Question Looking for help upgrading my boyfriend's PC

[PaytonComis]

So my boyfriend's birthday is coming up soon, and I'm really hoping to help him upgrade his PC as it's a bit out of date. I'm pretty new to this thing, so any suggestions for what to upgrade first and what to upgrade it too would be amazing! Both of us are moderate gamers, so it certainly doesn't need to be top of the line components, just enough to make it more enjoyable on a budget.

Here's the specs for his PC
Graphics Card: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1660 Super
Motherboard: ASRock H310CM-HDV
SSD's: APacer AS340 240 GB and WDC WD10EZEX-00WN4A0
Processor: Intel Core i5-9400F
RAM: 8gb DDR4

 

[logainofhades]

I guess the most important thing will be the budget. Next up would be make/model/age of the power supply. Wouldn't hurt to know what case being used too.

Basically would recommend a new PC at this point. Case, storage, and possibly power supply could be reused to cut down on costs. 12th gen Intel is really a great budget friendly option, right now.

 

[artk2219]

So my boyfriend's birthday is coming up soon, and I'm really hoping to help him upgrade his PC as it's a bit out of date. I'm pretty new to this thing, so any suggestions for what to upgrade first and what to upgrade it too would be amazing! Both of us are moderate gamers, so it certainly doesn't need to be top of the line components, just enough to make it more enjoyable on a budget.

Here's the specs for his PC
Graphics Card: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1660 Super
Motherboard: ASRock H310CM-HDV
SSD's: APacer AS340 240 GB and WDC WD10EZEX-00WN4A0
Processor: Intel Core i5-9400F
RAM: 8gb DDR4

I guess thats the biggest question, what is your budget for this? At a minimum, he needs more ram, do you know if you'll want to be reusing parts like the storage, case, and power supply? I threw some options together below, i cant make any other recommendations without more information though.

$45 Minimum:
32GB DDR4
PCPartPicker Part List
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/z8rnWD

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**Memory** | [Patriot Viper Steel 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/v3FKHx/patriot-viper-steel-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3200-cl16-memory-pvs432g320c6k) | $45.14 @ Amazon
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$45.14**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2025-03-25 15:39 EDT-0400 |

$115 OK
32GB RAM
1TB NVME SSD
PCIE x1 NVME Adapter

PCPartPicker Part List
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/cDfXZw

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**Memory** | [Patriot Viper Steel 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/v3FKHx/patriot-viper-steel-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3200-cl16-memory-pvs432g320c6k) | $45.14 @ Amazon
**Storage** | [Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/chzhP6/crucial-p3-plus-1-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-ct1000p3pssd8) | $59.79 @ Amazon
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$104.93**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2025-03-25 15:37 EDT-0400 |

PCIE X1 NVME Adapter

$200 - 230 Better
32GB DDR4
1TB NVME SSD
NVME PCIE Adapter
I7 9700 or i7 8700

PCPartPicker Part List
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/cDfXZw

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**Memory** | [Patriot Viper Steel 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/v3FKHx/patriot-viper-steel-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3200-cl16-memory-pvs432g320c6k) | $45.14 @ Amazon
**Storage** | [Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/chzhP6/crucial-p3-plus-1-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-ct1000p3pssd8) | $59.79 @ Amazon
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$104.93**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2025-03-25 15:37 EDT-0400 |

PCIE X1 NVME Adapter

Core I7 9700

or

Core I7 8700


$315.22 Platform swap no GPU
PCPartPicker Part List
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Ksmjb2

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/pQNxFT/intel-core-i5-12400f-25-ghz-6-core-processor-bx8071512400f) | $110.30 @ Amazon
**Motherboard** | [MSI PRO B760M-P DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/M6nypg/msi-pro-b760m-p-ddr4-micro-atx-lga1700-motherboard-pro-b760m-p-ddr4) | $99.99 @ Amazon
**Memory** | [Patriot Viper Steel 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/v3FKHx/patriot-viper-steel-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3200-cl16-memory-pvs432g320c6k) | $45.14 @ Amazon
**Storage** | [Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/chzhP6/crucial-p3-plus-1-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-ct1000p3pssd8) | $59.79 @ Amazon
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$315.22**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2025-03-25 15:36 EDT-0400 |

 

[stonecarver]

So my boyfriend's birthday is coming up soon, and I'm really hoping to help him upgrade his PC as it's a bit out of date.

RAM: 8gb DDR4

It's so on the fence even throwing in a used I7 9th gen CPU as it's priced the same as just bumping to a newer system.

As a big keeping it real upgrade that does make since is more memory. Not a lot out of pocket money and for the parts already owned the most bang for the buck.


But I will say this some of the forum member have a talent of putting together new parts lists that make one take a second look at staying where they are and patching up an older system or just upgrading all together. Sometime just adding $50 to get you into a new system of parts vs maxing out old system.

Sometimes so close to not justify dumping money at the old system and just jumping to newer faster parts.

I say this after doing a quick search of what used CPU's are going for at this time for his platform , If I found an i7 9th gen for $25-$35 used I would be 100% behind throwing in better parts on his current PC.

His system is still a decent computer and like I said memory is the best bang for the buck right now.

You could also think about a newer GPU and if your interested in that option there are many here who also have great advice on what to pair his I5 9th gen cpu with.