What to buy?

[sqrm]

I currently have a AMD Phenom 9500 (CPU) and a Nvidia Geforce 8400 (GPU).

I'm looking to buy new ones for each. I have around £120 to spend. Can anyone recommend something within that budget? I've been looking at the Intel Pentium G3258 and the ATI RADEON HD 5670 but as I'm not used to desktop PC's I honestly don't know where I should be looking.

p.s. It's mostly for light-average gaming. (skyrim, sims 4, wow, mostly sandbox games like half life 2 etc)

 

[Tzn]

go for gtx 750 and g1840 you will be pleased, also you need new mobo so 120 won't do

 

[sqrm]

Why would a new motherboard be needed?

 

[Tzn]

Why would a new motherboard be needed?

because you change to a Intel processor, that is different from the one you have which is amd, Intel work on different sockets than AMD

 

[Math Geek]

get the g3258 and a mobo for now. it can be done for about $120 us so you should be able to do it for 120 pounds. the onboard graphics are much better than you have now and will do until you can get a new gpu.

an issue that may show up is your ram. you could have either ddr 2 or 3 depending on the mobo. you need ddr 3 for the pentium so you may also have to buy new ram if you have the older ddr 2. you can take a stick out of the pc and it's label will tell you which it is or a program like cpu-z will also read it and tell you which you have.

obviously new ram will affect your budget. depending on prices you should be able to get the cpu/mobo and ram for your 120 pounds if you shop the sales.

 

[Math Geek]

something along these lines if you need the ram will work nicely.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor (£49.14 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£31.74 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£39.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £120.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 18:00 GMT+0000

if you don't need the ram, you can get a better mobo or pocket the difference

 

[NightAntilli]

Upgrading to either of those CPUs is a waste. Upgrade your GPU only. Any processor upgrade to Intel will require a motherboard change, and there's no viable processor for your current motherboard that's worth upgrading to.

If I were you, I'd save a bit more, and upgrade to an AMD APU with new motherboard + memory. Doesn't have to be that expensive. Look at this:

[PCPartPicker part list](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/wpfJpg) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/wpfJpg/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD A8-7600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-ad7600ybjabox) | £65.99 @ Ebuyer
**Motherboard** | [ASRock FM2A55M-VG3+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-fm2a55mvg3) | £31.62 @ CCL Computers
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f312800cl9d4gbxl) | £35.45 @ Amazon UK
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | £133.06
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 18:11 GMT+0000 |

I picked an mATX motherboard since I don't know which case you have, but this should be enough. Note however, that if your hard drive, dvd drive and so on are IDE, you'd have to get a SATA one for this motherboard, so it'll become more expensive...

 

[Math Geek]

a new gpu now will make the apu's gpu unused when it is bought later. not sure why this is a better idea in your mind? the pentium allows for plenty of cpu upgrades later which will not require a new mobo thus saving costs down the road.i like the apu's and build with them but not when a separate gpu is in the mix. i am also thinking of the psu. using 100+ pounds for a new gpu will most likely need a new psu as well. the pentium/mobo will work with the current psu and allow that cost to be put off until later.

i stand behind the pentium/mobo/ram now and a gpu/psu upgrade later on when the funds are available.

 

[NightAntilli]

For light gaming an APU is generally enough. It will save him the trouble of having to buy a graphics card separately. It's not the best for high-end gaming, but his requirements aren't high either. In case it's not enough in the future, he can choose whether to go for dual graphics (which is the crossfire-ing of the APU with an R7 card), or a stand-alone card. In the second case the APU is indeed left unused. But so is the integrated Intel graphics on an Intel CPU so I don't really see the issue.

I could've also chosen a cheaper A6 APU, but that would be limited a lot sooner than the A8. I specifically chose the A8 since it's superior to the integrated Intel graphics;

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/70977-intel-pentium-anniversary-edition-g3258/?page=7

Edit: sqrm, what resolution do you want to play at?

 

[Math Geek]

i agree completely with you, however now your backwards from where you were before. you said to upgrade the gpu only NOW which will require a psu upgrade as well more than likely.

so later the apu's better graphics is a non-issue since a new gpu is already better going straight to the apu now would make more sense to me rather than later for your stated reasons.

i know it's subtle but do you see where i'm coming from? the order of the purchases is off from what you said. gpu now, then apu later is a waste as the apu is meant to use as-is and without discrete card. the pentium now will offer less graphics (though still an upgrade from current 8400) and a later gpu add-on will round it out.

 

[NightAntilli]

Yeah I understand where you're coming from. Guess I didn't explain myself well enough.

Basically, without changing anything else, I recommended him to upgrade just the GPU. Indeed he would likely need to upgrade his power supply. That's the first option.

The APU is the second option I proposed, if he's willing to spend just a little bit more.

It wasn't intended as buying a GPU first, and then upgrading to an APU, but rather as options for right now.