Tiime for an Upgrade

[tpd320]

Here are my computers specs. I built it several years ago and it was also my first time. I am not sure what hardware to upgrade next. I have gone through a couple of GPU's and hard drives but have not updated anything else. Which will have the most effect on my gaming experience? Processor, motherboard, RAM? Any suggestions on what I should upgrade first? Thanks in advance.

OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Version 10.0.10586 Build 10586
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name BRIAN-PC
System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model Z68X-UD3H-B3
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3601 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F10, 10/12/2011
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode Legacy
BaseBoard Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
BaseBoard Model Not Available
BaseBoard Name Base Board
Platform Role Desktop
Secure Boot State Unsupported
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.10586.420"
User Name Brian-PC\Brian
Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 7.92 GB
Available Physical Memory 4.21 GB
Total Virtual Memory 15.9 GB
Available Virtual Memory 10.0 GB
Page File Space 8.00 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes

 

[logainofhades]

Need more specifics, especially the make/model, of your power supply.

 

[tpd320]

I have a Thermaltake Black Widow TR2 RX 850 power supply. Just installed a new MSI R7 370 4G card. What else do you need? I can go grab it.

 

[Ecky]

Processor and GPU are what primarily affect games. If you have insufficient RAM, performance will degrade, but you'll get low memory warnings from Windows. A solid state hard drive (SSD) will greatly improve the snappiness of your PC during general use, and slash loading times in games.

Your system has very similar specs to mine. My CPU is one generation newer, while your GPU is the same as mine only rebadged. I feel that in a majority of games I'd get more out of a new GPU than from a CPU upgrade, but there are a handful of games where my CPU does occasionally show its limitations.

 

[logainofhades]

Overclock on the CPU, and a GTX 1070 would do wonders, for your system.

 

[tpd320]

Processor and GPU are what primarily affect games. If you have insufficient RAM, performance will degrade, but you'll get low memory warnings from Windows. A solid state hard drive (SSD) will greatly improve the snappiness of your PC during general use, and slash loading times in games.

Your system has very similar specs to mine. My CPU is one generation newer, while your GPU is the same as mine only rebadged. I feel that in a majority of games I'd get more out of a new GPU than from a CPU upgrade, but there are a handful of games where my CPU does occasionally show its limitations.

Thanks for the reply. I am a novice at this computer stuff. I did buy an SSD drive but for the life of me I cant seem to move all my software to it. I downloaded EaseUS Todo back up tool, but keep getting errors about space and partitions on the drive. Is my CPU ok? Or is it time to move on to the i7 platform?

 

[Ecky]

Your CPU is fine. It's not bleeding-edge anymore but it's very capable.

I personally use Macrium Reflect when migrating peoples' PCs over to SSDs. You can get a free trial of it.

 

[tpd320]

Your CPU is fine. It's not bleeding-edge anymore but it's very capable.

I personally use Macrium Reflect when migrating peoples' PCs over to SSDs. You can get a free trial of it.

 

[tpd320]

Awesome. Thanks for the Macrium suggestion.