Question Upgrade motherboard in Dell 3630?

[derosian]

I have a Dell Precision 3630 with the i9-9900K (8 core, 16MB cache, 3.6 GHz, 5.0 GHx turbo) cpu. I’d like to upgrade this for gaming and am finding the cpu to be limiting. Is there a better Intel chip I can swap in, or do I need a new motherboard? Is an upgraded or aftermarket motherboard even made for the 3630?

 

[--SID--]

i9-9900K is the fasted cpu on the socket.

Precision 3630 has a normal mATX motherboard with ATX connectors. You can swap in any mATX motherboard you want. What's your budget for CPU, motherboard and RAM?
What GPU are you planning?
What's the brand and model of the PSU?

 

[derosian]

I’m upgrading this PC to use with Zwift on a 4K 120Hz TV, and for iRacing using VR. Zwift doesn’t take advantage of multicore processers (that I know of) so they recommend a cpu with a strong single-thread base, like an i5-12600K. iRacing also seems to be single core, and there I have seen recommendations for i7 or i9, again with the fastest clock speed possible. These specs may be a year out of date, so there may be more current cpus that are more appropriate.

I have an MSI GeForce RTX4060 gpu which I got on Black Friday because it seemed to be a reasonable gpu for my needs and I didn’t want to get crazy. But I could return it if there is a better path to take.

I have an oem 850 watt PSU that I got off of eBay. But again, I’m not averse to changing if there is a better path forward.

Budget isn’t clear, would $700 be reasonable for motherboard + cpu? I’m trying to keep costs down but am not averse to spending a bit more if it gets me much better performance.