Replacing an AMD A8 5600K APU with a CPU

[Scott Sullivan]

Motherboard: ASROCK FM2A75 PRO4
APU: AMD A8-5600k
GPU: Geforce GTX 970
RAM: 16GB

I'd like to upgrade my fiance's CPU for christmas this year, but I don't really speak AMD at all. I'm not sure what would fit into his motherboard, or what would be a good upgrade.

Would be willing to swap out for intel, as well, but I'm not sure our budget supports that as easily. I've heard that AMD is currently running some old architecture, and that it's better to wait til the Zen is released? If that's the case, I suppose I'd rather go Intel than end up using sub-par parts.

Budget: <$250

 

[RCFProd]

Unfortunately there isn't any for your motherboard's chipset. You'll have to upgrade the motherboard too.

Strongest CPU+Motherboard within budget:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($58.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $248.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-07 15:04 EST-0500

 

[Scott Sullivan]

Hmm! I'll look into that.

Would that motherboard support future Intel CPU Upgrades/graphics upgrades? The graphics card is 'new'. Like I said, I don't really speak AMD, so I'm not clear on a lot. Is this a good upgrade for that price?

 

[RCFProd]

This is the most optimal upgrade you can find for 250 dollars currently.

AMD Zen however is something worth waiting for. There is a demo for Zen on December 13th. Release date is officially for Q1 2017, this could be March or this could even be January already.

 

[Scott Sullivan]

Er, I guess what I meant was: How much of an upgrade is it? I understand it's the best one I can afford, but I guess I'm not sure how far it will go. Is there somewhere I could compare the gaming performance between the two?

 

[geofelt]

$125 will buy you a I3-6100 that is considerably faster.
$50 will buy you a H110 based lga1151 motherboard.
You will also need DDR4 ram, $35 for 8gb.

Here is a review of the i3-6100 which includes some comparisons with A8-7860K
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10543/the-skylake-core-i3-51w-cpu-review-i3-6320-6300-6100-tested

Nice thing is that lga1151 motherboards can accommodate I5 and I7 processor upgrades.

 

[logainofhades]

This will give you a performance boost, and an upgrade path.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($104.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-A/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($54.99 @ Jet)
Memory: Team Elite Plus 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $239.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-07 16:00 EST-0500