I have $500 to upgrade my PC. What should I get?

[QuitePurple]

My current PC specs (I know they're not very good):

APU- Amd a6-5400k
MB- Asus a55bm-e
GPU- Radeon HD 7970
RAM- 4gb (One stick) (I know I need another, and I'm planning on it)

I also need a good wireless adapter, or maybe a MOBO with wireless? (Is there such a thing?)

Thank you for any help, and good day!

I forgot to add, I plan on doing a good amount of gaming, preferably on max settings. I don't need 1080p, my monitor can only handle 1600x900. Thanks again!

 

[inerax]

SSD if you dont have one. It will speed everything up.

So, I would say. WIFI card, 4GB (at least) ram stick. Or even a dual channel kit of 8GBx2.

And a SSD.

 

[QuitePurple]

SSD if you dont have one. It will speed everything up.

So, I would say. WIFI card, 4GB (at least) ram stick. Or even a dual channel kit of 8GBx2.

And a SSD.

I've been thinking about a SSD for a while, but my computer boots up fairly fast with a HDD, so maybe in the future. I'm mainly looking to upgrade the GPU, MOBO, and CPU. (I don't want an APU anymore.) The a55bm-e has a socket specifically for amd APU's so I'll need to change both. I also want to stick with AMD, I haven't been disappointed by them yet, and I hope it stays that way. I'm looking for specific part recomendations, such as WHAT gpu, and WHAT cpu/mobo. Thanks!

 

[rockie_]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($197.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN722N 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($13.65 @ Newegg)
Total: $311.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-03 11:39 EDT-0400

 

[ultimatebob]

your CPU will bottleneck that GPU a lot even more so at lower resolutions so you may want to consider upgrading that with an a8 since the integrated graphics arn't going to be used otherwise a new modo with an i5 or at least an i3 would do better still might be able to squeeze in an SSD as a boot drive and get a wireless card

 

[QuitePurple]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($197.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN722N 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($13.65 @ Newegg)
Total: $311.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-03 11:39 EDT-0400

That's a possibility, and it leaves some headroom for RAM and other things. What would the AMD equivalent be? Thanks!

 

[boosted1g]

Your CPU is weak, and is being bottlenecked by the 7970.

You can stay AMD and get a fx-8350 or you can go intel and get a i5.
Either way you will need a new motherboard as well.
You should also get another 4gb stick of ram.

i5: $225
Mobo: $100
Ram: $45
SSD: 80

 

[boosted1g]

Your GPU is still failry good by todays standards, a better gpu would be your entire budget and would be massivly bottlecked by your CPU.


Going AMD route:
CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $304.98 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-03 11:50 EDT-0400

I left off ram because you should match it to your other 4gb stick.

ALso, you should look at a powerline adapter (500mbps) over wifi. Powerline has better latency (lower delay) over wifi which will be better for gaming. Of course connected via ethernet is the best option.

 

[boosted1g]

FYI your HD7970 is the rebranded R9-280x. So you would need a R9-290 to see any improvment.

 

[rockie_]

Get a memory stick of the same type 4GB or


http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9b
or
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f312800cl9d8gbxl

 

[boosted1g]

If you have a decent 4gb stick of memory already, just buy the exact same type of another 4gb stick. Getting a pair is ideal, but an exact model match is perfectly fine.
Not enough of a reason to have to not be able to use your exsisitng ram.

 

[Brunostako]

Even when you can stay with AMD, you will get better results with an Intel CPU.

For budget level, AMD is great and is enough. But when you start to go higher on the graphics settings, AMD kind of lack on performance.
With the HD 7970, you should seriously consider going with an Intel platform. Any Haswell Core i5 quad core (not dual with HT) will do the job fine without the risk of bottlenecks.

I'm an AMD fan, but not fanboy. I know when AMD or Intel is needed.

Check these parts: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qttxTW

 

[QuitePurple]

I should probably add, for compatibility and space, my case is a Cougar Solution. I've been looking through the comments, and many people are saying I should go with intel. I'm considering that, but I had a bad experience with an intel PC in the past. (It literally sparked and died...) 🙁

I've noticed that people keep staying well under the $500 budget mark, if there's a way I can get better performance for a bit more, I'll be happy to do it. Also, opinions on the GPU specifically? Would it be worth it to buy another 7970 and run crossfire? To be honest, right now, the most graphically demanding game I'm looking at in my steam library is probably Cod: Black ops 2. (Please don't call me a cod fanboy) <3 I am looking to get battlefield 4 and/or 3. Could crossfire 7970's run that on at least high settings with good fps? Thanks again for all the help!

 

[rockie_]

HD 7970 = R9 280X and is fast enough . i wouldnt crossfire