Looking to upgrade

[WondringLisa]

Hi all,

 

It's been quite some time since I built my PC and recently I have been finding my cpu is starting to flag a bit.  I was wondering if I could get some recommendations for a comparable upgrade without needing to spend much money (relatively speaking).  My current CPU is an 'Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz   3.40 GHz' (3rd gen) with a 'asrock z77 extreme4' motherboard.  If I can avoid having to replace my ddr3 memory, so much the better.

 

Thanks

 

Lisa

[191x7]

What's the rest of the system, especially the power supply and the graphics card? The budget?

[IkeaGnome]

6 minutes ago, WondringLisa said:

Hi all,

 

It's been quite some time since I built my PC and recently I have been finding my cpu is starting to flag a bit.  I was wondering if I could get some recommendations for a comparable upgrade without needing to spend much money (relatively speaking).  My current CPU is an 'Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz   3.40 GHz' (3rd gen) with a 'asrock z77 extreme4' motherboard.  If I can avoid having to replace my ddr3 memory, so much the better.

 

Thanks

 

Lisa

Unfortunately, your only option on that motherboard would be a 3770k. Those are going anywhere from $30 to $80 on ebay. Even used 7700ks and motherboard combos are going for ~$130-$200. For that price it really does make sense to just save up a bit and get off DDR3 and go with a much more modern CPU. Overclocking that CPU could help tide you over until you save up.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($129.98 @ B&H) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO B660M-G DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($52.97 @ Amazon) 
Total: $282.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-07-05 14:54 EDT-0400

I'd question the power supply and be tempted to make that part of the upgrade as well.

[deltatux]

31 minutes ago, WondringLisa said:

Hi all,

 

It's been quite some time since I built my PC and recently I have been finding my cpu is starting to flag a bit.  I was wondering if I could get some recommendations for a comparable upgrade without needing to spend much money (relatively speaking).  My current CPU is an 'Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz   3.40 GHz' (3rd gen) with a 'asrock z77 extreme4' motherboard.  If I can avoid having to replace my ddr3 memory, so much the better.

 

Thanks

 

Lisa

Your current system doesn't have an upgrade path and would require a rebuild as Intel normally doesn't offer upgrade paths greater than 2 years. The 3570k is a 10 year old chip, it makes sense why it can be laggy depending on what you're doing with it.

 

What is the use case for the computer? If it's just for browsing and what not, you should consider overclocking the CPU, I overclocked my old Core i5 3570k to 4.5 GHz (at 1.27V) on my "gaming console PC" and the CPU is much snappier. (It's still not great for gaming but it holds me over until I rebuild my main PC and move the old parts to this PC.) This is probably the cheapest route for you without having to rebuild your system, just buy an aftermarket cooler that can keep the chip cooled with overclocks and you should be in business.

 

Your current choices right now are:

• Overclock the system if the use case is quite light (web browsing, YouTube, social media, office PC)
• Buy a used computer rig to save money
• Rebuild system with new parts

Hard to say which route makes the most sense as there's no info about what your use case is and what your budget is.

[dizmo]

If you're going to make comments like "without spending much money" and "relatively speaking", you really need to provide us with a dollar value.
Everyone's budget is different, and everyone's view of what budget is, is different.

 

Welcome to the forum.

[Mister Woof]

Plus what are you needing the computer for? What applications/games?

 

If you aren't gaming then probably just an SSD will help out quite a bit (presuming you're on a hard drive still).