Budget PC upgrade advice needed

[Soth]

Hello, I am looking to spend about $460usd to upgrade my current desktop. I have a general idea of what to get but needed help deciding between 2 upgrade paths.

 

My current PC has a Phenom II x4 840, 8gb ddr2 ram, R9 270x 2gb, 550w 80+ Bronze PSU. So my goal is to upgrade the cpu / mobo / ram.

The one thing that is 100% essential is the motherboard MUST have 7.1 audio jacks in the rear I/O (my case does not have 7.1 audio on the front so any boards that require that are out of question)

 

The 2 options I have found are

1. Ryzen 3 2200g, 8gb ram, $98 mobo that meets above req, and a RX580 8gb

or

2. a better cpu than first option, 16gb ram, no gpu upgrade

 

This computer will only be used for gaming and web browsing. I use 2 monitors, one at 1600 x 900 and the other at 1280 x 1024 (yeah its square haha)

Games I play are Overwatch, Runescape3, Total War games, and probably Star Citizen someday

Please ask any questions if you need more info, and thanks in advance^^

[zlolslavez]

How about option 1 but instead of getting a 580, getting a monitor? I'm not sure you want a 580 for 900p.

[Blu3Jay]

5 minutes ago, zlolslavez said:

How about option 1 but instead of getting a 580, getting a monitor? I'm not sure you want a 580 for 900p.

580 sounds quite excessive for what you play, a 560 would bid you fine. 900p does sound quite restrictive. I would put the money into a 1080 monitor. The average one off of amazon goes for around $90-110usd and is useally 24 inches.

[Slottr]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor	$149.90 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$79.74 @ OutletPC
Memory	G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$104.99 @ Newegg Business
Storage	Kingston - A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$39.99 @ Amazon
Monitor	Acer - V246HQL Cbd 23.6" 1920x1080 60 Hz Monitor	$99.00 @ Walmart
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$493.62
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$473.62
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-19 19:05 EST-0500

 

Reuse your psu, case and gpu and upgrade later. No point in getting a 580 for 900p like @zlolslavez said

[Soth]

I don't get 60fps in most games right now, will my R9 270x 2gb be ok for a bigger monitor?

[Blu3Jay]

oh

[zlolslavez]

5 minutes ago, Soth said:

I don't get 60fps in most games right now, will my R9 270x 2gb be ok for a bigger monitor?

You likely are having CPU bottlenecks in games anyway. A 2200G can do 1080p fine on its own, so pairing it with the 270X you have should be fine.

[Streetguru]

1 hour ago, Soth said:

 

I'm pretty sure there's no difference between a "7.1" audio jack/output and a normal one that comes on any modern board.
 

You could try to wait for Ryzen 3000 probably announced at CES in janurary.

Otherwise buy an R5 1600/2600 with 16GBs of 3000mhz RAM and an ASrock Pro 4($75 minimum motherboard) and just reuse your GPU.

Or buy a $150 RX 570 that comes with resident evil 2 remake and DMC 5, then just crank graphical settings since your CPU will likely bottleneck around 45-60fps for AAA games until Ryzen 3000 comes out.

[dizmo]

Wait for CES, see what comes of that. Then think about upgrading.

Welcome to the forum.