Help upgrading current PC!

[Leo Prince]

Budget (including currency): $250-$300USD

Country: USA

AIM: Gaming fps & better overall performance

 

Hello all so I build this PC around six years back and I'm wondering if there's anything in particular I should be upgrading. I'm not that PC savvy so any tips and recommendations are welcome. 

I'm looking to be able to play the most current games without too much fps drop.

As for my budget I would like to stick the $200 range if possible at least on the GPU. If I need a new processor or anything else then I would have to think about that later on as I know how expensive they can be.

Here is what my PC looks like so far:

 

Processor: Intel® Core™ Processor i5-6600K 3.50GHz 6MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1151 (Skylake)

MB:MSI Z170A Gaming pro carbon

RAM: 16GB 8x2 3200

GPU: EVGA Superclocked NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 4GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 

Memory:128GB SanDisk SSD + 1TB SATA III Hard Drive Combo

POWERSUPPLY: 600 Watts

Monitor: Spectre 75Hz (nothing fancy)

Case: NZXT Source 340 Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ USB 3.0

 

Anything else I might have left out please let me know.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Archer42]

IMO in this system you will ultimately have to replace both CPU and GPU. For gaming performance GPU will be more useful right now, but at this specific moment it is a terrible idea. There is a "shortage" of GPU-s going on right now, along with overinflated prices resulting from that.

So IMO you should wait with that until things return back to normal.

 

Meanwhile you can either save money for future upgrade, or swap CPU+motherboard for something like R5-3600 (you technically can upgrade CPU on current board, but IMO it does not make much sense). You even do not have to change memory, what you have should be good enough. That will increase system performance in general, but, most likely, will not help much with games until GPU is replaced.

One more good thing to buy would be larger SSD for all the stuff, not just OS, but that is completely optional and probably should go after CPU/GPU...

[flibberdipper]

Unfortunately right now you're really not gonna be able to do much when it comes to replacing your GPU. Even things like GTX 1070's are going for well over 300USD.

 

I'd honestly just save up more money and wait for things to settle down. By then either civilization will have ended, or you might have enough for a reasonable GPU upgrade (maybe something like a used GTX 1080, maybe something new if there's a card that competes in the same price range) and maybe even a 6700K/7700K, though at this point that's a bit of a questionable way to spend 200 bucks.

[AnirbanG007]

34 minutes ago, Leo Prince said:

Budget (including currency): $250-$300USD

Country: USA

AIM: Gaming fps & better overall performance

 

Hello all so I build this PC around six years back and I'm wondering if there's anything in particular I should be upgrading. I'm not that PC savvy so any tips and recommendations are welcome. 

I'm looking to be able to play the most current games without too much fps drop.

As for my budget I would like to stick the $200 range if possible at least on the GPU. If I need a new processor or anything else then I would have to think about that later on as I know how expensive they can be.

Here is what my PC looks like so far:

 

Processor: Intel® Core™ Processor i5-6600K 3.50GHz 6MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1151 (Skylake)

MB:MSI Z170A Gaming pro carbon

RAM: 16GB 8x2 3200

GPU: EVGA Superclocked NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 4GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 

Memory:128GB SanDisk SSD + 1TB SATA III Hard Drive Combo

POWERSUPPLY: 600 Watts

Monitor: Spectre 75Hz (nothing fancy)

Case: NZXT Source 340 Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ USB 3.0

 

Anything else I might have left out please let me know.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree with @Archer42, you do need a good SSD, something like an MX500 would do very good for a boot drive, without breaking the bank. For a GPU around 200 usd, I'd suggest the GTX 1650 Super. It offers decent fps for a 1080p gaming scenario. Prices now are inflated and it's best to wait it out. The 6600k is okay, as from Skylake onwards, the Intel CPU's haven't changed much, and personally I'd stick with it. But you could go with a ryzen based system down the road, when you can, if you can, although that would be more akin to building a new system. Do see some videos and benchmarks, and how much of a gaming improvement you'd get from a newer CPU, if and when you do decide to swap out your mobo+CPU.

 

The rest seem pretty good enough.

[flibberdipper]

9 minutes ago, AnirbanG007 said:

I agree with @Archer42, you do need a good SSD, something like an MX500 would do very good for a boot drive, without breaking the bank. For a GPU around 200 usd, I'd suggest the GTX 1650 Super. It offers decent fps for a 1080p gaming scenario. Prices now are inflated and it's best to wait it out. The 6600k is okay, as from Skylake onwards, the Intel CPU's haven't changed much, and personally I'd stick with it. But you could go with a ryzen based system down the road, when you can, if you can. Do see some videos and benchmarks, and how much of a gaming improvement you'd get from a newer CPU.

 

The rest seem pretty good enough.

Eh, if the OP doesn't care about used parts, the 1650 Super is a horrible purchase, regardless of price inflation.

 

Quote

The 6600k is okay, as from Skylake onwards, the Intel CPU's haven't changed much, and personally I'd stick with it.

This is also a pretty debatable, 4C/8T is pretty ehhhhhhhhh for modern games, let alone 4C/4T like the OP's dealing with. I probably wouldn't upgrade to an i7 right now, but if the chips were about 50 bucks cheaper on the used market it would be a much easier sell.

[AnirbanG007]

3 minutes ago, flibberdipper said:

Eh, if the OP doesn't care about used parts, the 1650 Super is a horrible purchase, regardless of price inflation.

Yeah of course, things are gonna be much better if you start poking around in the used market. Well, if he wants he can get better deals, but for buying new, I think it's a good value.

