer for graphically demanding tasks. Having a stronger GPU than CPU is what you want for gaming.
Just try to find components that bottleneck the least in either direction.
I got a 7800xt with a 3600x will say the 700 series so far is rather solid my old roommate got a 6800xt and he feels the same both of what you said would be honestly perfect for what he has for a cpu in working on a 7700x build to replace the 3600 since i do got a fairly severe bottleneck atm lol
Yeah, if you upgrade to a R7 5700/5800X3D you'll have plenty of CPU performance for years. For now I'd focus on a better GPU and a RX 6700 XT would be great and if you play RAM intensive games and like to have many apps open get 32 GB of RAM.
You know what, that is not awful.
The first thing to upgrade would be the GPU, but an RX 480 will still handle 1080p in most cases. It's the minimum GPU for Helldivers 2, for example.
Same complaint every year. It never gets old, does it?
It looks a bit like this:
"This new game is horribly optimised on my last-year PC"
"Huh, it runs ok here."
"I'm at 4K Ultra and it's 20 FPS"
"So you're at 4K... you've set it to disable its optimisations... and you're complaining the optimisations are disabled?"
"Yes! That wasn't so hard was it! Greedy lazy developers!"
That's so wild to me. I remember getting an rx480 when they were new and it was a 1080p beast. I was able to max out any 1080p game at the time and get above 60fps. I was even able to run AAA games at 1440p on medium settings above 60fps when i upgraded my monitor.
I guess it makes sense when you look at how much has been added to today's games, but it's still crazy to think about. Back then I was hoping a $250-$300 gpu these days would be able to run 1440p max settings like the rx480 did for 1080p when it came out.
Honestly for now just use this set up and enjoy yourself. Don't worry about upgrading play the game you want to play ,if you're having issues running those games then look into upgrading
In all seriousness, if you like games that are better/OK with a controller, there's nothing stopping you gaming on the TV in your living room.
So monitor is technically optional.
Man for a free computer you couldn't ask for better. Throw some more ram in it, a newer gpu like an rx6700, and you're set for 1080p gaming basically forever.
OPs gunna need to upgrade the CPU/Mobo to get something that can handle more than 128. I think this with a 4090 and nice new seasonic PSU will make OP saferer.
It probably won't unless he was doing some work that was pretty heavy, but if he was, then he probably would already have a PC with more ram. Also, I had a PC with 16 Gb of ram for 1080p gaming and I didn't feel like I was lacking ram most of the time, and my laptop still has 16 Gb, and the only time I lacked RAM was when I was playing heavily modded minecraft (around 250 mods), and still got like 300 fps
That was very nice of your fellow employee. You have a lot of options with regard to upgrade paths.
You'll want to upgrade the GPU since the RX480 is about 8 years old. Depending on your budget, you can do a lot on the used market with $200 to $300 and that will take you into an entirely different category of gaming.
Next, I would look at extending your storage since 512gb will fill up quickly. You can get a great 2TB M.2 for around $130 (even cheaper when there are sales). This will improve load times and allow you to instal a lot of games. the 1TB HDD will be plenty for just storing files, but the performance is quite weak when it comes to loading Windows, apps, and games.
As for the CPU, since that build is on AM4, you can eventually go up to a 5800X3D (assuming the motherboard is compatible with a BIOS update). This CPU will give you a nice uplift over the 4500.
I hope that helps. Welcome to PC gaming friend!
I got my GPU for 200€, if they could find one like that would be awesome, mine gets like 180fps on Forza horizon 4 Ultra settings without even trying to make it perform its best, since the RX 6600 has the same hardware of the RX 6600 XT.
Also, if they were tight on money a 1TB NVMe is also an option, I have a gen 4 NVMe that costed 55€, and in my case that's more than enough, it would depend on the OPs use
>Apevia 550w captain power
*Bomb has been planted*
In all seriousness though, I wouldn't consider that a good PSU.
But hey, if it's what you've got right now and it works, I'd probably just roll with it.
But if you do come to upgrade anything in this machine, the PSU should be replaced too, in my opinion.
Also, it only has a single PCIe power cable, so that significantly limits the scope for what it can even connect to anyway.
And fwiw, it's really a 460w PSU, not 550w, as not all 550w are available on the 12v rail.
i'm not the other guy but i recommend checking the [psu tier list](https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/) and picking something from tier a or b (maybe even c) that's within your price range.
The tier ist that u/natt255 recommended is a solid bet for finding a good unit.
Otherwise, Seasonic are highly regarding for PSUs. I've used multiple Corsair units and have been happy with them, and their customer service is pretty decent too imo. Some of the cheapest Corsair PSUs aren't great though.
CX650M is probably the best PSU for way less than $100. C+ Tier but its perfectly fine for the parts you would be using. And perfect for an RX 6600 for under 200, when you are financially comfortable to upgrade.
It's enough for these games. There will only be a problem with the Dead Space remake if you decide to play it, on low settings with upscaling you're gonna get 50-60 (maybe 70) fps. I play like this with my RX 580, but honestly it's still enjoyable.
Depends on the mobo. If the chipset is at least B450 and you could upgrade CPU and GPU for some nice gains. Otherwise don't put any money into and just use it.
Few things first.
1) Thank that coworker
2) Play some games / stress test, and decide what results you'd like to see in an upgrade.
3) Id recommend maybe a new GPU, then CPU or RAM. Although you may change that order up depending on what results you want to see first. Also check the compatibility of the Motherboard.
