Help with where to upgrade

[bioknown]

Hi all,

 

I am looking to use some Christmas money to improve on my pc. Currently I have:

ryzen 3 2200g

asrock a320m hdv

unbranded 8gb 2400mhz ddr4 ram

gigabyte gaming rx580 8gb

500gb SATA ssd 

 

I play a lot of Csgo and currently can’t get more than 150fps (even before latest updates that nuked some people’s FPS). I also play some PUBG and r6 siege with like 80 FPS steady in both.

 

I have about £200 for improving on my system, and I’d like any upgrade at this time to give me an FPS boost (for example I know an a320m isnt the best mobo but I’m not looking to overclock the pc so it should be fine for a ryzen 5 or even 7 right?).

 

I guess the tl;dr for this post is should I upgrade RAM or CPU?

[ch3w2oy]

I would upgrade some RAM. Speed mostly. Get rid of what you have and get 3200 c16 memory at least. I use 3200 c14 with optimized timings but you don't need to spend that much honestly. You definitely need to get better RAM, though. Then see what you have to upgrade your processor, you can get a 2600 which would be plentiful for almost anything, I have the 2600X and I use this computer for work and it's more than enough, even for all gaming.

 

RAM first

Then CPU.

[ch3w2oy]

This is the cheapest I could find:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	£149.53 @ Aria PC
Memory	Crucial - Ballistix Tactical 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	£61.19 @ Amazon UK
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£210.72
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-26 22:32 GMT+0000

 

 

I'm not sure where you live or how it works honestly but I would do that, go with a single stick of 8gb so you can upgrade to 16gb later.

[bioknown]

3 minutes ago, tomswife said:

I would upgrade some RAM. Speed mostly. Get rid of what you have and get 3200 c16 memory at least. I use 3200 c14 with optimized timings but you don't need to spend that much honestly. You definitely need to get better RAM, though. Then see what you have to upgrade your processor, you can get a 2600 which would be plentiful for almost anything, I have the 2600X and I use this computer for work and it's more than enough, even for all gaming.

 

RAM first

Then CPU.

Thanks!

[bioknown]

Just now, tomswife said:

This is the cheapest I could find:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	£149.53 @ Aria PC
Memory	Crucial - Ballistix Tactical 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	£61.19 @ Amazon UK
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£210.72
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-26 22:32 GMT+0000

 

 

I'm not sure where you live or how it works honestly but I would do that, go with a single stick of 8gb so you can upgrade to 16gb later.

You don’t think dual channel and 16gb is a worthy upgrade then?

[ch3w2oy]

8 minutes ago, bioknown said:

You don’t think dual channel and 16gb is a worthy upgrade then?

Use all the programs and games you normally would at the same time, open task manager, go to Performance tab, click on Memory and see how much of the 8 you are using. 8 is usually fine for most games (or at least that's what I've read), I would never get below 16, personally. But just see what you're utilizing before making an unnecessary upgrade. Also, check you CPU usage the same way or download HWMonitor and leave that running while you game so you can see your CPU/Memory/GPU usage and see if one is bottlenecking the other.

 

After you check that then make an informed decision based off what you conclude. If you're CPU usage is under 90%, then upgrade only your RAM and maybe some storage if you need it, or RAM and MOBO. If you can swing the 2600 AND 16GB RAM then I would advise that as your best bet and it's what I would do. But either way, you need faster RAM. That should be priority 1 (one) (2-1=1).

 

If 8GB just happens to be fine then upgrade to a faster 2x4GB Dual Channel RAM kit and get a better CPU.

 

 

EDIT: The reason I said 1x8gb kit for now is so when you get another 8gb kit you're running in Dual Channel mode and not putting a ton of strain on the memory controller.

Edited December 26, 2018 by tomswife