Suggestions on what to upgrade my 5 year old PC

[Trailrunner85]

Hello,

First off thank you for taking the time to read my 1st post. I am in need of some assistance on what to upgrade on my old PC. I am primary a gamer, and I am tired of running every new game on LOW settings and getting below 20 FPS in games. I think I build this PC back in 2006. I think I need a new everything but I would like suggestions on what to upgrade first, I'm on a bit of a budget and would like priority on were my $ will be best used first. Below is the list of parts I currently have:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz

8.0 GB

Motherboard MS-7680

Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit

500W

Any input is greatly appreciated. I would like to keep the upgrade under $500.
Thank you for your time!

 

[Supahos]

Slap a 1060/480 in there and enjoy

 

[Chugalug_]

Ditto, chuck in a GTX 1060 3/6GB and you're set.
Budget?

 

[The Paladin]

I concur, change your video card either 1060 6g or RX480 and see where it takes you.

 

[cryoburner]

I agree with the others. Actually, your system is still fairly decent for gaming, aside from the graphics card. CPU performance improvements have kind of stagnated over the last few years, so your processor is still up in the second tier of Tom's CPU hierarchy chart. 8GB of RAM is also still plenty to run almost any game with high settings. The 550 TI is clearly the bottleneck there. Throw in a $200-$250 graphics card, and you should be able to play pretty much any current game with high settings and good frame rates at 1080p, and the system might last you another couple years or more. Maybe in another year or so games might benefit from having a bit more RAM, but that should be a relatively simple and inexpensive upgrade.

 

[kraelic]

above video card but having a K chip in an H board? It weeps so pitifully. Hard to find a decent z68 or z77 for cheap now, I say get modern with a i5 7500, b250, and 8GB 2400 DDR4. Then sell the 2500k

 

[Trailrunner85]

Ditto, chuck in a GTX 1060 3/6GB and you're set.
Budget?

$500 for Budget.

 

[Trailrunner85]

above video card but having a K chip in an H board? It weeps so pitifully. Hard to find a decent z68 or z77 for cheap now, I say get modern with a i5 7500, b250, and 8GB 2400 DDR4. Then sell the 2500k

Could you please explain a K chip and a H board?

 

[kraelic]

2500K can overclock, but needs a Z chipset board Z68 or Z77. H61 will not overclock. if the chip was overclocked to 4.4GHz it would be comparable to modern chips. but at stock clocks the i5 7500 will perform better at 3.4 boost clock 3.8 GHz since it has generational improvements also.

You might be able to find a decent Z68 or Z77 on ebay, but watch out for those for parts or not working listings and buy from a high rep seller, and make sure it is board and I/O shield at least.

First off a GPU for performance

2nd a Z board to overclock your cpu, be careful in the used market. just found this on amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Desktop-BOXDZ68DB-LGA1155-Motherboard/dp/B0051UY1QI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486952355&sr=8-1&keywords=z68
Do you have an ATX case or a MATX case?

Then get a 250GB class SSD 850 evo or crucial 275

 

[Trailrunner85]

2500K can overclock, but needs a Z chipset board Z68 or Z77. H61 will not overclock. if the chip was overclocked to 4.4GHz it would be comparable to modern chips. but at stock clocks the i5 7500 will perform better at 3.4 boost clock 3.8 GHz since it has generational improvements also.

You might be able to find a decent Z68 or Z77 on ebay, but watch out for those for parts or not working listings and buy from a high rep seller, and make sure it is board and I/O shield at least.

First off a GPU for performance

2nd a Z board to overclock your cpu, be careful in the used market. just found this on amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Desktop-BOXDZ68DB-LGA1155-Motherboard/dp/B0051UY1QI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486952355&sr=8-1&keywords=z68
Do you have an ATX case or a MATX case?

Then get a 250GB class SSD 850 evo or crucial 275

I am not sure on what kind of case I have, is there any way to tell?

 

[kraelic]

how many slots on the back where the graphics cards go? 4 or 7, need the 7 for the board i linked

 

[Supahos]

I wouldn't bother with all that. If you didn't upgrade to Windows 10 and you do that it'll cost you another copy of Windows as well and it's not worth sinking $99 into a board, and ~$85 on a new copy of Windows +$35-40 on a cooler just to oc.

 

[Chugalug_]

Redacted, posted in the wrong thread.

 

[Supahos]

That's not an upgrade. Or not worth $500. And he'd still need a new copy of Windows if he doesn't have win 10

 

[Chugalug_]

Oh, wrong post, this is awkward.
I'll remove it.

 

[Chugalug_]

Get this OP, great card for the price, and is a great plug and play solution.
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/KqRFf7/evga-geforce-gtx-1060-3gb-ssc-gaming-video-card-06g-p4-6264-kr

 

[Supahos]

Was wondering you're usually pretty well on point. I do that sometimes too lol.

 

[kraelic]

http://www.windowscentral.com/how-re-activate-windows-10-after-hardware-change

You can use the same license, link it to a microsoft account like hotmail first. then change the board and go back and tell it you changed hardware. Just follow the guide.

And a $20 cooler like https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4UF39E2338 would be enough for around 4.4 GHz

So GPU ~$200, motherboard $100, Cooler $20 leaves $180 in his budget, can even consider a SSD

If OP goes for the first method i suggested, i5 7500 $200, b250 ~$80, 8 GB 2400 DDR4 ~$50, and gpu ~$200, still telling windows he changed hardware he is over budget up front, but can make back a bit on his 2500k and maybe a little for his old ram and h61.

 

[Supahos]

The above only applies if using Windows 10 I believe

 

[kraelic]

OP says he is on Windows 10

 

[Supahos]

Whoop, good call