Budget CPU Upgrade

[BudgetBoy]

I'm looking to upgrade my CPU from an FX 4130 to a better processor for gaming. I mainly play RTS and simulation games, e.g., Total War, Starcraft 2, Cities Skylines, which tend to be CPU intensive.

Does anyone know of a good CPU/Mobo combo that would provide a solid upgrade while not breaking the bank? I would probably only want to spend $100-150 on the CPU and $100 on the mobo if that's possible.

I don't know or understand much about CPU architecture, apart from clock speeds and cores. I don't really understand how an i5 at 3 Ghz is faster than an FX 4130 running at 4.2 Ghz for gaming, but from everything I've read, Intel's processors are significantly faster.

I don't do much multitasking, so I really don't need anything above four cores.

My system:
CPU: FX 4130 3.8 Quad Core (OCed to 4.2)
GPU: GTX 750 Ti SC
RAM: 16 GB 1600
PSU: 450 W
MOBO: Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3
OS: Windows 10
HDD: 1 TB Sata II

 

[imsqam]

Best advice that I can give you right now is wait two weeks or so. At that time Ryzen will be released by AMD, if leaked reports are true AMD will be the brand to go with. Check this out.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/antonyleather/2017/02/18/amd-ryzen-5-1600x-performance-leak-intel-will-be-worried/#432ce61469ce

But if you have to build now here is something in your budget range.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yNWNhM
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yNWNhM/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock B150M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $258.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-20 13:41 EST-0500

 

[Ecky]

You mention you don't do much multitasking, and additionally, the games you listed are not well threaded. You could drop in an 8 core FX CPU, but chances are good that most of those cores will just sit idle in those games. However, there is some reason to get higher core counts on AMD CPUs: Module penalty. AMD's cores are not "complete" cores, in that they have to share resources with their neighbors, unlike with Intel's designs. On your FX-4130, loading up 4 cores will only give about 50-60% more throughput over two because of resource sharing, so a 6 or 8 core would help in scenarios where you're using as few as 3 cores. Moving up from Bulldozer to Piledriver (FX41xx -> FX43xx) would help a little too, but there isn't a lot on AM3+ that's going to be a really significant improvement for your specific uses.

My opinion, you might pick up an FX-6300 or maybe an 8320e and it will help in the games you play, definitely enough to notice, but it's not going to feel like a brand new system. Intel's CPUs are really more suited to your needs, and something like a Pentium G4560, Core i3 6100 or even Core i5 7500 would all be tremendous improvements for your uses.

 

[BudgetBoy]

Thank you very much for your help and suggestions. I might try to wait and see what happens with Ryzen.

Would it be worthwhile to build a Haswell system, in order to salvage my DDR3 RAM?

I'm also assuming I'm going to have to buy a $100 copy of Windows if I update my motherboard, correct?

 

[Ecky]

You may be able to transfer your copy of Windows. If it's a retail version, it will reactivate without issue once or twice more. If it's OEM, you may be able to get it activated by calling Microsoft.

I wouldn't buy a Haswell system today. RAM is cheap and you give up a lot to go with a 3 generation old platform. Plus, good motherboards are getting hard to find.

 

[BudgetBoy]

You may be able to transfer your copy of Windows. If it's a retail version, it will reactivate without issue once or twice more. If it's OEM, you may be able to get it activated by calling Microsoft.

I wouldn't buy a Haswell system today. RAM is cheap and you give up a lot to go with a 3 generation old platform. Plus, good motherboards are getting hard to find.

If I upgraded to a Kaby motherboard to use the Pentium G4560, would I notice any loss in performance if I only purchased 8 GB of RAM? My currently existing 16 GB of DDR3 would have to be scrapped.

For example:

Socket 1151 Mobo: $65
Pentium G4560: 65$
DDR4 RAM 1x8 GB: $50

Total: $180