[SOLVED] Upgrading my gaming PC from 2015

[Diarmuidinskibb]

Approximate Purchase Date: March 2015

Budget Range: Pretty flexible but looking around the 600-800 range for the upgrade. Willing to go over for compatibility issues

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Primarily gaming

Are you buying a monitor: No



Parts to Upgrade: Want to switch out GPU and CPU. But motherboard, power supply and RAM may be need needed for compatibility

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No real preference, preferably located from Ireland , Germany or France (rather not deal with Brexit custom charges)

Location: Cork, Ireland

Parts Preferences: Thinking of getting a Ryzen 5 3600x but I'm sure this will cause motherboard issues. No preference in other parts and looking for advice.

Overclocking: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I will say to begin that it's been a while since I have kept up to date with gaming hardware so I would really appreciate any recommendations ye may have. I'm really just looking to upgrade it so that it can play new games at quite a good graphics level, I don't need the graphics to be ultra high. A modest level of performance for casual gaming in summary. My main concern is compatibility. You will see below that many parts are quite ancient and haven't been changed since I originally built it in 2015. For example, I was thinking of getting a Ryzen 5 3600 as I've heard good things about AMD processors but I know I'll need to buy another motherboard to support that. Depending on the price of the new motherboard, I might need to make cuts elsewhere. Also would consider buying a better GPU if it means it will last the same amount of time as this build has.
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Looking to play new games at a medium - high graphics level

Parts List with Links:
Intel Core i5-4460 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Processor

ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Corsair Memory Vengeance Jet Black Low Profile 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 XMP

Seagate ST2000DM001 2TB SATA III Performance Hard Disk Drive

SanDisk SSD PLUS 480 GB Sata III 2.5 Inch Internal SSD

MSI Radeon R9 280X 3 GB TWIN FROZR Video Card

SHARKOON T9 Value MicroATX Mid Tower Case

XFX 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

 

[Math Geek]

a 3600 or 3600x (pretty much no difference between them) would be a great upgrade. you will need a new motherboard and ram for it though. the new chips run on ddr4 ram and you have ddr3 ram which is not compatible.

a b450/550 motherboard are the best choices if budget is concerned. gpu's are very hard to get right now and cost a lot when you find one. you may get lucky but may have to sit on the 280x for a while longer until they come down in price and are readily available.

i went from a 4690k and a 280 to a 3700x and 1650 super and it is night and day between them. depending n the price a 3600 is usually a better choice but i have seen 3600x's cheaper at times for some weird reason. but either is a great choice since the newer 5000 series is impossible to find as well.

here's a quick idea from france.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (€212.99 @ Cdiscount)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 Gaming X ATX AM4 Motherboard (€85.99 @ Cdiscount)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory (€85.19 @ Amazon France)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB OC Video Card (€254.94 @ TopAchat)
Total: €639.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-21 21:05 CET+0100

stays on the lower end of your budget but would easily handle 1080p gaming and not need a new psu overall, though there is plenty of room to add one if you desire. ireland prices were a good bit higher so if import taxes aren't a problem, getting it from france would save a good bit

 

[Diarmuidinskibb]

a 3600 or 3600x (pretty much no difference between them) would be a great upgrade. you will need a new motherboard and ram for it though. the new chips run on ddr4 ram and you have ddr3 ram which is not compatible.

a b450/550 motherboard are the best choices if budget is concerned. gpu's are very hard to get right now and cost a lot when you find one. you may get lucky but may have to sit on the 280x for a while longer until they come down in price and are readily available.

i went from a 4690k and a 280 to a 3700x and 1650 super and it is night and day between them. depending n the price a 3600 is usually a better choice but i have seen 3600x's cheaper at times for some weird reason. but either is a great choice since the newer 5000 series is impossible to find as well.

here's a quick idea from france.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (€212.99 @ Cdiscount)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 Gaming X ATX AM4 Motherboard (€85.99 @ Cdiscount)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory (€85.19 @ Amazon France)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB OC Video Card (€254.94 @ TopAchat)
Total: €639.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-21 21:05 CET+0100

stays on the lower end of your budget but would easily handle 1080p gaming and not need a new psu overall, though there is plenty of room to add one if you desire. ireland prices were a good bit higher so if import taxes aren't a problem, getting it from france would save a good bit

Thanks so much for such a detailed response. Above is within my budget and I have seen that GPU's have been extremely hard to come by. If it's better off sticking with the 280x is best until stocks level out than I'll have a bit more time to save and see what I'm willing to afford or stick with the 1660 above.

Just have a few questions. When should I be concerned about the psu? Was the difference in upgrade to the 1660 really noticeable? I have been looking at a RTX 2060 but if the change was big then I'd be ok with not waiting for the 2060.

Thanks again for all the suggestions, very much appreciated!

 

[Math Geek]

i went from a 280 to a 1650 super which is roughly what the gtx 980 performance level is. i don't play a lot of high end games but i noticed i went from medium settings to high/ultra in what i do play.

the 1660 super is a good bit better than what i went with, so you'd be doing real well at 1080p for sure. you can search some benchmarks easy enough but i imagine you'll not be unhappy at 1080p for a few years to come for sure. i know i won't have to upgrade my 1650s for that long either.

again i don't play the AAA new shooters or anything like that so you should look up some of the games you do play to be sure it is good enough to do what you want. a simple search of "game title" benchmarks usually turns up a good bit of info for various gpu combos

 

[Diarmuidinskibb]

Perfect man! Will take a look at the benchmarks and see what I think will suit best. Thanks so much, you've been a huge help

 

[Math Geek]

no problem. glad i could be of help

the other question you asked about the psu is a tough one. what you have is a quality unit but it is a bit old. some would say to replace it simply due to age, but i'm on the fence about that. the only thing to check on is the supplementary connections. many new boards take 8-pin cpu connections which older systems did not need. so it is possible that your psu may not have the right connections for a new system. 4 pins were more common back when you built last, so it probably only has a 4-pin and not 8-pin cpu power connection. that would be the only reason i'd replace it right away.

i'd have to look up your psu to see what it has and then the exact mobo model you go with to see if they match up. but to be safe, you can go ahead and budget in a psu which will likely be around 100 euros. they are also hard to find right now and prices have gone up as a result. i've built 2 systems this year and had to overpay on the psu both times. what used to run about $50 is twice that at $100 right now