Desktop upgrade suggestion needed

1. What is the purpose of the computer? What all applications and games are you going to run? (Be exact. Which games? Which applications? Avoid the word 'et cetera.' Vague answers like 'gaming' or 'office work' will not work.)
Ans: Need to upgrade CPU, Mobo, RAM for - Documents, browsing, watch movies & youtube, light not so frequesnt gaming with BF1 & older stuff.

2. What is your overall budget? If you can extend a bit for a more balanced configuration, then please mention.
Ans: 20K

3. Planning to overclock?
Ans: May be after 8-10 years, to squeeze out last of the juice.

4. Which Operating System are you planning to use?
Ans: Using 8.1, I can still upgrade to 11, right ?

5. How much hard drive / solid-state drive space is needed?
Ans: Already have HDD with enough space.

6. Do you want to buy a monitor? If yes, please mention the screen size and resolution you prefer. If you already have a monitor and want to reuse it, then do mention the screen size and resolution of the monitor you have.
Ans: No

7. Which components you DON'T want to buy? i.e. which components you already have and plan on reusing?
Ans: Nothing except CPU, Motherboard, RAM

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
Ans: 1 Month may be.

9. Have you ever built a desktop before? Or, will this be done by an assembler?
Ans: Yes.

10. Where do you live? Are you buying locally? Are you open to buying stuff from online shops if you don't get locally?
Ans: Any

11. Anything else which you would like to say?
Ans: None.

My 14.5 year old C2D E8400 with 8GB RAM doesn't seem to be faring as fast these days anymore. Also, it's of no use to any gaming since the GFX stopped working long ago. And I started to think if this could be a good time to upgrade.
Thinking of getting APU this time, since GFX seems to expire in 4-5 years normally, and the CPU itself is not good for even low detail gaming for many even old games. seems it struggles enough to play even HD videos too.

Thinking of getting :
5600G / 4600G + Asrock B450 HDV + 2x8GB Gskill 3200Mhz

Since this desktop uses Windows 8.1, thinking of upgrading to 11. I hope they are still allowing that.

Please suggest.

Yeah probably that's the best one could get in the budget.
Instead of HDV, better go for one of the other B450s, the one with heat sink on - M Pro4/Pro4/M Pro VDH Max/ M-A II.
Depends on the choice and where you're getting, you may go bit above your budget.
And also make sure they are 5000 APU compatible right out of the box.

nac said:
Yeah probably that's the best one could get in the budget.
Instead of HDV, better go for one of the other B450s, the one with heat sink on - M Pro4/Pro4/M Pro VDH Max/ M-A II.
Depends on the choice and where you're getting, you may go bit above your budget.
And also make sure they are 5000 APU compatible right out of the box.

don't know why, but AM4 motherboards across most sites mostly saying out of stock. after 5.5k it immediately jumps to 7.5k and more. so few choices.

icebags said:
don't know why, but AM4 motherboards across most sites mostly saying out of stock. after 5.5k it immediately jumps to 7.5k and more. so few choices.

Oh! Didn't know about the availability. Check local stores as well. I don't know what's premium for 3600mhz, it's a sweet spot for 5000 series. If it's not much, you can go for that.

nac said:
Oh! Didn't know about the availability. Check local stores as well. I don't know what's premium for 3600mhz, it's a sweet spot for 5000 series. If it's not much, you can go for that.

will check. is GSkill RAM good ? I used Corsair DDR3 value RAM, which was good, even got overclocked neatly.
is it a good idea to overclock 2666/3200 RAMs to run at 3600, or should just buy 3600s ?

How is Silicon Power RAM? that seems comes few hundred rupee cheaper.

icebags said:
will check. is GSkill RAM good ? I used Corsair DDR3 value RAM, which was good, even got overclocked neatly.
is it a good idea to overclock 2666/3200 RAMs to run at 3600, or should just buy 3600s ?

How is Silicon Power RAM? that seems comes few hundred rupee cheaper.

Corsair, Adata, Kingston, G Skill are the common ones. I would go for one them instead. May have seen Silicon memory in the listing, I am not sure.

i see.

