Upgrading my computer (guidance required, please)

[Blokeman]

Hello folks,

A few months back I asked for some advice regarding a new monitor (Here) and I was told that I would be better off upgrading my computer rather than buying a new monitor.

I took that on board but didn't have the money at the time to consider doing that. Now I'm interested in following the advice I was kindly given but I'm unsure in what order I should be looking to upgrade things. That is to say, I know enough to know that you don't just stick a monster GPU in a creaking old machine but I don't know enough to know in which order I should upgrade.

I was hoping people could point me in the right direction with regards to a road-map to incrementally upgrading.

I would also appreciate if people would explain which things can simply be 'plugged in' and which ones would cause more disruption to my existing software etc.

To recap my specs:
RAM:
16GB (DDR-3)

CPU:
AMD FX(tm)-6350 Six-Core-Processor 3.90 GHz

GPU:
GTX 970

PSU:
EVGA Supernova GS 650W "80 Plus Gold" Modular Power Supply

Motherboard:
Gigabyte 970A-UD3P

Heatsink:
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo - 4 Heatpipe, Tower CPU Cooler

If I've left out any important information, or if anything is unclear, please let me know and I'll try and gather the info or clarify my writing.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

You need to MOVE TO A NEW PLATFORM , Ryzen or Intel's Coffee Lake , FX is a dead end. You need a new CPU , Board and DDR4 MEMORY.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor (£158.84 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£77.00 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill - Flare X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£128.75 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £364.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-27 20:19 GMT+0000

OR

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor (£173.67 @ BT Shop)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£111.48 @ More Computers)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£149.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Total: £435.14
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-27 20:21 GMT+0000

 

[jankerson]

1st thing would be the major upgrade, would have to done all at once, replacing the motherboard, CPU and RAM. That would mean reinstalling Windows also more than likely and would be recommended.

Then after that a new Graphics Card and maybe an SSD.

We need some sort of budget to work with so we know what to recommend.

 

[timmy_area51]

ram :

gskill 2400 mhz

cpu :
ryzen 5 or 7 depending on your budget

mobo :

msi !

graphics :

rx 580

psu :

anything with enough wattage


cooler :

closed loop gamerstorm

 

[Blokeman]

1st thing would be the major upgrade, would have to done all at once, replacing the motherboard, CPU and RAM. That would mean reinstalling Windows also more than likely and would be recommended.

Then after that a new Graphics Card and maybe an SSD.

We need some sort of budget to work with so we know what to recommend.

Thanks for your reply.

The budget is hard to say for certain as I would probably look to do it bit by bit.

I suppose £500 to start would be reasonable.

If there is any other info I should provide, let me know.

In terms of reinstalling Windows, am I right in thinking that you can reinstall Windows but preserve the other files on your boot drive?

 

[jankerson]

1st thing would be the major upgrade, would have to done all at once, replacing the motherboard, CPU and RAM. That would mean reinstalling Windows also more than likely and would be recommended.

Then after that a new Graphics Card and maybe an SSD.

We need some sort of budget to work with so we know what to recommend.

Thanks for your reply.

The budget is hard to say for certain as I would probably look to do it bit by bit.

I suppose £500 to start would be reasonable.

If there is any other info I should provide, let me know.

In terms of reinstalling Windows, am I right in thinking that you can reinstall Windows but preserve the other files on your boot drive?

Well, yes and no.

You can save some, but it's best just to back up your important stuff on a flash drive and do a clean install if Windows.