4 minutes ago, flibberdipper said:

This is also a pretty debatable, 4C/8T is pretty ehhhhhhhhh for modern games, let alone 4C/4T like the OP's dealing with. I probably wouldn't upgrade to an i7 right now, but if the chips were about 50 bucks cheaper on the used market it would be a much easier sell.

Secondly, yeah 6 cores is optimal for gaming, I perfectly understand why my comment is debatable, but it is what the OP has to deal with now anyway, so I said it's okay. I guess we all agree the best way would be to just get a modern mobo+cpu.

 

I think the optimal way to go about this would be to get a good GPU from the second hand market, and years down the line, change out to a better cpu+mobo combo.

[Archer42]

Thing with upgrading CPU on this board is - high-end used CPU-s tend to be unreasonably expensive specifically for a reason that there are a lot of people who want such upgrade. And since this cpu-s are going to be limited to 4C8T anyway and the only thing OP saves by doing that is motherboard cost (since he already has compatible and pretty decent ram)... I'd just go with modern 6C+ CPU (R5-3500X can be pretty nice in terms of price sometimes) and reasonable low end board. Will be better in terms of price/gains and in case with AM4 might even offer some future upgrade path.

 

There are also pretty hacky ways to run coffee lake CPU-s on LGA1151-v1 boards IIRC, so might be something fun to play around with. Requires both bios and HW modding though and not sure if possible on specific board.

[Leo Prince]

5 hours ago, Archer42 said:

IMO in this system you will ultimately have to replace both CPU and GPU. For gaming performance GPU will be more useful right now, but at this specific moment it is a terrible idea. There is a "shortage" of GPU-s going on right now, along with overinflated prices resulting from that.

So IMO you should wait with that until things return back to normal.

 

Meanwhile you can either save money for future upgrade, or swap CPU+motherboard for something like R5-3600 (you technically can upgrade CPU on current board, but IMO it does not make much sense). You even do not have to change memory, what you have should be good enough. That will increase system performance in general, but, most likely, will not help much with games until GPU is replaced.

One more good thing to buy would be larger SSD for all the stuff, not just OS, but that is completely optional and probably should go after CPU/GPU...

I think I will save up and hold off a little longer. It runs games fine at lower graphic setting and yeah the RAM is not a problem at all since I've upgraded it. I definitely understand that the CPU needs to be replaced but now looking into a CPU+MOBO combo? That I didn't really think about... what would be the CONS on upgrading CPU on the current MOBO if I may ask? I will also look into a larger SSD for the future.

 

5 hours ago, flibberdipper said:

Unfortunately right now you're really not gonna be able to do much when it comes to replacing your GPU. Even things like GTX 1070's are going for well over 300USD.

 

I'd honestly just save up more money and wait for things to settle down. By then either civilization will have ended, or you might have enough for a reasonable GPU upgrade (maybe something like a used GTX 1080, maybe something new if there's a card that competes in the same price range) and maybe even a 6700K/7700K, though at this point that's a bit of a questionable way to spend 200 bucks.

Yeah I definitely think I'll wait a while before upgrading. I was looking up some of these prices and my wallet almost walked out my door...

 

5 hours ago, AnirbanG007 said:

I think the optimal way to go about this would be to get a good GPU from the second hand market, and years down the line, change out to a better cpu+mobo combo.

Thinking about it I might just do this for now.

 

4 hours ago, Archer42 said:

Thing with upgrading CPU on this board is - high-end used CPU-s tend to be unreasonably expensive specifically for a reason that there are a lot of people who want such upgrade. And since this cpu-s are going to be limited to 4C8T anyway and the only thing OP saves by doing that is motherboard cost (since he already has compatible and pretty decent ram)... I'd just go with modern 6C+ CPU (R5-3500X can be pretty nice in terms of price sometimes) and reasonable low end board. Will be better in terms of price/gains and in case with AM4 might even offer some future upgrade path.

 

 

I will definitely look into this later down the line. Thank you

 

 

Thank you all for helping me out with this. I gained so much information and grasped pretty much what I will be doing later on. I definitely decided to wait a little longer and see if the situation gets better before I commit to a purchase.

[AnirbanG007]

4 hours ago, Leo Prince said:

I think I will save up and hold off a little longer. It runs games fine at lower graphic setting and yeah the RAM is not a problem at all since I've upgraded it. I definitely understand that the CPU needs to be replaced but now looking into a CPU+MOBO combo? That I didn't really think about... what would be the CONS on upgrading CPU on the current MOBO if I may ask? I will also look into a larger SSD for the future.

 

Yeah I definitely think I'll wait a while before upgrading. I was looking up some of these prices and my wallet almost walked out my door...

 

Thinking about it I might just do this for now.

 

 

I will definitely look into this later down the line. Thank you

 

 

Thank you all for helping me out with this. I gained so much information and grasped pretty much what I will be doing later on. I definitely decided to wait a little longer and see if the situation gets better before I commit to a purchase.

The only con of upgrading the CPU on this Mobo would be that you'd be limited to a Kaby Lake processor (7th gen), although you could install an 8th gen one, as described by @Archer42.

One of the only ways to alleviate this problem would be to change both Mobo and cpu, and AMD has good chipset compatibility on the AM4 socket(processors of different years are supported on the same chip and same socket e.g ryzen 2000, 3000, and 5000 series CPUs run perfectly well on the same b450 chipset Mobo). Hence you see many people recommending the AMD