Good $600-$700 upgrade for gaming

[Dbman1212]

What would be the best components to upgrade my 6yr old system in the $600-$700 price range. Thanks

Here's what I have currently:

Cooler Master HAF 932 Case
Processor: Intel Core I7 930 2.8Ghz quad core
Motherboard: EVGA x58 LE edition SLI
RAM: 6GB DDR3 1600MHZ
Power Supply: 750w dual sli compatible
Hard Drive 1: Intel 80GB SSD
Hard Drive 2: Western Digital 1TB Black edition
Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 480 1.5GB
Sound Card: Creative Labs X-FI Titanium Fatality Champion
Cooling: Dual Noctua 120mm Fans
Operating System: Windows 10

 

[Thenewworldorder]

I will recommend you get a h110m gaming from msi and replace the cpu for a 6400 so you can upgrade to a GTX 1070

 

[Chugalug_]

I think the best option for you is to go for a CPU mobo RAM upgrade, and to grab a good graphics card that can max stuff out at 1080p 60hz.
Here is an example of the upgrade you should go with:
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/CmXNNN
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/CmXNNN/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($53.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $560.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-05 08:21 EDT-0400

If you want, you can either grab a GTX 100 for $45 more, or get a 1080p 144hz monitor like the BenQ XL2411Z or the Asus VG248QE later down the line for around $249.
They both use the same panel, so get whichever is cheapest.
Hope this helped!

 

[WildCard999]

I would get a aftermarket CPU cooler and overclock that 930 as far as it will safely go then get a GTX 1070.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html
http://www.overclock.net/t/538439/guide-to-overclocking-the-core-i7-920-or-930-to-4-0ghz

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card ($454.36 @ B&H)
Total: $526.35
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-05 08:36 EDT-0400

And if you think your i7-930 will hold back that GTX 1070 then read this...
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/4oiba9/gigabyte_gtx_1070_g1_benchmarked_on_6_year_old_pc/

 

[Chugalug_]

I would get a aftermarket CPU cooler and overclock that 930 as far as it will safely go then get a GTX 1070.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html
http://www.overclock.net/t/538439/guide-to-overclocking-the-core-i7-920-or-930-to-4-0ghz

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card ($454.36 @ B&H)
Total: $526.35
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-05 08:36 EDT-0400

And if you think your i7-930 will hold back that GTX 1070 then read this...
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/4oiba9/gigabyte_gtx_1070_g1_benchmarked_on_6_year_old_pc/

I wouldn't!
A GTX 1070 is overkill for 1080p 60Hz, and additionally, why postpone the inevitable?
OP is going to need to upgrade eventually, but that will be a while off if he spends all his money on a graphics card now that won't be fully utilized.
The i7 930 even overclocked will probably still bottleneck the 1070 by a somewhat considerable amount.
It is less than half the power of an i7 6700, and typically only overclocks to an average of just about 4 GHz from memory. Not worth spending the money on such a beefy cooler, and a graphics card that won't see full utilization.

 

[Chugalug_]

@Chugalug_, please read that reddit thread I posted, a overclocked 930 will show the same frame rates with a 1070 as paired with a 6700K. Also we don't know the OP's monitor, your assuming its 1080P and even if it is a 1070 would still be a good buy since it will last quite a long time at that resolution and will be able to be used when the OP is ready to replace there CPU/MB/RAM.

Also I would easily take a i7 930 @3.4 (or higher) over a locked i5 6500 any day of the week.

Mmm, I'm assuming it's a 1080p 60Hz monitor, mainly because nobody in their right minds would pair a 480 with anything higher!
Didn't see the reddit thread, my bad, i'll take a look now.

 

[WildCard999]

There would be cases of the GPU being held back by the CPU at higher resolutions or if the CPU isn't overclocked but I doubt it would be enough to ruin the gaming experience IMO. But by doing this the OP can squeeze some more time out of there system and save up again for unlocked i5/i7 with a excellent MB and higher speed RAM which will again allow them to keep a build for a considerable amount of time and also be able to reuse that Noctua cooler. And I do take back me saying that id take that i7 over a locked i5, never cared too much to overclock and never saw much of a benefit IMO in gaming besides fixing bottlenecks between CPU/GPU.

 

[Chugalug_]

Ah, I see!
I guess it is a very solid option if OP is into some serious overclocking. Very good economic investment, nice suggestion.
If you don't want to overclock OP however, go with the build i've listed above, should be perfect for you.

 

[Dbman1212]

1080p is correct. I never considered pushing the 930 and upgrading the GPU. I thought 930 would be considered ancient by now and not be able to keep up with the newer GPU's. Should I look at more ram if I go with the overclock option?

 

[Chugalug_]

Yeah. I would look at a 16GB kit of around 1866MHz RAM. The Corsair vengeance series seem to be the best value in that range.
Note that it will take some serious fiddling around in order to achieve a high overclock, and much of it comes down to the ASIC quality of your chip, so hopefully you got lucky.