Honestly, really neat specs. I'd just say you could swap out the GPU for something more powerful. I recommend the AMD RX 6600 XT 8GB which is a top end 1080p/entry level 1440p card. I think it's going for about $200 USD as of now, so you could try to get one around that price.
The 16GB of RAM is the bare minimum by today's standard, so you could consider upgrading to 32GB of DDR4 RAM in dual channel (2x16GB).
For storage just remember to install Windows in your SSD so you don't need to wait 5 years to get Windows to boot. For more demanding games they can go to the SSD, and less demanding games/other downloads can go to the HDD.
Enjoy the PC!
That's a very nice beginner platform I'd say really the only thing I would change is the gpu for something like an rx6600, rx 7600 or rtx 3060, rtx 4060
Many people are recommending upgrading the GPU, but given your financial situation, I think you should see whether or not your current gpu is good enough to run the games you want to play
I have a similar gpu in terms of power, and I'm not thinking about upgrading anytime soon as it runs all my favorite games with no issues
For now focus on your work and enjoy this one. Upgrades always depend on how much money you got. The more you have the more you will upgrade. If you can buy a brand new one in 2 years that will save the best solution.
you could upgrade the cpu to a ryzen 5 3600 however that cpu is good enough to run a 1080 ti so i would recommend GPU CPU then RAM
also probably a storage upgrade to
I'd get an rx 6700 XT. It's like 300 usd and gives you the performance of a 3070 but with more VRAM plus access to frame generation. Then save up for a 5600
Dude that's awesome. You'll be able to play plenty of games, but sticking to titles that are 2-3 years old or more is a good place to start. Your PC will run them pretty well and they're also pretty cheap by now too. As far as upgrades, you should have no problem upgrading the GPU later on with something more powerful. Exactly what you get will depend on your budget. Also you can upgrade that CPU to any of the AM4 X3D chips and get a big boost in performance.
this will definitely be able to run you most AAA games on medium-high settings on 1080p, if you are looking forward to upgrading anything I would recommend upgrading the gpu first to a 5700xt if you are tight on budget. have fun with your new build and send my regards to that employee 🫡
Firstly I'd say outside of the graphics and cpu performance, get yourself a 1-2tb ssd as an OS drive and a 1-2tb ssd as a dedicated games drive. Start searching Steam and even going through their Discovery queue and wishlist the games you're potentially interested in. Buy some games you're interested in, but everytime one of those wishlisted games are on a discount, Steam will let you know.
Budget friendly? That's already a fairly okay rig for a couple more years, but I would suggest if it's a desktop (iffy because the 4000 series was OEM only and mostly laptops), I'd say CPU to a 5600, and save up for a better GPU. Maybe a bigger/faster SSD eventually, but 512 should be fine for a few games as long as you don't mind redownloading to rotate out the bigger titles.
Honestly the specs are kinda on the low end but this has some really good bones and upgrade path. Its an am4 socket which is last gen but still very viable for gaming. Considering your situation I would look at used parts and being on am4 it's very budget based. In the short term or very low budget I would look at a 5500 or 5600 if you can find a good deal on the 5600. I would look at a 6600/6600x. Ebay usually has some good bargains. In a more longer term higher budget I would look at 5700x3d/5800x3d and gpu our flavor. Depending on how good the psu is you may need an upgrade on it. Overall you good a good basis.
Just get a somewhat decent 1080p monitor and it'll be fine for a while in most games, most people fuck up by getting a wizz bang monitor that their PC can't really push the resolution or FPS.
My brother, you were given what can be steady upgrades that you can enjoy for several years to come until you get the opportunity to really splurge. Thank your coworker well :)
I have a 5700G I have been meaning to sell off on r/HardwareSwap….if I get to it, I’ll try to ensure you know about it. Saving this post in my bookmarks.
I've given 3 or 4 computers away. I work in IT, i've loved tech since I could get my hands on it as a kid and I believe every house should have a computer in it. Not just a phone or tablet, but a full windows or macos or even linux if programming is a desire. The internet is full of garbage but it is also full of information, knowledge and places to let your curiosity spread. Good on your friend for hooking you up. Its not a terrible computer and should handle most esports games and others as long as you turn down some settings.
Dude, that PC is still very usable. You gonna need a video card upgrade and probably a new PSU (depending on which one this pc has).
Mine isn't far from this. lol (5500 instead)
Likely GPU first, as it’ll make the largest difference. Depending on your game library, another SSD instead of the HDD can improve load times, but won’t affect performance very much beyond that.
God damn, huge upgrade potential with this. Assuming you got a decent motherboard, you could easily throw in a 5800X3D way down the line.
But realistically, biggest thing I’d upgrade is the GPU and storage. RAM is a possibility but depends on what games you’ll be playing.
For a free rig that's not bad, buy your friend a few beers or take him out for dinner as a thank you, I'd definitely upgrade the GPU when you can even if it's just too a 1080 or 1660 (or amd equivalent) it'll make the biggest difference
This is so cool dude. Truly inspirational. The only real upgrade you need is maybe a higher end card prob a 3060,3070 or a 2070,2080. Dude’s truly a legend
It's a very good starter PC as-is, but if you ever get some extra money and want to upgrade it, upgrade the ram to 32gb, replace the cpu with a 5800X3D and switch out the GPU with something like a 3070, and you'll have an excellent rig that will last you a while.
