[SOLVED] Need upgrade advice for a GTX 1660 based PC build

[KuraX]

My current PC specs,

• CPU - Intel i7 2600k
• Motherboard - Intel DH67BL
• RAM - 8GB - Hyper X Fury
• GPU - AMD Radeon HD 7850

I bought GTX 1660 but unfortunately my 2nd gen Intel Processor and motherboard is too old to support without BIOS update even though the board has all the facilities for the card's specs and slots. I faced a lot of issues with BIOS upgrade to make it support GTX 1660. Corrupted the BIOS in the process so I am not going to try that again. Plus the motherboard life cycle is coming to an end. I can't expect any more support from Intel for future upgrades anyway.

Here is the issue now. I am trying to salvage what I have to make the best use of GTX 1660. These are my options

1. Buy new CPU and motherboard and keep using the current system as it is as a secondary system for office.
2. Return GTX 1660. My preference is to keep it.

My budget is ~11,000 INR (~150 USD). Can I build a PC salvaging my PC parts with a cheap CPU in range like AMD Ryzen 3 with a good Mid-High end motherboard for now and then upgrade my CPU after 1-2 years after I have some money? Is this a good idea? This is a strictly gaming system. I dont really care about the performance of Office applications and other programs that demand CPU.

Need some advice on this. Thanks in advance.

 

[jeremyj_83]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor (₹7325.00 @ Amazon India)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (₹6479.00 @ Amazon India)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (₹3700.00 @ Amazon India)
Total: ₹17504.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-23 22:35 IST+0530

This is basically the cheapest I can see on pcpartpicker.

 

[KuraX]

Thanks. Can I skip the RAM? I already have 1X Kingston FURY 8GB DDR3 which I want to use.

 

[jeremyj_83]

Thanks. Can I skip the RAM? I already have 1X Kingston FURY 8GB DDR3 which I want to use.

Nope. The CPU & Motherboard only use DDR4. If you wanted to reuse your DDR3 you would only be able to use older/used parts. All Intel desktop CPUs since 6th Gen and AMD with Ryzen use DDR4.

 

[geofelt]

Your i5-2600K is still a good processor, and entirely suitable for a GTX1660.
You might redouble your efforts to get your bios updated o currency.
Reading the bios release notes, I saw an entry for level 0151 that indicated an issue with pcie 3. vga cards that might be your issue. All current gen graphics cards will support pcie 3.0.
If you have recovered your bios, cook to see what level you are at.

Another option would be to buy a Z68 based lga1155 motherboard.
The z68 chipset lets you overclock the 2600K.
A used Z68 motherboard is about $50.
There is a benefit to used since it will likely have a more current bios installed.

Past that, $100 is not going to get you much.

$250 might get you a 300 series lga1151 motherboard, 16gb of ddr4 ram and a G5400 processor.
Such a motherboard can be upgraded in the future all the way up to a i9-9900K.