[SOLVED] GPU/CPU upgrade

[gspro]

I have a dell inspiron 3656, amd fx-8800p r7 CPU, Radeon r9 360 GPU. Not a hard core gamer, but raids freeze and lock up my machine. What can I upgrade the cpu and video card to? My budget is around $500, whats the best I can do with what I have?

 

[ttower2020]

You are on a very dead end platform. There is actually no upgrade for the CPU you can do, and you will probably be very limited in what GPU upgrades you can do. Dell pre-builts tend to use weak power supplies, that will be a limiting factor for any upgrade. You would honestly be better off buying a new system as a whole. From previous experience, there is going to be nothing worth keeping out of what you have now, other than the storage.

 

[ttower2020]

I can try to put together a build at that budget, but a higher budget will allow a better system. I recommend about $900 for a good mid-range build. What can you do for budget, and what do you plan to do/play?

 

[gspro]

I can try to put together a build at that budget, but a higher budget will allow a better system. I recommend about $900 for a good mid-range build. What can you do for budget, and what do you plan to do/play?

Really I just play Rift, but that is due to really not being able to play any newer games. I can do better than 500 for new. 900-1200 is not out of the question. Can I build something with an rtx2060 super or better for that?

 

[ttower2020]

Yes. I will put together a build for you. I can probably get a Ryzen 5, 16GB Ram, and a RTX 2060S. I have to see what I can get. Availability is pretty hit or miss for PC stuff right now. Ill send a list in a bit. Do you have any preferences, such as amount of storage or case size?

 

[gspro]

no case preference, I don't really need any lights. a small ssd for the OS would be good, provided there is space to add my existing HDD.

 

[ttower2020]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/V7pd7T

This list includes a 500GB SSD, and a 1TB HDD. I also put in a copy of Windows 10.

If you want to use your existing HDD instead, that could save $45.
If you have a copy of Windows 10 that you can reuse (Like from the old system), then you can save over $100.
If you do have a windows key to reuse, then I would consider putting that $100 saved into buying an RTX 2070S instead of a 2060S. The price difference is about $100 between the two. The 2060S will not perform poorly at all, and can play almost any modern game at good FPS, but the 2070S is better, especially if you want to play at higher resolutions.

 

[ttower2020]

If you have any questions, or want to make an edit to the list, just ask, and Ill try my best to answer it.

 

[gspro]

If you have any questions, or want to make an edit to the list, just ask, and Ill try my best to answer it.

That's great, thank you so much for putting that together!

 

[TheoJames18]

for $500, get Ryzen 3300x instead with used RX 580. It should be enough for 1080p gaming

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPipFcVwiMY

 

[ttower2020]

That is not a bad idea, and can be a good value. However, I do still recommend spending a little more for a modern system, especially the GPU. That RX 580 is not a bad card, in fact I recommend it to budget conscious people. But if you can afford it, the RTX series are better, and will most likely last you longer before you need to upgrade/build again. Same with the CPU. The Ryzen 3 are great, but for gaming, and regular workloads, as programs tend to lead towards using more cores and threads, the Ryzen 5 will also last longer and run better in more modern programs. The list I put together was based on a $1200 max budget, but you can defiantly get away with spending less for a decent rig, that will just perform a bit worse, and maybe not last quite as long until it become outdated.

 

[ttower2020]

Something else I forgot about. The B550 Motherboards are coming out very soon. Today videos are going up about them. They will be Gen 4 PCIe capable, which makes them a lot more future-proof, as they will be able to handle faster parts to upgrade to in the future. You may want to consider a B550 instead of a B450 motherboard if you do go the route of buying a new system.

 

[Tim Red Beard]

Something else I forgot about. The B550 Motherboards are coming out very soon. Today videos are going up about them. They will be Gen 4 PCIe capable, which makes them a lot more future-proof, as they will be able to handle faster parts to upgrade to in the future. You may want to consider a B550 instead of a B450 motherboard if you do go the route of buying a new system.

Also with the B550's and the 3600XT, 3800XT and 3900XT coming out in July, he'll be able to get cheaper prices on the B450 as well as the 3600, 3600X and other Ryzen processors. My son just put together his own PC over the past 4 months and he went all in on the GPU so now he's not sure what CPU to get. But good solid build you posted.

And you're right about availability, my son spent hours late at night waiting for refreshes on newegg and amazon to get his parts. Things have been out of stock everywhere cause of the human malware.

 

[ttower2020]

"Human Malware" That is a first and I love it.

But yes, as new things get released, it is always best to build. You can get old stuff for cheaper, or get the latest and greatest. I recently built a Gaming PC for a friends Grandma, and I had to hunt for availability for an hour or two, looking at availability and shipping estimates. Right now is a strange time to try and build, but it is not impossible.

 

[Tim Red Beard]

"Human Malware" That is a first and I love it.

But yes, as new things get released, it is always best to build. You can get old stuff for cheaper, or get the latest and greatest. I recently built a Gaming PC for a friends Grandma, and I had to hunt for availability for an hour or two, looking at availability and shipping estimates. Right now is a strange time to try and build, but it is not impossible.

I can't take credit for "Human Malware" it was a Steve Burke original from Gamer's Nexus he coined that phrase as a way to not upset YouTube and be able to mention the COVID. But I had the same reaction as you did when I heard it.

Yeah it's very strange, my son snagged his GPU two days ago. He had all the cash a week or so ago and went looking and couldn't find squat, he was up gaming at 4am EST with his buds and Newegg notification came up that it was in stock and had $50 bucks off, there were 3 of them, he bought one and within 5 mins the rest were gone. He got lucky there.

 

[gspro]

With the rx 580, will my existing mb and power supply work? Will that be adequate for rift raids? As much as I'd like the RTX2060/70, it's a lot more money.

 

[TheoJames18]

whats your mb and psu?

 

[gspro]

whats your mb and psu?

guess I'm not sure. Is there a way to know given the model? dell inspiron 3656?

 

[ttower2020]

Any GPU will be compatible with your Motherboard, as long as it will fit inside the case. The PSU is the issue. As I mentioned above, Dell prebuilds tend to use a weak PSU. You will probably not be able to upgrade the GPU, due to power delivery issues. I have personally been asked if I can upgrade 5 separate Dell prebuilts. all 5 were different models, from different years. All 5 had the smallest possible PSU, that would be incapable of powering better hardware. I doubt your will be much different, but you could be lucky.

 

[TheoJames18]

Dell pre-builds motherboard also has limited CPU TDP. so be careful with that

 

[gspro]

thanks again for the info!