Help using old computer to build new one

J

jakehill307

Member
Hi, I am new to the forum so apologies if this is in the wrong section. I am relatively new to today's computers having bought my last one 5 years ago from a store. My current computer is terribly slow and cannot handle the most basic of day to day tasks (probably a virus).

I was going to purchase a new computer until I checked CPU benchmark and realized the processor in my current computer ranks higher than those in the machines I was looking at buying. This made me interested in building my own and perhaps utilizing some of the parts from my old machine.

My question to you experts is are any of these old components any good to carry forward into my new build? I am not looking for a top of the range gaming PC, my budget for purchasing one was only around the £500 mark. I just want one that boots up and runs fast and can perhaps play Sims 4, that's the top end gaming this machine will witness.

My old computer which I purchased 5 years ago consists of the following;

Mobo: Asrock N68C-S UCC
RAM: 4GB DDR3
Processor: AMD Phenom II 1055t 6 core
PSU: Strixe-x 600W 80+ bronze
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4870
Wifi: 300Mbps PCI adaptor
HD: 500GB sata hard drive.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
Depends what you want really. For playing Sims 4 this should probably work OK. Maybe put a much newer graphics card in the machine, add an SSD to install Windows onto and upgrade the RAM to 8GB and see what it's like. Power supply might need changing to a higher quality one too. You could be looking at about £300-400 for that, so it's up to you to decide if you want to invest that much in an older system or whether you feel that £400 would be better spent saving for something newer. If you want faster boot up times then the SSD is a must and you can get 250GB ones for well under £100 now!

Are you dissatisfied with its performance at the moment? Your PC more than meets the requirements for The Sims 4: http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/the-sims-4/12305
 
spirit said:
Depends what you want really. For playing Sims 4 this should probably work OK. Maybe put a much newer graphics card in the machine, add an SSD to install Windows onto and upgrade the RAM to 8GB and see what it's like. Power supply might need changing to a higher quality one too. You could be looking at about £300-400 for that, so it's up to you to decide if you want to invest that much in an older system or whether you feel that £400 would be better spent saving for something newer. If you want faster boot up times then the SSD is a must and you can get 250GB ones for well under £100 now!

Are you dissatisfied with its performance at the moment? Your PC more than meets the requirements for The Sims 4: http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/the-sims-4/12305
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply!

At the moment I feel like I would rather spend £500 upgrading than £500 on a new PC, only if the processor I currently have is better than the machines I am looking at (worth keeping). Link below of the one I have seen today (Primal GS2)

http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/showsearchresults.asp?idcategory=196&priceFrom=350&priceUntil=450

The PC is currently painfully slow (10 minute boot time, major lag opening things like internet explorer) but I believe this might be down to a virus, if I completely get rid of my current harddrive and install a new SSD and a backup SATA I think it should be ok. If that's the case I will then upgrade the RAM and graphics card as you have suggested.
 
Your current Phenom II X6 is probably better than either the Pentium or the other AMD CPU.

What I would suggest is getting an SSD and seeing if you can upgrade to 8GB RAM and completely format and reinstall Windows fresh. You can have your SSD to hold your OS and programs and your hard drive can be for files. Install Windows 100% fresh onto the SSD, don't migrate the OS from your hard drive to the SSD.

Samsung 850 Evo 250GB would be my recommendation.
 
jakehill307 said:
The PC is currently painfully slow (10 minute boot time, major lag opening things like internet explorer)
Click to expand...
If it takes that long to boot up then you most likely have a rootkit/mbr infection. Have you ran any virus/malware scanners? If not, then start here. Will probably have you run a couple more after this.

1.

Please download AdwCleaner by Xplode onto your Desktop.



•Please close all open programs and internet browsers.
•Double click on adwcleaner.exe to run the tool.
•Click on Scan.
•After the scan you will need to click on clean for it to delete the adware.
•Your computer will be rebooted automatically. A text file will open after the restart.
•Please post the content of that logfile in your reply.
•You can find the logfile at C:\AdwCleaner[Sn].txt as well - n is the order number.

2.

Please download Junkware Removal Tool to your desktop.

