I've been out of the PC gaming hardware world for a few years, I need some help regarding upgrades...

[Captain_Dynamite]

It's been a while since I've built a PC, and I'm beginning to realize that an upgrade may be required. Because I built my PC in 2014, I feel that it's beginning to show it's age, along with a lot of novice mistakes on my part (more on that later).

My current uses are just specifically gaming. I don't do video editing, streaming, recording, etc. So hopefully I shouldn't need to get the top-of-the-line Ryzen CPU with however many cores (I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to most hardware now, I haven't paid much attention unfortunately lol). I'll most likely do some of my college homework on it as well, but since I'm a STEM major I doubt I'll be using programs like Adobe After Effects and whatnot. The most graphic intensive games I'm going to be playing are BF1, World of Warships, War Thunder, Team Fortress 2, and Elite Dangerous. I'm hoping to run everything on ultra at 1080p, but if that won't work then high graphics can suffice.

My current build goes as follows:

AMD FX6300
ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0*
8GB DDR3-1600 Crucial Ballistix RAM
EVGA GTX 1050Ti*
Corsair CX600
Inland 250GB SSD*
WDC 1TB HDD

*So my current build definitely isn't the greatest. When I built my system, no one told me that RAM had to be specifically supported by the motherboard which means that half of it is being "reserved for hardware". I had also figured that with the motherboard, I could easily overclock my FX6300, but unfortunately, months after the return window had closed for it, I realized that it's not a board that you should overclock with. That also showed when I attempted because I would constantly get crashes. The only parts I've recently upgraded are my GPU and SSD (I planned on giving my Dad the 1050ti for his system because he's running a much older card at the moment).


With all of that being said, I just want to ensure that this upgrade will be as futureproofed as it possibly can. Instead of investing in another AM3+ motherboard and more DDR3 RAM, I figured that it would be best to just go ahead and get everything new. I also want to ensure that whatever RAM is going into this new system will be compatible with the motherboard so there won't be any issues like I'm having now.

The only parts I think I should really need to upgrade are the GPU, CPU, MoBo and RAM. I'm currently interested in the Ryzen 5 2600x, X470/B450 MoBo, GTX 1060 3gb/6gb, and 16gb of RAM.


I had a couple of questions regarding the MoBo and GPU:
1. Is the extra 3gb of RAM on the 1060 worth the slightly higher price?
2. Which brand motherboard would be best for this system? Would the MSI Gaming Plus be a good choice?

I'm sorry for the long wall of text, but I hope that I've filled in as many gaps as I could. Thank you all so much in advance for helping me out with this!

 

[kiss-method]

The motherboard you asked about is not bad at all.

Difficult thing right now is that, it's not the right time to buy. AMD is suspected to push out their new line of CPU soon (could be as late as early summer, exact date might be announced this week). Also new rtx2060 from Nvidia is out? I think that's what I heard, but availability is an issue because it just launched, haven't even seen the price! Because I haven't looked at it yet.
But yeah, those are two main reasons to hold up for now.

As far as a build goes.... Here is a flashy build that will draw attention. But it's not the cheapest. As for video cards it goes something like this gtx1060-3gb -> rx580 8gb -> gtx1060 6gb, but does the price make you happy? That 6gb gtx is a good 50$ over an 8gb Rx... I personally don't see it worth it.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($164.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($122.64 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB Strix Video Card ($289.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $702.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-08 21:28 EST-0500



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Here's a build with a set budget.




PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($164.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B450-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($102.96 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX - Radeon RX 580 8 GB GTS Black Core Edition Video Card ($189.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $562.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-08 21:36 EST-0500



You can also the GPU from this one on the first suggestion, it'll still be good. But to guarantee ultra settings, you'll need to be running a gtx1070/ti - is an option //rtx2060. The 1060 doesn't shine like it used to. Some people will say it's still enough... But let's say you play a new game next year.... It may not be enough, and that's 250$ that you just just spent to try play on ultra.

=============

But like I said... You should dig a little deeper into the two points that I mentioned. 3rd Gen ryzen is worth the wait even if it's coming in the summer time.

 

[cryoburner]

To expand on that a bit, the 1060 3GB also has 10% of its cores disabled compared to the 6GB version, so even when the VRAM limit isn't a problem, it will tend to be around 10% slower. Performance-wise, an RX 580 will on average perform very similar to a 1060 6GB, with each card being a little faster than the other in different games. The RX 570 will in turn perform similar to a 1060 3GB. The Radeon options typically cost less for a given level of performance, but do have higher power requirements under load. Both the RX 570 and 580 come in 4GB and 8GB versions, with the 8GB models having the potential to perform better in future games that can benefit from more VRAM.

As for the RTX 2060, those will start at around $350, so possibly outside the price range you are looking at. As was mentioned, AMD is supposedly going to be launching new CPUs and GPU built on a much more efficient 7nm manufacturing node soon (compared to 12/14/16nm used by current CPUs and GPUs) and rumors are that some of this hardware might be getting announced this week at CES 2019, probably during AMD's keynote tomorrow. The actual release dates for most of this hardware will probably be some months off though.

 

[Captain_Dynamite]

Ah, so perhaps it would just be best to wait for the CPU? Does anyone know if they will still use the AM4 chipset? If it is, I suppose I could get the RAM and Motherboard and wait for the CPU...unless there's going to be potential compatibility issues when they're released with the current gen motherboards.

As for the GPU, I live near a Micro Center, and they have the ASUS GTX 1060 6gb for only $250, rather than $300. Perhaps I should've included this in my original post, but here's my budget I'm looking at for everything:

CPU: $250 absolute max, but preferably $200
MoBo: $150 max
GPU: $250 max, no preference on price
RAM: $150 max

All in all, I'd prefer to not go over $1,000 with everything included. I'm hoping to get everything around $800 or so.

 

[cryoburner]

We will probably know at least somewhat more tomorrow, even if AMD doesn't go into specifics of their upcoming products quite yet.

I would not buy a motherboard yet if you are not buying a CPU, as existing models would likely need their BIOS to be updated to run those 3000-series CPUs, and doing so would require an existing compatible CPU to perform the update.

As for the price of the 1060, eh, the 1060 6GB actually launched with a $250 MSRP two-and-a-half years ago, even if many models with better coolers and factory overclocks launched for prices somewhat higher than that. While prices of graphics cards did rise quite a bit around a year ago due to a shortage, by this point, $250 for a 1060 6GB seems a bit underwhelming, particularly since its possible to find similar-performing RX 580s for around $200 or less online, some with 8GB of VRAM...

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/overall-list/#sort=price&c=391

As for the prices you are looking at, if you shop around and look for deals (for example, by using a price comparison site like PCPartPicker), you could probably spend around $400 for a decent CPU, 16GB of RAM and a motherboard, giving you the option of spending a bit more on the graphics card while staying within your lower budget. Or simply spend less, and save the money for future upgrades. : P

 

[kiss-method]

It is best to wait for the right motherboard. Since the architecture has changed, there are many extra features/performance capabilities that come with newer motherboard that would handle the 3rd gen. Would current b450/x470 handle 3rd gen? There is a possibility, but if you remember they can do an AM4"+" as with am3 sockets. So best to wait and make sure you don't waste your money.

You should still be able to easily afford the rtx2060. Even my "fancy part list" only got 700$-ish count.