Question I have an i5-3470 from 7 years ago. What would be an appropriate upgrade for under $150 or so?

[huzaifa_ahmed]

I've had this prebuilt for 6 and a half years, only changed the case, maxed the ram to 8 GB, and changed the GPU's (rx 560 to 580 4/8GB, now GTX 1080), and the PSU to a 450W.

The i5 3470 is 3.2 Ghz.

I had some trouble with FF13 because apparently that was CPU-limited. That's just one of the issues - what would an upgrade give me, what am I missing, etc? I'd also take the opportunity to change my RAM - DDR4 isn't particularly necessary but it could come in handy, what IS important is to get the RAM capacity to a healthier one than a strangled 8GB that easily fills up during work.

I think a 128GB (for future upgrade) motherboard with 24-32GB for now would be good? I dunno.

 

[Eximo]

Not really anything you can do for $150.

128GB memory capacity is quite hard to come by without spending about $250-300 on just a motherboard, not to mention the chip and ram to go with it. Not necessary anyway. 16GB is plenty for a gaming system.

At a minimum, R5-2600, B450 motherboard, and 2x8GB of DDR4 3000Mhz, going to run you about $220-240.

 

[King_V]

I've had this prebuilt for 6 and a half years, only changed the case, maxed the ram to 4 GB, and changed the GPU's (rx 560 to 580 4/8GB, now GTX 1080), and the PSU to a 450W.

The i5 3470 is 3.2 Ghz.

I had some trouble with FF13 because apparently that was CPU-limited. That's just one of the issues - what would an upgrade give me, what am I missing, etc? I'd also take the opportunity to change my RAM - DDR4 isn't particularly necessary but it could come in handy, what IS important is to get the RAM capacity to a healthier one than a strangled 8GB that easily fills up during work.

I think a 128GB (for future upgrade) motherboard with 24-32GB for now would be good? I dunno.

You could try finding an Ivy Bridge i7, which may give slightly faster speeds along with hyper-threading, but in truth, used i7 processors of that era sometimes go for as much as, if not more than, a new Ryzen 5 and motherboard. Though, at that point, you'd also be looking at buying DDR4 RAM, since all new systems are on DDR4.

Your system only uses DDR3 RAM, so you can't upgrade to DDR4. Newer systems use DDR4. You'd probably be looking at getting some DDR3 don't know if there's much that can be done with a $150 budget - I'm a little unclear on your post, do you have 4GB RAM, or 8GB RAM, and in what configuration (2 x4GB sticks, 4x 2GB sticks? Or something else?) What exact brand and model of motherboard do you have?

And, if doing any buying, what country are you in, and which vendors (online) would you be purchasing from?

 

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Not really anything you can do for $150.

128GB memory capacity is quite hard to come by without spending about $250-300 on just a motherboard, not to mention the chip and ram to go with it. Not necessary anyway. 16GB is plenty for a gaming system.

At a minimum, R5-2600, B450 motherboard, and 2x8GB of DDR4 3000Mhz, going to run you about $220-240.

Oh yeah, I did mean just the CPU in particular for under $150.


In total I wouldn't have expected under 300, if anything.

 

[Eximo]

Oh, well, in that case. 2700X is about $170 two more cores for $60. Or you can jump straight to the 3000 series $195 for the 3600. Faster cores.

Only Intel option at the price point is the i5-9400F. 6 cores, but no overclocking, and limited upgrade path unless you spend a lot on a Z390 board.

 

[huzaifa_ahmed]

You could try finding an Ivy Bridge i7, which may give slightly faster speeds along with hyper-threading, but in truth, used i7 processors of that era sometimes go for as much as, if not more than, a new Ryzen 5 and motherboard. Though, at that point, you'd also be looking at buying DDR4 RAM, since all new systems are on DDR4.

Your system only uses DDR3 RAM, so you can't upgrade to DDR4. Newer systems use DDR4. You'd probably be looking at getting some DDR3 don't know if there's much that can be done with a $150 budget - I'm a little unclear on your post, do you have 4GB RAM, or 8GB RAM, and in what configuration (2 x4GB sticks, 4x 2GB sticks? Or something else?) What exact brand and model of motherboard do you have?

And, if doing any buying, what country are you in, and which vendors (online) would you be purchasing from?

