stargazer (gaming)

Bought system on ebay used with i5-4670K CPU, no GPU. Traded CPUs with my i3-4370, and got a GT 1030 GPU for games.

Upgraded RAM to 16GB and swapped the 1030 for an RX 460 to put it on the level with my other gaming machines.

Similar to destroy this machine is getting some minor upgrades to bring it to a similar spec. Main upgrades are:

• ASRock Z87E-ITX Motherboard to ASRock A520M-ITX/ac
• Intel Core i3-4370 to Ryzen 3 Pro 4350G
• DDR4-3600 RAM instead of DDR3-1600, same 16GB
• Extra 256GB Kowin M.2 SATA SSD KWCMS100256

I gave the option of keeping the CoolerMaster Elite 110 case, or moving into my spare Fractal Define Nano S. We went for the latter (a bit easier to work in).

The old mSATA drive got transferred to a 2.5" SATA carrier.

The only thing I don't have to make it comparable to the other machines is an NVMe drive.

Originally I had planned to go with a Ryzen 5 2600, but after the build I discovered (again) that this board only supports 3rd gen and newer Ryzen CPUs. The only good option I had was my 4350G from dreadnought which I had intended to use for a minor mirage upgrade. It is technically a faster CPU, but it is only 4c​/8t rather than 6c​/12t of the Ryzen 5.

We ran into a little trouble with the power supply only having one SATA cable with 2 plugs. I didn't have any modular cables with the right connector I could rewire, so we just resorted to splitters.

Windows activation turned out to be a pain (more than just reinstalling MS store). In the end my local admin account was somehow extra borked. I created a new admin account with my microsoft login. There I was able to do the hardware change activation process, delete my local admin account, and recreate it. Much time was wasted on other troubleshooting steps.

After a burning issue with destroy I swapped the power supply on this to eliminate the use of molded SATA power plugs.

It went from 520W Corsair 520W CMPSU-520HX (modular, but lacking cables), to a 500W Thermaltake TMT-PSSPD0500NPCWUSW (non-modular). This has 4 SATA power connectors, but I had to make up 1 Molex SATA adapter to reach the fourth drive.

I got some new parts to review:

• Montech Beta 2 650W 80+ bronze power supply
• Ocypus Gamma A20 92mm tower heatsink

The power supply is in hopes of doing a GPU upgrade at some point. Swap was pretty uneventful. The power supply cables were nearly identical to the Corsair before, except an extra 8-pin CPU connector, and an inch or two in length for each bundle.

Quick review summary:

Montech supply has a lot more filtering and input protection than I was expecting. Build looks quite good. Cut costs are probably the all-stamped case (no separate fan grill), cheap components, unknown wire (no markings). Inside, it feels a bit empty for a 650W supply. It looks like the same board goes up to 850W though.

The Ocypus cooler just has two heat pipes. Fan is 3-pin and runs at only 1800 RPM, quiet. The RGB cap on top of the tower is loose; I attached it with double-sided tape. Uses the AM4 mounting tabs and sprung clips. A bit hard to install in the case. Outperforms the wraith stealth. Loaded CPU temps dropped from 75°C to 68°C despite weighing 50g less. Worse motherboard cooling.

• Clonezilla mSATA SSD (SK Hynix SH920) OS drive to NVMe (Inland)
  • Same amount of space (256GB)
  • Windows failed to repair itself until I removed all the other drives and let it boot once with just the NVMe drive
• Swapped an old 128GB Samsung 830 for another 240GB Inland SATA SSD
• Traded the 140mm intake for two 120mm fans
  • They are louder
  • Hoping to give good air flow when I get a new GPU
• Updated UEFI. Was on 2.62 (2023-02), updated to 3.90 (2025-10).
• Installed Ryzen 5 5500
  • Removed from dreadnought
  • Ryzen 3 4350G will go to mirage
  • The Ocypus cooler can barely keep up with this. It got up to 86°C within about 5 minutes on a CPU Burner run.

While I was in there I briefly fitted my Radeon Pro W5500 since I'm considering buying one to upgrade this machine. It fits well, and I like the extra space of the single slot card above the PSU. Didn't do any performance testing, but it did POST and boot without issue.

I disabled CSM (Compatibility Support Module in UEFI) after the CPU upgrade thinking it might speed up boot, and I wouldn't need it. Then the machine started having weird no POST, or it would suddenly flash into the OS after a long time. I didn't associate the cause and effect (busy trying to wrap up the build, run a quick memtest, etc).

I put on a PC speaker, and it goes 5 short beeps 1 long. Possibly GPU? I swapped in a Pro WX 2100, and it works fine. A search points out CSM could cause issue, and yeah, that was causing the UEFI to fail to init the GPU so I missed POST, and it took forever to boot or sometimes failed.

Radeon Pro W5500 prices remained high relative to what I paid a year ago. I started looked at other options. I got a blower style RX-480 with 8GB VRAM. This is the same generation card, but offers a pretty decent performance boost. Power is 150W (W5500 is 125W). I wanted a blower style card because the card is right next to the power supply.

I ran a quick dhewm3 demo loop on a test machine. No problems so I swapped it into stargazer.

Quick post, Driver install, reboot. Furmark is running at 60fps. Let the machine go back to regular business.