Advice on CPU upgrading

[jamiejamie]

Hi all! Would love some thoughts from everyone. I've been gradually doing more and more upgrading of my PC but I'm still pretty new. I'm into the big stuff now, and think I need to up my CPU.

Currently I run an AMD A8-6600K, which is the stock CPU it came with that's showing its age. My motherboard (MSI A78M-E35) can AFAIK only take an A-Series or Athlon which I know are pretty old. The best alternative seems to be the AMD Athlon X4 880K but it doesn't seem like that big a boost (though it would be pretty cheap).

My question is therefore what my best option? Would the 880k really make any difference? Are there other CPUs I can consider? Or is my only option really to get a new motherboard that can take more modern CPUs?

 

[dontlistentome]

I would not upgrade the CPU on that platform. For one thing, none of the CPUs you can use on it were more than budget level performance even back when they were brand new. At this point they are well behind the curve.

A new CPU means new motherboard which means new DDR4 ram...in essence a new computer.

 

[InvalidError]

Unfortunately, nothing that fits in the FM2 socket comes remotely close to AMD's Ryzen and Intel's i5/i7 desktop CPUs from the past ~8 years. Even AMD's $100 Ryzen 2200G runs circles around most of AMD's older designs.