Upgrading my cpu... need help and suggestions!

[Ryan0710]

Hey all, I am currently running a pentium g4400 as my cpu and i know its time to upgrade. I need suggestions on what i should upgrade to, if i should switch to water cooling (get an aio), and if there's anything else i should upgrade to (like get an ssd or new motherboard, etc.). I mostly play triple A battle royale games, but i like to run them at high-max settings. i feel like my system is bottlenecking to to the cpu so i need upgrading suggestions. Thanks!

My Specs:
- pentium g4400 w/ stock cooler
- gtx 1060 6gb
- 8gb of ram
- corsair cx650m psu
- i think 1 tb of storage (i think)
- Cooler Master masterbox lite 3.1 TG

 

[WildCard999]

Sell your G4400/MB (keep the RAM) and get this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($178.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - H310M-HDV/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($59.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $238.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-28 15:26 EDT-0400

For the price you won't find anything better that would fit into your current socket.

 

[Ryan0710]

Sell your G4400/MB (keep the RAM) and get this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($178.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - H310M-HDV/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($59.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $238.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-28 15:26 EDT-0400

For the price you won't find anything better that would fit into your current socket.

anything else you can think of that i should get? im thinking about an aio and is this motherboard and cpu overclocking compatible?

 

[Wolfshadw]

I'd probably be asking what motherboard you currently have and what budget you have for this upgrade.

-Wolf sends

 

[Snipergod87]

Cannot overclock unless it is a K series chip and a Z series motherboard.

 

[WildCard999]

Neither is overclockable but they are very good. As for the AIO it's not required but something like the Cryorig H7 would be perfect to keep it cool and quiet.

If you want something that is overclockable then I'd look at Ryzen. You'll also want to make sure your RAM is in dual channel (2x4gb) and would either need to be overclocked if under 2666mhz as Ryzen performs better with it.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg Business)
Total: $269.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-06-28 15:35 EDT-0400

 

[Ryan0710]

I'd probably be asking what motherboard you currently have and what budget you have for this upgrade.

-Wolf sends

i have a msi h170m-a pro motherboard and the budget for the upgrade is around like $200- $250... maybe $300...

 

[why_wolf]

Cheapest and easiest thing to do would be to just swap out your Pentium for a higher tier Skylake/Kaby Lake CPU.

 

[geofelt]

You have many cpu upgrade options while retaining your current motherboard(whatever it is).

To verify that you are cpu limited,
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.
Your G4400 is a dual thread cpu that runs at a clock of 3.2.
Your strongest upgrade will be a I7-7700K which will have 8 threads and a clock of 4.2. More if you have an overclockable motherboard.

Probably, you want something in between.

 

[Ryan0710]

You have many cpu upgrade options while retaining your current motherboard(whatever it is).

To verify that you are cpu limited,
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.
Your G4400 is a dual thread cpu that runs at a clock of 3.2.
Your strongest upgrade will be a I7-7700K which will have 8 threads and a clock of 4.2. More if you have an overclockable motherboard.

Probably, you want something in between.

if i get a 7700k, what would be a good, budget, overclockable option motherboard?

 

[Wolfshadw]

If you're going to upgrade the motherboard AND CPU just so you can overclock, don't go with outdated components. Go with a Z3xx series motherboard and 8th Gen Intel-K processor. Of course, that's likely outside your budget, so I'd probably opt for updating your current motherboard's BIOS (though it looks like you already have) and getting just a non-K processor.

At the sub $250 range, I'd opt for the Intel Core I5-7600
At the sub $300 range, I'd opt for the Intel Core I7-7700

-Wolf sends

 

[Ryan0710]

If you're going to upgrade the motherboard AND CPU just so you can overclock, don't go with outdated components. Go with a Z3xx series motherboard and 8th Gen Intel-K processor. Of course, that's likely outside your budget, so I'd probably opt for updating your current motherboard's BIOS (though it looks like you already have) and getting just a non-K processor.

At the sub $250 range, I'd opt for the Intel Core I5-7600
At the sub $300 range, I'd opt for the Intel Core I7-7700

-Wolf sends

if a 7700k and motherboard is in budget, whats a good motherboard (budget) choice?

 

[geofelt]

You have many cpu upgrade options while retaining your current motherboard(whatever it is).

To verify that you are cpu limited,
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.
Your G4400 is a dual thread cpu that runs at a clock of 3.2.
Your strongest upgrade will be a I7-7700K which will have 8 threads and a clock of 4.2. More if you have an overclockable motherboard.

Probably, you want something in between.

if i get a 7700k, what would be a good, budget, overclockable option motherboard?

The 7700K runs very nicely at stock.
I would not change out the motherboard to try to get the last bit of performance out of a 7700K.

You might find a used 7700K for as little as $200 used on ebay.

No need for a AIO cooler, a $35 tower type cooler like the scythe kotetsu will be fine.
For starters, you can even use your current intel stock cooler.

 

[geofelt]

If a 7700k and a motherboard are in the budget, I suggest a I5-8600K and a z370 based motherboard.
It will run 6 threads at a clock near 5.0
A huge upgrade over your 2 threads and a 3.2 clock.
Even a I3-8350K would provide 4 threads and the same clock near 5.0
Most games can not make effective use of more than 2-3 threads.

 

[Wolfshadw]

If you're going to upgrade the motherboard AND CPU just so you can overclock, don't go with outdated components. Go with a Z3xx series motherboard and 8th Gen Intel-K processor. Of course, that's likely outside your budget, so I'd probably opt for updating your current motherboard's BIOS (though it looks like you already have) and getting just a non-K processor.

At the sub $250 range, I'd opt for the Intel Core I5-7600
At the sub $300 range, I'd opt for the Intel Core I7-7700

-Wolf sends

if a 7700k and motherboard is in budget, whats a good motherboard (budget) choice?

As I said, if you're upgrading both motherboard and CPU, then do NOT get outdated components. Go with the Z3xx series motherboard and 8th Gen Intel CPU. If that's outside your budget, either wait until you have sufficient funds or go with my previous recommendations.

-Wolf sends