Help upgrading my PC

[Brids17]

So I've been looking to upgrade my PC for a while now however I'm not entirely sure what exactly it is that I need to replace. I've got;

Windows 7 64bit
Intel i5 760 2.8ghz
8gb ram
HD 7850 2gb
2tb HDD
650W PSU
ASUS P7P55D-E LX MOBO

Based on game requirements it seems like I need a new graphics card and maybe another 4gb of RAM but I'm not sure about my CPU. I have no idea if I need a new motherboard for an upgrade or a new PSU for power or what.

I have around $550 (Canadian, so $440 USD) to work with right now. I'd like to get something that will last me as long as possible and I'd like to avoid NVIDIA if at all possible.

 

[why_wolf]

at the cheapest you should get an SSD in there for at least you OS. 2nd would be a new GPU. After that you need to get a new motherboard to support any new CPU and if its a skylake you'll have to buy new RAM as well.

 

[wkwilley2]

You're not going to gain much by upgrading your processor. I would look at a Radeon 290 or 390 to upgrade from your 7850. This will be the largest improvement in performance.

If you still have some money left over, try to increase your memory to 16 Gb. That would hold you over for quite some time.

 

[Eximo]

Doesn't really need any more memory.

CPU is actually quite aged, still quite potent, but newer titles are specifying later model i5 processors as a minimum.

A new GPU would be beneficial, but I think it would begin to unbalance the system. R9-280 is basically what you have now. So to see a really noticeable difference the R9-390 or R9-390X are a good option. Though I would probably wait and see what AMD and Nvidia come up with in the coming weeks. These will be a process node shrink and architectural revision. Should be a significant performance increase over the Fiji and Maxwell line ups.

I would save up more money and look at a complete system rebuild to a new Skylake i5 with DDR4 memory in a few months.

 

[Brids17]

I would save up more money and look at a complete system rebuild to a new Skylake i5 with DDR4 memory in a few months.

How much money are we talking?

 

[Eximo]

In Canadollars:

GPU is a placeholder for a Polaris equivalent. For the same money, performance should be 40-50% better. Or you could spend less on a Polaris R9-480 series vs the R9-490 series and probably come out ahead vs an R9-390 in terms of cost and performance.

Unless you really want to upgrade now...then we can look at a cheaper option. Might be able to get a Z97 4th gen system for a little less and possibly keep your memory (though memory is really cheap right now)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.98 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($131.49 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($44.99 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 390 8GB Nitro Video Card ($379.88 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $810.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-29 14:06 EDT-0400

 

[why_wolf]

at the cheapest you should get an SSD in there for at least you OS. 2nd would be a new GPU. After that you need to get a new motherboard to support any new CPU and if its a skylake you'll have to buy new RAM as well.

Bro you're talking about $530 worth of hardware, and he only has $440. That's assuming he goes with a reasonable 250GB SSD, cheapest MOBO for 1151, i5-6500 (non-K) because anything less wouldn't be worth the upgrade and a R9 380. I'd recommend you just upgrade your GPU and PSU.

R9 380: $190
PSU: $50
SSD: $88

Total: $328

I'm talking about the order he should do them in. He'd be better off focusing his money on each item one by one to get better parts than blowing it all on low tier parts all at once.

 

[Brids17]

In Canadollars:

GPU is a placeholder for a Polaris equivalent. For the same money, performance should be 40-50% better. Or you could spend less on a Polaris R9-480 series vs the R9-490 series and probably come out ahead vs an R9-390 in terms of cost and performance.

Unless you really want to upgrade now...then we can look at a cheaper option. Might be able to get a Z97 4th gen system for a little less and possibly keep your memory (though memory is really cheap right now)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.98 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($131.49 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($44.99 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 390 8GB Nitro Video Card ($379.88 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $810.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-29 14:06 EDT-0400

Well, I just got a surprise $200 check in the mail, so this actually looks to be affordable with another month or two of savings. When does said GPU come out?