I have one 8GB stick, and the motherboard is a generic prebuilt, Optiplex 3010, I suppose it's a mini-ATX (my current case is ATX)

 

[Eximo]

No time like the present to get away from an OEM board, but how is your OS licensed? Won't be transferable if you are using the OEM key.

 

[huzaifa_ahmed]

No time like the present to get away from an OEM board, but how is your OS licensed? Won't be transferable if you are using the OEM key.

Presuming I can keep most of my data, I think I'll manage, so to speak. I do believe it is not from the OEM.

 

[InvalidError]

For $300 total, I'd definitely recommend going b450/Ryzen 2600 or better/16GB RAM over putting any more money on a seven years old platform.

 

[mdd1963]

I'd increase the budget by $50-$100 to allow for some DDR4 RAM (8 GB x2, 3200 MHz), and look for an R5-1600 ($79 on sale) and a B450 combo..

 

[USAFRet]

Presuming I can keep most of my data, I think I'll manage, so to speak. I do believe it is not from the OEM.

'keep most of my data' means copying that off to a different drive, and doing a full wipe and reinstall with the new hardware.
Going from a i5 3470 to anew Ryzen, do NOT expect the existing drive to simply 'boot up'.

 

[Karadjgne]

Keep the gpu, it's still solid, and maybe the case and drives, but the core components need to be retired. Even a move to a Xeon 1270v2 or i7-3770/k will only help in games that use 5-8 threads, they'll not do much at all for 4 or less. And it'd be an expensive band-aid fix that's not going to last much longer.

4Gb ram maxed means a 32bit OS (x86) , and if it's original to the pre-built, it's OEM and not transferable. To take any advantage of a new pc, that OS will need to be 64bit (x64) or your available ram will still be limited to 3.8Gb usable.

Modern boards can handle 64-128Gb of ram, but there's very little that has any need for that amount, like virtual machines, content creation etc. Everything else is quite happy with 16-32Gb at most. That and 128Gb runs about $600.

 

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Keep the gpu, it's still solid, and maybe the case and drives, but the core components need to be retired. Even a move to a Xeon 1270v2 or i7-3770/k will only help in games that use 5-8 threads, they'll not do much at all for 4 or less. And it'd be an expensive band-aid fix that's not going to last much longer.

4Gb ram maxed means a 32bit OS (x86) , and if it's original to the pre-built, it's OEM and not transferable. To take any advantage of a new pc, that OS will need to be 64bit (x64) or your available ram will still be limited to 3.8Gb usable.

Modern boards can handle 64-128Gb of ram, but there's very little that has any need for that amount, like virtual machines, content creation etc. Everything else is quite happy with 16-32Gb at most. That and 128Gb runs about $600.

I edited my OP, mistakenly I said it was maxed to 4GB.

It came with 4GB, I replaced it with a 8GB stick which is its maximum.

There's an article on here that talks about how 16GB is always recommended, but it's not enough. I was going to stick with 24-32 but wanted to future proof for a bit.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($110.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $330.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-26 19:21 EST-0500

You really don't need 32gb, but here's a list with it. If you go with 16, you can knock about 40 bucks off the cost. A decent 16gb kit can be had for about 60.

You'll probably also want to budget in a decent power supply. 550+, should come in around 60 max.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($110.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $285.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-26 19:26 EST-0500

 

[Karadjgne]

Right now, 8Gb is basically the minimum recommended, and thats really only on a super-budget basis. Almost every other recommended size is 16Gb in 2x8Gb, especially for Ryzens. That's the standard. Currently. When you are talking about over-the-top builds intended for 4k gaming on 120/144Hz monitors etc, that generally gets bumped to 32Gb, but it's cheap insurance considering the size of the cpus and gpus used and the $500+ mobo's etc.

Other than that, the only time more than 16Gb is intended is for specialty work, like content creation etc which can and does have a use for uber high ram, servers, virtual machine pc's etc.

Starwars has a new game just released. Recommended ram is 32Gb. But also includes super high end cpus, gpus etc.

Just like 4Gb, then 8Gb, then 16Gb was a recommended size, sooner or later 32Gb will be the norm, but that's not going to be tomorrow, your pc will probably be obsolete by the time that happens for gaming purposes and DDR5 platforms will be mainstream.

 

[huzaifa_ahmed]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($110.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $330.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-26 19:21 EST-0500

You really don't need 32gb, but here's a list with it. If you go with 16, you can knock about 40 bucks off the cost. A decent 16gb kit can be had for about 60.

