£500 to spend on either a new build or upgrading, need opinions please!

[harry_r112]

Hi there I currently have this build:

cpu: amd fx 4100 black edition
gpu: nvidia geforce 550ti 1gb
mobo: Gigabyte GA-880GMA-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard
ram: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
psu: 400 watt psu (not sure on make but can check)
cooling: generic fans
cd drive: not sure on brand but 7200 rpm


I was basically just wondering what upgrades would be efficient for a better system or would it be better to have a fresh build on a £500 budget, any help is appreciated,

thank you !

 

[Redneck5439]

Doing an upgrade on your current system would be difficult. Your best bet is going to be a new build. It isn't an opportune time right now to be building a new system though. If you can hold off till end of this year or beginning of next you should be able to get a great upgrade at a very good value. The reason being is that AMD hasn't been able to compete against Intel high end for years now, however Zen is releasing at the end of this year and will bring AMD back into competition with Intel high end processors. While Zen still won't beat out the newest Intel arch in IPC it will be a big boost for AMD and make them competitive again. Once AMD becomes competitive again it will drive down the prices of both AMD and Intel processors. Intel for years have been able to sell at a total premium as they haven't had competition at the high end.

If you can wait to upgrade till then you will maximize your performance per dollar (pound) spent. Until then you can get better performance out of your system by attempting to overclock your system, although I wouldn't attempt to push it too hard on your motherboard and stock cooling.

 

[PlymouthJoseph]

Personally... I would go for a upgrade.

But my upgrades would be the following:

FX-4100 to the 8350
Current cooler to the H80i GT
550ti to the EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 or the Asus Strix. Personal preference here.
PSU to the EVGA Supernova G2 750 watt
And as a final touch up... Add more/better case fans for the case and the cooler.

Can't see any problems there... But if you wanted... You could also upgrade your board but I don't really know of any decent AM3+ boards for a decent price.

I hope I helped. 😀

- Joe

 

[kwa-e]

Personally... I would go for a upgrade.

But my upgrades would be the following:

FX-4100 to the 8350
Current cooler to the H80i GT
550ti to the EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 or the Asus Strix. Personal preference here.
PSU to the EVGA Supernova G2 750 watt
And as a final touch up... Add more/better case fans for the case and the cooler.

Can't see any problems there... But if you wanted... You could also upgrade your board but I don't really know of any decent AM3+ boards for a decent price.

I hope I helped. 😀

- Joe

His motherboard is NOT compatible with any FX's other than the 4100, his best bet would be to go with a phenom X6 if he were to upgrade without changing his motherboard.

 

[kwa-e]

If you have windows 8 or ten you can just transfer the license to the new motherboard as long as you have the product key at hand.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£149.99 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£73.92 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380X 4GB PCS+ Myst. Edition Video Card (£208.98 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£59.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £492.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-02 05:19 GMT+0000

 

[PlymouthJoseph]

Kwa-e - sorry... I was unaware of this. But you could always buy a super cheep MSI 970 gaming motherboard. Just looked it up and it is only £80.

Alao, what you have there isn't bad at all. Well done on finding those parts. But was you also recommend upgrading the cooler if he/she were to wish to overclock? Could always go with the simple and true Cooler Master 212 Evo.

 

[kwa-e]

Kwa-e - sorry... I was unaware of this. But you could always buy a super cheep MSI 970 gaming motherboard. Just looked it up and it is only £80.

Alao, what you have there isn't bad at all. Well done on finding those parts. But was you also recommend upgrading the cooler if he/she were to wish to overclock? Could always go with the simple and true Cooler Master 212 Evo.

Except that you can't overclock i5 4460's.

 

[PlymouthJoseph]

Oh, I was unaware of this. That's fair enough then. Sorry about that

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

If you can stretch your budget by another £14 (whoopty-doo), I'd recommend this:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/RrHJsY

 

[madmatt30]

Id upgrade the gpu & the psu & hold off for zen personally - it may be worth it/it may not.,
If it is though you could be kicking yourself.

SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black 55.14
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/Non-Modular+650W+or+less/SuperFlower+Golden+Green+HX+550W+%2280+Plus+Gold%22+Power+Supply+-+Black+?productId=64207

Sapphire NITRO AMD R9 380 Dual X Graphics Card + Backplate 4GB 155.99
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/AMD+Radeon/Radeon+R9+380/Sapphire+NITRO+AMD+R9+380+Dual+X+Graphics+Card+%2B+Backplate+4GB+?productId=65179

 

[Redneck5439]

Id upgrade the gpu & the psu & hold off for zen personally - it may be worth it/it may not.,
If it is though you could be kicking yourself.

SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black 55.14
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/Non-Modular+650W+or+less/SuperFlower+Golden+Green+HX+550W+%2280+Plus+Gold%22+Power+Supply+-+Black+?productId=64207

Sapphire NITRO AMD R9 380 Dual X Graphics Card + Backplate 4GB 155.99
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/AMD+Radeon/Radeon+R9+380/Sapphire+NITRO+AMD+R9+380+Dual+X+Graphics+Card+%2B+Backplate+4GB+?productId=65179

+1 Even if Zen ultimately is not your "cup of tea" Zen's release in the high end marketplace will force Intel to finally lower its premium prices due to competition. Just like Nvidia had to do with the Titan when the R9 290(X) hit the marketplace, up till AMD answered the Titan with the R9 290X the Titan was a $1000 processor, once the R9 290X hit the market with better performance and a $550 price tag the Titan dropped to $500 almost overnight. Now people who had just bought the Titan a couple months or couple days before this happened had to be pretty upset to say the least.

Once Zen hits the market and gives Intel some competition in the high end market prices across the board will adjust. You can then get your parts much cheaper than if you build right now (for the same parts) or can build with much better parts for the same cost as if you upgraded right now with current parts and prices.

 

[kwa-e]

You probably have to wait for Q1 next year from what I've heard though.

If you want to save up and just get an upgrade for cheap just get a used 1090t and a used 7970 which should give you pretty good framerates, maybe throw in an SSD in there for better system response. (together with a new PSU of course)

 

[Redneck5439]

You probably have to wait for Q1 next year from what I've heard though.

If you want to save up and just get an upgrade for cheap just get a used 1090t and a used 7970 which should give you pretty good framerates, maybe throw in an SSD in there for better system response. (together with a new PSU of course)

AMD's release dates sometimes feel like a drunk throwing darts at a pub. Sometimes they are way far left, sometimes they are way far right, and sometimes they hit dead center. I have also heard the rumors that Zen may not release till Q1 2017, but they are only rumors. The most updated map shows Zen release Q4 2016. If they can actually make that or not.... anyone taking bets? Its like betting on the Superbowl who knows who will win and what the point spread will be....

AMD has had major delays in the past, but they have also had "shocking" releases. No one expected the R9 290X to release when it did, especially with the performance it had (has) and the huge undercutting price to the Titan. AMD is a company who also revels in "shock effect", and they have been extremely tight lipped about Zen. We don't have much information other than AMD's official statement of "40% IPC improvement over Excavator", everything else is speculation. They could release Q1 2017, but they could shock everyone with a release before Kaby Lake, thus optimum "shock effect" and be able to stir up the marketplace.

The only problem I see with doing almost any upgrade right now for the OP is he will need to upgrade the psu to do anything. The only problem there is we know Zen should be more energy efficient going to 14nm, but we just don't know what power requirements it will have. If the OP is going to be getting a new psu he should buy a quality part now that is big enough to use when updating to Zen or Intel end of this year, beginning of next year.

 

[ludastar]

TBH why not go with a i7 4790k and a motherboard like MSI gaming 3 is real cheap, use the ddr3 ram and the gpu if your a team green wait a year and hold off on gpu's at the moment, if you not fussed about graphic's then you have a cpu that will last you a good 7 year's that is my guess, then around a year later get a GPU 😀

but if you wanna save some money get the i5 instead.

once the gpu venders roll out their gpu's then you get to see how is winning and who is loosing because of AMD's revolution on gaming graphics