[SOLVED] Advice with Upgrading semi-old gaming PC - Budget of around 1000AUD

[ateas]

Hi all, new to these forums so hopefully I do this right. I'm looking for some help with upgrading my gaming pc. I'm still not sure whether I require a full restart (just fully buy a new system and maybe keep my case/ssds/stuff, or to upgrade. I'm not very tech savvy so upgrading my system is really confusing and I have no idea what's compatible with what..

It's a gaming PC i've had for a couple years now but recently been struggling to run games like SW Battlefront, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and even Fifa. Most games really. I've noticed that my cpu is nearly at 100% usage on task manager even with just chrome open.

I have around maximum 1000 AUD to spend, which is why I'm reluctant to buy a new system outright. I game almost everyday but I normally don't play extremely demanding games (I don't really play FPS games, apart from star wars). My regulars are, Minecraft, any games from the Total War Franchise, Fifa, Cities Skylines, and then a variety of smaller games on Steam such as Factorio or Cook, Serve, Delicious. I don't really care about playing those games on the BEST graphics, but I'd like them to be able to run well on good graphics.

I already have a good keyboard, razer deathadder mouse, a headset, and dual monitors so not looking for any of that stuff to be upgraded.

I'm living in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Below are the current specs of my PC, I bought this PC from Centrecom:

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170
Motherboard: B86M-E45 <MS-7817>
GPU: Geforce GTX 950
12GB RAM (Kingston) - I have a 4GB card in there and an 8GB one.
I'm unsure what case I have (sorry) but would be willing to upgrade. (Nothing wrong with it if I can keep it though)
I have a 256GB hdd storage with two 128GB ssds aswell. (would like to upgrade, not enough storage for gaming.)

I am running Windows 7 but I like it and not looking to upgrade (if I have to I will of course, I know it's getting old).

So, the two things I want to upgrade most would have to be the CPU and Motherboard, next thing would have to be some more storage (replace one of my ssds with a much larger one) and then my GPU. So, after reading what I just wrote, it does look like maybe I should just buy a new system, but really not sure, and it would be much cheaper to upgrade (although I'd need someone to help do it).

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[R_1]

I (being the cheapskate I am) would replace the CPU, RAM, and mobo for starters. they will need to be upgraded as a block.

case, Drives and GPU can be re-used for new system. I would change the power supply during the upgrade too.
motherboard, CPU and RAM with the PSU. these IMHO are the must upgrade items.
a larger SSD as a main drive would be next.
a larger HDD, then the GPU and monitor.

for your consideration
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($179.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($89.00 @ Umart)
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($103.39 @ Amazon Australia)
Storage: Intel 600p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($79.00 @ Amazon Australia)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 570 8 GB PULSE ITX Video Card ($220.00 @ Umart)
Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II EVO 520 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($115.00 @ Umart)
Total: $785.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-16 11:02 AEDT+1100

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

You have a few things you could do here that would improve performance without getting a whole new system, the first would be to find a 4th gen i5 or i7 and simply drop in the new CPU, you'd get a reasonable performance uplift. Putting in an i5 4590 would give you a 40% performance increase on the CPU side. An i7 4770 would be a 50% increase. That said getting something like a Ryzen 3 2200G would see similar performance increases and get you on a live platform with many upgrade options. However, the Ryzen option would require a new motherboard and RAM.

If you were going for a brand new system build I'd suggest this:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($129.00 @ Centre Com)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($115.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($114.88 @ Amazon Australia)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($110.00 @ Shopping Express)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.00 @ Austin Computers)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 570 4 GB ARMOR OC Video Card ($199.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Lite 5 ATX Mid Tower Case ($66.00 @ Shopping Express)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Total: $956.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-16 11:06 AEDT+1100

That said, you might have parts that simply don't need replaced, so feel free to pick and choose. At the very least I'd upgrade the CPU, RAM, Motherboard, and storage. If you spend less on other parts then that means you can spend more on the CPU and get something like a Ryzen 5 2600 and a better GPU.

