should I upgrade my motherboard,cpu and ram? will I see much performance improvements?

[dutchiexx]

so my current build got messed up, my pc crashed one morning and said my oc profile failed, ever since then my pc will stutter constantly every second when ever I play any type of game. its unplayable, before the oc profile crash, my pc ran everything on high with ease, very smooth fps.
so i decided its time for me to fix this problem.

so i have a couple options available....

1- replace my motherboard, hard drive and ram with parts of nearly the same specs
(im not sure which of these parts are the problem but im sure if i replace those 3 parts then what ever is causing the stuttering should be fixed) this will require me to use the rest of my current pc components with these new parts. the down side is that my processor is a core i-5 quad core, with a LGA 1150 socket, there is not many motherboards to choose from when you need it to be a LGA 1150 socket with ddr3 duel channel memory. my processor cost like 200 bucks when i bought it, its a decent cpu and would love to keep it, but its socket is very outdated, GG's.

2- I can fully upgrade the majority of my pc components, I can buy a new mother board that has a 1151 socket and supports ddr4 memory. this motherboard is around the same price of the 1150 socket board i would buy, but this 1151 socket board is leap and bounds ahead of the other board in terms of features and performance, the down side is that i will not be able to transfer my current ram and cpu to this new mother board so i will end up paying a little bit more then what i would if I were to use parts that are compatable with the ram and cpu i currently have.

so would it be worth to spend the little bit of extra cash on the completely new system? how much of a difference do you guys think I would see? the new processor for the 1151 socket board is only a core i-3 duel core at 3.90Hz, so its has 2 fewer processors then my current but it also has higher speeds, would there be much of a performance difference between the two processors when it comes to gaming?

here are the specs of my current build, the cheaper build and the newer more exspencive build.

current pc:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4430 CPU @ 3.00GHz, 3001 Mhz, 4 Core(s)

OS:Microsoft Windows 10 64 bit

Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.0 GB DDR3 1600MHz

Total Physical Memory 7.9 GB

Available Physical Memory 7.42 GB

mother board: B85M gaming series

graphics card: GEFORCE GTX 960 SSC

power supply: XFX TS 550w Full Wired 80
================================================

the cheaper option ( upgrade these parts, transfer the remaining components from my current pc)

hard drive:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IEKG484/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER


ram:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J8E8ZLK/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

motherboard:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KAZPXUM/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_9?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A34JWT04R7KMFW
===============================================================

or I can do this build ( what components not listed will be transferred from my current pc)

motherboard ( yes, it may be overkill, but I dont care because its the most beautiful mother I have ever seen in my entire life and I cant imagine any motherboard looking better then this sexy beast)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XJ72LNN/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A1FMFK4SMG0W4E&psc=1

CPU:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NCESRJX/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

RAM:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013H7QBTG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

hard drive:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IEKG484/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

case:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L6AXHYO/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

fans:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XXY95CP/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3K89YLY701K05


im thinking that later i can upgrade to these ram sticks ( they cost a lot but would look so good in the new build, you guys think they would improve performance much?)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0GSOYC/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
==================================================================

I know its a bunch of info to process and no one will probably take the time to check out all these things, but any advice would be really great.

 

[caqde]

Both options are not Ideal.

Option A comments -> I wouldn't bother upgrading the motherboard to your current system as it would really help you in any noticeable way unless you desperately needed a particular feature that board had not to mention your CPU is not a K version so you won't get as much from overclocking your cpu as you can't change the multiplier. Of course the other issue here is the question of will this fix it?

Option B comments -> For one Socket 1151v1 is now a dead socket so upgrading to it is not recommended especially given the 8th Gen chips that are on Socket 1151v2 (Intel's 300 series chipset boards). Also the i3 even though it is ~1Ghz faster on the two cores will not always be faster than your quadcore cpu in games you would get a mix of results ranging from slightly faster to massively slower depending on the game.

As far as what I would recommend. At minimum I would try upgrading to either an 8th Generation i5 or a Ryzen R5 series chip to see some noticable upgrade in performance on a platform that will allow for future upgrades.

Edit Ryzen based Example of a decent upgrade->

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.38 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ARCTIC ATX AM4 Motherboard ($103.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($90.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $364.35
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-22 22:35 EDT-0400

EDIT2: After reading a bit further not sure why I didn't the first time. The main thing I would try to find out is why your computer stutters in the first place before switching out components. A crash like that could be caused by overheating or a power delivery issue. Were you overclocking your system?

 

[dutchiexx]

Both options are not Ideal.

Option A comments -> I wouldn't bother upgrading the motherboard to your current system as it would really help you in any noticeable way unless you desperately needed a particular feature that board had not to mention your CPU is not a K version so you won't get as much from overclocking your cpu as you can't change the multiplier. Of course the other issue here is the question of will this fix it?

