I am trying to build a computer which should be able to run games like Minecraft, Fortnite and CSGO. I have an old computer, but it gets pretty choppy running Fortnite. I was hoping that I could just switch out the graphics card with something like a Radeon RX 6600 and that would be enough.

Specs of the old computer

  • CPU - Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Processor
  • Motherboard - ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
  • Memory - Corsair Vengeance 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600 CL9 Memory
  • Storage - Crucial M4 128 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
  • Video Card - Asus HD7850-DC2-2GD5-V2 Radeon HD 7850 2 GB Video Card
  • Case - Cooler Master CM690 II Advanced ATX Mid Tower Case
  • Power Supply - Corsair TX650 V2 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

Would that work? Is there anything else I would need to switch out? The budget is fairly small which is why I am trying to re-use this old computer.

Any help is much appreciated!

  • @habitualTartare
    link
    51 year ago

    I agree you should check to see what is causing the problem while you’re in game. You can check by loading up Fortnite/CSGO and joining a game then pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc to go to task manager. Click on the performance tab and you’ll see charts for your CPU, GPU, memory and disk. If anything is above 90% usage it’s causing a bottleneck. Hardware info can also help here if you want more information.

    My hunch is that if stuttering is happening in Fortnite but not Minecraft or CSGO, it’s the GPUs 2GB vram. If so, depending on your location you can pick up a used GPU for ~$75-100 that should work. LTT has a video about buying used GPUs but he does recommend more recent cards. I’d recommend an AMD Rx 590/Nvidia 1660 at minimum if you upgrade. The video recommends Nvidia 20 series and Rx 5700xt for a budget of $150-$200 as of a month ago. You can take the GPU, case, and SSD with you if you upgrade. Another cheap upgrade is 16gb of ram (Minecraft performance) and SSDs or even hard drives are cheap if you wanted to add more storage for your game library.