Upgrading PC hardware, help

[Martin_125]

Hi!

I have limited knowledge about hardware.
I did spent quite some time researching about the topic in the past weeks, but am still not confident enough to just go buying new stuff and would really appreciate advice from somebody who knows about this stuff.

I spend quite a lot of time in Photoshop, Illustator and Indesign.
On occasion I also use programs like Premiere and AfterEffects.

I am certainly going to upgrade my GPU.
Should I buy a good GPU (like GTX 1060), even tough it would not be used 100% because of other components, with the plan to gradually upgrade other components over the next few years? Or should I buy whatever will work at 100%?

What do you think the weakest link of my current build is and what would you recommend to upgrade first (beside GPU)?

My current build:
CPU: AMD A8-5500 Trinity
MB: F2A85-M LE
RAM: 2 x 8GB
GPU: Gigabyte GT 240 1GB
HD for OS: SSD

 

[sadams04]

You are mostly hobbled by your CPU. The AMD platform is pretty far behind Intel to begin with, and then your GPU can only stretch it legs up to 3.2GHz. You could upgrade the CPU to an A10-6800k and overclock to 4.4GHz (or so) and see an improvement, but that comes at a cost of both the CPU and aftermarket CPU cooler (say $150). Other than that, 16GB memory is plenty andyou could stand to upgrade the GPU. BUT... you are still starting with an old AMD platform. I would suggest you build a new PC similar to the one below.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($191.91 @ Jet)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($70.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($70.98 @ Directron)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.78 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GT OCV1 Video Card ($244.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT SW ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 450W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $807.01