Option B comments -> For one Socket 1151v1 is now a dead socket so upgrading to it is not recommended especially given the 8th Gen chips that are on Socket 1151v2 (Intel's 300 series chipset boards). Also the i3 even though it is ~1Ghz faster on the two cores will not always be faster than your quadcore cpu in games you would get a mix of results ranging from slightly faster to massively slower depending on the game.

As far as what I would recommend. At minimum I would try upgrading to either an 8th Generation i5 or a Ryzen R5 series chip to see some noticable upgrade in performance on a platform that will allow for future upgrades.

Edit Ryzen based Example of a decent upgrade->

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.38 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ARCTIC ATX AM4 Motherboard ($103.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($90.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $364.35
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-22 22:35 EDT-0400

EDIT2: After reading a bit further not sure why I didn't the first time. The main thing I would try to find out is why your computer stutters in the first place before switching out components. A crash like that could be caused by overheating or a power delivery issue. Were you overclocking your system?

the overclocking was all done by the factory, was either the motherboard or the cpu that came factory overclocked, i have not messed with the oc settings at all until after the oc profile crashed, I cant imagine how I can figure out which is the problem, im thinking it may be the old hardrive i am using, but then again its possible that the motherboard oc settings have changed when it crashed so it could be the motherboard, i think the best option would just to replace all.

and wow! your suggested components are great! they seem to be faster/better then the ones i have chosen thus far plus they are a lot cheaper when considering the specs you are getting for the money your paying. that arctic board looks almost as great as the one I listed, I actually would not mind settling for the arctic over the one I want to marry XD.

thanks for advice, I most likely will end up buying the parts you suggested.

this AM4 socket is not outdated or anything? like, if i ever need to upgrade will their be new components made to fit this type of board? or will all the new stuff be like AM5 or something? glad you pointed out that 1151 sockets are outdated because the reason why im in this situation in the first place is because i ended up buying main parts that sockets are outdated >.<

 

[caqde]

For finding out what the problem is you could run some stress tests on your system. Tools like Furmark can stress your GPU to see if it will downclock or cause the system to crash, You can download and use WDC datalife guard to check your HDD for issues, and for the CPU you could use something like prime95 along with HWMonitor to watch your clockspeed and temps. If you haven't been make sure to dust out the inside of your computer periodically with a can of air to ensure proper temps.

As for what to watch for. Clockspeeds dropping abnormally low and high temps above or in excess of 70C for the CPU and for the GPU above 85C. Hard Drive temps don't matter to much. You can also watch you taskmanager in advanced mode in the performance tab. Your CPU should show high clockspeeds when being utilized (Above 10% utilization). If there is an issue with your HDD you might notice desktop stutters with the HDD staying at 100% utilization with write and read speeds in the ten to hundreds of bytes (Not KB or MB).

As for Socket AM4, it was introduced in March 2017 so it is only around 7 months old. It is AMD's newest socket. From what we do know about it AMD is currently expected to deliver upto 3 more generations of CPU's on this socket. Unlike Intel, AMD is known to support their sockets for a longer period of time. Now this doesn't mean that you will be able to use your new motherboard to upgrade to a 3rd or 4th generation AMD Ryzen chip but it might be possible that you can take your first generation Ryzen chip and move it onto a 4th Generation motherboard and then upgrade your cpu later on.

 

[Karadjgne]

Go to the motherboard vendors website and download and install the latest bios version. There will be direction on exactly how to do so. Follow them to the letter. Not only will this bring you upto date with windows but also overwrite and bios corruption resulting in the failure of the OC, which is partially impossible on the cpu as it's a locked multiplier (requires a small change on BCLK which is next to pointless).
While there at vendor, install latest audio and Lan drivers. Windows CE updates are creating havoc with legacy drivers, which can result in stuttering, high loss of fps, high cpu usage etc.
Download to desktop the latest video drivers from nvidia. Run DDU from guru3d.com and reset your video drivers from fresh download.

That should fix the issues, but in case you are just wanting to use the crash as an excuse to upgrade, stick with either the new i5-8400 or R5 1500x/1600 as basis for platform. You could opt for skylake/kabylake but in that instance I'd recommend the I7-6700k/i7-7700k. Not much point in a 4c/4t cpu for gaming atm.

 

[dutchiexx]

For finding out what the problem is you could run some stress tests on your system. Tools like Furmark can stress your GPU to see if it will downclock or cause the system to crash, You can download and use WDC datalife guard to check your HDD for issues, and for the CPU you could use something like prime95 along with HWMonitor to watch your clockspeed and temps. If you haven't been make sure to dust out the inside of your computer periodically with a can of air to ensure proper temps.

As for what to watch for. Clockspeeds dropping abnormally low and high temps above or in excess of 70C for the CPU and for the GPU above 85C. Hard Drive temps don't matter to much. You can also watch you taskmanager in advanced mode in the performance tab. Your CPU should show high clockspeeds when being utilized (Above 10% utilization). If there is an issue with your HDD you might notice desktop stutters with the HDD staying at 100% utilization with write and read speeds in the ten to hundreds of bytes (Not KB or MB).

