[SOLVED] Prebuilt Cyberpower PC, confused on what I should upgrade first on a budget?

axes12345

Commendable
Dec 26, 2018
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1,515
I've had my prebuilt pc since 2017 without upgrading it at all and want to finally do it. My budget is $500 but I want to spend more around $400. What would you all recommend upgrading first for the most performance boost?

Here are my system specs:
CPU: AMD FX(tm)-8350 Eight-Core Processor 4.00 GHz
Ram: 8gb
Drive: 1tb HDD
GPU: Radeon (TM) RX 480
PSU: 600 watts
Motherboard: M5A97 R2.0
 
Solution
I play games like csgo, apex legends, and minecraft right now, but I want to be able to run rust or any newer games that come out.
Is your RX 480 4gb or 8gb variant?
The first thing that comes to my mind is moving to a newer platform.
CSGO and APEX are more CPU than GPU demanding, since they are first person shooters.
Your RX 480 can still game Rust and all of the new title's atleast on 1080p low/medium.
Something like this should make a significant improvement in gaming performance, and overall usage:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-10400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor ($149.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock...

LolaGT

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Oct 31, 2020
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What parts don't you want to update right now?
If you stick with the MB and CPU then you should look into upping the ram to 16 GB, and get in line somewhere for a newer GPU.
There, your money is gone. :unsure:
But if you have any left over after that get a 128 GB SSD to boot your OS from at least.
 
I play games like csgo, apex legends, and minecraft right now, but I want to be able to run rust or any newer games that come out.
Is your RX 480 4gb or 8gb variant?
The first thing that comes to my mind is moving to a newer platform.
CSGO and APEX are more CPU than GPU demanding, since they are first person shooters.
Your RX 480 can still game Rust and all of the new title's atleast on 1080p low/medium.
Something like this should make a significant improvement in gaming performance, and overall usage:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-10400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor ($149.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B460 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX LGA1200 Motherboard ($92.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $421.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-03-13 06:37 EST-0500


i5 10400F is a 6 core 12 thread cpu that matches the Ryzen 5 3600 in performance. Ryzen 5 3600 being a much more expensive cpu makes no sense for this build in my opinion.
The stock cooler for the 10400F would have been enough, but stock coolers tend to run really loud and not cool that good.
A arctic freezer 34 Esports DUO will both keep you cpu really cool when gaming while being really silent.
The motherboard is solid for a 10400F. 10400F isnt a needy cpu so no reason to go overkill on the motherboard, a ATX formfactor with all of the fancy features for under $100 sounds really good imo.
The ram is classic for now, 2x8gb 16gb 3200mhz. Shouldn't have any problems running programs in background while gaming.
The Samsung 860 EVO 250gb is a perfect ssd for reviving old system. Enough for windows, but always room for some games.
Although i would just put Windows on this SSD and put all of your games on your 1TB HDD.
^ all of this should significantly improve both your gaming and operating experience.

Edit: You can keep your cpu since this upgrade will actually consume less wattage than your FX system.
Keep the psu until you decide to upgrade your GPU.
 
Solution

axes12345

Commendable
Dec 26, 2018
14
5
1,515
Is your RX 480 4gb or 8gb variant?
The first thing that comes to my mind is moving to a newer platform.
CSGO and APEX are more CPU than GPU demanding, since they are first person shooters.
Your RX 480 can still game Rust and all of the new title's atleast on 1080p low/medium.
Something like this should make a significant improvement in gaming performance, and overall usage:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-10400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor ($149.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B460 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX LGA1200 Motherboard ($92.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $421.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-03-13 06:37 EST-0500


i5 10400F is a 6 core 12 thread cpu that matches the Ryzen 5 3600 in performance. Ryzen 5 3600 being a much more expensive cpu makes no sense for this build in my opinion.
The stock cooler for the 10400F would have been enough, but stock coolers tend to run really loud and not cool that good.
A arctic freezer 34 Esports DUO will both keep you cpu really cool when gaming while being really silent.
The motherboard is solid for a 10400F. 10400F isnt a needy cpu so no reason to go overkill on the motherboard, a ATX formfactor with all of the fancy features for under $100 sounds really good imo.
The ram is classic for now, 2x8gb 16gb 3200mhz. Shouldn't have any problems running programs in background while gaming.
The Samsung 860 EVO 250gb is a perfect ssd for reviving old system. Enough for windows, but always room for some games.
Although i would just put Windows on this SSD and put all of your games on your 1TB HDD.
^ all of this should significantly improve both your gaming and operating experience.

