[SOLVED] Looking to upgrade my PC for Christmas and need your help!

[celiktanner]

I'm looking at upgrading my PC for Christmas, and would love it if someone could help me out with what the best bang for my buck would be with upgrading. I'll post my specs below, and am open to upgrading whatever part/parts would be the most beneficial to upgrade to be able to play the latest PC games (COD 4, WOW, LOL, ETC) on close to max settings, and that would be compatible with what I currently have in the rig.

SPECS

CPU: AMD FX-8120 CPU (8x3.10 GHZ/8MB L3 Cache)
CPU COOLING: AVC Liquid CPU Cooling System [AMD] Standard 120MM Fan
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3--AMD970
Memory: 8GB[4GBx2] DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: 1TB Hard Drive--32M Cache, 7200RPM 6.0 GB/S - Single Drive
Video Card: AMD Radeon HD 7770 - 1GB - Single Card
Case: NZXT Phantom Full Tower
Power Supply: 650 Watt--NZXT HALE82N-SI/80+Bronze
Optical Drive: 24X Dual Format / Double Layer DVD R/RW + CD-R/RW Drive
Operating System: Windows 8

Currently trying to play COD4 on the lowest settings is a struggle, and playing LOL on almost the lowest settings is fine. Any and all help will be much appreciated, and I thank you all for your time!

 

[rgd1101]

budget?

 

[logainofhades]

I would say a whole new rig is in order. Budget is king though.

 

[celiktanner]

I’d prefer to stay $1,000 or less. I’m sure eventually I’ll end up upgrading everything, but right now I’m just looking to upgrade whatever would be the most valuable to play the most current online PC games.

 

[logainofhades]

$1k would build you a really solid rig. You could reuse your current tower, and HDD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8 GB AMP Edition Video Card ($358.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($77.98 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($98.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $953.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-14 10:15 EST-0500

 

[tennis2]

I like Logain's build. The MX500 is ~$62 now with newegg promo code SSDSAVE.

The only thing I'd caution about is the GTX1070Ti. While It's a great choice at that price point, it's really more of a 1440p card. So depending on your monitor, an RX580 8GB + 2 Free Games = $180 after MIR would do High/Ultra on any game at 1080p giving you >60fps.

 

[logainofhades]

Even at 1080p, the 1070ti is a better card, and will last far longer, at 1080p, before an upgrade is needed.

 

[tennis2]

No doubt, but it's also 2x the price for only 45% greater performance.

 

[celiktanner]

So you guys don’t think any of my current gear is salvageable? While the best case scenario would be to just outright build a new rig, I was kinda hoping to just slowly upgrade things 1 by 1 over the course of maybe 6-8 months, and then get my rig exactly where I want it. What options would be the biggest bang for my buck as far as increasing performance while being compatible with what I currently have?

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

You could reuse the case and hard drive. Honestly that system is old enough that for gaming, you will want to change it out. You can keep those 2 things and add a small SSD for the OS.

 

[celiktanner]

As I don't actually know how to build the computer myself, and I checked with a local computer shop and they would charge around $100-$150/hr to take my parts and build them, would anybody be able to help me with "building" a new rig on ibuypower, or cyberpowerpc, or a similar site with the with as close to the suggest build from above? I checked and some of the suggested items weren't there. I just desperately need to upgrade my rig, so at this point, it seems like one of those sites will be the most feasible and accessible at this point. I appreciate the feedback/help.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

150 is actually very fair. I do computer work on the side from time to time, I work in help desk, computer technician/network administrator as my normal job. But even for side work, 40 bucks to diagnose, 75 per hour. So his price is actually reasonable. Consider that you need a copy of Windows.

Do you have a microcenter near you? They should have all the parts you need, and I think will assemble for 125. They usually have good discounts as well, like you buy an AMD cpu, they give 30 dollars off the board. The one near me has been carrying a refurbished gtx 1070 8gb card for 299.99. I'm thinking of picking it up and their 2 year warranty on it in case it has issues.

Edit, just saw the per hour. I could see 150 total for that, but I wouldn't count on any warranty from them.

Cyber power seems to be a little lower priced. Maybe just go on there and pick the cheapest rig you find and select the customize option, and try to match it somewhat to components listed here. Post back with any questions though.

 

[DSzymborski]

I'd call around for other shops long before I trust Cyberpower to be competent.

 

[tennis2]

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea_bs5G1yYU&feature=youtu.be"][/video]
Nice build guide there.

You can do it!!!

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Yes, it's really not hard. Once you have the basics, it's almost like legos unless you are doing a crazy over the top build. But if you are just going stock speed, stock cooling, then your biggest thing will be getting the motherboard mounted, getting the cpu installed, and wiring the front panel. After that, most of it is just routing cables and plugging in ram, video etc.

 

[celiktanner]

When I buy all of the components, will everything already come with fans, and cables, etc, or do I need to purchase those as well?

 

[tennis2]

Most/all cases come with at least one fan. That info is always given for a particular case as well as all the other locations and sizes of open fan mounts in that case. You generally want 2 fans in the front pushing air into the case, and 1 fan at the back pushing air out.

No need to worry about cables.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

When you buy the case, double check and see how many fans the case has built in. My current case for example, can take 6 fans. But the case only came with one preinstalled.

Some cases will come with 3 or 4 fans already. In my situation, what I did was to order fans from eBay. I think I got 3 packs for about 15 dollars, but then I wanted LED fans, so maybe I was a little vain lol. But if you do that method, be sure that you pick ones with decent airflow. I think mine said 40cfm. Also, be sure you get them from someone in the USA, otherwise you may be waiting on a boat from overseas to arrive.