As for Socket AM4, it was introduced in March 2017 so it is only around 7 months old. It is AMD's newest socket. From what we do know about it AMD is currently expected to deliver upto 3 more generations of CPU's on this socket. Unlike Intel, AMD is known to support their sockets for a longer period of time. Now this doesn't mean that you will be able to use your new motherboard to upgrade to a 3rd or 4th generation AMD Ryzen chip but it might be possible that you can take your first generation Ryzen chip and move it onto a 4th Generation motherboard and then upgrade your cpu later on.

you are a boss!
and im now pretty sure its my hard because most of the time when I examine the task managers performance graphs thing, it shows that my hard drive usage stays at a constant 100%. it usually clears up after about 10-20 minuets, and when I try to set the order of the processes from highest hard drive usage to lowest, it shows that only like 2-3 programs are using the hard drive and they only consume like 1-2MB each.

ill post my new list of parts once I figure out exactly what ill buy, would be great if you could tell the type of performance to expect from them.


update edit: one more thing, does that arctic motherboard you listed only support ddr4 3200MHz memory? the msi website page of it only list ddr4 3200 in the overview section but then it list a few more speeds in the specs section tab. and amazon's description only list's 3200MHz speed as well

 

[dutchiexx]

Go to the motherboard vendors website and download and install the latest bios version. There will be direction on exactly how to do so. Follow them to the letter. Not only will this bring you upto date with windows but also overwrite and bios corruption resulting in the failure of the OC, which is partially impossible on the cpu as it's a locked multiplier (requires a small change on BCLK which is next to pointless).
While there at vendor, install latest audio and Lan drivers. Windows CE updates are creating havoc with legacy drivers, which can result in stuttering, high loss of fps, high cpu usage etc.
Download to desktop the latest video drivers from nvidia. Run DDU from guru3d.com and reset your video drivers from fresh download.

That should fix the issues, but in case you are just wanting to use the crash as an excuse to upgrade, stick with either the new i5-8400 or R5 1500x/1600 as basis for platform. You could opt for skylake/kabylake but in that instance I'd recommend the I7-6700k/i7-7700k. Not much point in a 4c/4t cpu for gaming atm.

I have upgraded all drivers and even the bios, I have tried so many different things to try and fix the problem but none have worked, i literally have done every single thing in every order and combinations possible, no joke, I went as far as to test each bios oc setting with different ram sticks and different ram stick orders all while testing each configuration with every other combination along with tons of graphic card settings and in game settings, i have now lost all hope 🙁

 

[Karadjgne]

Stock speeds are 2133MHz for all AM4 mobo's, but max rated speeds are usually 3200MHz. So you can use 2133,2400,2666,3000 or 3200. Ryzen loves faster ram though, performance is best at 2933MHz - 3200 for most of the lower end Ryzens, there's been some 1700+ that have gone upto 4200MHz but that's extreme usage on high end builds using x370 mobo's.

 

[Karadjgne]

Well there's only 1 component that has an OC profile with a factory OC, and thats the gpu. If it's failing (possible), that would explain why there's no resolution by bios fix, it's in the vram of the gpu. Chances are if you run a gpu stress test, you'll probably see your vram is half what it's supposed to be.

 

[caqde]

Ryzen supports memory speeds from 2133 and above. All motherboards will support this as it is the processor that mostly decides what memory will and won't work. Although it is better (performance wise) to run Ryzen at the fastest memory speeds possible with the lowest latency that can be achieved to maximum performance.

But from what you have said getting a new HDD (7200RPM Either WDC Black/Gold or Seagate Barracuda Pro/Firecuda) or upgrading it to an comparably sized SSD will likely fix your current problem. I don't recommend using a slower drive for your boot drive I've done it before and I will never make that mistake again. Personally I would also recommend at getting the new HDD and testing it on your current system to ensure that is the answer to your current issues before upgrading anything. This way you don't spend the money to install a new platform into a system with components that may not be functioning correctly only to have further issues.

 

[dutchiexx]

Ryzen supports memory speeds from 2133 and above. All motherboards will support this as it is the processor that mostly decides what memory will and won't work. Although it is better (performance wise) to run Ryzen at the fastest memory speeds possible with the lowest latency that can be achieved to maximum performance.

But from what you have said getting a new HDD (7200RPM Either WDC Black/Gold or Seagate Barracuda Pro/Firecuda) or upgrading it to an comparably sized SSD will likely fix your current problem. I don't recommend using a slower drive for your boot drive I've done it before and I will never make that mistake again. Personally I would also recommend at getting the new HDD and testing it on your current system to ensure that is the answer to your current issues before upgrading anything. This way you don't spend the money to install a new platform into a system with components that may not be functioning correctly only to have further issues.

that is a great idea, i will deffiently buy the hardrive to test first, would be a pain if i drop all that cash on new stuff only to find i need to buy another good gpu