Need help in upgrading my processor

[1st_King]

Hi everyone. Earlier this year I bought a new desktop for gaming and for a few months now I've been wanting to upgrade my processor.

Specs are:
Mobo: MSI Z1-7641
8 Gig Ram
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 970
Processor: AMD FX-4300 quad-core

Budget is about $400. Another question is will I need to update my BIOS or can I just switch the old one with the new one?

 

[logainofhades]

You have the budget, I would upgrade to a much better, Intel setup. This would allow you to reuse, your current ram, and give you i7 4770 performance.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($77.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $317.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-21 20:19 EDT-0400

This is a current gen, i5, with an M.2 drive capable motherboard.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($197.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($67.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($32.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $298.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-21 20:21 EDT-0400

 

[1st_King]

I just want to upgrade my processor atm.

 

[logainofhades]

Problem with that, is that your motherboard is not a very good one, and cannot handle the high power draw, of most of the FX lineup. With a bios update, the only CPU upgrade, that would make any sense, is an FX 8300. It would still bottleneck your GTX 970. You would just be upgrading a 4yr old CPU to another CPU with the same 4yr old architecture. Either of the two options, that I gave you, would be vastly superior.