Alienware X51 R2 -Processor Upgrade

[Verdox]

Hello, i'm looking to upgrade my PC. It has done me good over the past few years (3) but it's starting to run really bad. So these are my current specs:

CPU: Intel Core i3 4150 @ 3.50GHz Haswell 22nm Technology

RAM: 6.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 800MHz (11-11-11-28)

Motherboard: Alienware 0PGRP5 (SOCKET 0)

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4400 (Dell)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 (NVIDIA)
ForceWare version: 376.33
SLI Disabled

Storage: 931GB Seagate ST1000DM003-1CH162 (SATA)

I'm looking to upgrade the CPU, GPU and RAM over the year. But i'm not sure to what. First i want to upgrade my CPU. I am willing to give arround 200 - 250€ for this and looking for an I5.

After that i would like to upgrade my RAM. Suggestions would be welcome for this. I will also need low RAM since it is a small tower build.

Already Thanks for answering!!!

 

[Lutfij]

Seeing that the processor you're on is the Haswell platform, you can go a maximum of the i7-4790(not the K suffixed processor since your board looks like it can't overclock or it'll be locked in BIOS. Further reading.

At this pint of time where you can find Kabylake and a Z270 board knocking on your doors, it's not a wise decision to shell out on the Haswell platform. Oh and one more thing, you should make sure your BIOS is up to date prior to the ram upgrade. SInce you have only 2 slots for your ram, you will need to go for a kit of 2x8GB. I would ask you to check with your BIOS since it looks like your maximum ram frequency is DDR3-1600MHz.

Further reading.

 

[Verdox]

Seeing that the processor you're on is the Haswell platform, you can go a maximum of the i7-4790(not the K suffixed processor since your board looks like it can't overclock or it'll be locked in BIOS. Further reading.

At this pint of time where you can find Kabylake and a Z270 board knocking on your doors, it's not a wise decision to shell out on the Haswell platform. Oh and one more thing, you should make sure your BIOS is up to date prior to the ram upgrade. SInce you have only 2 slots for your ram, you will need to go for a kit of 2x8GB. I would ask you to check with your BIOS since it looks like your maximum ram frequency is DDR3-1600MHz.

Further reading.

Alright thanks, but is there any Processor you would recommend to me at this point? I was thinking about getting the Intel Core I5

 

[Lutfij]

Do you plan on gaming on the system or is it more like a production/workstation machine?

 

[Verdox]

Do you plan on gaming on the system or is it more like a production/workstation machine?

Gaming, i'm currently playing ArmA 3 at most and this is a very CPU intensive game.

 

[Lutfij]

The highest i7 stated in the list I posted earlier and keep it at that. The issue with a prebuilt system is that you're given a lot of bars upon an easy upgrade/tune up. I'd say that once you have the necessary funds, build a system from the ground up.

 

[Verdox]

Alright ty for everything

 

[Lutfij]

+ Thank YOU for awarding my post as the Best Solution!

 

[Verdox]

+ Thank YOU for awarding my post as the Best Solution!

Hey, i'm sorry to come back on to this but a friend of mine told me the I5-6500 is also a good processor. And besides 350 euro's for that processor is i think a lot. The Intel Core I5-6500 costs 100 euro's les. I told him i'll ask you what you think about that.

 

[Lutfij]

The i5-6500 is a 6th Gen Processor by Intel while your board only supports 4th Gen Processors. If you want to drop in the latter, you're going to need to change the board due to the socket revision and the ram since DDR4 is the route to go with Skylake. The reason your search for a 4th Gen processor is more is due to the fact that it's obsolete and is no longer manufactured by Intel so the price went up for those who desperately need it.

 

[Verdox]

Alright so is there any cheap 4th Gen. processors you can recommend? It can also be AMD if possible.