Aurora R9, games won't play, upgrades?

The first question is which games is he trying to run? The CPU in that system should run most games fine. But if you want to increase performance then a CPU such as an i7-9700 (or i9 but you need much better cooling for that CPU), RAM increased up to 16GB (or 32 for future proofing), and a more powerful video card (this forum thread has some information). It comes down to how much you are willing to pay to increase performance. Upgrades are nice but can get very pricey.

You can also try this site and this one which will determine if you can run a certain game and what hardware components are lacking.

The R9 was sold with either air cooling (base) or liquid cooling (upgrade) with your CPU.  Your upgrade options for the CPU depend on which option you purchased. Your CPU is a midrange component like the 1660ti GPU.  It's probably not too much of a slowdown except with CPU intensive games. I wouldn't start there unless there were a specific problem.

Yeah, it would help to know the problems he is experiencing and the display he's using.  One option is to lower the graphics settings.  For example if you're playing 1440p or higher on a 32" monitor and ultra settings with the latest first person shooter games that might be too much for the GPU.

But the 8GB RAM is a bit low for demanding games. Upgrading RAM would probably be the cheapest and easiest upgrade to make.  Now is not a good time to be in the market for a new high range GPU, they are OOS everywhere and manufacturers have universally announced price hiked of 25% everywhere due to import tariffs starting in Jan 2021.

You can find guaranteed compatible RAM for your PC from crucial.com.  You might consider 32GB (2 x 16 set).  Or for 16GB total you can buy another single 8GB stick from Dell.  It would probably be cheaper or about the same to get a 32gb matched RAM set from a third party like crucial though. 

Chiming in, upgrading the GPU? this will be the most expensive, you need to consider what PSU you have, is it a 450W or a 850W as if it is the former, you may need to consider a PSU upgrade to go that route.

In the end, if you need to upgrade CPU, limited choices by Motherboard, similar prices to the next generation CPUs.

RAM is always the first upgrade for performance, computers today need minimum 16GB for most games.

Add a SATA SSD (550MB/s) if you have lots of games as they will be very slow loading from the HDD.

I agree with your conclusions. If the son is a hard core gamer and is looking for better FPS then RAM and GPU (and that can indeed get pricey) would be the places to start. A 2 year old system should handle most games. I have an MSI Torpedo MB with an i5-10400 and it is amazing what games I can play with no lag and great FPS. But it all depends again on what game and what performance he is looking to achieve.

@Deb68 lots of good ideas here from @r72019 and @JOcean 

They are both very experienced in the subject.

If you have a small budget you will be limited what you can do, if however your budget is wide and you have time, knowing that you have said you have limited knowledge, we have all suggested ideas that touch on the surface without information.

Don't get me wrong, you have already given us a good start with system specs

Can you or your son give us also:

• % free on SSD and HDD
• Monitor model
• Titles he plays and what FPS he gets
• Where has he installed games
• Describe what difficulties he is having

This would be a great 2nd step, and I am sure we can all help you find the best solution.

Marco

Many thanks for yours and all the other replies unfortunately I'm on shift as soon as I can I will ask my son the specific problem and what games he is having problems with.

All I know at this point is that he was complaining about having to delete games to make room for another game even if he only had 1 game installed.

I am truly out of my depth.

I have never even worked out why he has no sound on his monitor and has to have his head phones plugged in to have sound but that is another problem that bothers me and not him.

as soon as I get the answers from him to your questions I will update.

and many thanks for all the responses  

@Deb68 "All I know at this point is that he was complaining about having to delete games to make room for another game even if he only had 1 game installed

Ah, then that means you are out of storage space.  The default for Steam is the C: drive, you only have 256 gb there (and windows plus Dell apps probably take up the first 85gb).  Some games take over 100gb.  Sounds like an issue. 

Your son can alternatively store his games to the 1tb HDD (you need to manually change the location when you download the game), or you can buy an additional faster 2.5" SSD as @markburv mentioned. You still will need to update the save location.

All I know at this point is that he was complaining about having to delete games to make room for another game even if he only had 1 game installed.

================================

So, sounds like all these (while kinda just mid-range) are actually fine.

9th gen intel Core i5-9400 processor
8GB HyperX XMP ram 2666MHz
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB  

Sounds like all he needs is more storage-space.

Maybe he doesn't realize that Steam (or Epic or Ubisoft) can have more than one default Install Folder (to make use of the 1tb HDD drive-D)?

Or, maybe he is using that Drive-D for music/videos storage (I would). In that case, I would just add a (fast) 1tb SATA-3/600 SSD. It snaps-into one of the lower slots. You can load a bunch of (large install) games on that, and they will load levels and run fast since it is a SSD.

What Power-Supply is installed in Aurora-R9?

- Many have asked but I see no answer. We must know before suggesting any more (higher powered) internal upgrades.

What monitor is he using?

- We are trying to determine it's native resolution (which has a bearing on GPU [video card] performance).
- Monitors don't usually have speakers built-in now-days. He can get a small speaker system. However, most gamers like using headsets. Not only is it less noisy for other house-members, it's pretty much required if trying to talk with team-mates on microphone.

That  model is fine and does not need to be upgraded.

Newer versions of windows on ALL machines have components removed that must be put back before specific games will run.

Even the older benchmarks wont run.

https://benchmark.unigine.com/tropics

You need to reinstall  Directx June 2010 which is not a one click one reboot water chicken install. DirectX Redist 2010 9.29.1974

https://web.archive.org/web/20200224091501/https://download.microsoft.com/download/8/4/A/84A35BF1-DAFE-4AE8-82AF-AD2AE20B6B14/directx_Jun2010_redist.exe

You have to re enable windows features like DOT NET 2.0 3.5

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=25150

You have to re install visual C++ X86 2010

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8328

MsiExec.exe /passive /X{F0C3E5D1-1ADE-321E-8167-68EF0DE699A5}

MsiExec.exe /passive /X{1D8E6291-B0D5-35EC-8441-6616F567A0F7}

and a lot of other things.

OK, that adds a new twist. Storage is his main complaint then and that can be easily rectified with a larger SSD, which is an easy upgrade. The no sound monitor may be that his monitor has no integrated speakers (most do not). And most gamers like the headphone experience which gives a better directional sound in first person shooters. Many good ideas and suggestions in this thread for you to digest.