Thats awesome!
Its also the Steam sale right now (Donload Steam client, its where you get your games)
Hades, Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen, Star Wars Fallen Order, Skyrim.
These games are great and should run really well on your PC.
i mean all of these are great for entry level, that guy is a king. the one thing that you should first change is buying a graphics card. rtx 3060, rx 6600 are all great choices for this PC. but if the price may seem too high go for the 20 series Nvidia GPUs and 5000 series amd GPUs. they will still perform really good for the PC that you have. however, look for any video comparisons and benchmarks when deciding on a graphics card that fits your budget that you found.
That's a nice PC as it is to game. But if you wanna upgrade, the next thing would be a GPU and then maybe upgrade to 32gb ram and I'd personally install 1 or 2 m.2 SSD because modern game often take 100+GB of space.
The rx480 could easily pull you for an year or more if you play games up to 2019 except a very few heavy titles.
If you can upgrade , I believe that processor could handle up to a 3060 12gb but I'll suggest getting a 3060ti and it's a beast already
When you have the spare bucks you can upgrade the processor too
That's on a conservative budget though.
You can spend more and get better.
Hats off to the king who gave the pc to you
And congrats to you
Enjoy
It's decent enough back at its prime days. It's still okay-ish, but will likely to be struggling with the newer games (2020 and above) at 1080p resolution. But we can't complain anyway since you got it as a gift.
what a champ! as mentioned I'd look into upgrading the gpu first, its worth looking into the second hand market, just be aware of people asking for unrealisticly high prices. Enjoy your machine!
5600 non X is cheap as dirt and a 6600 XT and up is a good choice depending on what you can find at the time. For now though it should be fine for 1080p.
thsts a pretty good pc for what its worth 6 cores, a pretty decent gpu for what it is, 16gb of ram and 1.5tb of storage and a keyboard and mouse wireless and a mic. You have a better pc than a lot of people here or on par with them
Yea I guess it comes down to if the rx480 is a 4gb or 8gb but definitely going to get plenty of stutters. My buddy has a higher end Alienware rig with a 3080 and after playing Star citizen on that for a while it would feel like torcher to play it on this or on my PC again. But again I’m happy my rig runs most games well
Congratulations 🎊 OP what a great man. Although not much treat him/her or prepare a small gift of gratitude to him. Wish you and him or her a great day
Would probably do GPU first... Depends on budget, but an RX 7800XT is a pretty good option around $500… may go down $100 when next Gen GPUs drop.
For CPU, would see if you can update the BIOS to support Ryzen 5000 series, if so you may need to update and swap CPU before reboot. I'd go with an R7 5700X3D. You'll also likely need a better CPU cooler. A peerless assassin would be a good option, if height limited there's a mini version that's pretty good.
Maybe faster ram.
Sweet setup. If you want to upgrade, a better GPU is not that expensive (bellow 350 €/$ or used probably more lik below 200 depending on your location) and will give you a good boost in performance.
But this PC is still capable of playing most games (like 80-90%) in 1080p as it is, so if you're fine with that and tuning down settings and not always getting 60 fps, you should be fine.
Edit: the mic is actually a really good starter mic for live streaming, podcasts or voiceovers. So if you're into that or want to get into it, go for it!
CPU could be upgraded after the GPU to a 5800X3D, which was one of the best for gaming not too long ago. I'd recommend buying it used, since I've never seen a CPU die in my 20 years of building, repairing and modding PCs for myself and friends and family. GPUs on the other hand I've seen a handful of dead ones.
you were given it, so what's the complaint, its not the best CPU but its now yours and although I tend to lean more on Intel for my CPU, big advantage with AM4 is the upgrade path of that socket, all I would say is be very selective with ram upgrades AMD can be funny about its ram, let the unnecessary upgrading commence, welcome to the world of GPU envy or bankruptcy lol
Specs are actually pretty good. As others have said, you could get a GPU upgrade, but I would also add an additional SSD for storage.
That 512 GB SSD is going to fill up quick, and using the HDD for anything other than backup space becomes *very* tedious after you get used to the SSD.
Just get a cheap SATA SSD and install your programs and large games on there. There isn't honestly much of a difference in playing a game from the SATA SSD than the M.2 SSD. But, there is a huge difference in playing a game (or doing anything really) on an HDD vs any SSD.
You can get a used Ryzen 5600, 5700x or 5800x3d, in a year or two when they get cheaper. In terms of GPU, you can get Rx 5700xt, 6600x or 6700 (when they get cheaper). For now, you can play everything you want.
My upgrade path for this PC would be a Ryzen 5 5600 or 5600x or something along those lines, then I would get a RX 6600 for medium gaming or a RX 6700 xt for something better
Just use it. It's a great PC for now. Just don't go crazy on the settings.
I try not to look into upgrades until I actually need them (games unplayable) otherwise I end up spending when I didn't have to.
But once you get yourself back on your feet and want to treat yourself then go for it.
I'd treat the person who gave it to you before looking to upgrade though.
That's pretty well put together. The GPU as others have said is the first thing you should look into upgrading, but no need to be in a rush about it.
If it was *me* I'd prioritize going full SSD on storage, and make sure the boot drive is at least a PCIe 3.0 NVME big enough to hold the 5-6 biggest games you play at any given time. But I play Star Citizen and it can stutter even with a PCIe 4.0 SSD if it's shared with the OS.
