Upgrading a PC

jaibaby

Hello everyone, I hope this is the correct place for this post.

Last year I purchased a PC from our local recycle place. My son asked me for a PC but understood funds were limited so we agreed I'd see what I could get and we would upgrade at a later date. So this year after realising I have no idea what to get him for Christmas and him saying he doesn't know either I said I would get him parts to use in the upgrade. We will be doing this ourselves as he wants to learn how to build a PC for the future (hopefully when he's earning decent wages and can buy his own stuff haha!). I've done a few basic upgrades in the past, such as adding a DVD drive, upgrading the memory but this time we'll be looking at a better graphics card and the like. He wants to use the PC for gaming - big online multiplayers or Minecraft, amongst others, so we'll be sorting all the peripherals needed to perform best or at least a decent standard. Can anyone point me in the direction of a helpful website / youtuber where we can go along at our own pace please? Thanks in advance.

Neil_Jones

A lot depends on the computer make and model (if its a custom build job then a lot will depend on the components already in the machine, so what motherboard, processor, memory type, etc).

If the PC is one that Noah used to count his animals on and off the ark, its probably not worth spending any money on for example.

CoastingHatbox

If you aren't sure what the specifications of the PC are, as it stands, run msinfo32.exe and post a screen shot of the 'System Summary'.

Instructions for running it are here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/view-your-system-info-a965a8f2-0773-1d65-472a-1e747c9ebe00

If we can see the specificatons, we can see what is the best upgrade path to take.

jaibaby

@Neil_Jones, @CoastingHatbox thank you for replying. I'll try and get the info tomorrow and upload it.

getmore4less

but this time we'll be looking at a better graphics card

Not a good time for graphics cards, supply issues and very expensive.

jamesd

Knowing more about the games would also be useful. Some are completely fine with the graphics built in to Intel CPUs, others like first person shooting games aren't so suitable for that.

forgotmyname

getmore4less said:

but this time we'll be looking at a better graphics card

Not a good time for graphics cards, supply issues and very expensive.

Almost £2000 for a top Nvidia card or £500 for something last gen that really should be closer to £200.

I think the next gen cards will arrive before the shortage starts to catchup with demand, although I do wonder
if they will delay new launches next year?

Guess it depends on what the competition have to offer?

Ibrahim5

Oh yes graphics cards were far cheaper before Brexit.