3770k upgrade decision?

[michaellane999]

I am trying to decide which path to take.
Current system is 3770k, H77 ITX motherboard, 8gb ddr3 1600, SSD and a GTX970.

Due to excessive browser use and multitasking I am constantly running out of RAM and experiencing lock ups and freezing.

Should I buy 16gb of ddr3 (mobo only has 2 slots) and stretch the system out another couple of years.
OR
Go a new 9600k/9700k Z390 system (keep gtx970 only)

I game intermittently and mostly use the PC for web browsing, cad drawing and as a media server.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

buying a newer CPU like that will result in a new motherboard (which you already know) but will also require you to buy DDR4 memory which is still pretty pricey.

Seeing as how you have a GTX 970, you are not playing newer games with max settings and so the 3770K is not bottle necking it like it would with a 10 series card.

The cheapest option right now for you of course is to go with a 16GB (2x8GB) kit of RAM as your upgrade for that.
But if going for a new CPU, and wanting to save money, I would recommend going the route of a first gen Ryzen with a second gen motherboard (i.e. Ryzen 7 1700 + B450 mobo) because even that would be more CPU than your current GPU could handle and your GPU at that point would be the bottleneck (which actually isn't a bad thing since you want high GPU usage with low CPU usage in games)

If you were to go the route of the new CPU you would be buying a CPU, a mobo, RAM, and a CPU cooler (because it doesn't come with one, and if your current cooler has support for the new 9600K then you can obviously write off the cost of that) it would cost you about $540 USD for literally the cheapest options of a 9600K, AsRock Pro4 Z390, Hyper 212 Evo cooler, and 16GB (2x8) RAM.

For a more balanced system upgrade I would recommend this setup instead which comes in at about $380 USD. Great performance but much cheaper.
The Ryzen 7 1700 comes with the stock wraith cooler which is fairly competent for a minor overclock. You can of course get something better to put on it if you want to try and go higher. And since you're paying quite a bit less than you would with the Intel upgrade, you can put a fraction of those savings towards a decent AiO for the CPU if you so wished.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3GHz 8-Core Processor ($179.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($88.00 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $382.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-25 21:05 EDT-0400