[SOLVED] What should I upgrade to help with frame drops and freezing in games?

[themillis]

Hello! My son has a well spec'd PC that he uses for gaming and school. But it is a few years old and he has some speed issues when gaming. He has some money saved and would like to upgrade some parts, but I want to be sure he spends his money on parts that will have the most impact for him and improve his gaming experience. Would you be able to advise us on this please? Or is upgrading hardware even the best thing to do, is there something else we should do first?

The current specs are:
Windows 10 Home 64 bit
Intel 4-Core i5 750 @ 2.67ghz at 97 degrees Celsius when gaming
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665Mhz (9-9-9-24)
AsusTeK Computer INC. P7P55 LX (Lga1156) (33 Degrees Celsius)
2047mb Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 Ti (54 Degrees Celsius)
1863GB Seagate ST2000DM001 ATA Device (32 Degrees Celsius)
ATAPI IHAS A ATA Device
HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8161B ATA Device

A couple of months ago he upgraded the GPU.

He mainly plays Fortnite and Counter Strike Global Offensive (CSGO). He experiences frame drops, crashes and freezes. We have fibre internet that usually runs at around 300Mbps up and down.

He thinks the issue is the CPU. I think we should definitely improve the CPU cooling as it runs hot and currently only has the stock cooling fans. He has played around with system settings based on research to improve game speed and have had some small improvements, but he still has the frame drops, lag and freezes.

What do you recommend?

Thank you so much for your help

 

[richiestang_78]

That CPU is bottle-necking that graphics card, that CPU is a decade old paired with a much more modern and powerful GPU. I would suggest a new CPU, Mobo and RAM

Ryzen 1600AF (85USD)

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MQD6WD

Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $104.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-26 03:00 EST-0500

I had to list the Ryzen 1600AF separately since it its on pcpartspicker yet. Its essentially a slightly slower Ryzen 2600 but is an amazing CPU for the price.