If you wanted to go with Intel you could put together a similar machine with an i3 8100 (maybe an i5 9400F) and a compatible motherboard, and leave the rest of the system the same, you'd just pay more for not a whole lot more performance.

You are in the enviable position of having options across your budget.

 

[ateas]

Hello, thanks for the quick and helpful replies lads. So you're suggesting I upgrade my CPU, motherboard, ram, and psu first right?

Sounds great and in happy that you guys have given me some options to look into there, I am a bit confused with the ram as I thought 12 GB wasn't too bad and I can reuse my 8gb Kingston if need be right?

Apart from that, im lost when it comes to replacing my parts and putting all this new stuff together, anywhere I could get help for that? Maybe I could take my PC and all the parts somewhere and get them to build it for me?

Thanks again

 

[R_1]

you have DDR3, new board and CPU require DDR4 so you need the new RAM

if you can turn a screwdriver you can build a PC.
youtube has many build videos you can watch to familiarize yourself with the process.
the community will answer any questions and give any needed advice like this:
Canned Grounding Rant-
shut down system and remove side panel. with the power cable plugged into the PSU touch a bare unpainted metal area of the case. (my favorite spot is an unpainted screw securing the PSU) once you have grounded yourself you can unplug the computers power cable from the PSU and can touch the system.
if you move your feet, or shuffle in your chair, plug in the cord, reground yourself and unplug again.
end canned rant-

Assembly grounding:
plug in the power supply to the wall. you can touch an unpainted part of the PSU (insert an unpainted unfinished screw into the PSU mounting holes and touch the screw as a grounding point) once you have grounded yourself you can now touch and assemble the parts of the PC.
if you move your feet, or shuffle in your chair, reground yourself again.
install the CPU into the motherboard and the RAM into the slots.
if you move your feet, or shuffle in your chair, reground yourself again.
install the cooler to the CPU. install the motherboard into the case.
secure the motherboard down with the screws, make sure you remove any unwanted/needed mounts before securing the motherboard.
unplug the PSU and ground yourself again. install the PSU into the case and secure with the 4 mounting screws.
plug in the power cord and ground yourself again from now on after grounding, unplug the power supply cord from the wall.
if you move your feet, or shuffle in your chair, plug in the cord, reground yourself and unplug again.
connect the power supply to the motherboard by the 24 pin and the AUX CPU power connector, install the GPU if one is selected, and install the drives with the supplied mounts in the case. connect the front panel connections to the case according to the manuals.
if you move your feet, or shuffle in your chair, plug in the cord, reground yourself and unplug again.
if there are any other peripherals, like wifi cards or sound card install and secure now. verify all power cables are connected to the motherboard and the GPU if needed.
the system can now be booted and the BIOS adjusted if needed (refer to motherboard manual) then an OS installed. when you are sure the system will need no more working/tinkering you can install the side panel and close the case. you have now assembled a PC.
end canned rant

for disassembly follow the top grounding instructions and when assembling follow the assembly grounding instructions.

 

[ateas]

Ah ok. So, new CPU, Motherboard, RAM, and PSU. How do I know if my case is compatible with all this stuff?

 

[R_1]

the form factor of you current motherboard tells us the minimum size board needed. I suggested a board that has similar dimensions to what you have. assuming you do not have a small form factor case the PSU and everything else should fit.

 

[ateas]

Thanks again, one quick question R_1, In your PC Part Picker list, you've included Radeon RX 570 GPU, I'm just wondering if I could leave that out for now and if my current GTX 950 would work with an upgraded system?

EDIT: also wondering if me using a Ryzen 5 3600 over the 2600 would be a good choice (I have the money).

 

[ateas]

One more question sorry, just wondering if you could suggest a case that would work, I don't currently have access to my PC but I think the power supply might be build into it, in which case I might have to get a new one.

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

Thanks again, one quick question R_1, In your PC Part Picker list, you've included Radeon RX 570 GPU, I'm just wondering if I could leave that out for now and if my current GTX 950 would work with an upgraded system?

