Upgrading my CPU and/or GPU

[Varen]

Budget (including currency): 300-400 USD

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Elden Ring, Pathfinder WOTR, and Cyberpunk 1080p 60fps

Current Setup: 

    Motherboard: ASRock B250M-HDV

    CPU: Intel Pentium CPU G4560

    GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

    RAM: 16 GB 2133 MHz

Notes: Like the title says I'm looking to upgrade my CPU/GPU. I don't know a lot about building PCs I built this thing like 4-5 years ago and have basically forgot everything since. Any advice on what upgrades I should prioritize or specific parts to look for would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

[Fasauceome]

Your motherboard won't accommodate much of a powerful upgrade in terms of CPU, and 2133 is the slowest DDR4 you can get. 

 

If you are looking for a bargain on some used hardware, a Ryzen 5 1600 and some DDR4 3000 or 3200 would be really cheap off eBay, and a nice new B450 motherboard would offer both a solid upgrade path and a low entry price.

[Dukesilver27-]

If your PSU is decent, like 500W and somewhat okay, this should be good upgrade w/o going the used route.

I know it's $100 more, but only upgrading a CPU/GPU from your old build isn't enough to increase the experience.

Try looking at selling your old rig to make up difference.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3X4Kgb

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($105.98 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B660M DS3H DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($104.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($40.97 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Kingston NV2 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($37.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  ($209.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $499.92

[Varen]

15 minutes ago, Dukesilver27- said:

If your PSU is decent, like 500W and somewhat okay, this should be good upgrade w/o going the used route.

I know it's $100 more, but only upgrading a CPU/GPU from your old build isn't enough to increase the experience.

Try looking at selling your old rig to make up difference.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3X4Kgb

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($105.98 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B660M DS3H DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($104.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($40.97 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Kingston NV2 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($37.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  ($209.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $499.92

Thanks for the info!  My PSU is a SeaSonic M12II EVO 520 W so that should be good correct? Would upgrading the motherboard require me to get a new windows license?

[Spencerssy1]

2 hours ago, Varen said:

Budget (including currency): 300-400 USD

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Elden Ring, Pathfinder WOTR, and Cyberpunk 1080p 60fps

Current Setup: 

    Motherboard: ASRock B250M-HDV

    CPU: Intel Pentium CPU G4560

    GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

    RAM: 16 GB 2133 MHz

Notes: Like the title says I'm looking to upgrade my CPU/GPU. I don't know a lot about building PCs I built this thing like 4-5 years ago and have basically forgot everything since. Any advice on what upgrades I should prioritize or specific parts to look for would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

okay so dollar per fps/ best value upgrade... you have a 2 core processor.... I see a problem, steam minimum requirements. Example cyberpunk min requirements are a i5-3570K 4 core CPU and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 470.

I think your looking for a new build or a console but your on LTT so you want a pc. now remaining options are upgrade GPU and hope that games launch or build a new PC with used or new hardware so.

 

Videos to refresh building a PC. LTT "how to build a pc" and maybe Pauls Hardware Youtube channel, "how to build a pc" series he does a new value build every... 3 to 6 months

 

NEW Build. the best value/ FPS per dollar as of Nov 2022 is a... AMD 5600 CPU and an AMD 6600xt GPU if I remember "Hardware unboxed" recent GPU pricing video. so I would start there for a new build. try to reuse power supply, ram, system storage (SSD), case, and fans you could stay in a $400 budget gpu $250 cpu was $99 on black friday and a520 mother board $70 thats close to budget, $420

 

USED build. keep an eye out for good deals. my cousin got 3 3090's from a guy selling his GPU mining rig for $1500 so $500 per 3090. there are deals out there. you just need to find them. now what to look for. 10 series Nvidia GPU or newer with at least 4 gb of vram, an intel 7000 series CPU or newer with at least 4 cores. or AMD 5000 GPU or newer, AMD 2000 CPU or newer. If you want your system to feel new and responsive and still get driver support for the next.... 4 years ish thats my recommondations

[GeorgeMKane]

3 hours ago, Varen said:

Thanks for the info!  My PSU is a SeaSonic M12II EVO 520 W so that should be good correct? Would upgrading the motherboard require me to get a new windows license?

Nope. You should be able to carry it over just fine. If you got say Windows 8 though, at first, then you might have to install windows 8 first on the new machine, then 10. If you just bought Windows 10, then you can install Windows 10 just fine. I had trouble with my current OS license like that. I've used the same one with 2 builds (upgrading from one to the other) so far.

[SteveGrabowski0]

17 hours ago, Dukesilver27- said:

If your PSU is decent, like 500W and somewhat okay, this should be good upgrade w/o going the used route.

I know it's $100 more, but only upgrading a CPU/GPU from your old build isn't enough to increase the experience.

Try looking at selling your old rig to make up difference.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3X4Kgb

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($105.98 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B660M DS3H DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($104.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($40.97 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Kingston NV2 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($37.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  ($209.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $499.92

Yeah that's a really nice upgrade for $500. RX 6600 for $210 is the MVP here, giving nearly RTX 3060 performance for the price of a GTX 1660 Super. 

[Awesomon2234]

17 hours ago, Varen said:

Thanks for the info!  My PSU is a SeaSonic M12II EVO 520 W so that should be good correct? Would upgrading the motherboard require me to get a new windows license?

Windows is stored on your drive (usually SSD) as long as you salvage that from your pc you shouldnt need to worry. If its installed on a HDD i would recommend getting a 1tb nvme SSD for around 50usd and installing windows on that instead. You can transfer your key easy enough.
 

 

18 hours ago, Varen said:

Current Setup: 

    Motherboard: ASRock B250M-HDV

    CPU: Intel Pentium CPU G4560

    GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

    RAM: 16 GB 2133 MHz

 

as others on this thread have said it will take a bit to make this better. Currently AMD would be the way to go. Its cheaper then Nvidia and intel, and has similar performance (Unlike several years ago)
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tztxQ6
5600 is a good cpu and comes with its own cooler, i would recommend upgrading to a budget tower air cooler later down the line but the built in cooler will be fine for a while

2x8 3200 CL16 memory, cheap decent memory (could also go for 3600 CL18 for slightly more perf if you can find it for a similar price)

RX6600 is a good card for 1080p could later upgrade to 3060 or 6650XT 

This build will be fine with a 400w PSU or more. If you need to upgrade PSU for whatever reason go for a 400w or 500w PSU C tier or better on the PSU cultist list (https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/)