Upgrading PC - don't know where to start

[Christoph98]

Budget (including currency):  ideally 250-300€, but there is no "hardcap" for valid upgrades 

Country: Germany

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming (currently 1080P) mostly single Player ; web programming; some ML( currently via Google Colab (mostly computer vision via ConvNets) would be nice to do it locally since gpu isnt always available); Discord, Browser, Games 

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): 
I bought a prebuilt PC 12/2017 and have very little experience in PC-building in general.
Modern Games won't run at acceptable framerates (>45-50 fps) or with occasional freeze frames (EldenRing, GOW4), even overclocked( also not experienced --> Afterburner setting until Combustor crashed: Mem(MHZ)+500, Core(Mhz +250)

Temp Limit 87C / Power Limit 110%) Could not find an option to enable XMP in Bios

 

Specs from Speccy:

OS:    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU:     AMD Ryzen 5 1600X   (Summit Ridge 14nm Technology) BaseClock 3,6 GHz
RAM:    ADATA 16,0GB Single-Channel DDR4 @ 1199MHz (17-17-17-39)  [wmic infio: in Channel B at 2400 mhz; SerialNumber=AF840300]

7,3/16 GB are occupied by OS and other shit according to task manager
Motherboard: MSI A320M PRO-VD/S (MS-7A36) (AM4)   
Graphics
    DELL P2222H (1920x1080@60Hz)
    PHL 243V5 (1920x1080@60Hz)
    2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB (ZOTAC International)   
Storage
    931GB TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (SATA )    
    238GB ADATA SU800 (SATA (SSD))    

 

 

The only thing i know that can be upgraded easily would be RAM in dual Channel mode 2x16 gb, but i dont know if that is a good upgrade or if im capped otherwise.
Important to me is having a stable experience and generally performance > looks

I would like to get into PC-Building but im afraid to do it on my PC i need everday.

 

First time Posting on this Forum.
I would love to hear your suggestions, if i need to provide more information please write whats missing

EDIT: 
Currently tend to upgrade these parts: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/4FxPVw
No GPU- Upgrade since i dont think it fits the Budget and 1060 is good enough for 1080P

Is there anything else to look out for that wasn't mentioned?

[RAM555789]

Upgrading the CPU, motherboard, and RAM are probably the best options you can go with. Some games in the next 2-3 years may start using more video RAM but I don't think that will be a problem if you continue at 1080p. (1080p is the reason I'm still running with a pascal card myself) I would suggest the 5600X but a good cooler might be a bit out of your price range, could consider going with a cheaper RAM option like a single stick at 2400mhz to match the current stick but Ryzen likes faster RAM which is why I recommend getting a kit to run at 3200Mhz.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  (€127.99 @ Mindfactory) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE V2 ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€90.96 @ Galaxus) 
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (€66.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €285.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-14 14:58 CEST+0200

[Christoph98]

20 minutes ago, RAM555789 said:

Upgrading the CPU, motherboard, and RAM are probably the best options you can go with. Some games in the next 2-3 years may start using more video RAM but I don't think that will be a problem if you continue at 1080p. (1080p is the reason I'm still running with a pascal card myself) I would suggest the 5600X but a good cooler might be a bit out of your price range, could consider going with a cheaper RAM option like a single stick at 2400mhz to match the current stick but Ryzen likes faster RAM which is why I recommend getting a kit to run at 3200Mhz.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  (€127.99 @ Mindfactory) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE V2 ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€90.96 @ Galaxus) 
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (€66.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €285.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-14 14:58 CEST+0200

Thanks for the tip.
So the 1080P is the deciding factor right?
I bought a PC because i wanted to be able to upgrade whenever i want, but games started to crash or drop frames much later than i expected. I feel like its cheaper / wiser if I dont have experience in pc building to just sell this PC and buy a prebuilt one. Because then i dont have the limitation of 1080P which is fine for the moment, but i think a new PC could be cheaper going into the future when the 1060 isnt enough anymore.
I know that upgrading my PC in a significant way would mean to change the motherboard, but thats the part where im the most afraid to f*** things up.

EDIT: I guess my hope is that changing ram/cpu or just overclocking would suffice, but changing cpu would require changing the motherboard almost always?

[BrandonTech.05]

5 minutes ago, Christoph98 said:

Thanks for the tip.
So the 1080P is the deciding factor right?
I bought a PC because i wanted to be able to upgrade whenever i want, but games started to crash or drop frames much later than i expected. I feel like its cheaper / wiser if I dont have experience in pc building to just sell this PC and buy a prebuilt one. Because then i dont have the limitation of 1080P which is fine for the moment, but i think a new PC could be cheaper going into the future when the 1060 isnt enough anymore.
I know that upgrading my PC in a significant way would mean to change the motherboard, but thats the part where im the most afraid to f*** things up.