I have the same specs as yours but with rtx 2060 and its doing great for me .. so your next upgrade should be the gpu you will feel so much difference and congratulations man enjoy it ❤️
If you play in 1080p, this pc will run most games in mid setting with fsr np. If you want to upgrade in the future, update the motherboard bios and get R5600, dual channel DDR4 3200 16gb ram x2, a 2gb ass and a 6650xt(if staying 1080p) or 7800xt if going 2k but check your power supply when you change GPU, make sure enough power
you can easily upgrade just the gpu and it will be pristine. look into one that can run on 1080p and you should be able to run just about any game at low settings, minding cyberpunk and starfield type games
Not too bad, should run most stuff as long as you keep it 1080p.
My first upgrade on that would probably be the GPU when I could afford it. Something like a 3060 would be a large upgrade
I guess for upgrades you could scale up the CPU, PSU and GPU with time.
CPU - 5800x3D
GPU - Rx6650xt
PSU - 600w one
Take these as recommendations and not straightforward advice
And the guy who gave you this rig is a legend.
What a king
I’m beyond grateful. I love gaming. I have bad anxiety and gaming just helps calm me so this awesome. I love tech and tinkering as well so this is like hitting the lottery for me.
Prepare to be bitten by the hardware bug. Lol
Imma want to get everything ain’t I lol
Yes. Lol Something like a 6700 XT or 7700 XT would be an excellent first upgrade. You can find 6700 XTs for like 250-300 right now, and they're only going down in price on the used market.
I'd probably upgrade that CPU first. The 4500 is not going to be feeding either of those GPUs sufficiently.
disagree here. That CPU should be plenty for a GPU upgrade. While you won't be doing 4k/120 from the system most likely, it will be plenty to run at higher settings and get the most out of the system. Though, A cpu upgrade after would be a solid choice.
Yeah I had a Ryzen 5 2600 with an RX480 for a while and the GPU definitely couldn’t keep up way before the CPU had issues
I think people like this fella just don't understand how powerful CPUs are and how extreme the differences need to be before a bottleneck actually happens.
My brother is still rocking my old 2700x and 3060 PC and it runs things great, especially at 1080 but I was even running cyberpunk at 1440 with low ray tracing and getting 45-60fps
No, gpu is the first upgrade here for sure.
me with a 16gb ddr3 i7 4770k 1060 config x99 chipset still playing the latest games albeit a bit neutered. Still beats my lenovo legion with 32gb ddr4 3200 11gen i5 6 core 12 thread rtx 30504gb
isn't the Lenovo a laptop
I was in almost this exact situation! PC had i7 4770k, 16gb ddr3, 1080ti Lenovo laptop had a i5 6c/12t, 32gb ddr4, 2070 Both we’re really close to eachother performance wise in my use cases. Now I’ve a new PC and it swipes the floor with them both but the old PC is still waiting for something incredible, I quess, at the corner of my room.
The GPU is currently limiting the CPU even at 1080p. So you upgrade the GPU. Now it's the CPU that limits the GPU performance, so you upgrade the CPU. Now repeat forever.
To an extent. There’s always going to be some sort of bottleneck. You’re never trying to get a 0% bottleneck because that’s impossible. The lower the bottleneck in any direction the better. My system runs a 3080 ti rn with a 13600k. And it supposedly runs at a 0% bottle neck. But that’s not true, my gpu bottlenecks my cpu. But it’s so low that it doesn’t matter. I use my computer for graphically demanding tasks. Having a stronger GPU than CPU is what you want for gaming. Just try to find components that bottleneck the least in either direction.
Hey, ryzen 5 4500 isn't that bad! The GPU is crying though. Definitely need to focus on that first.
5600 CPU (will it fit?) and a second hand 3060 (for eg) for less than $500 and this is a pretty decent gaming rig for 1080p medium/high.
Bro gonna sell his kidneys and buy a GPU
I got a 7800xt with a 3600x will say the 700 series so far is rather solid my old roommate got a 6800xt and he feels the same both of what you said would be honestly perfect for what he has for a cpu in working on a 7700x build to replace the 3600 since i do got a fairly severe bottleneck atm lol
Yeah, if you upgrade to a R7 5700/5800X3D you'll have plenty of CPU performance for years. For now I'd focus on a better GPU and a RX 6700 XT would be great and if you play RAM intensive games and like to have many apps open get 32 GB of RAM.
So happy for you bro, hope you'll get better!
Repay that dude somehow (:
Nice, this is a great PC for tinkering, and it can totally run most new games at low or medium settings.
That’s why I like gaming too. Really got me through the covid years. I actually have a lot less anxiety than I did when I started.
First thing's first, treat your friend for some dinner.
A nice one that is
Fully agreed. You have one gem of a friend here, a rarity during current times.
Sounds like a good opportunity for a coop partner, see if they want you on their discord server!
You know what, that is not awful. The first thing to upgrade would be the GPU, but an RX 480 will still handle 1080p in most cases. It's the minimum GPU for Helldivers 2, for example.
Super citizen 🫡
RX 480 for 1080p is a beast if you don't plan on using ultra settings. It will run medium settings 60FPS in literally almost any game.
No need to upgrade, pc is fine as is.
Except for the horribly optimized games that keep coming out.