You'll probably also want to budget in a decent power supply. 550+, should come in around 60 max.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($110.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $285.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-26 19:26 EST-0500

This is very solid, thanks. Is there a comparable Intel set as opposed to AMD?

Slightly off topic but as someone who uses PC emulation to enhance my console games, I had heard that the AMD chips had many issues with running RPCS3. TSX or something like that.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

If you want a comparable intel system, prepare to pay near double. The amd/16gb setup above with a good psu would be about $350. And I'd almost say a new psu is a must. Depending on the age and quality of your current one. 450w is a little on the low side, imo. With an intel setup a new psu would definitely have to be included as the 1080 with any k sku cpu could possibly use upwards of 400w.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($339.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $719.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-26 21:57 EST-0500

 

[talonts]

It came with 4GB, I replaced it with a 8GB stick which is its maximum.

If your's was NOT the SFF 3010 (which I'm assuming it was not, as the motherboard is a funky size, longer in one dimension than even the MT board), typical for Dell, it can handle more than they say it can.

And as I see SO often, their "Rockstars" on their forums just quote the manuals, so their replies are useless for real world usage. Not their fault, as they're not allowed to go against Dell's specs, but it irks me when I see their "experts" shoot people down on upgrades, and I know that they're wrong.

You need to search for actual user experiences, which show that the Optiplex 3010 can handle 16GB.

In most cases, when it comes to Dells, they can handle twice what Dell says they can IF the chipset supports the larger sticks. Dell simply lists the largest available at the time, never tests higher, and never updates their docs. The cases where Dell's custom BIOS cramped the max memory over the chipset are fewer than where they didn't.

 

[DSzymborski]

If your's was NOT the SFF 3010 (which I'm assuming it was not, as the motherboard is a funky size, longer in one dimension than even the MT board), typical for Dell, it can handle more than they say it can.

And as I see SO often, their "Rockstars" on their forums just quote the manuals, so their replies are useless for real world usage. Not their fault, as they're not allowed to go against Dell's specs, but it irks me when I see their "experts" shoot people down on upgrades, and I know that they're wrong.

You need to search for actual user experiences, which show that the Optiplex 3010 can handle 16GB.

In most cases, when it comes to Dells, they can handle twice what Dell says they can IF the chipset supports the larger sticks. Dell simply lists the largest available at the time, never tests higher, and never updates their docs. The cases where Dell's custom BIOS cramped the max memory over the chipset are fewer than where they didn't.

To be perfectly fair, the documentation for Dell PCs, like most prebuilts, is really quite horrid, so upgrades really are guesswork unless you have the exact PC in question.

 

[talonts]

To be perfectly fair, the documentation for Dell PCs, like most prebuilts, is really quite horrid, so upgrades really are guesswork unless you have the exact PC in question.

Absolutely. The problem is that their "Rockstars" quote it endlessly when people ask about RAM upgrades, and I'm quite sure they know the answer is not what they're quoting. But giving a wrong answer under the mantle of "authority" is not helpful.

I ignore most of their answers and pay attention to users that have actually TRIED things.

 

[huzaifa_ahmed]

If your's was NOT the SFF 3010 (which I'm assuming it was not, as the motherboard is a funky size, longer in one dimension than even the MT board), typical for Dell, it can handle more than they say it can.

And as I see SO often, their "Rockstars" on their forums just quote the manuals, so their replies are useless for real world usage. Not their fault, as they're not allowed to go against Dell's specs, but it irks me when I see their "experts" shoot people down on upgrades, and I know that they're wrong.

You need to search for actual user experiences, which show that the Optiplex 3010 can handle 16GB.

In most cases, when it comes to Dells, they can handle twice what Dell says they can IF the chipset supports the larger sticks. Dell simply lists the largest available at the time, never tests higher, and never updates their docs. The cases where Dell's custom BIOS cramped the max memory over the chipset are fewer than where they didn't.

I see. Well that seems useful but it's basically either upgrade the main chip & MB or just the RAM, as the RAM as if course not compatible with the newer chips.

 

[stonecarver]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core...noa=1&pg=2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core...945909&hash=item420d610558:g:0ikAAOSwEOxd4D55

and 2x8 ddr3 1600 on the used market is like $30-50

Nice cheep refresher