£300-400 upgrade to current system (CPU + Mobo + Maybe GPU)

EraserArts

Honorable
Sep 5, 2013
13
0
10,510
Hello,

I am looking to upgrade my processor along with the motherboard, and possibly graphics card if necessary. There is a couple of reasons for this, one being 2 of my ram slots have died in the current motherboard so I had to remove 4gb ram for the time being, which is really hindering performance in games like H1Z1 or Heroes of the Storm which require more than the leftover 4gb that I have currently installed (I have 4 ram sticks of 2gb each). Another reason for the upgrade is that I'm seeing drops in performance in various games when using matchmaking client services, such as the ESEA client on Counter Strike Global Offensive, or FaceIt, where my usual 80-120fps drops to 30-70 during play. Just to highlight this machine is not going to be running too much of the new generation games, that's why I'm not sure of the graphics card upgrade, but please do leave suggestions if you feel like its required.

Current Setup (KEEP IN MIND! Most of this build is almost 4 years old):

CPU:
Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G840 @ 2.80GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
http://ark.intel.com/products/53490/Intel-Pentium-Processor-G840-3M-Cache-2_80-GHz

Motherboard:
Gigabyte PA65-UD3-B3
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3906#ov

Memory:
Corsair CMV4GX3M2A1333C9 2gb x4 (only 2 in at the moment due to motherboard failure)
http://www.corsair.com/en/cmv4gx3m2a1333c9

Storage:
System SSD: SanDisk SD6SB1M256G1022I ATA Device
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/256gb-sandisk-x110-enterprise-class-24x7-25-ssd-ultraslim-7mm-sata-iii-6gb-s-read-505mb-s-write-445m
General Storage: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-seagate-st1000dm003-barracuda-720014-sata-6gb-s-7200rpm-64mb-cache-8ms-ncq-oem

Graphics Card:
Asus AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series 1GB
(I'm having trouble finding a link to any specs regarding this card, sorry 🙁 )

Power Supply:
PowerCool 650W Quiet PSU PCPC650AUBA
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w-powercool-pcpc650auba-80-plus-sli-crossfire-quiet-fan-atx-v22-psu

Operating System:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Service Pack 1

Monitor:
AOC e2450Swh
http://www.aocmonitorap.com/v2015/au/product_display.php?id=23

Approximate Purchase Date: this week

Budget Range: £300-400, After Shipping

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, programming

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: CPU, mobo, possibly graphics card if necessary
(current power supply is Powercool 650W
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w-powercool-pcpc650auba-80-plus-sli-crossfire-quiet-fan-atx-v22-psu )

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: scan.co.uk , aria.co.uk , anywhere else if its a big price difference, as long as warranty is minimum 12 months.

Location: Manchester, UK

Parts Preferences:
So far I had a decent look and would most likely to upgrade to an i5 socket 1150, specifically one of these two:

Intel Core i5 4590 Haswell Refresh Processor
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-i5-4590-lga-1150-haswell-refresh-quad-core-33ghz-base-37ghz-turbo-1150mhz-gpu-84w-cpu-ret

Intel Core i5 4690 Haswell Refresh Processor
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-i5-4690-lga-1150-haswell-refresh-quad-core-35ghz-base-39ghz-turbo-1200mhz-gpu-84w-cpu-ret

As for the motherboard, my current idea is:

MSI Z97 GAMING 3 Intel Motherboard
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-z97-gaming-3-intel-z97-s1150-ddr3-pcie-30-(x16)-2-way-crossfirex-displayport-hdmi-atx

I have no suggestions for the GPU upgrade, so feel free to suggest something.

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No, but would like to leave the option open for future upgrades.

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 , 23.6" monitor

Additional Comments: Nothing too loud, I don't want to wake the whole house up while its running at night (currently its very quiet).