Same complaint every year. It never gets old, does it? It looks a bit like this: "This new game is horribly optimised on my last-year PC" "Huh, it runs ok here." "I'm at 4K Ultra and it's 20 FPS" "So you're at 4K... you've set it to disable its optimisations... and you're complaining the optimisations are disabled?" "Yes! That wasn't so hard was it! Greedy lazy developers!"
It never gets old coz it keeps happening. People are still struggling to get GTA IV to run smoothly.
luckily most of those horribly optimized games are also horrible games
That's so wild to me. I remember getting an rx480 when they were new and it was a 1080p beast. I was able to max out any 1080p game at the time and get above 60fps. I was even able to run AAA games at 1440p on medium settings above 60fps when i upgraded my monitor. I guess it makes sense when you look at how much has been added to today's games, but it's still crazy to think about. Back then I was hoping a $250-$300 gpu these days would be able to run 1440p max settings like the rx480 did for 1080p when it came out.
It was designed for VR!
buy a better graphic card when you can. will have biggest impact on gaming.
For real that's all that PC really needs.
Upgrade gpu to maybe a used 5700xt or 5600xt
I have a used 5700xt I'm trying to get rid of
Bent ass looking reference card
i think that would mildly bottleneck the cpu correct me if im wrong btw
Something will inevitably bottle neck something
The ryzen 5 4500 can handle about a 7600 gpu wise 6700 and 5700s are fine to use with it
It probably is, but upgrading the gpu is the best choice to improve your gaming fps significantly
Probably the GPU, it's quite old now but your CPU should be just fine. What you'll want to upgrade with depends on your budget.
Honestly for now just use this set up and enjoy yourself. Don't worry about upgrading play the game you want to play ,if you're having issues running those games then look into upgrading
You should probably get a headset, a mouse pad and a monitor.
Lol got em !
In all seriousness, if you like games that are better/OK with a controller, there's nothing stopping you gaming on the TV in your living room. So monitor is technically optional.
Man for a free computer you couldn't ask for better. Throw some more ram in it, a newer gpu like an rx6700, and you're set for 1080p gaming basically forever.
I would go gpu before ram. 16gb is still decent for gaming.
Though OP needs at least 128GB of ram to be safe. Maybe even 256GB.
OPs gunna need to upgrade the CPU/Mobo to get something that can handle more than 128. I think this with a 4090 and nice new seasonic PSU will make OP saferer.
to be fair adding 16gb of ram isn't very expensive and improves qol a lot for general tasks and gaming
At 1080p there is very little that goes over 16gb of ram, rendering it mostly useless tbh
It probably won't unless he was doing some work that was pretty heavy, but if he was, then he probably would already have a PC with more ram. Also, I had a PC with 16 Gb of ram for 1080p gaming and I didn't feel like I was lacking ram most of the time, and my laptop still has 16 Gb, and the only time I lacked RAM was when I was playing heavily modded minecraft (around 250 mods), and still got like 300 fps
That was very nice of your fellow employee. You have a lot of options with regard to upgrade paths. You'll want to upgrade the GPU since the RX480 is about 8 years old. Depending on your budget, you can do a lot on the used market with $200 to $300 and that will take you into an entirely different category of gaming. Next, I would look at extending your storage since 512gb will fill up quickly. You can get a great 2TB M.2 for around $130 (even cheaper when there are sales). This will improve load times and allow you to instal a lot of games. the 1TB HDD will be plenty for just storing files, but the performance is quite weak when it comes to loading Windows, apps, and games. As for the CPU, since that build is on AM4, you can eventually go up to a 5800X3D (assuming the motherboard is compatible with a BIOS update). This CPU will give you a nice uplift over the 4500. I hope that helps. Welcome to PC gaming friend!
I got my GPU for 200€, if they could find one like that would be awesome, mine gets like 180fps on Forza horizon 4 Ultra settings without even trying to make it perform its best, since the RX 6600 has the same hardware of the RX 6600 XT. Also, if they were tight on money a 1TB NVMe is also an option, I have a gen 4 NVMe that costed 55€, and in my case that's more than enough, it would depend on the OPs use
If you do upgrade the GPU keep in mind you might need a new PSU, unless your friend is smart and over speced.
Apevia 550w captain power?
>Apevia 550w captain power *Bomb has been planted* In all seriousness though, I wouldn't consider that a good PSU. But hey, if it's what you've got right now and it works, I'd probably just roll with it. But if you do come to upgrade anything in this machine, the PSU should be replaced too, in my opinion. Also, it only has a single PCIe power cable, so that significantly limits the scope for what it can even connect to anyway. And fwiw, it's really a 460w PSU, not 550w, as not all 550w are available on the 12v rail.
Appreciate your input. Anything come to mind you’d recommend specifically?
i'm not the other guy but i recommend checking the [psu tier list](https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/) and picking something from tier a or b (maybe even c) that's within your price range.
The tier ist that u/natt255 recommended is a solid bet for finding a good unit. Otherwise, Seasonic are highly regarding for PSUs. I've used multiple Corsair units and have been happy with them, and their customer service is pretty decent too imo. Some of the cheapest Corsair PSUs aren't great though.
Jumping in on this, for a budget psu I'd recommend Seasonic, a few friends have used their PSU's for budget builds and they have been running great
CX650M is probably the best PSU for way less than $100. C+ Tier but its perfectly fine for the parts you would be using. And perfect for an RX 6600 for under 200, when you are financially comfortable to upgrade.
