Question Upgrade advice please

[titansound]

Current specs:
AMD Ryzen 3 1300X 3.5GHz [3.7GHz Turbo] Quad -Core 8MB L3 Cache
16GB (2x8GB) DDR4/2400mhz Dual Channel Memory
MSI B350 Tomahawk AMD B350 Chipset
MSI GeForce(R) GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
Cooler Master MasterWattLite 400watt Gaming Power Supply
x2 Samsung SSD's
x1 Western Digital SATA

I built this on a budget 5 years ago, I mainly play older games so pure power wasn't an issue. However, now I'm playing some "newer" games I am finding the processor is struggling a bit. I'd be open to a better card too.
I'd like to not have to change the power supply if possible, but my gut tells me I may have to. Budget is flexible but I would say the upper limit is £400.
Advice/suggestions greatly appreciated!

 

[Nighthawk117]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but a lot of the system will need upgrading. Ideally for a full upgrade you would need:
-New CPU
-New motherboard (it's not a bad board you have but I can't see any bios updates adding support for the later CPU's)
-New GPU
-New PSU
-Ideally new RAM given the low frequency of 2400Mhz

Unfortunately I just don't think £400 is going to get you very far. Can I ask what 'newer' games you are playing?

 

[titansound]

So pretty much a new build then

I've grown very fond of WARNO recently. It performs pretty well but when here are a lot of units on the map it does affect the FPS.

 

[Nighthawk117]

So pretty much a new build then

I've grown very fond of WARNO recently. It performs pretty well but when here are a lot of units on the map it does affect the FPS.

To make it worth your while yes I think so. You can upgrade the CPU or the GPU for £400 but not both because your options for a new CPU on the current platform are limited. Any new GPU will ned a new PSU otherwise you'll end up with a GPU similar to what you already have or something that's say 40% faster like the 1650. Generally my recommendation would be to get at least double the performance of what you already have.

I've never played it though it looks quite cool, I do play a lot strategies. Often they are CPU limited rather than GPU but I couldn't say how much of a benefit that would be without a GPU with no experience of the game.

It doesn't sound like you are desperate right now, my two cents would be to stick with what you've got and then look for an upgrade for say £600 instead. At that level you could look at getting something like a Ryzen 5 5600, a new B550 motherboard, PSU and an AMD RX 6600 8GB. That's then a big improvement across the board.

 

[helper800]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but a lot of the system will need upgrading. Ideally for a full upgrade you would need:
-New CPU
-New motherboard (it's not a bad board you have but I can't see any bios updates adding support for the later CPU's)
-New GPU
-New PSU
-Ideally new RAM given the low frequency of 2400Mhz

Unfortunately I just don't think £400 is going to get you very far. Can I ask what 'newer' games you are playing?

His board supports 5000 series CPUs. Its latest BIOSS has support for AGESA 1.2.0.7. This means he can drop in a 5600 or whatever he want. I would probably go no higher than a 5800x/3d though.

Source for the compatibility

So pretty much a new build then

I've grown very fond of WARNO recently. It performs pretty well but when here are a lot of units on the map it does affect the FPS.

You have more options than building a whole new PC.

Something like this will get you prepared for a massive GPU upgrade in the future while staying in budget with some huge upgrades.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor (£199.97 @ Box Limited)
Motherboard: MSI B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory (£89.98 @ Box Limited)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G6 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£99.95 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £389.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-12-07 16:59 GMT+0000

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Exactly. The current board likely supports a cpu upgrade.

Go for at least a ryzen 5600g(in the USA I’ve seen those for about 120 dollars), a 5600, 5600x or 5700. Any of those is a massive upgrade over a 1300x.

The other parts look good. Later on you could pair up a better gpu to really perk up that box.

 

[Nighthawk117]

His board supports 5000 series CPUs. Its latest BIOSS has support for AGESA 1.2.0.7. This means he can drop in a 5600 or whatever he want. I would probably go no higher than a 5800x/3d though.

Fair enough, it wasn't obvious to me that it did.

 

[helper800]

Fair enough, it wasn't obvious to me that it did.

With AMD boards the compatibility for the CPUs is determined by the AGESA microcode version it uses, and of course that it has a compatible socket.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Many of the b350 and x370 boards do now I think. My system is using an old asrock ab350 pro 4, but running a zen 3 these days. It even added Smart Memory Access in the bios updates as well.

 

[titansound]

Thanks for taking the time to reply all.