Hardware Upgrade Advice!!!

[BMck606]

Hey guys,

Recently made the switch from Mac to PC and invested in a used PC that I'm looking to upgrade.

I'm currently running:
Intel i5 750 (2.6 GHz)
12 GB DDR3 RAM
GeForce GTX 950
1TB HDD
430W GPU
Windows 7

It's primarily used for gaming. Not sure exactly whether it would be wise to upgrade just the CPU or graphics card or both. Looking to spend around €300-€400 so nothing way over the top.

Thanks in advance!

 

[clutchc]

In order to upgrade the CPU, we'll need to know the make/model of your motherboard. And 1st gen Core processors are long obsolete. So finding one will be a job of searching used sites like ebay.
But the old quad core may be able keep up with a slightly faster card than what you have now. The RX-470 4GB or GTX 1060 3GB is a good choice. And the card will still be more than adequate for whatever CPU you can find.

 

[rgd1101]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from BMck606 : "PC Upgrade Advice!!!"

Hey guys,

Recently made the switch from Mac to PC and invested in a used PC that I'm looking to upgrade.

I'm currently running:
Intel i5 750 (2.6 GHz)
12 GB DDR3 RAM
GeForce GTX 950
1TB HDD
430W GPU
Windows 7

It's primarily used for gaming. Not sure exactly whether it would be wise to upgrade just the CPU or graphics card or both. Looking to spend around €300-€400 so nothing way over the top.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BMck606]

I'm not 100% sure on the make of the Motherboard. I think it came stock with the CPU. I want to be able to keep my DDR3 so maybe a CPU and a motherboard that can run fairly well and still support DDR3???

 

[clutchc]

I'm not 100% sure on the make of the Motherboard. I think it came stock with the CPU. I want to be able to keep my DDR3 so maybe a CPU and a motherboard that can run fairly well and still support DDR3???

The CPU support will depend on the motherboard you have. If it is a retail board, almost all CPUs from that era will work with a possible BIOS update. But if it is a pre-built PC with a OEM board, the manufacturer may have stopped BIOS support for later CPUs. Look on the board around the center-ish part and see if there is a make/model name.

 

[BMck606]

Will do (not at home right now). For arguments sake, say I want to scrap the Motherboard and CPU but keep the graphics card and RAM. What would be the best option for €300-€400?

 

[clutchc]

In that case, go Intel Skylake. Being in the US, I don't have any insight to what CPU, boards, and cards cost in that currency. But I'd suggest an i5-6400, A socket LGA 1151 motherboard by Asus, Gigabyte, or Asrock (don't know if you are limited to mATX or can use ATX). The card I already mentioned.

But keep in mind... some pre-built cases like Dell use proprietary front panel connections that won't match up with retail boards. Also, the OEM copy of whatever OS it has is tied to that PC and may not be able to be activated once re-installed on a "new" PC. And just moving the current HDD to the new PC may not boot because the OS will be looking for the parts it was installed with. There are several pitfalls like that when trying to upgrade an older OEM PC.