Question Should I get a CPU or RAM upgrade?

Dec 25, 2019
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Hello, I was thinking about upgrading my PC since I was having some quite annoying FPS drops in games. I have an Intel Core i5 6400 and 16GB of DDR4 1064 Mhz RAM. I don't have a lot of money to spend, so cheap options would be preffered. I also have a GTX 1050 Ti, if that's relevant.
 
give us some details on the fps drops, did it start recently? or all your games consistantly run slowly?
I mostly play games like Overwatch and on medium to high settings. During moments with a lot of action my FPS drops from 60-70 to around 40. It happens with all games, and it's been happening for a long time.
 
It's 2 sticks. I have a budget of around 300-500$. My motherboard is an MSI B150M MORTAR. And I can't open up my computer yet to check my PSU, since i'm not at home.
 
It's 2 sticks. I have a budget of around 300-500$. My motherboard is an MSI B150M MORTAR. And I can't open up my computer yet to check my PSU, since i'm not at home.
Oh.
I could easily suggest something like this instead:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $412.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-25 15:30 EST-0500
 
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okay, but that wasn't my question. My question was if I should get a CPU or RAM upgrade, and it seems like i should get a CPU upgrade. Will buy an i7 6700k.
I know. I provided 2 suggestions earlier:
...

If budget is real tight, check the 2nd hand market for an I7-6700 or I7-7700. I wouldn't spend more than $100USD on either of them.
Oh.
I could easily suggest something like this instead:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $412.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-25 15:30 EST-0500


Then IntelTurtleFan inquired about the power supply, which is just as important - especially when you want to run a stronger gpu.
 
PSUs are by far the most underestimated part in a PC. Its important to have good voltage regulation. Think of the PSU like a human heart if you get a bad one you will be stressing a system like running a marathon with heart disease.

A multitude of things can happen if you pick/use a poor PSU including:
inadequate power to components like the CPU/GPU resulting in loss of performance
loss of system stability
increased chance of killing other parts
or at worst causing a fire

Wattage limit is easy to meet these days with even extremely high end systems needing 750w/850w tops (i9 with RTX 2080 ti) but quality remains king.

Not even talking about efficiency which is important to long term cost.
 
Your current cpu is the weakest link of the cpu-gpu-ram combo. As other mention already, for a real tight budget a core i7 6700 or 7700 for as much as $100 are the cpu choices you should look at. Then you could spend some money on a better GPU, but I don't feel that PSU of yours is great enough for me to recommend this next steph. Then again you will be buying from the used market and that is risky so be carefull!

Now since you said $300 to $500, then you have the other alternative that Phaaze88 wrote. Maybe add a Seasonic or Corsair PSU to complete the part list: Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($98.99 @ SuperBiiz)

or, since that partlist seems a bit overkill for Overwatch and specially for your current GPU, I will sugest you this too (which will be ready for a new GPU in the future):

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ B&H)
Total: $403.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-09 13:54 EST-0500


Cheers
 
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