CPU Upgrade Advice

[VJ6]

I'm currently using an i3 2120 3.30GHz for gaming. I've been  meaning to upgrade for a while now and I came here for some advice on what to choose. My GPU is a GTX 1060 6GB, motherboard is a lenovo N1996. I don't have a limited budget. I would prefer not changing my motherboard, but will if necessary. 

Thanks and let me know if any other information is required.

[ZetZet]

Without changing the motherboard it would be a waste of time basically. You could stick a 2700K in there, but it would barely help at this point, so outdated. You would notice a major boost buying some modern hardware, even if it's from a bargain bin. 

[VJ6]

19 minutes ago, ZetZet said:

Without changing the motherboard it would be a waste of time basically. You could stick a 2700K in there, but it would barely help at this point, so outdated. You would notice a major boost buying some modern hardware, even if it's from a bargain bin. 

It just a temporary solution for cca 4 years, then i'm gonna build a proper PC. What would you recommend if i were to change the motherboard.

[YoungBlade]

If you really want to keep the motherboard, the only meaningful upgrade would be either an i7 2600(K) or i7 3770(K), and the latter may require a BIOS update to work. Either of those chips would certainly give you better performance than your i3, but since you won't be able to overclock them, they won't give you a great experience compared to what you can buy today. Although the upgrade would be much cheaper - an i7 2600 can be found for $25 on eBay.

 

If you are willing to go for a full upgrade of the platform, you can do much better, although it will be more costly.

 

Assuming your case is alright, you won't need to buy a new one. The mounting points for your current motherboard are standard mATX, so you can drop in a new mATX board. If you also want to re-use your current PSU as well (which I wouldn't recommend, but you could, since it uses a standard pin-out), then you can put in a modern platform for under $250:

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mhsYwc

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($138.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI A520M-A PRO Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($64.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($42.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $246.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-11-03 12:30 EDT-0400

[VJ6]

7 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

If you really want to keep the motherboard, the only meaningful upgrade would be either an i7 2600(K) or i7 3770(K), and the latter may require a BIOS update to work. Either of those chips would certainly give you better performance than your i3, but since you won't be able to overclock them, they won't give you a great experience compared to what you can buy today. Although the upgrade would be much cheaper - an i7 2600 can be found for $25 on eBay.

 

If you are willing to go for a full upgrade of the platform, you can do much better, although it will be more costly.

 

Assuming your case is alright, you won't need to buy a new one. The mounting points for your current motherboard are standard mATX, so you can drop in a new mATX board. If you also want to re-use your current PSU as well (which I wouldn't recommend, but you could, since it uses a standard pin-out), then you can put in a modern platform for under $250:

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mhsYwc

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($138.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI A520M-A PRO Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($64.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($42.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $246.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-11-03 12:30 EDT-0400

Thx for all the info, but I just need a temporary solution, cus I'm going to build a decent PC in the future and just need something that can run games at a playable FPS for the time being. 

[medar]

40 minutes ago, VJ6 said:

I'm currently using an i3 2120 3.30GHz for gaming. I've been  meaning to upgrade for a while now and I came here for some advice on what to choose. My GPU is a GTX 1060 6GB, motherboard is a lenovo N1996. I don't have a limited budget. I would prefer not changing my motherboard, but will if necessary. 

Thanks and let me know if any other information is required.

depends on what you want to do on your PC, if you are looking for a high-end build the best choice is the mobo upgrade like the person above mentioned, but if not than u can just max out on the CPU that your motherboard supports. And even if you did buy the strongest CPU for that exact motherboard your GPU would still be too strong for your CPU thus creating a bottleneck. But if you don't mind the 22% bottleneck u can go with the i7 3770 and ur PC will be faster than it is now.

[Dedayog]

27 minutes ago, VJ6 said:

Thx for all the info, but I just need a temporary solution, cus I'm going to build a decent PC in the future and just need something that can run games at a playable FPS for the time being. 