You need CPU, mobo, RAM & SSD. Win10 needs a SSD as bare minimum for smooth operation, even if min. req lists HDD.

For 20k, the parts you listed seems fine. 3200MHz RAM is fine, not like your will get a very big performance jump b/w 3200 & 3600 RAMs with iGPU (it helps, but not a lot, dual channel surely helps, but you will need a dGPU for decent gaming).

pcpricetracker.in/b/s/426bbc29-08fc-4d16-a59a-2b0656cb7d3f

Spent the extra 3k on a 500GB SSD, it is 100% worth it.

Upgrade from 8.1 to 10, then 10 to 11 to retain your legit license. I personally use Win10, Win11 needs more polishing IMO.

omega44-xt said:
pcpricetracker.in/b/s/426bbc29-08fc-4d16-a59a-2b0656cb7d3f

Is it okay to go with high latency stick?

omega44-xt said:
You need CPU, mobo, RAM & SSD. Win10 needs a SSD as bare minimum for smooth operation, even if min. req lists HDD.

For 20k, the parts you listed seems fine. 3200MHz RAM is fine, not like your will get a very big performance jump b/w 3200 & 3600 RAMs with iGPU (it helps, but not a lot, dual channel surely helps, but you will need a dGPU for decent gaming).

pcpricetracker.in/b/s/426bbc29-08fc-4d16-a59a-2b0656cb7d3f

Spent the extra 3k on a 500GB SSD, it is 100% worth it.

Upgrade from 8.1 to 10, then 10 to 11 to retain your legit license. I personally use Win10, Win11 needs more polishing IMO.

how bad is it without ssd ? if it's that bad, i can go for a 120/256gb one, for bare minimum OS files only. i guess this should not take more than 70-80gb even for windows 11, right ?

also, thanks for suggesting the upgrade path. so, do i get the windows 10 iso, make boot stick, boot from it and do the upgrade with my 8.1 key ? they are still allowing the upgrade right , i did not do this before.

nac said:
Yeah probably that's the best one could get in the budget.
Instead of HDV, better go for one of the other B450s, the one with heat sink on - M Pro4/Pro4/M Pro VDH Max/ M-A II.
Depends on the choice and where you're getting, you may go bit above your budget.
And also make sure they are 5000 APU compatible right out of the box.

some changes in mind, B450 seems support 3200MHz with OC, whereas A520 does it stock, and seems a bit cheaper. Thinking of getting Asrock A520M-HDV now, I understand it doesn't have VRM heatsink either, but I may just stick some small aluminum heatsinks on them with heatsink tape.

icebags said:
how bad is it without ssd ? if it's that bad, i can go for a 120/256gb one, for bare minimum OS files only. i guess this should not take more than 70-80gb even for windows 11, right ?

also, thanks for suggesting the upgrade path. so, do i get the windows 10 iso, make boot stick, boot from it and do the upgrade with my 8.1 key ? they are still allowing the upgrade right , i did not do this before.

some changes in mind, B450 seems support 3200MHz with OC, whereas A520 does it stock, and seems a bit cheaper. Thinking of getting Asrock A520M-HDV now, I understand it doesn't have VRM heatsink either, but I may just stick some small aluminum heatsinks on them with heatsink tape.

256GB SSD is the minimum you need. 128GB is just too low. Regarding how bad is it, your PC will continuously lag & most of the times it will have 100% disk usage (not the case with Win8.1). I compared Win8.1 vs 2015 build of Win10 vs Win10 1909 in 2020 on a friend's laptop with HDD, former 2 were fine on HDD but not the newer one.

zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

Cheap B450 vs A520 doesn't matter much IMO. Look into differences in RAM slots, USB ports, M.2 slots, etc. RAM will work with XMP profile on B450 easily, not a deal breaker at all.

omega44-xt said:
256GB SSD is the minimum you need. 128GB is just too low. Regarding how bad is it, your PC will continuously lag & most of the times it will have 100% disk usage (not the case with Win8.1). I compared Win8.1 vs 2015 build of Win10 vs Win10 1909 in 2020 on a friend's laptop with HDD, former 2 were fine on HDD but not the newer one.

zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

Cheap B450 vs A520 doesn't matter much IMO. Look into differences in RAM slots, USB ports, M.2 slots, etc. RAM will work with XMP profile on B450 easily, not a deal breaker at all.

alright, so i will make it 240gb then. and i have shortlisted the following sata ones (sequence as per preference) :

Crucial BX500
WD Green
ADATA SU650

(1) can you please suggest which one of the above would be best for reliability and wont fail anytime soon.

now there is a problem though, hard disks are getting piling up, those mobos provide 4x sata ports, and with this ssd, i will have 4 hard disks and one optical drive, which got accumulated over the years. so, one will be left out.
i see you have suggested M.2 NVME drive, and those mobos support 4 x SATA3, 1 x Ultra M.2(Gen3 x4 & SATA3). i am not familiar with M.2, i heard if you use M.2 then one sata port goes off. so there again 4 drives total.

(2) so please suggest if that is true.

another issue is that, my Os comes upgraded from win XP. to install OS fresh on a drive, i guess i have to load XP first, then upgrade to Win 8.1, then Win 10. but as per the specs these new mother board & processionor wont boot with XP or win 8. so, cant directly load OS into M.2.

then again when reading that zdnet article you provided, i came across this and got confused:

The digital license is associated with that specific device, which means you can reformat the disk and perform a clean installation of the same edition of Windows 10 anytime. (If you're thinking of upgrading your old system drive to an SSD, perform the upgrade to Windows 10 on the old hardware; after confirming that the new Windows 10 version is properly activated, install the SSD and then either restore from a backup image or boot from the USB flash drive to do a clean install. You won't need a product key, and activation is automatic.)

(3) so it means i have to do the upgrade in HDD with current C2Duo, activate Windows 10, then change the hardware to AMD, then copy OS image to M.2 drive ? that process is so complicated and long. :pullhair:

then there is mention of "boot from the USB flash drive to do a clean install", (4) does this mean, once win10 is activated in new hardware from HDD, i can just boot from bootable windows10 stick and do fresh install of 10 diectly on M.2, without installing the prior windows versions ? :chinscratch:

so confusing.

icebags said:
some changes in mind, B450 seems support 3200MHz with OC, whereas A520 does it stock, and seems a bit cheaper. Thinking of getting Asrock A520M-HDV now, I understand it doesn't have VRM heatsink either, but I may just stick some small aluminum heatsinks on them with heatsink tape.

Both look pretty much the same. DIY fashion heat sink would be fine too. :thumbs:

icebags said:
Crucial BX500

i see you have suggested M.2 NVME drive, and those mobos support 4 x SATA3, 1 x Ultra M.2(Gen3 x4 & SATA3). i am not familiar with M.2, i heard if you use M.2 then one sata port goes off. so there again 4 drives total.

so it means i have to do the upgrade in HDD with current C2Duo, activate Windows 10, then change the hardware to AMD, then copy OS image to M.2 drive ? that process is so complicated and long.

so confusing.

Come on, nvme price has fallen a lot lately. You can even 500GB nvme for sub 3k (I got 120GB SATA SSD for 4.1k 4-5yrs back), even when we got WD Blue 256GB about 6 months back, it cost more than what 500GB costs now. Any way it's your choice.

AFAIK, 6 SATA and 2 nvme has that limitation. I think you're good with 4 SATA and 1 NVME, nothing will disable anything.

Can you not add your license using Microsoft account and use it in the new system by logging into that account and activate?

nac said:
Both look pretty much the same. DIY fashion heat sink would be fine too.

Come on, nvme price has fallen a lot lately. You can even 500GB nvme for sub 3k (I got 120GB SATA SSD for 4.1k 4-5yrs back), even when we got WD Blue 256GB about 6 months back, it cost more than what 500GB costs now. Any way it's your choice.