EDIT: also wondering if me using a Ryzen 5 3600 over the 2600 would be a good choice (I have the money).

You can certainly keep using the GTX 950, the only reason the RX 570 makes sense is that it is a lot more GPU than you currently have and a great choice for an upgrade as nothing else touches it in price for level of performance.

You could certainly get a Ryzen 5 3600, but as far as everything playing together nicely out of the box you'd be looking at a more expensive X570 based motherboard. The B450 based motherboards will have support, but in most cases won't have the needed BIOS update from the factory just yet. So it would be extra steps right out of the gate. You'll either need to look for a motherboard with a special BIOS updating feature, get a boot kit with an older CPU from AMD, need to take it to a computer shop and ask them to update the BIOS, or ask the seller if it has already been updated and if they could update it before it is shipped. Another option is to wait a little bit for the B550 motherboards to reach store shelves, which is a few months away.

One more question sorry, just wondering if you could suggest a case that would work, I don't currently have access to my PC but I think the power supply might be build into it, in which case I might have to get a new one.

Suggesting a case is a little problematic. Cases are generally very personal choices. In the build I put together I chose a CoolerMaster MasterBox 5, which is a decent budget case, but there are a LOT of really good cases out there from a lot of manufacturers from the really low end Rosewill cases to the super fancy Lian-Li cases. The good news is that they are all built to certain specifications. Both R_1 and I suggested M-ATX motherboards, so if you went with one of those then just about any ATX or M-ATX form factor cases will work just fine, and there are a LOT to choose from. If you picked an ATX motherboard then only ATX form factor cases will work. ITX is another standard and those are usually much smaller computers, so unless you settle on an ITX motherboard, you should avoid cases that will only fit ITX motherboards. As long as the components fit the sky is the limit with cases. Feel free to pick a few and we can advise on quality, but I'm just not comfortable making suggestions as I have no idea what your tastes are.

 

[ateas]

Hey mate, cheers again for the quick reply. You guys have been a great help.

Sounds good with the graphics card, will look to upgrade that later on, was thinking the rx 580 might be good too. In terms of the CPU, I did notice something with the compatibility on pc part picker when I upgraded to the 3600, sticking with the 2600 sounds fine to me though.

About the case, as long as what you suggested plays well with the other things you guys have offered, its fine with me, I couldn't care less about what my case looks like.

So, after all that, heres what I've come up with this:

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/prP7hg

Around 550 AUD which I'm happy with, leaves me plenty of money to work with.

It doesn't include storage because I'll reuse my current drives.

After purchasing these items, and assembling the new PC, I will look to upgrade my GPU and SSD Drives (more space, i currently only have 512GB Total, so it's getting pretty dire).

EDIT: just wondered if I should look at getting the 2600x instead? not sure what the difference is but the x one must be a bit better right?

EDIT 2: Hmm, did some researching and it looks like it wont be as simple as, building my new pc, put in my old ssd's and hdd and everything works good. Looks like I will have to reinstall windows. Can I just wipe my old drives and then plug them in, then install windows on them and rebuild from there? Or should I really be buying some new drives?

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

Hey mate, cheers again for the quick reply. You guys have been a great help.

Sounds good with the graphics card, will look to upgrade that later on, was thinking the rx 580 might be good too. In terms of the CPU, I did notice something with the compatibility on pc part picker when I upgraded to the 3600, sticking with the 2600 sounds fine to me though.

About the case, as long as what you suggested plays well with the other things you guys have offered, its fine with me, I couldn't care less about what my case looks like.

So, after all that, heres what I've come up with this:

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/prP7hg

Around 550 AUD which I'm happy with, leaves me plenty of money to work with.

It doesn't include storage because I'll reuse my current drives.

After purchasing these items, and assembling the new PC, I will look to upgrade my GPU and SSD Drives (more space, i currently only have 512GB Total, so it's getting pretty dire).

EDIT: just wondered if I should look at getting the 2600x instead? not sure what the difference is but the x one must be a bit better right?

