Having to Upgrade my PC

If you bothered to read the OP original thread, he is on a budget and what he has purchased is more than enough for his needs. It is a massive upgrade from what he had before, which he would have happily stayed with ( except for win11 compatibility ). The apu on the 4600g is plenty good enough for what he wants.

SIW2 said:

If you bothered to read the OP original thread, he is on a budget and what he has purchased is more than enough for his needs. It is a massive upgrade from what he had before, which he would have happily stayed with ( except for win11 compatibility ). The apu on the 4600g is plenty good enough for what he wants.

Replacememt MotherBoard advise - Windows 10 Help Forums

It has been a while since on this site and am now looking for Replacement Mother Board advise. I built my existing PC some years ago with help from Micro Mart and this site. I am now so far behind with PC tech and speak, I haven't a clue where to start. I

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Who are you replying to?

The OP's desire for additional HDMI and USB ports seems like a major change, given the budget nature of the build.

The OP asked how to add USB ports and extra HDMI ports. The cost of USB brackets and simple DP to HDMI or DVI to HDMI adapters is not that high. YOU should read better before you rush to criticise. I don't like posts that offer nothing but useless criticism.

PS: "If you judge me, you admire me", as an old ad says.

bobkn said:

Who are you replying to?

The OP's desire for additional HDMI and USB ports seems like a major change, given the budget nature of the build.

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I think you may have mis-understood a bit but I understand my thread is long and things get lost in the details.

You are correct my build is on a budget, 65% is necessity, the rest, my thinking, is reusing what I have as much as possible. In decorating terms it's striping off the old paint, revealing and dealing with rot, proofing and then new paint.

The rot in my case was MB got ropey and ancillaries had stopped working but my PC still did what I wanted. but have had to upgrade as much for compatibility OS reasons and I need my PC.

I already had my existing 2 port USB 3 hub, no outlay, just refitting it.

As for my existing, ( came with PC case ), 2 port USB 2 hub with head phone sockets, it had stopped working, pointless reinstalling something that doesn't work, so have had to step outside my budget limitations and replace above more or less like for like but USB 3, I might be on a budget but it's only £18.00.

My old PC did have 4 port USB 3 at the back which I fitted via a PCIe expansion card, I would refit it but not sure which slot, if possible, it would fit.

If what I have is a no go, I still want to install 4 port USB 3 at the back but not sure what I need with my new MB.

As for extra HDMIs, I accept it's a whim, unnecessary spend but still nice to have and while PC is in tear down, make hay.

You can install the USB 3.0 PCIe card on a PCIe 1x (the shortest ones) slot and have these extra ports. Why not, you never have enough USB ports as almost every external device is USB nowadays. Thankfully I had kept my old PS/2 keyboard and mouse to save a couple of USB ports when I upgraded from my old Intel Pentium 4 to Intel Core-i3 back in 2013. Pity eventually the mouse was not working properly and I had to replace it with a USB mouse. If you hadn't ordered your new motherboard/CPU/RAM already, as you said at your first post, I would recommend you to bypass compatibility check and install Windows 11 on your existing computer. You should consult the forums before ordering...

PS: Don't throw away the items you replace! All you need is a cheap tower, a PSU and a cheap SSD to build a second computer for a friend or relative or for your country house. If you eventually buy a new PSU, use the old in the second PC. If you buy a larger SSD, use the old in the second PC. You get the idea...

SIW2 said:

If you bothered to read the OP original thread, he is on a budget and what he has purchased is more than enough for his needs. It is a massive upgrade from what he had before, which he would have happily stayed with ( except for win11 compatibility ). The apu on the 4600g is plenty good enough for what he wants.

Replacememt MotherBoard advise - Windows 10 Help Forums

It has been a while since on this site and am now looking for Replacement Mother Board advise. I built my existing PC some years ago with help from Micro Mart and this site. I am now so far behind with PC tech and speak, I haven't a clue where to start. I

www.tenforums.com

Click to expand...

Spot on.

My PC had, will have, 4 front USB 3 ports, ( 2 x hubs ), one will have a C port a new addition for me.

PC has a generic DVD/CD drive which I will refit but not used in years, for a long time if I require updated drivers or something new comes with a disk I would simply go to its website download/install such things that way.

I fitted a HD drive caddy, I don't use a HD no longer so for a long time been using it as a drawer for 2 x SSDs, it's useful because if I go away, I disconnect, remove both SSDs for safe keeping elsewhere.

Recently put my Dremel to the caddy, slightly to long and covered a connection on my new MB, so cut the back off, still works fine as a drawer for the SSDs, don't know why more people don't use portable drive cadies to keep their OS/storage safe.

