Question Exchanging CPUs for gaming

[Werchiel]

First post so - Hello Everyone!

Let me start by giving you my specs:

MOBO: ASUS P8H61-M LX2 R2.0
CPU: i5-2400 3.10GHz
16GB DDR3 666.5 MHz
GTX 1060 6GB
PSU Elementium E2 SI-450
Windows 7

I noticed that in some CPU intensive games (like MH:W) I'm experiencing stutters and sometimes freeze, thanks to some soft and a few helpful people on the steam forums I isolated the issue to my CPU being too weak (guess that's my fault for not doing enough research but here we are) so I was thinking of changing it to a stronger one.
I checked that since my MOBO has a 1155 LGA socket the best thing I can do within my price range would be an I-7 3770 (like this one https://allegro.pl/oferta/intel-i7-3770-3-9ghz-lga-1155-cooler-pasta-6750250129 - the site is in Polish but I think you can easily make it all out, if not please let me know and I'll find it somewhere else).
I have a few questions regarding that:

1. Is that a good choice of CPU?
2. Do I also have to exchange the PSU or is mine good enough?
3. How "dangerous" is it to attempt the exchange myself?

I still have my old PC so I opened it up and removed the cooler and CPU and then put it back again just to see how it's done and I felt like the pins on the motherboard are very delicate - I wouldn't want to damage them by removing the CPU as placing a new one seems simple enough. Should I really do it myself though? I mean I would like to do it myself since I could cut down on a cost slightly and let's be honest - in this day and age I should be able to do it myself.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

 

[Obakasama]

According to the motherboard compatibility the CPU is compatible: https://www.asus.com/supportonly/P8H61-M LX2 R2.0/HelpDesk_CPU/
It does depend on whether the game is struggling because of the lack of threads, if it is then the CPU upgrade will help performance.

Is it dangerous to attempt the upgrade yourself? I'd say it depends on how clumsy you are. If you take the general precautions and follow the instructions for installation there shouldn't be any danger.

Not sure on the PSU as not familiar with the model.

 

[Werchiel]

I had an old PC lying around so I took it out to "train". Replacing the CPU went well (I repeated it a few times to get the hang of it) but I had some trouble with the cooler - had to readjust it a few times before it went in. Something I couldn't do if I already had paste there - I do hope it's going to go smoother with my current PC. I'm always too afraid to use too much strength - like I had a lot of trouble with the 24 pin because it came loose and I had to put it in place and use quite a lot of force before it finally went in. I'm not sure how much power I can use without damaging the MOBO.

 

[Obakasama]

I know what you mean about using strength. Two particular parts come to mind: the 24-pin (as you mentioned) and RAM. At least this is the case from my own experience of building PCs though it is rarely mentioned. Motherboards are quite resilient, but still unnerving.

Do make sure you have new thermal paste, and isopropyl alcohol (to clean off old thermal paste), for installing and reinstalling the CPU. Something lint free as well.

 

[Werchiel]

I'm gonna grab some antistatic cloth from work - that should do the work. Is isopropyl required? It's actually the first time I've seen it mentioned.

 

[Obakasama]

For cleaning off old thermal paste? Yes.

 

[Werchiel]

I'm ordering a CPU with a cooler so I could just use that set and not have to worry about the paste for now. But I guess getting it just in case is not a bad idea.

 

[Werchiel]

Okay I got the CPU, I exchanged it and it seems like everything is in order... as if.
This actually made me realize that my case has no intake fan - and how have I not realized it before... Anyways - I never really bothered to check my temps nor has it occured to me that fans shouldn't actually be that loud (using old PC's for the past decade or two made me get used to it I suppose) - removing the side panel dropped fan usage from like 80% to maybe 30 and temps by 10 degrees. I'll just keep the panel open and simply dust it every month - I'm kind of tired.

Anyways - thanks for the assistance.