EDIT 2: Hmm, did some researching and it looks like it wont be as simple as, building my new pc, put in my old ssd's and hdd and everything works good. Looks like I will have to reinstall windows. Can I just wipe my old drives and then plug them in, then install windows on them and rebuild from there? Or should I really be buying some new drives?

The upgrades you picked out look good.

As for 2600 vs 2600X, the 2600X is going to be faster. If you can afford it then by all means go for it. Someone will undoubtedly argue me on that point because you can overclock the 2600 to be as fast as the 2600X but I beleive that most people just don't want to bother with that, so I recommend that if you want the extra speed to just get it right off the bat and don't worry about the overclocking.

As for the drives, yes, you could very easily wipe the drives and install Windows on them, then upgrade later... but if the plan was to install Windows again on a new drive it would be worth your money and time to just buy the drive now and install Windows on it.

 

[ateas]

Hi Justin,

Thanks for the help again, so glad I found these forums.

What you said about the cpu sounds good, will probably go for the 2600x since I have some money left over.

Your advice sounds great for the drives and I will probably just fork out some extra money on a big 512GB SSD or something and startup the pc on that (finally get windows 10).

Like I said, after this I'd be looking to upgrade my GPU first, and the one I mentioned, the rx 580 looks like my favourite so far and I assume it's compatible, but will I need to reinstall windows and all my stuff again after upgrading my GPU? I read somewhere online that that was only necessary when changing motherboards, hopefully thats the case. Anyway, thank you again, looks like everything's sorted now

EDIT: Just realised you both linked different 512 GB SSD drives, one was Intel 660p while the other 600p, i noticed the 600p was cheaper, whats the actual difference between these two? Is the 660p just faster in general or?

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

Glad to help.

A graphics card upgrade doesn't need an OS reinstall. The RX 580 is a good card for a good price, but if you end up waiting a little longer, say 3-4 months (maybe? I haven't seen a date yet), AMD is supposed to start releasing their new Navi based cards in the price range and they should have even better performance for the price. So, you don't necessarily have to wait for them, but you could get a better deal if you do, otherwise the RX 580 is a fine card and you'll see a big performance increase over the GTX 950.

Yes, the 660p is a bit faster, but you really can't go wrong with either. I have a 660p in my gaming laptop and have been impressed with it. Otherwise the Crucial P1 or MX500 series are good drives as well. The P1 being faster than the MX500 series. Then there are the Samsung drives, which are comparable but generally cost a bit more. Honestly I haven't committed their product line to memory. SSD drive prices are great right now, so I've been telling people to get whatever they can afford.

 

[ateas]

Awesome mate, might end up waiting for that new card then

 

[Sheepofdoom]

You have a few things you could do here that would improve performance without getting a whole new system, the first would be to find a 4th gen i5 or i7 and simply drop in the new CPU, you'd get a reasonable performance uplift. Putting in an i5 4590 would give you a 40% performance increase on the CPU side. An i7 4770 would be a 50% increase. That said getting something like a Ryzen 3 2200G would see similar performance increases and get you on a live platform with many upgrade options. However, the Ryzen option would require a new motherboard and RAM.

Just to chime in, this point of Justin's is worth reiterating. You've got an old-but-not-ancient Mobo, paired with a low-end processor and mismatched RAM. I'm betting your problems are either the CPU or one of those ram cards slowing everything down. I'm running a 3.6Ghz AMD 8-core, with 16GB of 1866 DDR3 ram. So only marginally better than yours, maybe a faster mobo bus speed, and I'm playing Borderlands 3 at 1440p at 60 FPS. I was running a GTX 960 before and most games were fine on High with a 1080p monitor, but getting a larger screen was just too much for it. I grabbed a used GTX 1070, same CPU, and everything's fine now.