AFAIK, 6 SATA and 2 nvme has that limitation. I think you're good with 4 SATA and 1 NVME, nothing will disable anything.

well, i may get nvme with a 256mb, and this one here costs 1.8 ok, which is reasonable. but i am more concerned about how complicated the installment process will become.

*mdcomputers.in/adata-xpg-gammix-s5-256gb-m-2-agammixs5-256gt-c.html?sort=p.price&order=ASC

Can you not add your license using Microsoft account and use it in the new system by logging into that account and activate?

i really dont know, only did this win8 upgrade 12 years age or something, and probably never bothered with windows installation again.

it's coming to trial and error now i guess, where if i get a sata drive, i can directly try the upgradation with my current system and buy those remaining hardware later.

thats why thinking of ordering Cruicial SSD. you think Crucial BX series is ok to rely on ? i see its one of the highest sold ssd in FK.

i may buy NVME later when it gets kaput, or few years later when i have a clear idea how these things will work.

Dont go for 256 GB NVME. 500 GB should be bare minimum, even if you go for a SATA SSD.

If your current hardware is working you can try new windows installation and removing all bloatware (there are many). It may still work fine for your bacis needs.

Nerevarine said:
Dont go for 256 GB NVME. 500 GB should be bare minimum, even if you go for a SATA SSD.

are you sure, i will be using this for Os only. even my office laptop came with a 240gb ssd only, and it has 80gb left even after installing all those dev , office and official spyware software. if windows ever demands more than lets say 180-190gb after 7-8 years, may be i can upgrade then again, since it will wear out a lot by then anyways.

rockfella said:
If your current hardware is working you can try new windows installation and removing all bloatware (there are many). It may still work fine for your bacis needs.

right, i went and checked some tutorials on how to make windows OS image and restore. seems like i can do it.
now, thinking of upgrading my hdd first and later restore this to an nvme, as guys suggested above.

any bloatware removal guide you suggest ?

icebags said:
are you sure, i will be using this for Os only. even my office laptop came with a 240gb ssd only, and it has 80gb left even after installing all those dev , office and official spyware software. if windows ever demands more than lets say 180-190gb after 7-8 years, may be i can upgrade then again, since it will wear out a lot by then anyways.

right, i went and checked some tutorials on how to make windows OS image and restore. seems like i can do it.
now, thinking of upgrading my hdd first and later restore this to an nvme, as guys suggested above.

any bloatware removal guide you suggest ?

I use revo uninstaller pro and uninstall all crap from here:

At default this list is full of softwares.

Install if now and see if you remove anything you don't use.

rockfella said:
I use revo uninstaller pro and uninstall all crap from here:

At default this list is full of softwares.

Install if now and see if you remove anything you don't use.

thanks !

btw, everyone. something thats worrying me , is the unavailability varieties of AM4 (A520 / B450 / B550) motherboards in low budget segment. are these out of production or they are pulling the strings due to any new chipset release in near future ? would it be wise to wait a bit ?

icebags said:
btw, everyone. something thats worrying me , is the unavailability varieties of AM4 (A520 / B450 / B550) motherboards in low budget segment. are these out of production or they are pulling the strings due to any new chipset release in near future ? would it be wise to wait a bit ?

B550 right from the start demanding premium, prices didn't fall to the level of B450s and the same applies to A520 against A320. And there never was a lot of choice when it comes to A series boards comparing to B series. It's been what, about 2-3yrs since B550 launch? I wouldn't be surprised it they have scaled down the production of B450 or even stop. But with 500 series boards, I don't think so. It's their last and existing DDR4 boards, they wouldn't axe anytime soon. Try both online/offline, you can find one.

nac said:
B550 right from the start demanding premium, prices didn't fall to the level of B450s and the same applies to A520 against A320. And there never was a lot of choice when it comes to A series boards comparing to B series. It's been what, about 2-3yrs since B550 launch? I wouldn't be surprised it they have scaled down the production of B450 or even stop. But with 500 series boards, I don't think so. It's their last and existing DDR4 boards, they wouldn't axe anytime soon. Try both online/offline, you can find one.

have not checked local yet, but online all the A520 are 2 ram slots ones, yet to see one with 4 ram slots.

icebags said:
have not checked local yet, but online all the A520 are 2 ram slots ones, yet to see one with 4 ram slots.

