Upgrade Recommendations

[Duidi]

Budget (including currency): $300

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming(Valorant/League/Elden Ring/Lost Ark)

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

CPU: I3-9100F

(No cooler)

Mobo: B360M Bazooka 

Memory: 2x4GB

SSD: 960GB

GPU: GTX 1650 Super

PSU: 450W

 

Hey, I need some help upgrading my pc. I've had my pc for a while and some games are starting to demand more from my computer. My main issue is my cpu and my ram are constantly maxing out when I play demanding games like Lost Ark and I'm looking to play Elden Ring as well. I was thinking about upgrading to 2x8GB of ram but I'm sure I'll need a better cpu as well. Any recommendations what would be best if I'm looking to spend about $300 for the upgrade?

Thanks in advance.

 

[191x7]

Get a used i7 8000 series or 9000.

16GB of ram shouldn't be an issue.

[RONOTHAN##]

4 cores 4 threads will limit you pretty significantly in modern games. I'd check eBay and local listings (Craigslist, FB Marketplace, etc.) to see if you can find something like an i5 8400, 9400, or maybe even an i7 8700 or 9700. I wouldn't suggest spending more than $100 on one of those CPUs though (maybe $130 for the i7), since any more than that and you'd be better off flipping the board and CPU and buying a brand new i3 12100F and B660 board instead.

 

After than, if you already have 16GB of RAM, don't upgrade it further, there isn't much point outside of heavily modded Minecraft. You'd be better off flipping the 1650S and buying a better card, something like an RX 6600 with whatever money you have left over. If you don't have 16GB of RAM (you mistyped what you currently have), then upgrade to 16GB and see how much you have left.

[Duidi]

3 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

4 cores 4 threads will limit you pretty significantly in modern games. I'd check eBay and local listings (Craigslist, FB Marketplace, etc.) to see if you can find something like an i5 8400, 9400, or maybe even an i7 8700 or 9700. I wouldn't suggest spending more than $100 on one of those CPUs though (maybe $130 for the i7), since any more than that and you'd be better off flipping the board and CPU and buying a brand new i3 12100F and B660 board instead.

 

After than, if you already have 16GB of RAM, don't upgrade it further, there isn't much point outside of heavily modded Minecraft. You'd be better off flipping the 1650S and buying a better card, something like an RX 6600 with whatever money you have left over. If you don't have 16GB of RAM (you mistyped what you currently have), then upgrade to 16GB and see how much you have left.

Thanks man, this is really helpful, I did mistype the memory, but I'll look into getting one from ebay, I really appreciate it. 

[ExpiredPancake]

Intel Core i5-9600K 6-Core LGA1151 Processor 735858392488 | eBay. 6 Cores, will do you much better and still very competitive with high end CPUs, and you can keep your motherboard. 

 

 

You didn't mention what cooler you have, but You will probably need something beefier to handle it. Artic's Liquid Freezer 2 is availible for 90$ or the Esports Duo for aircooling which is cheaper. 

1 minute ago, RONOTHAN## said:

After than, if you already have 16GB of RAM, don't upgrade it further, there isn't much point outside of heavily modded Minecraft. You'd be better off flipping the 1650S and buying a better card, something like an RX 6600 with whatever money you have left over. If you don't have 16GB of RAM (you mistyped what you currently have), then upgrade to 16GB and see how much you have left.

I agree with this part for your graphics card. The aforementioned CPU upgrades will do you plenty in that regard, and you can put everything you didn't spend into GPU and/or power supply if you need. 

 

 

[RONOTHAN##]

6 minutes ago, ExpiredPancake said:

Intel Core i5-9600K 6-Core LGA1151 Processor 735858392488 | eBay. 6 Cores, will do you much better and still very competitive with high end CPUs, and you can keep your motherboard. 

My problem with this is that It really doesn't make sense to buy a 9600K for $160 for this system. The i3 12100F is a faster CPU in all regards, and it goes for $110, with a cheap B660 board being $120 (Gigabyte B660M DS3H). You can probably sell the current board and CPU for $100 pretty easily ($100 locally, $130 on eBay minus eBay fees so about the same), so the cost of getting a 12100F would be $120. The 9100F you could flip on eBay for ~$70-80, so after eBay fees you'd make $50 and you'd have effectively spent $110 on the 9600k upgrade, but that's not including the added costs of a cooler (the i3 12100F comes with a stock cooler that is more than adequate) so you'd still end up spending more on the 9600k. If you could overclock it you might make up some of the difference, but they don't have a Z370/Z390 board so you can't. 

[Jonathan Lee]

You could do this:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-10400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($130.53 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI MAG B560M BAZOOKA Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Silicon Power 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($58.97 @ Amazon) 
Total: $329.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-03-17 19:07 EDT-0400

[Duidi]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Lee said:

You could do this:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-10400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($130.53 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI MAG B560M BAZOOKA Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Silicon Power 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($58.97 @ Amazon) 
Total: $329.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-03-17 19:07 EDT-0400

Would you reccomend getting a cpu cooler? 

[Jonathan Lee]

The stock cooler is quite loud in my opinion. If you like something I bit more quieter, I would go for it. The stock cooler should be enough to cool it though

[Duidi]

23 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

My problem with this is that It really doesn't make sense to buy a 9600K for $160 for this system. The i3 12100F is a faster CPU in all regards, and it goes for $110, with a cheap B660 board being $120 (Gigabyte B660M DS3H). You can probably sell the current board and CPU for $100 pretty easily ($100 locally, $130 on eBay minus eBay fees so about the same), so the cost of getting a 12100F would be $120. The 9100F you could flip on eBay for ~$70-80, so after eBay fees you'd make $50 and you'd have effectively spent $110 on the 9600k upgrade, but that's not including the added costs of a cooler (the i3 12100F comes with a stock cooler that is more than adequate) so you'd still end up spending more on the 9600k. If you could overclock it you might make up some of the difference, but they don't have a Z370/Z390 board so you can't. 

Hey, I really like this option, I'm looking into it, I really appreciate it man.