I have more power hungry ancillaries connect to the back of PC but not much, my graphics are integrated as is my audio requirements.

I will/do have a TV used as a monitor via HDMI and plan to connect a 2nd monitor and can achieve that using the display port.

This is where I may become a cropper with my existing 400w PSU but don't think I will, I think it will cope ok.

But have now used up all my HDMI/display port options, so my whim, ( unnecessary ), of fitting some extra HDMI ports but would like to fit them internally, not port/s hanging off the back of the PC.

spapakons said:

You get the idea...

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I do and thanks.

My KB is USB, my mouse is wireless, a couple of other USB ancillaries, the only thing I will be fitting, ( an anticipated Christmas present from the kids ), is a Web Cam.

I understand your point, ( " I would recommend you to bypass compatibility check " ) would have and did in fact attempt to so, ( registry hacks ), but failed in my efforts.

Hope I have better luck with my aged Lap Top but that's another thread, get my PC up and running first, a couple of unexpected set backs, nothing hardware or software but case related and nothing I'm not dealing with.

Determined to reuse as much of what I have and I'm doing ok and more or less within acceptable budget spend and I'm learning so much.

The idea to use caddy to remove your hard disk when no in use is good, but I leave my PC on 24/7, so this would be useless for me. A good idea would be to replace my old IDE (ATAPI) DVD-RW drives (not currently connected, just fill the gap on the tower, I removed my IDE/SATA PCIe card to connect my USB 3.0 PCIe card) and put caddies. Then I would configure in BIOS my second and third disk as hot-swap, so I can remove them when not in use and plug them back without restarting the PC. But this is another story.

spapakons said:

The idea to use caddy to remove your hard disk when no in use is good, but I leave my PC on 24/7, so this would be useless for me. A good idea would be to replace my old IDE (ATAPI) DVD-RW drives (not currently connected, just fill the gap on the tower, I removed my IDE/SATA PCIe card to connect my USB 3.0 PCIe card) and put caddies. Then I would configure in BIOS my second and third disk as hot-swap, so I can remove them when not in use and plug them back without restarting the PC. But this is another story.

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As I, the only time my PC is off is if away for a while then I remove both my SSDs or maintenance, both rare occurrences.

My adapted caddy, ( by adapted I mean Dremeled, shortened and bits removed ), works well for me and comfortably accommodates my 2 SSDs and their cables, dis-and reconnecting is a doddle.

Again just using what I have and making do.

jaylob4 said:

I think you may have mis-understood a bit but I understand my thread is long and things get lost in the details.

You are correct my build is on a budget, 65% is necessity, the rest, my thinking, is reusing what I have as much as possible. In decorating terms it's striping off the old paint, revealing and dealing with rot, proofing and then new paint.

The rot in my case was MB got ropey and ancillaries had stopped working but my PC still did what I wanted. but have had to upgrade as much for compatibility OS reasons and I need my PC.

I already had my existing 2 port USB 3 hub, no outlay, just refitting it.

As for my existing, ( came with PC case ), 2 port USB 2 hub with head phone sockets, it had stopped working, pointless reinstalling something that doesn't work, so have had to step outside my budget limitations and replace above more or less like for like but USB 3, I might be on a budget but it's only £18.00.

My old PC did have 4 port USB 3 at the back which I fitted via a PCIe expansion card, I would refit it but not sure which slot, if possible, it would fit.

If what I have is a no go, I still want to install 4 port USB 3 at the back but not sure what I need with my new MB.

As for extra HDMIs, I accept it's a whim, unnecessary spend but still nice to have and while PC is in tear down, make hay.

Click to expand...

You make me curious about the details of the upgrade. (Case, PSU make/model, etc.)

The PCI-E USB add-in cards I've noticed in the past were usually X1, so they'd (at least in principle) fit in any PCI-E slot. Would an old add-in card support USB with power, though?

I believe that not all USB 3.0 or newer support video. But it's not something I've studied. (I have always used a discrete GPU.)

Old legacy PCI cards are USB 2.0 since the legacy slot was not fast enough for USB 3.0. There might be a PCIe 4x card (longer slot than PCIe 1x) supporting more ports or faster than USB 3.0, but I am not aware of such cards.

bobkn said:

You make me curious about the details of the upgrade. (Case, PSU make/model, etc.)

The PCI-E USB add-in cards I've noticed in the past were usually X1, so they'd (at least in principle) fit in any PCI-E slot. Would an old add-in card support USB with power, though?

I believe that not all USB 3.0 or newer support video. But it's not something I've studied. (I have always used a discrete GPU.)

Click to expand...