So, assuming you haven't bought a bunch of parts already: I bet you could just get a fast i5 or i7 for your LGA 1150 socket, and your problems would disappear. If it's still chugging, get a 16GB matched set of DDR3 RAM, and upgrade your GPU (maybe find a used bargain locally, just test it first). Then you have the rest of your budget to get yourself a cavernous HDD and a better SSD, which you can keep in the next system. CPU demand isn't increasing that fast unless you're doing VR, and if you can squeeze another couple years out of a processor upgrade, the next full upgrade will be a lot closer to VR-ready. You're not wrong to start over at this point, but that weak i3 is ripe for a cheap half-step that should last you a bit longer.

 

[ateas]

Just to chime in, this point of Justin's is worth reiterating. You've got an old-but-not-ancient Mobo, paired with a low-end processor and mismatched RAM. I'm betting your problems are either the CPU or one of those ram cards slowing everything down. I'm running a 3.6Ghz AMD 8-core, with 16GB of 1866 DDR3 ram. So only marginally better than yours, maybe a faster mobo bus speed, and I'm playing Borderlands 3 at 1440p at 60 FPS. I was running a GTX 960 before and most games were fine on High with a 1080p monitor, but getting a larger screen was just too much for it. I grabbed a used GTX 1070, same CPU, and everything's fine now.

So, assuming you haven't bought a bunch of parts already: I bet you could just get a fast i5 or i7 for your LGA 1150 socket, and your problems would disappear. If it's still chugging, get a 16GB matched set of DDR3 RAM, and upgrade your GPU (maybe find a used bargain locally, just test it first). Then you have the rest of your budget to get yourself a cavernous HDD and a better SSD, which you can keep in the next system. CPU demand isn't increasing that fast unless you're doing VR, and if you can squeeze another couple years out of a processor upgrade, the next full upgrade will be a lot closer to VR-ready. You're not wrong to start over at this point, but that weak i3 is ripe for a cheap half-step that should last you a bit longer.

Hey mate, thanks for the reply. Luckily I hadn't bought the parts yet but now I'm seriously considering your idea.

Better graphics card would be great, is there any specific ones you'd recommend?

I'm actually not sure if I bought ddr3 or ddr4 ram when I added that 8GB stick to my computer, and to be honest, once I added it, I noticed pretty much no difference. So I'll look to get a nice set of ddr3 ram. I'm assuming it's fine to just take out all of my old RAM and put those in?

New SSD and HDD sounds great too, as well as GPU which would come a bit later. Oh and I assume now that I'm not swapping out my Motherboard I won't need to reinstall windows and wipe all my current drives?

Oh and another question, how do I know that my current Power Supply can keep up?

Ok so, After all that here's a list of what I'd like to do right now:

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/yLYkmq

I was looking for some DDR3 Ram on there but it was pretty much all DDR4, what would you recommend? Also just realised, do I need to buy a CPU Cooler or something if I get this Intel cpu.

Thanks again

 

[cryoburner]

Ok so, After all that here's a list of what I'd like to do right now:

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/yLYkmq

I was looking for some DDR3 Ram on there but it was pretty much all DDR4, what would you recommend? Also just realised, do I need to buy a CPU Cooler or something if I get this Intel cpu.

Unfortunately, while the socket stays the same, Intel's motherboards typically only maintain processor compatibility with a couple generations of CPUs, and that processor won't work in your existing motherboard. And again, like all newer processors, it requires DDR4. And even if you did get a newer motherboard and RAM with support for 9th-gen processors, the performance benefits of an i5-9600K are likely to be minimal compared to a much less expensive i5-9400F. Also, I believe your current motherboard is too old to have an NVME M.2 slot, so you would need to get a 2.5" SATA SSD if sticking with your current board. : P

I'm actually not sure if I bought ddr3 or ddr4 ram when I added that 8GB stick to my computer, and to be honest, once I added it, I noticed pretty much no difference. So I'll look to get a nice set of ddr3 ram. I'm assuming it's fine to just take out all of my old RAM and put those in?