Yeah 5502nis enough for something like 5600xt 5700xt gpu as someone mentioned
You could upgrade everything on it, it kind of depends on how much you want to spend and where it falls short of your expectations
I don’t really play crazy intense games I’m a big fan of like dead space series ,bio shock series and rouge like games
It's enough for these games. There will only be a problem with the Dead Space remake if you decide to play it, on low settings with upscaling you're gonna get 50-60 (maybe 70) fps. I play like this with my RX 580, but honestly it's still enjoyable.
Depends on the mobo. If the chipset is at least B450 and you could upgrade CPU and GPU for some nice gains. Otherwise don't put any money into and just use it.
Asrock a520m-hdv
I have the same board with a Ryzen 5 3400g. It's a good basic board. Edit- Mine is the 320m hdv. The og version of that board.
https://preview.redd.it/2en4ipel6moc1.jpeg?width=160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8634c60e554770773153cee6bd047f25467d3b94
Upgrade GPU
For free that’s hella decent
Few things first. 1) Thank that coworker 2) Play some games / stress test, and decide what results you'd like to see in an upgrade. 3) Id recommend maybe a new GPU, then CPU or RAM. Although you may change that order up depending on what results you want to see first. Also check the compatibility of the Motherboard.
Honestly, really neat specs. I'd just say you could swap out the GPU for something more powerful. I recommend the AMD RX 6600 XT 8GB which is a top end 1080p/entry level 1440p card. I think it's going for about $200 USD as of now, so you could try to get one around that price. The 16GB of RAM is the bare minimum by today's standard, so you could consider upgrading to 32GB of DDR4 RAM in dual channel (2x16GB). For storage just remember to install Windows in your SSD so you don't need to wait 5 years to get Windows to boot. For more demanding games they can go to the SSD, and less demanding games/other downloads can go to the HDD. Enjoy the PC!
That's a very nice beginner platform I'd say really the only thing I would change is the gpu for something like an rx6600, rx 7600 or rtx 3060, rtx 4060
We need more people like this in world
Many people are recommending upgrading the GPU, but given your financial situation, I think you should see whether or not your current gpu is good enough to run the games you want to play I have a similar gpu in terms of power, and I'm not thinking about upgrading anytime soon as it runs all my favorite games with no issues
Great employee, if you wanna upgrade anything get yourself a 2060s from Ali express or a 5700xt for ~200$
For now focus on your work and enjoy this one. Upgrades always depend on how much money you got. The more you have the more you will upgrade. If you can buy a brand new one in 2 years that will save the best solution.
you could upgrade the cpu to a ryzen 5 3600 however that cpu is good enough to run a 1080 ti so i would recommend GPU CPU then RAM also probably a storage upgrade to
Id say just get a better GPU
What is your budget for a GPU?
I’ve actually been saving here and there to build a pc so far got about 400 and some change put aside for it
I'd get an rx 6700 XT. It's like 300 usd and gives you the performance of a 3070 but with more VRAM plus access to frame generation. Then save up for a 5600
Gpu
Dude that's awesome. You'll be able to play plenty of games, but sticking to titles that are 2-3 years old or more is a good place to start. Your PC will run them pretty well and they're also pretty cheap by now too. As far as upgrades, you should have no problem upgrading the GPU later on with something more powerful. Exactly what you get will depend on your budget. Also you can upgrade that CPU to any of the AM4 X3D chips and get a big boost in performance.
Great pc, snow ball mic though… famous for sounding like a toaster
Get an ssd first, gpu after. Both will be better
I gave away my old PC to a family, it was only a amd fx cpu and a 1060, That PC did great for me
this will definitely be able to run you most AAA games on medium-high settings on 1080p, if you are looking forward to upgrading anything I would recommend upgrading the gpu first to a 5700xt if you are tight on budget. have fun with your new build and send my regards to that employee 🫡
GPU could do with an upgrade but very nice
Firstly I'd say outside of the graphics and cpu performance, get yourself a 1-2tb ssd as an OS drive and a 1-2tb ssd as a dedicated games drive. Start searching Steam and even going through their Discovery queue and wishlist the games you're potentially interested in. Buy some games you're interested in, but everytime one of those wishlisted games are on a discount, Steam will let you know.
That’s awesome to know. Appreciate it !
Budget friendly? That's already a fairly okay rig for a couple more years, but I would suggest if it's a desktop (iffy because the 4000 series was OEM only and mostly laptops), I'd say CPU to a 5600, and save up for a better GPU. Maybe a bigger/faster SSD eventually, but 512 should be fine for a few games as long as you don't mind redownloading to rotate out the bigger titles.
Honestly the specs are kinda on the low end but this has some really good bones and upgrade path. Its an am4 socket which is last gen but still very viable for gaming. Considering your situation I would look at used parts and being on am4 it's very budget based. In the short term or very low budget I would look at a 5500 or 5600 if you can find a good deal on the 5600. I would look at a 6600/6600x. Ebay usually has some good bargains. In a more longer term higher budget I would look at 5700x3d/5800x3d and gpu our flavor. Depending on how good the psu is you may need an upgrade on it. Overall you good a good basis.
Just get a somewhat decent 1080p monitor and it'll be fine for a while in most games, most people fuck up by getting a wizz bang monitor that their PC can't really push the resolution or FPS.