Since these are entry level chipset boards, most don't come with 4 slots. There are very few models which do sport 4 slot and most of them don't make it to Indian markets, the ones do would be priced as much as or at least close to B series boards.
theitwares.com/motherboards/amd-motherboards/asus-prime-a520m-a-amd-am4-micro-atx-with-1-gb-ethernet-m-2-and-usb-3-2-gen-1-motherboard.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_qvlvui__gIVLY1LBR3Cng2jEAQYAiABEgJY3vD_BwE

icebags said:
alright, so i will make it 240gb then. and i have shortlisted the following sata ones (sequence as per preference) :

Crucial BX500
WD Green
ADATA SU650

(1) can you please suggest which one of the above would be best for reliability and wont fail anytime soon.

now there is a problem though, hard disks are getting piling up, those mobos provide 4x sata ports, and with this ssd, i will have 4 hard disks and one optical drive, which got accumulated over the years. so, one will be left out.
i see you have suggested M.2 NVME drive, and those mobos support 4 x SATA3, 1 x Ultra M.2(Gen3 x4 & SATA3). i am not familiar with M.2, i heard if you use M.2 then one sata port goes off. so there again 4 drives total.

(2) so please suggest if that is true.

another issue is that, my Os comes upgraded from win XP. to install OS fresh on a drive, i guess i have to load XP first, then upgrade to Win 8.1, then Win 10. but as per the specs these new mother board & processionor wont boot with XP or win 8. so, cant directly load OS into M.2.

then again when reading that zdnet article you provided, i came across this and got confused:

The digital license is associated with that specific device, which means you can reformat the disk and perform a clean installation of the same edition of Windows 10 anytime. (If you're thinking of upgrading your old system drive to an SSD, perform the upgrade to Windows 10 on the old hardware; after confirming that the new Windows 10 version is properly activated, install the SSD and then either restore from a backup image or boot from the USB flash drive to do a clean install. You won't need a product key, and activation is automatic.)

(3) so it means i have to do the upgrade in HDD with current C2Duo, activate Windows 10, then change the hardware to AMD, then copy OS image to M.2 drive ? that process is so complicated and long.

then there is mention of "boot from the USB flash drive to do a clean install", (4) does this mean, once win10 is activated in new hardware from HDD, i can just boot from bootable windows10 stick and do fresh install of 10 diectly on M.2, without installing the prior windows versions ?

so confusing.

amazon.in/Silicon-Power-256GB-Gen3x4-SP256GBP34A60M28/dp/B07ZGJYLNL
Get its 256/512GB

2. Check your mobo specs & manual carefully. They mention this in specs itself for mobo if some NVMe slot & SATA slots are linked. AFAIK, B450s with 6 SATA ports disable 2 SATA ports for 1 NVMe

3. Maybe

4. For non-OEM device (like dell/lenovo/hp laptops/desktops), Windows key is not stored in mobo/BIOS. So you ought to have a key.

Quick question, asrock or gigabyte, in terms of longevity , service/rma ?

( I had bad exp with msi - even in warranty period, wanted to part refund the mobo money )

icebags said:
Quick question, asrock or gigabyte, in terms of longevity , service/rma ?

( I had bad exp with msi - even in warranty period, wanted to part refund the mobo money )

I'll take Gigabyte over AsRock. I keep MSI & Asus above Gigabyte though.

omega44-xt said:
I'll take Gigabyte over AsRock. I keep MSI & Asus above Gigabyte though.

Hmm after some research and with you people suggestion, I skipped all the vrm heatsinkless A520M boards, also asrock B450M pro4 ( was getting this at < 6k), which was not clearly told if came with latest BIOS and ordered gigabyte B550M DS3H @ ~8.4K.

DS3H still seems doesn't have not very good audio solution, but vrm seems better than anything nearby it, with 8(5+3) phases, where 5 primary pases have heatsink (3 auxiliary ones don't - may stick aftermarket small alluminium ones on them), 128gm Max Ram with 4 slots. And provision to entry level decent OC.

