My First Upgrades (CPU)

[SMC0DT]

Hi everyone, I'm brand new to having my own gaming PC, bought one pre-built on installments and primarily use it for casual gaming, 3D Modelling and Video Editing (Blender, After Effects and Hitfilm) and have been using it for about a year and am now itching to start upgrading it. I've got some new ram cards coming today, the exact same that I have just upgrading to 32gb which shouldn't be to hard to do. But I also want to upgrade my CPU as everything else seems to work perfectly for what I want to do, but I have a lot of questions that I need answered before I try anything (and more importantly buy anything).

 

I have fairly limited knowledge on PC's, everything I've learned is from Linus Tech Tips (and I will most likely use the cpu's basic video during installation) but I still have quite a few questions, namely a reccomended upgrade and if there is any major compatability problems I might encounter if I decide upgrade from AMD to Intel or any problems with my current motherboard, but ideally I just want to run as many games as I possibly reasonably (at HD, not 4k 60fps), without overclocking or overheating, as right now I could easily run Red Dead 2 with my current hardware other than my CPU. If you need any further specs or clarification, I will do my best to get them for you.

 

Current specs.

Processor

AMD Athlon(tm) X4 950 Quad Core Processor

 

Video Card

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB

 

RAM

8.0 GB

 

Operating System

Windows 10

 

Motherboard:

AMD PRIME A320M-K

[Guest]

The easiest upgrade would be to get a Ryzen 5 1600 or Ryzen 5 2600 and just swap the CPUs. It'll greatly improve gaming and video editing performance.

[SMC0DT]

Thanks, that's one of the things I was trying to find out, if there was any installation differences between the anthalon and the ryzen.

[Metallus97]

12 minutes ago, SMC0DT said:

Hi everyone, I'm brand new to having my own gaming PC, bought one pre-built on installments and primarily use it for casual gaming, 3D Modelling and Video Editing (Blender, After Effects and Hitfilm) and have been using it for about a year and am now itching to start upgrading it. I've got some new ram cards coming today, the exact same that I have just upgrading to 32gb which shouldn't be to hard to do. But I also want to upgrade my CPU as everything else seems to work perfectly for what I want to do, but I have a lot of questions that I need answered before I try anything (and more importantly buy anything).

 

I have fairly limited knowledge on PC's, everything I've learned is from Linus Tech Tips (and I will most likely use the cpu's basic video during installation) but I still have quite a few questions, namely a reccomended upgrade and if there is any major compatability problems I might encounter if I decide upgrade from AMD to Intel or any problems with my current motherboard, but ideally I just want to run as many games as I possibly reasonably (at HD, not 4k 60fps), without overclocking or overheating, as right now I could easily run Red Dead 2 with my current hardware other than my CPU. If you need any further specs or clarification, I will do my best to get them for you.

 

Current specs.

Processor

AMD Athlon(tm) X4 950 Quad Core Processor

 

Video Card

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB

 

RAM

8.0 GB

 

Operating System

Windows 10

 

Motherboard:

AMD PRIME A320M-K

look up for a bios update making your mobo compatible with ryzen 2xxx

then get a 2600. don’t get a 1600, since prices are not that different and 2600 is a good amount faster.

That will REALLLLLY boost performance 

[Metallus97]

6 minutes ago, SMC0DT said:

Thanks, that's one of the things I was trying to find out, if there was any installation differences between the anthalon and the ryzen.

There is not. Just update your BIOS before switching the CPU

https://www.asus.com/de/Motherboards/PRIME-A320M-K/HelpDesk_BIOS/

it even supports 3xxx chips

 

your GPU is fine for 1080p gaming. with the 260p it will be a solid rig! Annnd update windows, GPU drivers to the latest versions also to have everything go smoothly, before switching the chip.

 

2600 are getting very cheap used also!

 

EDIT: I also recommend upgrading the ram to 16GB. Depending on what you have now maybe add 8GB or sell the old ram and get nice fast one. Ryzen benefits from fast ram, but that’s step two in your upgrade path. Much more important is throwing out that atlon first 

[SMC0DT]

9 minutes ago, Metallus97 said:

There is not. Just update your BIOS before switching the CPU

https://www.asus.com/de/Motherboards/PRIME-A320M-K/HelpDesk_BIOS/

it even supports 3xxx chips

 

your GPU is fine for 1080p gaming. with the 260p it will be a solid rig! Annnd update windows, GPU drivers to the latest versions also to have everything go smoothly, before switching the chip.

 

2600 are getting very cheap used also!

Was just taking a look at the prices, was wondering what the differences are between the 2600 and the X or X MAX? Will probably still get the normal if reccomended, am just curious. Oh and I'm upgrading the RAM today, thought I'd try my hand at something 'easy' first, replacing the two 8gb Ram cards with 16gb cards.

[Akira Shimazu]

8 minutes ago, SMC0DT said:

Was just taking a look at the prices, was wondering what the differences are between the 2600 and the X or X MAX? Will probably still get the normal if reccomended, am just curious. Oh and I'm upgrading the RAM today, thought I'd try my hand at something 'easy' first, replacing the two 8gb Ram cards with 16gb cards.

x has higher boost clock but more bucks spend. not worth it. just go for non X 2600. and get 3200Mhz ram.

[SavageNeo]

8 minutes ago, SMC0DT said:

Was just taking a look at the prices, was wondering what the differences are between the 2600 and the X or X MAX? Will probably still get the normal if reccomended, am just curious. Oh and I'm upgrading the RAM today, thought I'd try my hand at something 'easy' first, replacing the two 8gb Ram cards with 16gb cards.

Get r5 2600, istead of the x version. X version runs hotter, but gives you only minor performance boost

[SMC0DT]

Thank you everyone for your advice, found it on a sale, new with £55 off, so kind of splurged a little bit with my christmas bonus, got same day delivery. Will post a follow up letting you all know how it goes.

[Metallus97]

30 minutes ago, SMC0DT said:

Thank you everyone for your advice, found it on a sale, new with £55 off, so kind of splurged a little bit with my christmas bonus, got same day delivery. Will post a follow up letting you all know how it goes.

DANG nice! Congrats. In the mean time make sure to update BIOS and shizz!

[SMC0DT]

Everything all done, went very smoothly for saying it's my first time opening the case to do anything other than dusting. Immediately far better than I could have imagined.

[Metallus97]

6 hours ago, SMC0DT said:

Everything all done, went very smoothly for saying it's my first time opening the case to do anything other than dusting. Immediately far better than I could have imagined.

Nice! Always glad to see how this forum helps people (and helped myself a ton also)!

 

next Upgrade for you: 16GB of 3200 or 3600 ram

and do you have an SSD?