What is the bottleneck? Upgrade advice, please. Christmas present!

Dec 10, 2018
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Please help me find the bottleneck in this aged "gaming" build! What upgrade would bring the most noticable gaming performance upgrade (Witcher, Skyrim, Diable 3 and hopefully some newer games). I think its probably the CPU or the GPU. Would for example a Asus Cerberus-GTX1050TI-A4G make a difference or are the GPUs to similar in power level?

But please correct me or even tell me what would be the two best components to upgrade to. And I know this is a hard call with this tight budget but thats why I ask the pros. Thank you all in advance!

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: this week (so that I get it before christmas)

Budget Range: 150-220 € or $170-250

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, watching movies, surfing the internet

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: CPU or GPU or RAM - whatever brings the most noteworthy performance upgrade please tell me your best choice for this setup

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: (alternate.de, amazon.de, i will find the component you recommend)

Location: Germany

Parts Preferences: whatever is great value and reliable

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Want to help my brother to upgrade his pc so that he can have a better gaming experience even with his old budget build

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: the play some newer games

Intel Core i3-6100, 2x 3.70GHz
MSI AMD Radeon R9 380 Gaming 4G
HyperX DIMM 8GB DDR4-2133 Kit
ASRock Z170 Pro4S, Mainboard
Corsair Carbide 200R
Thermaltake Hamburg 530W

 

spdragoo

Splendid
Ambassador
CPU, definitely. Based on the compatible CPUs (https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z170%20Pro4S/index.us.asp#CPU), & based on your budget (https://de.pcpartpicker.com/products/cpu/#f=75,57&s=12,13&sort=price&X=0,27568), I would go for an i5-6600K: takes you from a 2C/4T CPU to a full 4C/4T CPU, & with an inexpensive cooler (probably 30-40 euros) you'll be able to OC it on that board. If you can swing a bit more on your budget, you could even go for the i5-7500K.
 

ayelokar

Reputable
Aug 22, 2018
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So your PSU is okay, I think you should either
A)Get dual channel RAM if you plan on keeping the i3 (or get dual channel RAM anyways since you really need it)
B)Upgrade CPU (i dont really recommend, the i3 is absolutely fine, if you wish to upgrade it to 8th gen, you have to change the mobo)go for a i5 7th gen, or i7 6th gen or i5 6th gen.
C) Even though the GPU is quite fine you should really get a RX 480 8Gb or RX580 4Gb
 
Dec 10, 2018
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