What should be the first couple upgrades to my computer

Sep 15, 2018
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I purchased an iBuyPower i-Series 301 two years ago and think it is time to start upgrading it. I'm not too sure what I should purchase and don't make to buy anything that doesn't need to be upgraded as I'm a college student on a budget. Please help

MOBO: MSI 760gma-P34(fx)

CPU: AMD Fx 4300 3.8 Ghz

GPU: AMD Radeon Rx 460 2gb

RAM: ADATA DDR3 1600 MHz 1x8gb

The motherboard is only DDR3 compatible so I would have to upgrade that to get any DDR4 memory. Would love to switch to Intel processor but not sure what one is better for the best price


 
Solution
It would be helpful to know what the budget for these upgrades actually is because just telling us that you're on *a* budget doesn't actually give us enough information to give you the best help we can. There's a huge difference between a $100 budget and a $500 budget.

But as others have said, a significant upgrade on this PC will involve a major overhaul, not one or even two components; the unfortunate truth is that when you chose your budget rig in 2016, you went with a platform with little upside down the road.
sorry to tell you but any "upgrade " will require motherboard, cpu and ram to your older computer system, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you have a dead end system on your hands.

if your needing a desktop system for studies then I suggest an I3-8100/motherboard and 8GB ram. this will be a computer that will be at the very least twice as fast as what you have been using before.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - B360M DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($65.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Patriot - Signature Line 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($72.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $248.97

options that can be later upgraded on that system will be an SSD, a video card, and an i5 or i7 cpu to further speed up and turn your machine into a gaming system.



 


Unfortunately, you can't just upgrade a single component specially the motherboard.

The CPU and Mobo has a series of generations that are limited to which architecture types and chipsets they are compatible with. The standard now is using DDR4 memory ram as well.

For example: Intel 8000 series with h310/b360/h370/z370 or AMD Ryzen with B450/X470 + DDR4 Memory RAM

So if you plan to upgrade all 3 will go at the same time as The Paladin stated.
 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
It would be helpful to know what the budget for these upgrades actually is because just telling us that you're on *a* budget doesn't actually give us enough information to give you the best help we can. There's a huge difference between a $100 budget and a $500 budget.

But as others have said, a significant upgrade on this PC will involve a major overhaul, not one or even two components; the unfortunate truth is that when you chose your budget rig in 2016, you went with a platform with little upside down the road.
 
Solution