Advice on Upgrading Please

[joebeaven]

Hi,

I would like to upgrade my PC so that it is compatible with Windows 11 and would appreciate some advice please.

I currently have the following which I would like to keep:
PSU - MSI MAG A550BN 550W, 80 Plus Bronze Certified, ATX
Graphics Card - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB WINDFORCE
Case - NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Wireless LAN Card - TP-Link TL-WN851ND 300Mbps Wireless N PCI Adapter
USB 3.0 Expansion Card - Inateck Superspeed 4 Ports PCI-E to USB 3.0

I don't play games, but I do use some quite memory intensive software (not graphics software), so I would like a decent CPU.

I would like to upgrade my motherboard, CPU and memory. Could someone please recommend good options?

Thank you,
Joe

 

[DirtyDingusMcgee]

No mention of storage or budget.

"Will it run windows 11" and "compatible with windows 11" are not really the same thing. In my experience, just about anything that will run windows 7 will run 8, 10, or 11.

What is your budget? what is your storage situation?

 

[joebeaven]

Sorry, about that. I should have included those things. I have four HDD internal drives and an optical drive, so I will need at least 5 SATA ports. The motherboard should have TPM version 2.0 and be secure boot capable. On reflection, I will need a new graphics card as 4K videos are a little choppy and it should be compatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver, so a suggestion for one of those would be appreciated also please. My budget would be around $700 US (I live in the UK, so I'd be paying in GBP).

 

[QuietBob]

If your software takes advantage of CUDA, a 12 GB RTX 3060 is the most budget-friendly choice. The amount of RAM and processing power will depend on the specific apps that you use, and the size of your projects. 64 GB of DDR5 is a good start.

What software do you use for video editing and other workloads?

 

[joebeaven]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't do any video editing or gaming, so a basic graphics card that has the requirements for Windows 11 and can play smooth 4K video is all I'm looking for. I'm mostly looking for suggestions for a good modern motherboard and processor setup that will fit with my existing case and PSU please.

 

[Bobaganoosh]

I put together a couple options for you. I did them in pcpartpicker with UK selected.

As you don't do any gaming, I picked one system that just has one of the best integrated graphics you can get. I don't see why it wouldn't play 4k videos perfectly. I put a cheap cooler that performs really well in there, just because I prefer to let CPUs run as fast as possible at lower temps where the stock cooler will definitely let the CPU run way hotter at times...you could do with the stock cooler first and just buy an aftermarket one if you have issues if you really want to maximize cheapness:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 8700G 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor (£243.49 @ NeoComputers)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£32.98 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard (£179.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (£100.24 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £555.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-03-28 19:01 GMT+0000

Also, if you wanted to save more money, you likely would be perfectly fine with the cheaper 8600G as well.

If you wanted a dedicated GPU, it would mean you'll do better with a cheaper CPU, so some swapping of parts for Option 2, but this does exceed your budget (could also drop to 8600G and use stock cooler...would save some money and give a better backup iGPU):

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£190.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£32.98 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard (£179.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (£100.24 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus DUAL OC GeForce RTX 3050 6GB 6 GB Video Card (£169.00 @ MoreCoCo)
Total: £671.22
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-03-28 19:14 GMT+0000

On both of those options I picked the cheapest motherboard that had at least 5 SATA ports, which did limit things pretty heavily. Going with a more reputable board puts it in the £339.99 range for pricing. If you can figure out either moving at least one drive to m.2 (which would really improve performance as well, even with a cheaper gen 3 drive for example), you can get a better board for £209.99 or a few others still much cheaper than the 339. Considering that idea, I made option 3 (again, could also drop to 8600G and use stock cooler...would save some money and give a better backup iGPU):

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£190.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£32.98 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock B850 Riptide WiFi ATX AM5 Motherboard (£209.99 @ MoreCoCo)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (£100.24 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green SN3000 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£47.99 @ SanDisk)
Video Card: Asus DUAL OC GeForce RTX 3050 6GB 6 GB Video Card (£169.00 @ MoreCoCo)
Total: £750.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-03-28 19:24 GMT+0000

 

[MiSteR]

One good and cheap mobo with 6 sata is Asrock B550M PRO4 - around 100 gbp.
CPU - Ryzen 7 5800X/5700X - around 140 gbp.
RAM - 32 GB DDR4 3200-3600 mhz - around 60 gbp.
Total 300 GBP. Plenty fast.
...or you can go cheap with AM5:
ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 - 100 gbp (only 4 sata port but those could be added it PCIe card)
CPU - Ryzen 7 7700 tray - around 200 EUR - didn't find it in the UK
RAM 32 GB DDR5 6000 mhz - around 100 GBP (in EU you can get some cheap stuff for 80 EUR).
Total <400 GBP. Faster, could be upgraded with really fast stuff.

Cheers