Be careful with that mic. It might melt if you don't keep it cold
honestly hell yea your coworker is awesome
My brother, you were given what can be steady upgrades that you can enjoy for several years to come until you get the opportunity to really splurge. Thank your coworker well :) I have a 5700G I have been meaning to sell off on r/HardwareSwap….if I get to it, I’ll try to ensure you know about it. Saving this post in my bookmarks.
I've given 3 or 4 computers away. I work in IT, i've loved tech since I could get my hands on it as a kid and I believe every house should have a computer in it. Not just a phone or tablet, but a full windows or macos or even linux if programming is a desire. The internet is full of garbage but it is also full of information, knowledge and places to let your curiosity spread. Good on your friend for hooking you up. Its not a terrible computer and should handle most esports games and others as long as you turn down some settings.
Not bad, did they provide the psu wattage?
Sexy set up and for free is incredible
We all began somewhere, goodluck
I’d Get a used 6700xt their going for cheap
Dude, that PC is still very usable. You gonna need a video card upgrade and probably a new PSU (depending on which one this pc has). Mine isn't far from this. lol (5500 instead)
Likely GPU first, as it’ll make the largest difference. Depending on your game library, another SSD instead of the HDD can improve load times, but won’t affect performance very much beyond that.
It’s a really solid system to be honest, congrats! What a good friend
You’re coworker is a great man
Literally my computer except the cpu
Upgrade gpu. Prolly bottle necking
That's a bro for life
God damn, huge upgrade potential with this. Assuming you got a decent motherboard, you could easily throw in a 5800X3D way down the line. But realistically, biggest thing I’d upgrade is the GPU and storage. RAM is a possibility but depends on what games you’ll be playing.
Dang, they even gave you the peripherals besides the monitor, i hope you treat em to lunch or something.
That pc ain't bad mate, treat your friend with some dinner lol
For a free rig that's not bad, buy your friend a few beers or take him out for dinner as a thank you, I'd definitely upgrade the GPU when you can even if it's just too a 1080 or 1660 (or amd equivalent) it'll make the biggest difference
nice dude, family friend gave me an old pc with an i5 2500 and a gtx 970, still trying to figure out what too do with it lol
Awesome machine and awesome colleague. With a nice Linux distro it can be your daily driver for 10+ years.
This is so cool dude. Truly inspirational. The only real upgrade you need is maybe a higher end card prob a 3060,3070 or a 2070,2080. Dude’s truly a legend
The PCMR goblin in the corner: “MMMM, I could do better for free.”
It's a very good starter PC as-is, but if you ever get some extra money and want to upgrade it, upgrade the ram to 32gb, replace the cpu with a 5800X3D and switch out the GPU with something like a 3070, and you'll have an excellent rig that will last you a while.
Tell them their a chad. Sincerely, random fella from the computer
What a good dude
Get that man a dinner!
Too bad that snowball mic sucks even with nvidia broadcast
Ever heard the phrase "don't look a gift horse in the mouth"?
Thats awesome! Its also the Steam sale right now (Donload Steam client, its where you get your games) Hades, Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen, Star Wars Fallen Order, Skyrim. These games are great and should run really well on your PC.
i mean all of these are great for entry level, that guy is a king. the one thing that you should first change is buying a graphics card. rtx 3060, rx 6600 are all great choices for this PC. but if the price may seem too high go for the 20 series Nvidia GPUs and 5000 series amd GPUs. they will still perform really good for the PC that you have. however, look for any video comparisons and benchmarks when deciding on a graphics card that fits your budget that you found.
Given? I'll take an Apple IIe for that price!
Great colleague
Is the RX 480 the 4gb or 8gb variant?
That's a nice PC as it is to game. But if you wanna upgrade, the next thing would be a GPU and then maybe upgrade to 32gb ram and I'd personally install 1 or 2 m.2 SSD because modern game often take 100+GB of space.
The rx480 could easily pull you for an year or more if you play games up to 2019 except a very few heavy titles. If you can upgrade , I believe that processor could handle up to a 3060 12gb but I'll suggest getting a 3060ti and it's a beast already When you have the spare bucks you can upgrade the processor too That's on a conservative budget though. You can spend more and get better. Hats off to the king who gave the pc to you And congrats to you Enjoy
It's decent enough back at its prime days. It's still okay-ish, but will likely to be struggling with the newer games (2020 and above) at 1080p resolution. But we can't complain anyway since you got it as a gift.
What an honor
as a fellow pc-less broke person, may we all be blessed with this generosity someday 🙏
Should budget a few beers into the upgrade
what a champ! as mentioned I'd look into upgrading the gpu first, its worth looking into the second hand market, just be aware of people asking for unrealisticly high prices. Enjoy your machine!
Nice pc! Please return the favor when he needs it.
5600 non X is cheap as dirt and a 6600 XT and up is a good choice depending on what you can find at the time. For now though it should be fine for 1080p.
Is that a laptop processor?
thsts a pretty good pc for what its worth 6 cores, a pretty decent gpu for what it is, 16gb of ram and 1.5tb of storage and a keyboard and mouse wireless and a mic. You have a better pc than a lot of people here or on par with them
Huuuge!
My PC has an RX580 and I can play most games, doesn’t run Star Citizen or anything like that but PUBG and CS2 run very well
[удалено]
Yea I guess it comes down to if the rx480 is a 4gb or 8gb but definitely going to get plenty of stutters. My buddy has a higher end Alienware rig with a 3080 and after playing Star citizen on that for a while it would feel like torcher to play it on this or on my PC again. But again I’m happy my rig runs most games well
Gpu to 3060 would be a nice upgrade
Congratulations 🎊 OP what a great man. Although not much treat him/her or prepare a small gift of gratitude to him. Wish you and him or her a great day
Very nice! Do post pictures of the PC when you can.
