[SOLVED] System upgrade - need advice

[ramirezz2007]

Hi everyone, hope you are doing good.

I need some advice on what CPU and RAM should I buy in order to get my current PC to the best performance, but without spending too much money.

CPU - although my board supports 5th gen, my research indicates that i7-4790K is the best upgrade.

RAM - I have an offer for 178 euros to get 4x KINGSTON DIMM DDR3 8GB 1600MHz HX316LC10FB/8 HyperX Fury Black

I'm using my computer for gaming and (at the moment) amateur video editing. Idea is to start making money with video editing so I can buy a new one for that purpose and be left with this one for gaming (I am fine with not being able to play the best new games, there a lot of them out there that are running ok already).

I haven't tried overclocking any of my computers so far, not sure if I want to (don't know a lot about it).

Her is what I currently have:

1. Board ASRock Z97 Extreme6 https://www.asrock.com/mb/intel/z97 extreme6/
2. CPU i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz
3. RAM 2x4gb DDR3 1600 Mhz Exceleram ebw301a
4. Video NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 4GB
5. HDD1 SAMSUNG SSD 860 EVO 1TB
6. HDD2 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250G
7. HDD3 WD Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD1003FZEX

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

 

[tennis2]

5th gen Intel CPUs are rare, so you're unlikely to find one, and if you do, it will be very expensive.

i7-4790K is your best bet, an i7-4770K is also a good alternative. Be wary of price though, by modern standards (AMDs Ryzen 3100 and 3300X 4c/8t for $120-150 IFF you can find one in stock, or Intel i3-10300 4c/8t) these old 4c/8t CPUs just took a major value hit. However, used market prices haven't adjusted accordingly. Of course, buying a new platform will cost you for a new mobo and DDR4 RAM, but....

You don't need to get 4x8GB of RAM when your board only has 4 slots and you've already got a 2x4GB in there. I'd recommend a 2x8GB kit to get you a total of 24GB, which is plenty.

Definitely OC your CPU. You can get 4.3-4.5GHz on all cores by simply going into your BIOS and setting the "all core turbo multiplier" to 43x - 45x. Leave everything else on auto until you learn more.

Your GTX960 (good thing you got the 4GB version) is probably next on the chopping block.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Your best upgrade for both gaming AND video editing, would probably be a better graphics card. But, that's not going to happen "without spending too much money", depending on what your idea of "too much money" is.

Something like this would gain you a SIGNIFICANT amount of gaming or video editing performance over what you have now.

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card (€228.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €228.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-17 19:03 CEST+0200


As far as CPU upgrades are concerned, unless you are able to upgrade the whole platform, the 4790k is your best, and really, only, upgrade option.

As far as memory goes, getting a good 16GB kit is a good idea, but you should be able to find one for significantly less than what you indicated. Anything from 1600-2133mhz DDR3 in a 2x8GB kit should work. Since there is no Serbia listed on PCPP I've linked to the closest countries that do have listings but you can check PC Partpicker yourself for countries that might be better options for you, or source locally.

https://it.pcpartpicker.com/products/memory/#U=3&sort=price&Z=16384002&S=1600,2133

 

[ramirezz2007]

Thank you both for providing valuable insight.

@ memory
From your comments, I see that it is enough to get only one 2x8GB kit. I had one concern re this - Will it be compatible with my current one? Should I only look at the same speed (1600) or are there other factors to consider?

@ cpu
I'm trying to avoid changing the board.. next real upgrade I am looking at is something decent that can run VR (when there is enough good games and money in my pocket).. at that time my kid would get this one, so I would avoid changing so much at this time. So, I would either stick to what I have or by the i7-4790K, if I can find it for a decent price.

I'll look at the links provided, thank you very much. If you can, please advise on my questions re memory.

Thank you again.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Truthfully, you'd be wise to simply save the money you plan to put towards an upgrade of this system and put it towards a complete platform upgrade when you have enough saved. Since you can get into a MUCH more capable Ryzen CPU, motherboard and memory, for not that much more than what these upgrades we are talking about would cost altogether, it doesn't make much sense to throw money at this build which is already six years old anyhow.

As to the memory. Don't add memory to your existing kit. Replace it. It CAN work, adding memory, but you're asking for a high potential for problems by doing so. Save yourself the headache if you can.

This offers an explanation as to why, in part, this might happen.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/amd-ram-compatibility.3210050/post-19785792


And this offers a bit more information as well.

How To - Troubleshooting problems with PC memory (RAM) and XMP profile configurations

In the beginning, there was......BIOS Before you go ANY further, go to the manufacturer product page for your specific motherboard model AND revision. Revision is an important aspect because for any given motherboard there may be more than one version of that model which will be identified...

forums.tomshardware.com

You'd have to be able to get the 4790k for around 75 bucks, when converted to US dollars, for it to be worth the purchase. Otherwise, even a Ryzen 5 3600 would be a significantly better choice considering that most games and applications can leverage more than four cores these days.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i7-4790K-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-3600/2275vs3481

 

[grimfox]

I agree with darkbreeze. Sit on your money and build up about 500 and you can get into a pretty nice platform upgrade that will be capable of VR when you are ready to make that move.