Upgrade existing system for gaming, ~$300 to spend

[jerodquinn]

Hi there - I was hoping someone could help me out with which upgrades would be the best for my build. Primarily used for gaming. I am planning to buy a GTX 660 video card from a co-worker for $80. I have about $300 to spend not including the video card but open to more if it's worth it.

I'm not sure the best way to list my specs but here goes:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 635 2.9 GHz
Motherboard: BIOSTAR A770E3
Memory: 4GB DDR3 (CPU-Z says "Max Bandwidth PC3-10700H (667 MHz)" if that helps
Graphics card: GTS 450 (planning on GTX 660 from a co-worker for $80)

I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
I have a 500W Power Supply that's pretty old
I have a case/mouse/keyboard/monitor/etc.

I would appreciate any ideas, feedback, etc. I'm looking to get the most bang for my back. I play WoW mostly right now but I'd love if it could handle more demanding games for the future.

Thanks for your time, I really apprecaite it!

Jerod

 

[lightcloud]

Upgrade the graphics card to the GTX 660 then upgrade the CPU and motherboard to a:

FX-6300 and a 990 or 990FX chipset.

Or

Intel Pentium G3258 and a H97 motherboard.


Both of these will do well on WoW as long as you overclock it. Which means you will need a CPU cooler. But the Pentium should be fine without one as long as you don't clock it too high.

 

[RazerZ]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $279.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-15 00:49 EDT-0400

Insane deal on the motherboard, it comes with 8GB of ram for free. You could sell that stick for $60.

 

[photonboy]

Unfortunately a new copy of WINDOWS has to be purchased for about $100. (and I'd prefer to see a total of 8GB of DDR3 memory but it's not absolutely critical)

*If you can budget additionally for that then I agree with the i5/1150 motherboard above.

That only leaves $200 for a new motherboard and CPU which makes it difficult recommending an "upgrade" to the existing system since the best upgrade might be to an FX-6300 for this price.

For per-core performance which is critical for gaming, we need to compare his old CPU to an FX-4300 which means:
4723/3297

This means the FX-4300 is 43% better. For GAMING, it would mean at best a 43% improvement in frame rates assuming there was a 100% CPU bottleneck.

The FX-6300 is generally comparable to the FX-4300 for most games.

Summary:
My advice is mainly to WAIT until you have more money then build an Intel based system like an i5-4xxx CPU and suitable 1150 socket motherboard.

 

[CAaronD]

He already has Windows 7. He doesn't need to buy an OS.

 

[photonboy]

He already has Windows 7. He doesn't need to buy an OS.

Windows 7 is generally not transferable to a new computer which is technically what he has with a new motherboard. He could try to install it but then it wouldn't Activate as Microsoft has it registered on their database with his current configuration.

If he bought an OEM copy or a pre-built computer the license is non-transferable. He would have to have purchased a copy that was a "FULL" version which was usually well over $200. Probably closer to $300 for Ultimate so I doubt he has a copy of that.

Windows 8 however, is fully transferable.

 

[lightcloud]

^+1 That's the same reason why I went with a cheaper CPU. Thanks for mentioning this.

 

[CAaronD]

^^ Forgot about that, thanks I doubt he has a full license too 😛 His PC looks like a pre-built HP? Which often have horrible PSU's 🙁 Could be a problem there.