Upgrade advice

[Hugh_Jassole]

Hi I could really do with some advice  about upgrading a PC I built a few years back. I mainly use the PC for gaming. I am currently running:

i3 6100

1060 3GB

8GB RAM

128GB SSD for OS and commonly used smaller programmes

1TB HD used for main storage

500W EVGA power supply

Gigabyte b150 G1.sniper B7 LGA1151 mobo

 

I am looking to upgrade this PC over the next few weeks. Should I buy a new mobo and a less powerful CPU(most likely lower end current gen i5/i3 or maybe an AMD equivalent) or buy a second hand CPU such as a higher end i5 (~7600)? Instead I could leave the CPU and buy a more powerful GPU. I am fairly sure I should buy another 8GB of RAM on the side.

 

Any help is much appreciated.

[Snipekillz]

Do absolutely NOT buy a new GPU. If you want power, buy a new CPU. It''s either new mobo and new CPU, or buy secondhand CPU that fits current Mobo. the i7 6700K still works rather well, however you might need a Z170 for that, i've forgotten. Otherwise go with an i5 6600K.

[Herman Mcpootis]

Pick up a 1600AF and B450M Pro4/Pro VDH max instead of an i5, used prices for the i5 are too high to recommend.

[Rileypoio]

3 minutes ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

Pick up a 1600AF and B450M Pro4/Pro VDH max instead of an i5, used prices for the i5 are too high to recommend.

To add in this list add a 580, 590 or 5500xt depending on budget

[Hugh_Jassole]

59 minutes ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

Pick up a 1600AF and B450M Pro4/Pro VDH max instead of an i5, used prices for the i5 are too high to recommend.

How much should I expect to pay for a 1600AF as I am struggling to find many sellers? In general, when looking for a CPU for gaming is it more important to look at single thread rating/score or # of cores?

1 hour ago, Snipekillz said:

Do absolutely NOT buy a new GPU. If you want power, buy a new CPU. It''s either new mobo and new CPU, or buy secondhand CPU that fits current Mobo. the i7 6700K still works rather well, however you might need a Z170 for that, i've forgotten. Otherwise go with an i5 6600K.

Is it worth going for a 7th gen CPU over a 6th gen? My mobo does not support overclocking so should I go for a "k" version or not? 

 

Thankyou for your help

[Herman Mcpootis]

8 minutes ago, Hugh_Jassole said:

How much should I expect to pay for a 1600AF as I am struggling to find many sellers? In general, when looking for a CPU for gaming is it more important to look at single thread rating/score or # of cores?

Is it worth going for a 7th gen CPU over a 6th gen? My mobo does not support overclocking so should I go for a "k" version or not? 

 

Thankyou for your help

a 6-core i5/ryzen 5 CPU will be mostly fine for gaming now, though the i5 might start to stutter in games with higher-end GPUs.

[Hugh_Jassole]

3 minutes ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

a 6-core i5/ryzen 5 CPU will be mostly fine for gaming now, though the i5 might start to stutter in games with higher-end GPUs.

Is the 6700/7700 overkill when paired with my GTX 1060 3GB? Would i be better off saving the money and putting this towards a GPU in the future?

[Herman Mcpootis]

1 minute ago, Hugh_Jassole said:

Is the 6700/7700 overkill when paired with my GTX 1060 3GB? Would i be better off saving the money and putting this towards a GPU in the future?

its fine, plus the i5s will bottleneck anything that's a worthwhile upgrade from the 1060 3gb. Newegg still has the 1600AF for $100.

[Hugh_Jassole]

1 minute ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

its fine, plus the i5s will bottleneck anything that's a worthwhile upgrade from the 1060 3gb. Newegg still has the 1600AF for $100.

I'm in the UK where the 1600AF is out of stock on newegg and costs £136 as a second hand i5 6600 from a reputable brand will set me back £90.

[Herman Mcpootis]

24 minutes ago, Hugh_Jassole said:

I'm in the UK where the 1600AF is out of stock on newegg and costs £136 as a second hand i5 6600 from a reputable brand will set me back £90.

it's 98 pounds on alza. spend the extra for the 1600AF or a 2600 instead of getting the i5, it will bottleneck anything past the 1060 6gb/rx 580.

[Hugh_Jassole]

11 minutes ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

it's 98 pounds on alza. spend the extra for the 1600AF or a 2600 instead of getting the i5, it will bottleneck anything past the 1060 6gb/rx 580.

okay, thank you for your help. I have never swapped CPU/MOBO before. Is it as simple as swapping them out or do I need to worry about OS/bios....?

[Herman Mcpootis]

2 minutes ago, Hugh_Jassole said:

okay, thank you for your help. I have never swapped CPU/MOBO before. Is it as simple as swapping them out or do I need to worry about OS/bios....?

you may need to install a few drivers depending on the board, but nothing major.

[Hugh_Jassole]

2 minutes ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

you may need to install a few drivers depending on the board, but nothing major.

Okay, thank you for all your help

[Snipekillz]

13 minutes ago, Hugh_Jassole said:

Okay, thank you for all your help

I'd recommend doing a full system reset, and then put files on an external harddrive or something that you'd want to save. Sometimes drivers might be hidden, or there's something left that will "piss off" new drivers.

[Herman Mcpootis]

2 hours ago, Snipekillz said:

I'd recommend doing a full system reset, and then put files on an external harddrive or something that you'd want to save. Sometimes drivers might be hidden, or there's something left that will "piss off" new drivers.

I upgraded from an i7 860 to an engineering sample 10-core xeon, and from said xeon to a 4870HQ and now a 1700, which went through a motherboard upgrade. none of those instances needed any kind of windows 10 reinstalls.