I'm not sure it would be worth buying more DDR3 at this point. Some of the most demanding games are pushing memory use over 8GB now, but if you have 12GB, it's questionable whether it would be worth getting more. It's possible that you might get somewhat better performance running a matched set in dual channel, but the largest performance improvements should come from the CPU and GPU upgrades. And again, whenever you end up moving to a new CPU and motherboard, they will require something newer than the DDR3 that your current system requires, so at this point, I wouldn't invest more into DDR3 than you have to.

At the very least, I would only look for these products on the used market if you are getting a CPU and possibly RAM for your old motherboard. New pricing on these old i7s and RAM tends to not be particularly competitive compared to newer hardware, in part because Intel doesn't drop prices on old hardware. The minimum processor you would want to look at would be an i7-4770, but bought new, it's likely to cost as much as the current, higher core-count i7s, despite offering less performance than even the current i5-9400F. Similarly, DDR3 tends to cost just as much as higher-clocked DDR4 when bought new.

Buying new, you would likely find an i7-4770 with 16GB of DDR3 to cost just as much, if not more, than a Ryzen 2600 with a new motherboard and 16GB of DDR4, and at a similar price I would absolutely rather have a new Ryzen system with more cores and room for future upgrades than a 4th-gen i7 system with limited upgrade options. So, unless local pricing is substantially different where you are, only go the used route for a 4th-gen i7 and DDR3 upgrade, and only if it costs substantially less than a Ryzen 2600, B450 motherboard, and DDR4.

I also wouldn't bother with the 4-core, 4-thread Ryzens like the 1200 or 2200G for anything but an extreme budget build at this point, since 6-core, 12-thread parts have dropped relatively close to their price range now, will perform better in heavily-multithreaded games, and will undoubtedly stay relevant longer. The minimum options I would look at on the Ryzen side would be the 2600, or perhaps a 1600 if you can find it at a notably lower price (the stock 2600 performs similar to a 1600X). Either can overclock to offer a similar level of performance as their "X" counterparts should you want to get a little more performance out of them. The 2600X might also be worth considering for slightly better out-of-box performance and a somewhat larger stock cooler than the 2600, but I suspect that money would be better put toward graphics hardware instead, as far as performance in concerned.

 

[ateas]

Unfortunately, while the socket stays the same, Intel's motherboards typically only maintain processor compatibility with a couple generations of CPUs, and that processor won't work in your existing motherboard. And again, like all newer processors, it requires DDR4. And even if you did get a newer motherboard and RAM with support for 9th-gen processors, the performance benefits of an i5-9600K are likely to be minimal compared to a much less expensive i5-9400F. Also, I believe your current motherboard is too old to have an NVME M.2 slot, so you would need to get a 2.5" SATA SSD if sticking with your current board. : P


I'm not sure it would be worth buying more DDR3 at this point. Some of the most demanding games are pushing memory use over 8GB now, but if you have 12GB, it's questionable whether it would be worth getting more. It's possible that you might get somewhat better performance running a matched set in dual channel, but the largest performance improvements should come from the CPU and GPU upgrades. And again, whenever you end up moving to a new CPU and motherboard, they will require something newer than the DDR3 that your current system requires, so at this point, I wouldn't invest more into DDR3 than you have to.

At the very least, I would only look for these products on the used market if you are getting a CPU and possibly RAM for your old motherboard. New pricing on these old i7s and RAM tends to not be particularly competitive compared to newer hardware, in part because Intel doesn't drop prices on old hardware. The minimum processor you would want to look at would be an i7-4770, but bought new, it's likely to cost as much as the current, higher core-count i7s, despite offering less performance than even the current i5-9400F. Similarly, DDR3 tends to cost just as much as higher-clocked DDR4 when bought new.

Buying new, you would likely find an i7-4770 with 16GB of DDR3 to cost just as much, if not more, than a Ryzen 2600 with a new motherboard and 16GB of DDR4, and at a similar price I would absolutely rather have a new Ryzen system with more cores and room for future upgrades than a 4th-gen i7 system with limited upgrade options. So, unless local pricing is substantially different where you are, only go the used route for a 4th-gen i7 and DDR3 upgrade, and only if it costs substantially less than a Ryzen 2600, B450 motherboard, and DDR4.

