I want to upgrade my PC but I don't know what to start with first

[ramycool02]

I've built my PC few months ago with the following specs:
Case: Hp z400 Workstation
Motherboard: stock z400 motherboard
CPU: stock CPU, Intel Xeon w3680
RAM: 8gb DDR3 DIMMS
GPU: Galax Nvidia GeForce 1060 6gb
PSU: Stock PSU 475W Bronze
HDD: 2.25 Tb

Does my PC need an upgrade or not? If it needs an upgrade, what should I upgrade?
Thanks for your effort!

 

[2Be_or_Not2Be]

Does my PC need an upgrade or not? If it needs an upgrade, what should I upgrade?
Thanks for your effort!

Well, you haven't said what you intend to use the machine for, or if you currently are having any bottlenecks/problems.

If you need 4K, then you would need a GPU upgrade. If you want better storage performance, then a SSD would be very useful. If you have memory-intensive apps, then you could get more RAM.

Just at a glance, it seems okay for regular gaming, content creation, etc. The only thing I would change, without knowing your needs, is a SSD upgrade. With today's powerful systems, I/O usually is the bottleneck. A 240GB-512GB SSD can either replace your HDD or become your primary drive with the HDD as secondary storage.

 

[ramycool02]

First of all, thank you for replying!
Well, I intend to use my machine for Full HD gaming at ultra setting for mostly AAA titles. I don't know tho if I have any bottlenecks. I'd be really glad if you told me how to find out.
Thanks again!

 

[ramycool02]

Does my PC need an upgrade or not? If it needs an upgrade, what should I upgrade?
Thanks for your effort!

Well, you haven't said what you intend to use the machine for, or if you currently are having any bottlenecks/problems.

If you need 4K, then you would need a GPU upgrade. If you want better storage performance, then a SSD would be very useful. If you have memory-intensive apps, then you could get more RAM.

Just at a glance, it seems okay for regular gaming, content creation, etc. The only thing I would change, without knowing your needs, is a SSD upgrade. With today's powerful systems, I/O usually is the bottleneck. A 240GB-512GB SSD can either replace your HDD or become your primary drive with the HDD as secondary storage.

First of all, thank you for replying!
Well, I intend to use my machine for Full HD gaming at ultra setting for mostly AAA titles. I don't know tho if I have any bottlenecks. I'd be really glad if you told me how to find out.
Thanks again!

 

[2Be_or_Not2Be]

First of all, thank you for replying!
Well, I intend to use my machine for Full HD gaming at ultra setting for mostly AAA titles. I don't know tho if I have any bottlenecks. I'd be really glad if you told me how to find out.
Thanks again!

Some games have built-in performance checks, but usually you can tell when you're getting slow frame rates, pauses, HDD is constantly churning, and the like. These types of problems are more important to correct than getting a few FPS higher in a game's counter.

Your 1060 should be fine for most titles at 1080p (FHD) gaming. A number of games will let you fine-tune the special graphic effects to see if they are worth it to you (e.g "ultra" settings vs "full/regular"). However, you might want to upgrade the memory to 16GB as some games suck up a lot of memory (press CTRL+ALT+ESC to run Task Manager to see how much memory you're currently consuming) and aren't that efficiently coded. Plus web browsers can also suck up a lot of RAM.

So, if you are currently hitting memory limits (running at 75% or higher), then upgrade the RAM first. Lack of sufficient RAM make HDD bottlenecks worse as they have to page back & forth to the HDD, which is greatly slower than your RAM. Then do the SSD upgrade as you have the time/money. I personally love how a good SSD makes everything a bit snappier (dependent on how much your storage is used, of course).