Question short term or long term upgrade path?

[hotaru251]

A cousin is wanting to up their system. (using a 4th gen i3) so they can enjoy some gaming.

His choices are (using his current MB/ram) up to a i7-4770.

cost him around $150~

Or buy a basically entire new rig for aroudn $500~


Would it be better for em to go the cheap route (just cpu upgrade) and wait a few years to build a modern system

or

upgrade to a new system now?


afaik the 4770 is a decent cpu but for a cost to performance im unsure of what to tell em.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

What other parts does he have?
He will need a GPU and maybe ram or PSU aswell.
Honestly Id go for the new approach.

 

[ElectrO_90]

Depending on what he wants...
the upgrade with the CPU is going to be a huge boost in system performance, it maybe worth it for him. i3 to i7 is amazing. Just have to make sure you get a NEW Heat Sink and not use the i3 one!
If he doesn't have the money go for the i7 - but would be good to know what his Motherboard is and is the i7 a k model and does it come with heat sink?

A new system would be
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($145.78 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($68.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel - 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($62.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB XC GAMING Video Card ($199.00 @ B&H)
Case: Thermaltake - Versa N24 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - B3 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.32 @ OutletPC)
Total: $642.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-31 10:05 EDT-0400

 

[rookieGamer]

wait for upcoming AMD APUs and get ryzen5 APU whole build will cost around $300 USD

and a year or two down the road a GPU can be added.

you got little more room in budget the get ryzen5 3rd gen + gtx1660 this should be around $650 USD