I also wouldn't bother with the 4-core, 4-thread Ryzens like the 1200 or 2200G for anything but an extreme budget build at this point, since 6-core, 12-thread parts have dropped relatively close to their price range now, will perform better in heavily-multithreaded games, and will undoubtedly stay relevant longer. The minimum options I would look at on the Ryzen side would be the 2600, or perhaps a 1600 if you can find it at a notably lower price (the stock 2600 performs similar to a 1600X). Either can overclock to offer a similar level of performance as their "X" counterparts should you want to get a little more performance out of them. The 2600X might also be worth considering for slightly better out-of-box performance and a somewhat larger stock cooler than the 2600, but I suspect that money would be better put toward graphics hardware instead, as far as performance in concerned.

Interesting points you make, cryoburner. Sounds like you know you're stuff, at this point I'm just gonna go ahead and go for this new system, (re-using my old gtx 950 which will be upgraded later):

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/txtgwh

Now I just need to order them and figure out how to put this thing together, still clueless on that really.

 

[Sheepofdoom]

Yeah, gotta make sure you get the right processor, Intel's been using i5/i7 branding on several generations, so make sure you shop for a processor that's LGA 1150 socket compatible. You'd need to poke in your case to see what your power supply says on it. 400W should be enough for a typical setup like yours, if you get a hungry graphics card it might need 500, but more than that is for extra accessory hardware or too-hungry Titan 1080 shenanigans.

I'm US based, so your local prices are going to vary. But on a quick check when I first responded, I saw several i5/i7 LGA 1150 socket processors in the $150-$200 range. 3.6+ Ghz and more than 4 cores will probably be enough to fix your CPU load. Compare the new chip & old chip online, should be able to find 40% or more increase with several option. If it's the same socket, you should be able to reuse the fan (or it'll come with a stock fan), but maybe doublecheck that for the processor. Again, I don't know what RAM you have, but since you don't either, that might be an issue? Not 100% that you'd need ram, 12GB of most-likely-DDR3 (DDR4 would've been super expensive when you bought it) is okayish. But I can get a matched set of DDR3 16GB for like $80 for peace of mind. Again, this is an incremental step and you probably won't use either for a full lifespan, but if you're playing on a 1080p monitor it should be more than enough to keep all your games running smoothly another couple years. So around $350 US to stop your stutter issues and then the rest can be spent on drives and a GPU, save up for a new Mobo next generation...I think it's a good cheapskate option, I prefer stretching out my hardware as long as possible.

As far as a graphics card goes, that's just depending on what kinda bargain you can find. There's lots of cards like the 1660 that can run 1080p as fast as you want and serviceable at 1440p, but also plenty of room for you to find bargains or used cards that'll deliver on the cheap. I just upgraded, but my 960 was still running current games at 40+fps on High @1080p, which is plenty playable. So 960 or better? Tom's graphic card buying guide is a great resource.

The other guys all know what they're talking about, I don't disagree. But they're all encouraging you to splash out on an efficient but full upgrade. My opinion, if you upgrade now you're looking at 1440p or VR-ready goalposts. You can get a middling 1440p system now, but if you squeak another couple years/hardware generations out of this setup, your next mobo upgrade will be a lot closer to VR-level. That's an issue in all PC upgrades, but we're in a weird place in the 2010's where processor demand is relatively stagnant for typical non-intensive gamers. You're not trying to do exxxtreme E-sports or anything, so I'm confident you can slide by without spending so much.

 

[ateas]

Thanks for the replies guys, so I guess right now I just gotta decide whether I want to upgrade my cpu and keep my pc for a couple more years, or just fork out on a whole new system. I gotta say, I'm leaning towards just getting that new cpu (and perhaps gpu) with an SSD or something, would be the cheaper option right now and would probably fix most of my problems. Just not sure if its worth spending all my money right now for pretty much a new pc.

Okay just searched around on pcpartpicker, every cpu I find is for LGA 1151... Will keep searching