Software I'm using:
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010/2012
Unity3d
Eclipse
Android Studio
PHP Storm

Games I'm playing: (current system fps/details)
Counter Strike: Global Offensive (currently 80-120 fps, 30-70 on ESEA)
H1Z1 (stable 30 fps on lowest details)
League of Legends (stable 60 fps on medium-high)
Heroes of the Storm (20-60 fps on low-medium, with occasional lag when RAM usage reaches 100% >.<! )
World of Warcraft (stable 60 fps+)
Diablo 3 (stable 40-60 fps)
planning on buying GTA5 after upgrade

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I am having trouble running some games as I had to remove the 4gb RAM due to 2 RAM slots breaking, so might as well upgrade CPU, instead of buying another motherboard on an older socket (1155). For anyone questioning why I had to remove 2 RAM sticks, is because if I put them in, my PC goes BSOD mode after 2-5 minutes.

Regards.
Kris.
 
hiya mate, I am from the UK to and what I seriously advise you do is get on ebay, they have some really good deals sometimes and it is work the risk, I got 4690k the unlocked one on a asus z 87 with 8 gb of crucial ram and a water cooler for £260!! seriously have a browse through the used ones and you may just find a good bargin!but your ideas if you are not gonna overclock get a cheaper mobo the z series are overclocking mobo and also you would be getting a locked CPU so either get unlocked CPU with overclocking motherboard or get locked CPU with standard MOBO and also upgrade your PSU by the looks of it you have a tier 5 PSU as I can't see it anywhere in the other tiers http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html and as far as gpu goes ebay for that budget you will get more for your money getting stuff used
 
Here my suggestion:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£67.78 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Super Flower Golden Green HX 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£57.12 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £321.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-01 12:55 BST+0100


The processor Xeon 1231v3 is better than an i5, as it have hyper threading like the i7, but no integrated graphics unit. That is no problem, if you are going to use a dedicated graphics card. A Xeon can't be overclocked, but if you don't need to overclock anyway (a processor without "K", free multiplier). In that case, the board does not need to be "Z", means a "H" based one can't overclock. The chosen psu is an excellent unit with headroom for future upgrades. For the graphics card part, I would use what you have now and upgrade it later to a GTX 960 or better 970, depending on your future budget. Or you get a graphics card now with a cheaper components. And I don't trust your psu, I highly recommend to buy one from a trusted hiqh quality version. All the components in your rig will last longer and have less probability of defectives. Look here some are talking about that unit
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1156528/powercool-650w-modular

Here, try this one, if you don't like the above suggestion

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (£154.10 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B85-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.53 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card (£125.75 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£39.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £374.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-01 13:16 BST+0100
 


Hey, Thanks for the detailed reply, now that you've mentioned it I am having trouble deciding between Intel Xeon and i5 4690... also I have decided to get all my parts from scan.co.uk, but I can't seem to find the same PSU/Mobo in the store, could you recommend something as good as those parts you stated above that is available in Scan? As for Graphics card, I have decided to put it off for now and concentrate my budget on a good PSU + Mobo + PCU

Regards.
Kris
 
Then search for
psu: Seasonic or Super Flower, they make the best
motherboard: Any standard ATX sized (no micro or mini ATX or so) H97 if you don't overclock and if you do, then any Z97 by Asus, ASRock, MSI or Gigabyte

in example
> http://www.scan.co.uk/products/520w-seasonic-s12ii-520-bronze-series-80-plus-bronze-dual-rail-20a-1x120mm-silent-fan-fully-wired-at
> http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asrock-h97-pro4-intel-h97-s1150-ddr3-pcie-30-%28x16%29-vga-dvid-hdmi-atx
> http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-xeon-e3-1231-v3-lga-1150-haswell-quad-core-34ghz-base-36ghz-turbo-80w-cpu-retail

But these are a little randomly selected as an example. So, you should check first if everything meets your requirements.
 


Hi again,

Just as an update I have gone with the Xeon, a MSi H97 board and a SeaSonic 550W PSU, I will leave links below for reference in case someone stumbles upon this post, will be putting it together tonight.

A huge Thank You for your help :)

CPU: Xeon E3-1231 V3 Processor Haswell
Mobo: MSi H97 Mobo
PSU: Seasonic SSR-550RT
 
Thank you too for the update post. I'm glad that I could give some help to you.
Make sure, you use a dedicated graphics card, as the Xeon don't have any. You can use your old graphics card until you get a new one.