Edit: You can keep your cpu since this upgrade will actually consume less wattage than your FX system.
Keep the psu until you decide to upgrade your GPU.


Will I be okay buying the motherboard, ram, and , ssd only for a little while? If I don't upgrade the cpu yet do I even need the motherboard? Im trying to upgrade it slowly so I dont just chunk all my money at it.
 
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Will I be okay buying the motherboard, ram, and , ssd only for a little while? If I don't upgrade the cpu yet do I even need the motherboard? Im trying to upgrade it slowly so I dont just chunk all my money at it.
Buy the SSD for now, it will make ur pc much faster for use.
DONT expect higher fps in games, SSD is just for faster boot times and faster operating on your computer, not for improving FPS.
You dont need to buy new mobo/cpu cooler/cpu/ram until you decide to chunk all money on it.
Just get a SSD for now, when you decide to buy cpu/cpu cooler/mobo/ram just buy it all together.
 

axes12345

Commendable
Dec 26, 2018
14
5
1,515
What parts don't you want to update right now?
If you stick with the MB and CPU then you should look into upping the ram to 16 GB, and get in line somewhere for a newer GPU.
There, your money is gone. :unsure:
But if you have any left over after that get a 128 GB SSD to boot your OS from at least.

Im trying to avoid upgrading the cpu to avoid the mb upgrade. I think Im gonna go with the ssd, get some more ram, and a new gpu.
 
With any cyperpowerpc the first thing you should upgrade will always be the PSU!

Thats an old system, that psu is at least as old as the system itself and it will no doubt be a low quality generic unit at best.

There's nowhere to go with rest of the system.

I'm not going to Diss on the old fx 8350 as much as most, it'll game on newer more cpu dependant titles at anything between 30 and 60fps (stuff like red dead 2 it'll be pretty much sat at 30fps at best) but it has absolutely had its day and a gpu upgrade (if you could actually buy anything worthwhile at the moment) would be completely wasted when the rx 480 is more than an adequate pairing at 1080p.

Upgrade your ram to 16gb by all accounts but do it cheaply if possible because ddr3 won't carry over to any newer worthwhile setup.

So
1. Psu
2 upgrade ram to 16gb

Save the rest of your money until you can do a complete system overhaul is my advice.
 
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axes12345

Commendable
Dec 26, 2018
14
5
1,515
Buy the SSD for now, it will make ur pc much faster for use.
DONT expect higher fps in games, SSD is just for faster boot times and faster operating on your computer, not for improving FPS.
You dont need to buy new mobo/cpu cooler/cpu/ram until you decide to chunk all money on it.
Just get a SSD for now, when you decide to buy cpu/cpu cooler/mobo/ram just buy it all together.

Okay Ill get the ssd and save a lil more, thank you for your help I appreciate you describing everything and what it would do.
 
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Zerk2012

Titan
Ambassador
Will I be okay buying the motherboard, ram, and , ssd only for a little while? If I don't upgrade the cpu yet do I even need the motherboard? Im trying to upgrade it slowly so I dont just chunk all my money at it.
Your going to need to replace the board, processor, and memory all at one time. You could leave the SSD off and buy it next.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-10400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor | $149.00 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler | be quiet! Pure Rock Slim 35.14 CFM CPU Cooler | $24.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard | ASRock B460 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX LGA1200 Motherboard | $92.99 @ Newegg
Memory | Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL15 Memory | $69.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Crucial MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $53.99 @ Adorama
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $390.87
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-03-13 08:50 EST-0500 |
 

axes12345

Commendable
Dec 26, 2018
14
5
1,515
Come back and tell us about how that turned out. lmao

I did it!

I bought the b460 motherboard, i5 10400f, a crucial 500gb ssd, the 8x2 16gb ram, but not the fan (wanted to save a little). Everything works great only issue is my old fan doesn't fit the new motherboard and I currently have it sideways lol.
 
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