[SOLVED] Help: What Should I Upgrade & What To?

Apr 3, 2020
13
1
15
I've had my pc for like just under 6 months. And so far it has done me good, but it can limit to me what games I wanna play. Especially when my cpu is like 8 years old.

(Currency: AUD)

Basically, I want to upgrade my parts so I can play most games (to an extent). I don't have a lot of experience with parts and building pc's but willing to learn. Was hoping to get some help on future parts I can buy to upgrade my pc's performance.

My PC Specs:
CPU: Intel Core i72700K @ 3.50GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon R9 380 Series 4GB (Gigabyte)
SSD: Kingston A400 120GB
HDD: WD Blue 1TB (2012)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1866 C9 4x4GB
MBD: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77
CASE: Fractal - Meshify S2 Dark Tempered Glass

https://www.userbenchmark.com/PCBui...20.420.90155vsS3925-M1.40457.229920.420.90155
 
Solution
If your storage is ok then no point in changing (it wont increase your gaming performance).

As for the rest, if you wana move to a newer platform, and that way you could sell your old stuff (motherboard+cpu+ram+gpu+psu) to get some money back, the following is a very decent system to start with and be able to upgrade more later:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($328.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($139.00 @ Austin Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($129.80 @ Newegg Australia)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB GAMING X Video Card...
You can change everything but the case. I recommend looking for the articles about best systems for a given price, it will be faster. Still, for a budget build that can handle anything, I recommend 16 gb of DDR4 3200 (Corsair Vengeance LPX is my own preference), a Ryzen 3600, an ASRock B450M Pro4 F, and a 1Tb M.2 SSD. As for the GPU, that setup can handle anything from a Radeon 570 (or your R9 390) to a GeForce 2070, so modulate GPU (and PSU) according to your budget.
 
Apr 3, 2020
13
1
15
You can change everything but the case. I recommend looking for the articles about best systems for a given price, it will be faster. Still, for a budget build that can handle anything, I recommend 16 gb of DDR4 3200 (Corsair Vengeance LPX is my own preference), a Ryzen 3600, an ASRock B450M Pro4 F, and a 1Tb M.2 SSD. As for the GPU, that setup can handle anything from a Radeon 570 (or your R9 390) to a GeForce 2070, so modulate GPU (and PSU) according to your budget.
Thank you for this, I'll definitely look into it.
Personally I don't want to spend more than 1000, and keep some of the parts I already have. But still improve my performance by a decent amount.
Do you think just upgrading the CPU and GPU (or if not GPU maybe SSD) would do the job?
 

fredfinks

Honorable
Like Mitch says, everything but the case. (you can keep the HDD for media storage)

What monitor do you have? What monitor would you like to run? i.e. 1080p @ 60hz, 1080p @100hz+, 1440p @ 60hz....

I think its a good idea to determine the build around what its essentially driving - the monitor.

Keep in mind that you can prob grab a bargain with a 2nd hand CPU & mobo, from ebay, thats still powerful enough to run games for years.
Assuming your the CPU isnt too old, or was low end when new, the real determining factor is the GPU.

Ram - 16gb (2x 8gb kit), 1tb SSD minimum. HDDs just for media storage.


- Regarding your GPU question - i think its long past its used by date. Get into the habit of upgrading & selling GPU often, recouping significant cost.
 
Thank you for this, I'll definitely look into it.
Personally I don't want to spend more than 1000, and keep some of the parts I already have. But still improve my performance by a decent amount.
Do you think just upgrading the CPU and GPU (or if not GPU maybe SSD) would do the job?
No - this is a dead platform, so you need a new Mobo + RAM + CPU. My setup can fit within the $1000 budget you described, easy, including a GPU.
 
If your storage is ok then no point in changing (it wont increase your gaming performance).

As for the rest, if you wana move to a newer platform, and that way you could sell your old stuff (motherboard+cpu+ram+gpu+psu) to get some money back, the following is a very decent system to start with and be able to upgrade more later:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($328.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($139.00 @ Austin Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($129.80 @ Newegg Australia)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB GAMING X Video Card ($388.60 @ Device Deal)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($139.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Total: $1124.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-04 05:27 AEDT+1100


You will see I choose the R5 3600, which could be changed with the R5 2600 and put more money on the GPU. The reason I did what I did, is because your coming from a Core i7 2700K and I feel the R5 3600 is the one that it will allow you to feel the uber punch in performance a new system deserves. Don't get me wrong the Ryzen 5 2600 is a very capable CPU and it will be better in 99% of the games than the Core i7 2700K, specially with a stronger GPU, (only very old games like GTA V may run a bit, just a bit, better on the old Core i7 2700K).

So here I give you the other system, this one has a very, much better GPU the RTX 2060 is a worth step foward for only ~ AUD60 more:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($231.00 @ Newegg Australia)
Motherboard: MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($139.00 @ Austin Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($129.80 @ Newegg Australia)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card ($549.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($139.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Total: $1187.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-04 05:38 AEDT+1100


Keep in mind that later on you coudl upgrade, using this same motherboard to a R5 3600 or R7 3700X or probably any of the new Ryzen 4xxx that should launch soon.

Hope it helps

Cheers!
 
Solution
I prefer ASRock over MSI for the Mobo - I built a dozen systems using that model, they are all rock stable.
As for the GPU, I think you could keep yours for the moment and wait for the next generation from either AMD or Nvidia - the 390 is still a capable card that will get a nice boost from a newer platform and play most current games @High in 1080p (it's actually a bit faster than my rx480, and it can handle anything I throw at it surprisingly well)
 
Apr 3, 2020
13
1
15
If your storage is ok then no point in changing (it wont increase your gaming performance).

As for the rest, if you wana move to a newer platform, and that way you could sell your old stuff (motherboard+cpu+ram+gpu+psu) to get some money back, the following is a very decent system to start with and be able to upgrade more later:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($328.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($139.00 @ Austin Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($129.80 @ Newegg Australia)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB GAMING X Video Card ($388.60 @ Device Deal)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($139.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Total: $1124.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-04 05:27 AEDT+1100


You will see I choose the R5 3600, which could be changed with the R5 2600 and put more money on the GPU. The reason I did what I did, is because your coming from a Core i7 2700K and I feel the R5 3600 is the one that it will allow you to feel the uber punch in performance a new system deserves. Don't get me wrong the Ryzen 5 2600 is a very capable CPU and it will be better in 99% of the games than the Core i7 2700K, specially with a stronger GPU, (only very old games like GTA V may run a bit, just a bit, better on the old Core i7 2700K).

So here I give you the other system, this one has a very, much better GPU the RTX 2060 is a worth step foward for only ~ AUD60 more:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($231.00 @ Newegg Australia)
Motherboard: MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($139.00 @ Austin Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($129.80 @ Newegg Australia)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card ($549.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($139.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Total: $1187.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-04 05:38 AEDT+1100


Keep in mind that later on you coudl upgrade, using this same motherboard to a R5 3600 or R7 3700X or probably any of the new Ryzen 4xxx that should launch soon.

Hope it helps

Cheers!
This was a huge help, thank you for putting a lot of information and depth so I could understand.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RodroX