PC Upgrade

[Sam1974]

Hi

Hopefully someone can help

We purchased a PC from here Nov 2022 for my son, he plays Roblox sim games which he leaves running 24/7, uses his Xbox for all other gaming.

Overtime he has added accounts, so running multiple sessions at the same time, we had to increase the ram to help with this but the processor is now running at 100%. He has capped the fps to 30 in the nVidia control panel but that’s not really helped, he currently runs 6 sessions but wants to add another one.

Looking at our upgrade options we can upgrade the processor to a Ryzen 7 5800x but I have no idea if this will help or should we change the motherboard and then go for something better, perhaps Intel, but I suspect we might have to replace other parts.

This is the current spec

Case
PCS SPECTRUM G ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.4GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-A320M-S2H: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.1, 6GB/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB PCS PRO DDR4 2666MHz (1 x 8GB) (now 32GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3300 MB/R, 2900 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 80 V2 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
1 x 120mm Black Case Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Thanks
Sam

 

[stegor]

The 5800x isn't that much faster than the 5600 and consumes more power so running 24/7 would cost more than the benefit. You have a limited system running AM4 on micro ATX so I think a new build is needed on AM5 with a more powerful CPU and faster memory. Running 24/7 you need to factor in overall power, as it is currently costing you about £600 a year by my calculations.

 

[ThyThy]

Hello,
I don't know Roblox. Out of curiosity, what is the point of running the software and machine 24/7 (+ with multiple sessions) ?

When you say the CPU runs at 100%, do you mean all cores?
Mostly all by Roblox processes in the control panel?

 

[Sam1974]

Thanks for the help and feedback, it’s really appreciated.

I spent sometime this morning dumbing down all the graphic settings and the CPU is running at average 75% with 6 sessions open so will see how it goes as not ready to replace and it sounds like it’s not worth investing any more into this rig.

The running costs do concern me, is this due to the PSU? We didn’t chose the PSU and left it as standard but as there was a stock shortage it was upgraded to 650w at no additional cost.

Roblox - its multiplayer on line platform with lots of different games, sim games require you to stay on line as much as possible to progress using an auto clicker as such, more account he has the more progress he makes. Seems very popular with adults as well as children.

If anyone else has the same issue, switching everything to performance and game resolution to 1024 x 768 as helped a lot.

Thanks

 

[TonyCarter]

The power usage is not because of the PSU, it's because of the PC being on 24/7/365 and having everything at 100%.

The PC may only be using 250-350W of the 650W that the PSU is capable of delivering...so you can work out your own power cost...not forgetting the monitor(s) power usage:

• (watts x hours x days) ÷ 1000 (to convert from W to KW) x KW unit price = annual cost

So if it's on 24/7/365 and using 250w, and your unit price is 22p/KW then:

• (300w x 24 x 365) ÷ 1000 x £0.22 = £578 per year

Of course if it's using more/less power, or if it's not on 24/7/365, then the cost will change. For example, mine is a much more power-hungry build, but it's not on 24/7, so:

• (750w x 4 x 300) ÷ 1000 x £0.22 = £198 per year

 

[Sam1974]

The power usage is not because of the PSU, it's because of the PC being on 24/7/365 and having everything at 100%.

The PC may only be using 250-350W of the 650W that the PSU is capable of delivering...so you can work out your own power cost...not forgetting the monitor(s) power usage:

• (watts x hours x days) ÷ 1000 (to convert from W to KW) x KW unit price = annual cost

So if it's on 24/7/365 and using 250w, and your unit price is 20p/KW then:

• (300w x 24 x 365) ÷ 1000 x £0.22 = £578 per year

Of course if it's using more/less power, or if it's not on 24/7/365, then the cost will change. For example, mine is a much more power-hungry build, but it's not on 24/7, so:

• (750w x 4 x 300) ÷ 1000 x £0.22 = £198 per year

Thanks for taking the time out to explain the power usage, again appreciated.

Processor use has crept back up to 100% so I think he is going to have tone it down a bit as we would like to get at least 3 years out his PC before replacing it.

Thanks again for everyone’s help