•Shutdown your antivirus to avoid any conflicts.
•Very important that you run the tool in this manner:
Right-mouse click JRT.exe and select Run as administrator
Do NOT just double-click it.
•The tool will open and start scanning your system.
•Please be patient as this can take a while to complete.
•On completion, a log (JRT.txt) is saved to your desktop and will automatically open.
•Post the contents of JRT.txt in your next message.

3.

Please download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.
  • Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
  • At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to
    • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
    • and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • then click Finish.
  • If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version. Please keep updating until it says you have the latest version.
  • Once the program has loaded, select Perform quick scan, then click Scan.
  • When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
  • Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
  • A log will be saved automatically which you can access by clicking on the Logs tab within Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

If for some reason Malwarebytes will not install or run please download and run Rkill.scr, Rkill.exe, or Rkill.com. If you are still having issues running rkill then try downloading these renamed versions of the same program.

EXPLORER.EXE
IEXPLORE.EXE
USERINIT.EXE
WINLOGON.EXE

But DO NOT reboot the system and then try installing or running Malwarebytes. If Rkill (which is a black box) appears and then disappears right away or you get a message saying rkill is infected, keep trying to run rkill until it over powers the infection and temporarily kills it. Once a log appears on the screen, you can try running malwarebytes or downloading other programs.

Please post the log that Malwarebytes displays on your screen.

4.

Download OTL to your Desktop


•Double click on the icon to run it. Make sure all other windows are closed and to let it run uninterrupted.
•Click on Minimal Output at the top
•Click the Quick Scan button. Do not change any settings unless otherwise told to do so. The scan wont take long.
◦When the scan completes, it will open two notepad windows. OTL.Txt and Extras.Txt. These are saved in the same location as OTL. Just post the OTL.txt file in your reply.

Then post the logs from the following 4 programs.

1. Adwcleaner
2. Junkware removal tool
3. Malwarebytes
4. OTL
 
spirit said:
Your current Phenom II X6 is probably better than either the Pentium or the other AMD CPU.

What I would suggest is getting an SSD and seeing if you can upgrade to 8GB RAM and completely format and reinstall Windows fresh. You can have your SSD to hold your OS and programs and your hard drive can be for files. Install Windows 100% fresh onto the SSD, don't migrate the OS from your hard drive to the SSD.

Samsung 850 Evo 250GB would be my recommendation.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help, that is exactly what I will do. I have looked and the current mobo will take up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM. Would you recommend upgrading the mobo while I am at it to one that will accept newer components or should I leave that for a later upgrade?
 
jakehill307 said:
Thanks for your help, that is exactly what I will do. I have looked and the current mobo will take up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM. Would you recommend upgrading the mobo while I am at it to one that will accept newer components or should I leave that for a later upgrade?
Click to expand...
Might as well upgrade the RAM now. Make sure you get the right sticks. You can use CPU-Z to check how many sticks you have and what speed they need to be.
 
spirit said:
Might as well upgrade the RAM now. Make sure you get the right sticks. You can use CPU-Z to check how many sticks you have and what speed they need to be.
Click to expand...

I will get an SSD ordered as well as some new RAM and keep you updated. Thankyou so much you have been really helpful. All I got from other places I asked were laughs because I don't have a brand new £5000 machine. If I am to do a fresh install onto the new SSD where can I find my product key for Windows 10 before I take my current hardrive and destroy it?
 
Yeah I think with an SSD and more RAM this machine will be absolutely fine for you. The game only calls for a GTX 650 so a Radeon HD 4870 should run it fine. If not then maybe a graphics card or a newer machine might be something to look at for the future.

Did you upgrade to Windows 10 from 8.1 or 7? There's a program called LicenceCrawler you can use to reveal your product keys, or ProduKey.

Just to make it clear, you don't need to physically destroy the hard drive. Just format it (wipe it) so when you get your SSD you can use it to store files on. ;) By the way, when you're installing Windows onto your SSD make sure the SSD is the only drive attached. Connect your hard drive after you've finished installing Windows.
 
spirit said:
Yeah I think with an SSD and more RAM this machine will be absolutely fine for you. The game only calls for a GTX 650 so a Radeon HD 4870 should run it fine. If not then maybe a graphics card or a newer machine might be something to look at for the future.