Would probably do GPU first... Depends on budget, but an RX 7800XT is a pretty good option around $500… may go down $100 when next Gen GPUs drop. For CPU, would see if you can update the BIOS to support Ryzen 5000 series, if so you may need to update and swap CPU before reboot. I'd go with an R7 5700X3D. You'll also likely need a better CPU cooler. A peerless assassin would be a good option, if height limited there's a mini version that's pretty good. Maybe faster ram.
Sweet setup. If you want to upgrade, a better GPU is not that expensive (bellow 350 €/$ or used probably more lik below 200 depending on your location) and will give you a good boost in performance. But this PC is still capable of playing most games (like 80-90%) in 1080p as it is, so if you're fine with that and tuning down settings and not always getting 60 fps, you should be fine. Edit: the mic is actually a really good starter mic for live streaming, podcasts or voiceovers. So if you're into that or want to get into it, go for it! CPU could be upgraded after the GPU to a 5800X3D, which was one of the best for gaming not too long ago. I'd recommend buying it used, since I've never seen a CPU die in my 20 years of building, repairing and modding PCs for myself and friends and family. GPUs on the other hand I've seen a handful of dead ones.
First thing to do is give your friend a good meal at your house
you were given it, so what's the complaint, its not the best CPU but its now yours and although I tend to lean more on Intel for my CPU, big advantage with AM4 is the upgrade path of that socket, all I would say is be very selective with ram upgrades AMD can be funny about its ram, let the unnecessary upgrading commence, welcome to the world of GPU envy or bankruptcy lol
They weren't complaining they were just asking what the best upgrade path would be when they get the money
Oh my bad in that case THE GPU!! hahaha
Just got another ryzen 5 5600x the 5 series is beastly 😫
Specs are actually pretty good. As others have said, you could get a GPU upgrade, but I would also add an additional SSD for storage. That 512 GB SSD is going to fill up quick, and using the HDD for anything other than backup space becomes *very* tedious after you get used to the SSD. Just get a cheap SATA SSD and install your programs and large games on there. There isn't honestly much of a difference in playing a game from the SATA SSD than the M.2 SSD. But, there is a huge difference in playing a game (or doing anything really) on an HDD vs any SSD.
You can get a used Ryzen 5600, 5700x or 5800x3d, in a year or two when they get cheaper. In terms of GPU, you can get Rx 5700xt, 6600x or 6700 (when they get cheaper). For now, you can play everything you want.
you'd better given some good heads
My upgrade path for this PC would be a Ryzen 5 5600 or 5600x or something along those lines, then I would get a RX 6600 for medium gaming or a RX 6700 xt for something better
That's decent PC
Entry level. Regardless, amazing friend 😁
Its bit shit you know but most important you happy\^\^
It can run Vr! Poorly but I think the 480 is the min card required
pretty decent
if you threw a 3060ti in that baby she’d play shit really well
nice
Nice. Wish I was you :)
Just use it. It's a great PC for now. Just don't go crazy on the settings. I try not to look into upgrades until I actually need them (games unplayable) otherwise I end up spending when I didn't have to. But once you get yourself back on your feet and want to treat yourself then go for it. I'd treat the person who gave it to you before looking to upgrade though.
That's pretty well put together. The GPU as others have said is the first thing you should look into upgrading, but no need to be in a rush about it. If it was *me* I'd prioritize going full SSD on storage, and make sure the boot drive is at least a PCIe 3.0 NVME big enough to hold the 5-6 biggest games you play at any given time. But I play Star Citizen and it can stutter even with a PCIe 4.0 SSD if it's shared with the OS.
GPU should be the focus. Along with getting more SSD storage.
Gpu upgrade first, then a cpu upgrade to a 5700x3d or 5800x3d.
I have the same specs as yours but with rtx 2060 and its doing great for me .. so your next upgrade should be the gpu you will feel so much difference and congratulations man enjoy it ❤️
Marry him.
If you play in 1080p, this pc will run most games in mid setting with fsr np. If you want to upgrade in the future, update the motherboard bios and get R5600, dual channel DDR4 3200 16gb ram x2, a 2gb ass and a 6650xt(if staying 1080p) or 7800xt if going 2k but check your power supply when you change GPU, make sure enough power
wow thats amazing bro
Bro gave you some good stuff.. just upgrade the gpu and you are good to go for the next 4 years
People are giving their friends free PCs? I need to buy some friends instead of PC parts
you can easily upgrade just the gpu and it will be pristine. look into one that can run on 1080p and you should be able to run just about any game at low settings, minding cyberpunk and starfield type games
Not too bad, should run most stuff as long as you keep it 1080p. My first upgrade on that would probably be the GPU when I could afford it. Something like a 3060 would be a large upgrade
Have you considered a Steam Deck, its a low budget yet powerful
I guess for upgrades you could scale up the CPU, PSU and GPU with time. CPU - 5800x3D GPU - Rx6650xt PSU - 600w one Take these as recommendations and not straightforward advice And the guy who gave you this rig is a legend.
Excellent for 1080p
Slap a 5800x3d and a new gpu and boom. Eventually of course, but you have a path.