I was earlier thinking to get giga A520M DS3H, but it doesn't have heatsink and lot of stuff and costs only ~1k less. What a crappy pricing.

Good B450M are found costing ~8k anyways, and there may be compatibility issues, difficulty in supporting 3600Mhz memory, higher continuous current consumption due to memory OC. So after much consideration, skipped.

Already received 5600G @10.2k
And Crucial BX500 ssd@1.2k

Baught sata SSD, because of windows installation issues from old hardware. Will later buy an NVME someday and transfer this to my laptop.

Now need to find RAM. Thinking of getting 3600Mhz ones.

Seems going overbudget, didn't think would spend this much on motherboard. Hope it will last me many many years.

done the purchase.
5600G @ 10.1k
AsRock B550M Pro4 @ 8.9k
2x Ripjaws V 3600Mhz @ 4k
SATA SSD @ 1.1k

Total 24.1k

Cancelled gigabyte for some reasons, one of them being old crappy Realtek ALC887 sound chip from 15 years ago, which sounds so flat and boring. i missed the old creative sound card for so long. Asrock pro4 has ALC1200 chip, which sounds much better with depth, and dynamic range.

After a lot of headache, finally able to upgrade to Win10, with activation. First time tried offline upgrade, but that process failed activating. So , formatted ssd again, loaded XP -> upgraded to Win 8 -> upgraded to Win 8.1 -> online upgrade with microsoft id to Win 10. And that triggered the activation of digital license.
Then connected new hardware, had to reactivate for hardware change. Then finally did a fresh direct Win 10 installation from blank ssd. and finally it's complete. :bananana:

icebags said:
5600G @ 10.1k

That's wonderful pricing for the CPU. Would be good if I can get such deals when I get it. :wub:

nac said:
That's wonderful pricing for the CPU. Would be good if I can get such deals when I get it.

FK suddenly gave a 500/- coupon on this item, against some previous purchase. and 10% card offer applied. I think you may get it @10.5k check frequently.
Price is actually more wonderful for the mobo. It usually sells at ~11k. But, for some reason vedant sometimes listing at around 9k.

icebags said:
FK suddenly gave a 500/- coupon on this item, against some previous purchase. and 10% card offer applied. I think you may get it @10.5k check frequently.
Price is actually more wonderful for the mobo. It usually sells at ~11k. But, for some reason vedant sometimes listing at around 9k.

You are lucky to get the correct CPU from FK. Few poor souls got 5600G instead of the 5600 they placed the order for & FK support is bad as usual.

omega44-xt said:
You are lucky to get the correct CPU from FK. Few poor souls got 5600G instead of the 5600 they placed the order for & FK support is bad as usual.

oh, that's lame.
mine came with some open box policy at the time of delivery. delivery boy opened the package, broke the seal of the processor box in front of me to show everything was right.
i was asked to reject the parcel, if anything was wrong.

icebags said:
oh, that's lame.
mine came with some open box policy at the time of delivery. delivery boy opened the package, broke the seal of the processor box in front of me to show everything was right.
i was asked to reject the parcel, if anything was wrong.

Even now FK gives open box delivery to items at times, sometimes it doesn't.

its working well, but it seems the old CM 212 hyper evo cpu cooler i have used so far, is not compatible with the am4 socket.
i even found there are some am4 upgrade kit for this in some other countries.

so, any idea where to get that upgrade kit in india ? or any other suggestions ?

^Mail CM support and wait for their reply, they might send you upgrade kit for reasonable cost. Just try and see,

TheSloth said:
^Mail CM support and wait for their reply, they might send you upgrade kit for reasonable cost. Just try and see,

interesting suggestion. not sure if CM will provide an individual item. but lets try.

R

How about buy A320 of zebtronics coming for rs. 2700 in Delhi instead of asus 320

rohitshakti_sehgal said:
How about buy A320 of zebtronics coming for rs. 2700 in Delhi instead of asus 320

Don't have high expectations of long term reliability. Also features might be less as well. So compare them.