To be frank, now is about the best time to be building a budget machine.  New stuff just came out, prices dropping on older gens...Ebay should be popping with older stuff as people upgrade and sell.

 

While I would skip the CPU upgrade, what do you have for storage? SSD or HDD still?  That may make a larger impact on usableness of the PC and can be taken into a new build.  Simply because dropping the best CPU on that board just won't do much at all.

[VJ6]

8 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

To be frank, now is about the best time to be building a budget machine.  New stuff just came out, prices dropping on older gens...Ebay should be popping with older stuff as people upgrade and sell.

 

While I would skip the CPU upgrade, what do you have for storage? SSD or HDD still?  That may make a larger impact on usableness of the PC and can be taken into a new build.  Simply because dropping the best CPU on that board just won't do much at all.

The thing is I'm sharing this pc with my brother which means that when we move out, one of us will take it and I'd rather build a new one than upgrade almost everything on that old piece of crap. I could build now, but I'd rather wait until I have more knowledge (currently schooling for computer shit) and money.

[Mark D. Stroyer]

Yeah it's obviously not going to be ideal, but with those third-gen i7s being as inexpensive as they are, probably just a bios update and a drop in replacement would get you a decently long way for dirt cheap, and be a very big difference in playability in the meanwhile. I have only a i5-3570k in a family computer and it's shockingly usable.

[VJ6]

1 minute ago, Mark D. Stroyer said:

Yeah it's obviously not going to be ideal, but with those third-gen i7s being as inexpensive as they are, probably just a bios update and a drop in replacement would get you a decently long way for dirt cheap, and be a very big difference in playability in the meanwhile. I have only a i5-3570k in a family computer and it's shockingly usable.

Yeah, I mean the 2120 is suprissingly ok, considering it's age. It runs apex at playable graphics with 30-40fps. 

[Mark Kaine]

just get the $25 i7... thats your best option without motherboard etc,  a upgrade for the price of a cheeseburger, whats not to love?!

[Dedayog]

2 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

just get the $25 i7... thats your best option without motherboard etc,  a upgrade for the price of a cheeseburger, whats not to love?!

Can't really argue with that, though why you're paying $25 for a cheeseburger is beyond me. 

[Mark Kaine]

7 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Can't really argue with that, though why you're paying $25 for a cheeseburger is beyond me. 

well, i don't but i would! 

 

 

[YoungBlade]

2 hours ago, VJ6 said:

Thx for all the info, but I just need a temporary solution, cus I'm going to build a decent PC in the future and just need something that can run games at a playable FPS for the time being. 

Then I'd just get an i7 2600 off of eBay. Also, if you don't already have Windows on an SSD, upgrade that to really see a big improvement in usability. You can get high quality SATA SSDs for very low prices at the moment - Newegg has a deal on a 500GB Samsung 870 SSD for under $50 right now.

[Dedayog]

3 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

well, i don't but i would! 

 

 

I've had $28 burgers here in Atlanta (St. Regis) but not a $38 one.  The $28 was good, but not worth it over other offerings (Farm Burger, for one).  Can't imagine that being worth it, but I'd love to try it to find out

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

1 minute ago, Dedayog said:

I've had $28 burgers here in Atlanta (St. Regis) but not a $38 one.  The $28 was good, but not worth it over other offerings (Farm Burger, for one).  Can't imagine that being worth it, but I'd love to try it to find out

when i was in NYC in the 90s, all i ever ate/drank was latte machiato and chili/cheeseburgers... they typically cost around 10-15 bucks and i had none that weren't great...! So extrapolated to nowadays prices you'd be def looking at 20-25 for a quality burger  (so not McDonald's)  i thought...

 

they're around 10-15 euros here, but this isnt new york/ america ...

 

although McDonald's got really expensive haha, im glad i don't eat this trash (typically) 

 

So yeah, 25 for an i7 is a no brainer