The case, PSU and so on I purchased as separates some 10-11 years ago, I purchased reasonable quality, imo, at the time, I did some extensive reading on what MB to buy, I wanted a MB known to be reliable, having suffered a couple of fried MBs and I did alright with my choices with help from MM and Window forums.

At that time I had a keen interest in all things PC and still do but I hadn't kept up, time past and I needed to rebuild and no clue where to start.

I set a budget, started from there, either I would get laughed off the forums or be in with a chance of building something updated which was always going to be a given.

To keep costs down I reused a perfectly good Case for my needs, PSU and other bits and pieces, scrapped were my old MB/RAM/CPU and so on.

My PC was and always intended to be and will remain so, a home office/PC and once up and running hopefull will last me.

I had a set back with the Case, oddly, having built and installed the new gear to discover the new MB was loose on the back plate of the case, I found the MB stud mounts were not tightening, 4 of them were turning in their fixing holes.

With PCs past it would have mattered, what with spinning HDs and other drives, the MB would have rattled but for low spec machines such as mine, there are no moving parts however 4 board mount studs not doing there job, not great.

The back plate fixing holes had become enlarged, studs were spinning, 40 miles from the nearest PC shop and necessity being the mother of invention, I made my own out of small nuts, bolts and washers, doubling up on nuts for the board to rest on and have space between it and the back plate, it's worked out ok, I think.

New PC cases are cheap enough but my case is perfectly adequate, just needed some unexpected attention.

Just purchased Hub and PCIe card from Ali, delivery times was as long from eBay as it was Ali, prices about the same.

It wasn't I was ill prepared, just not fully for the rebuild but I will get there.

Reading this reminds me again why my upgrades are refurbed business machines

Cheap, reliable, latest windows installed etc.

My old PC did have 4 port USB 3 at the back which I fitted via a PCIe expansion card, I would refit it but not sure which slot, if possible, it would fit.

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usually in any x1 slot . Could also go into any slot larger than x1 if ther is a shortage of x1 on the board.




I can see 3 x1 slots on your mobo. I put green rectangles round them in the pic below.

jaylob4 said:

The case, PSU and so on I purchased as separates some 10-11 years ago, I purchased reasonable quality, imo, at the time, I did some extensive reading on what MB to buy at the time, I wanted a MB known to be reliable, having suffered a couple of fried MBs and I did alright with my choices with help from MM and Window forums.

(snip)

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I enjoy a sort of fantasy PC building. But it requires full specs, that I can look up online. You obviously have no desire to feed my habit. That's perfectly reasonable.

I'm impressed at how you've managed to find respectable upgrades within an £200 budget. I hope that it all works out, without any additional surprise expenses.

SIW2 said:

usually in any x1 slot . Could also go into any slot larger than x1 if ther is a shortage of x1 on the board.


View attachment 114749

I can see 3 x1 slots on your mobo. I put green rectangles round them in the pic below.


View attachment 114751

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??
This is from the manual for the Tuf Gaming B550M-Plus Wifi II:

bobkn said:

I enjoy a sort of fantasy PC building. But it requires full specs, that I can look up online. You obviously have no desire to feed my habit. That's perfectly reasonable.

I'm impressed at how you've managed to find respectable upgrades within an £200 budget. I hope that it all works out, without any additional surprise expenses.

Click to expand...

A couple of my GKs do this, to hear them talk, way over my head but into gaming.

One of them plays games in a gaming community against each other, he gets seriously animated and frustrated, it can be amusing, him, be a bit disconcerting to.

If the budget was there, would I buy a PC built, probably not, no fun or satisfaction in that.

jaylob4 said:

A couple of my GKs do this, to hear them talk, way over my head but into gaming.

One of them plays games in a gaming community against each other, he gets seriously animated and frustrated, it can be amusing, him, be a bit disconcerting to.

If the budget was there, would I buy a PC built, probably not, no fun or satisfaction in that.

Click to expand...

(GKs = grandkids? I have none, although I've just reached my three score and ten.)

I'm a bit of a PC snob. I've been assembling my desktop PCs since 1997, regardless of how much extra I have to pay to do it.

SIW2 said:

usually in any x1 slot . Could also go into any slot larger than x1 if ther is a shortage of x1 on the board.


View attachment 114749

I can see 3 x1 slots on your mobo. I put green rectangles round them in the pic below.


View attachment 114751

Click to expand...

Sorry for this question, I really am but what's the difference between the long grey and black slots and the slots you have rectangle?

bobkn said:

(GKs = grandkids? I have none, although I've just reached my three score and ten.)

I'm a bit of a PC snob. I've been assembling my desktop PCs since 1997, regardless of how much extra I have to pay to do it.

Click to expand...

Yes.

I don't think there is anything snobbish in building your own PC/s, not for a moment.