Did you upgrade to Windows 10 from 8.1 or 7? There's a program called LicenceCrawler you can use to reveal your product keys, or ProduKey.

Just to make it clear, you don't need to physically destroy the hard drive. Just format it (wipe it) so when you get your SSD you can use it to store files on. ;) By the way, when you're installing Windows onto your SSD make sure the SSD is the only drive attached. Connect your hard drive after you've finished installing Windows.
Click to expand...

Yeah I just want it to boot and run quickly. Sims 4 is the most it will get used for by my girlfriend. I play the old C&Cs and civ 5.

I have just today upgraded from a 7. Although right now I have a black screen with cursor straight after login. I'll use that program to find my product key once I've sorted it.

And that's useful to know thank you (puts sledgehammer away).
 
10 minute boot time is indicative of a problem. I'd check what SMART statistics your hard drive is putting out.

Some more RAM and an SSD will do you wonders.
 
Yeah your hard drive might actually be dying hence for the problems. Do you know what the manufacturer and model number of your hard drive is?
 
I have just bought the 250gb evo 850 so hopefully that should be here in a few days. I am going to check the SMART statistics now and run through the guide johnb35 posted.

My hard drive is a: Hitachi Deskstar HDS725050KLA360

Also, my mobo has two DDR3 slots for RAM, should I use 2 4GB or buy 1 8GB stick?
 
johnb35 said:
If it takes that long to boot up then you most likely have a rootkit/mbr infection. Have you ran any virus/malware scanners? If not, then start here. Will probably have you run a couple more after this.

1.

Please download AdwCleaner by Xplode onto your Desktop.



•Please close all open programs and internet browsers.
•Double click on adwcleaner.exe to run the tool.
•Click on Scan.
•After the scan you will need to click on clean for it to delete the adware.
•Your computer will be rebooted automatically. A text file will open after the restart.
•Please post the content of that logfile in your reply.
•You can find the logfile at C:\AdwCleaner[Sn].txt as well - n is the order number.

2.

Please download Junkware Removal Tool to your desktop.

•Shutdown your antivirus to avoid any conflicts.
•Very important that you run the tool in this manner:
Right-mouse click JRT.exe and select Run as administrator
Do NOT just double-click it.
•The tool will open and start scanning your system.
•Please be patient as this can take a while to complete.
•On completion, a log (JRT.txt) is saved to your desktop and will automatically open.
•Post the contents of JRT.txt in your next message.

3.

Please download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.
  • Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
  • At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to
    • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
    • and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • then click Finish.
  • If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version. Please keep updating until it says you have the latest version.
  • Once the program has loaded, select Perform quick scan, then click Scan.
  • When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
  • Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
  • A log will be saved automatically which you can access by clicking on the Logs tab within Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

If for some reason Malwarebytes will not install or run please download and run Rkill.scr, Rkill.exe, or Rkill.com. If you are still having issues running rkill then try downloading these renamed versions of the same program.

EXPLORER.EXE
IEXPLORE.EXE
USERINIT.EXE
WINLOGON.EXE

But DO NOT reboot the system and then try installing or running Malwarebytes. If Rkill (which is a black box) appears and then disappears right away or you get a message saying rkill is infected, keep trying to run rkill until it over powers the infection and temporarily kills it. Once a log appears on the screen, you can try running malwarebytes or downloading other programs.

Please post the log that Malwarebytes displays on your screen.

4.

Download OTL to your Desktop


•Double click on the icon to run it. Make sure all other windows are closed and to let it run uninterrupted.
•Click on Minimal Output at the top
•Click the Quick Scan button. Do not change any settings unless otherwise told to do so. The scan wont take long.
◦When the scan completes, it will open two notepad windows. OTL.Txt and Extras.Txt. These are saved in the same location as OTL. Just post the OTL.txt file in your reply.

Then post the logs from the following 4 programs.

1. Adwcleaner
2. Junkware removal tool
3. Malwarebytes
4. OTL
Click to expand...

I have ran through your guide Johnb35, can anyone advise how to attach text files to a message or should I just copy and paste them all?

I am going to run the specified Hitachi software you suggested now Spirit. Any reason why 2x4GB is better than 1x8GB? Just interested in why is all.
 
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