CPU and Ram are good ideas to start with. If you're looking at frames alone you probably wanna prioritize GPU over CPU. I'd personally see if you can pickup a second hand 60 or maybe 70 class card.

Edited April 14, 2023 by BrandonT.05
Added Context

[Christoph98]

1 minute ago, BrandonT.05 said:

CPU and Ram are good ideas to start with. If you're looking at frames alone you probably wanna prioritize GPU over CPU. 

I think 60 FPS is all i want and need. I guess im not opposed to search for a cheap used one to upgrade though.

[BrandonTech.05]

9 minutes ago, Christoph98 said:

EDIT: I guess my hope is that changing ram/cpu or just overclocking would suffice, but changing cpu would require changing the motherboard almost always?

missed this. If you have an am4 socket you most likely can upgrade simply by updating your bios but it varies per motherboard

[PDifolco]

7 minutes ago, BrandonT.05 said:

missed this. If you have an am4 socket you most likely can upgrade simply by updating your bios but it varies per motherboard

I wouldn't recommend that on a A320 board ...I'd go for @RAM555789suggestion but with only 16GB RAM (2x8), 250EUR

[Christoph98]

40 minutes ago, RAM555789 said:

Upgrading the CPU, motherboard, and RAM are probably the best options you can go with. Some games in the next 2-3 years may start using more video RAM but I don't think that will be a problem if you continue at 1080p. (1080p is the reason I'm still running with a pascal card myself) I would suggest the 5600X but a good cooler might be a bit out of your price range, could consider going with a cheaper RAM option like a single stick at 2400mhz to match the current stick but Ryzen likes faster RAM which is why I recommend getting a kit to run at 3200Mhz.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  (€127.99 @ Mindfactory) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE V2 ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€90.96 @ Galaxus) 
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (€66.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €285.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-14 14:58 CEST+0200

Looking into it i like the changes you suggest, are these just good parts from your experience, or do they just fit my requirements, because im not to sure if the budget was set realistically since i dont know anything about the price situation of pc parts right now.

EDIT: I decided i want to definately upgrade because if i dont do it now, when will i ever start

[Christoph98]

3 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

I wouldn't recommend that on a A320 board ...I'd go for @RAM555789suggestion but with only 16GB RAM (2x8), 250EUR

can you please explain why so i can learn from this thread ?

[PDifolco]

4 minutes ago, Christoph98 said:

can you please explain why so i can learn from this thread ?

It's a shit board ...

[Christoph98]

4 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

It's a shit board ...

Oh ok, i think so too, but i wondered because it says it supports 32 gb ram

[Agall]

1 hour ago, Christoph98 said:

Budget (including currency):  ideally 250-300€, but there is no "hardcap" for valid upgrades 

Country: Germany

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming (currently 1080P) mostly single Player ; web programming; some ML( currently via Google Colab (mostly computer vision via ConvNets) would be nice to do it locally since gpu isnt always available); Discord, Browser, Games 

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): 
I bought a prebuilt PC 12/2017 and have very little experience in PC-building in general.
Modern Games won't run at acceptable framerates (>45-50 fps) or with occasional freeze frames (EldenRing, GOW4), even overclocked( also not experienced --> Afterburner setting until Combustor crashed: Mem(MHZ)+500, Core(Mhz +250)

Temp Limit 87C / Power Limit 110%) Could not find an option to enable XMP in Bios

 

Specs from Speccy:

OS:    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU:     AMD Ryzen 5 1600X   (Summit Ridge 14nm Technology) BaseClock 3,6 GHz
RAM:    ADATA 16,0GB Single-Channel DDR4 @ 1199MHz (17-17-17-39)  [wmic infio: in Channel B at 2400 mhz; SerialNumber=AF840300]

7,3/16 GB are occupied by OS and other shit according to task manager
Motherboard: MSI A320M PRO-VD/S (MS-7A36) (AM4)   
Graphics
    DELL P2222H (1920x1080@60Hz)
    PHL 243V5 (1920x1080@60Hz)
    2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB (ZOTAC International)   
Storage
    931GB TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (SATA )    
    238GB ADATA SU800 (SATA (SSD))    

 

 

The only thing i know that can be upgraded easily would be RAM in dual Channel mode 2x16 gb, but i dont know if that is a good upgrade or if im capped otherwise.
Important to me is having a stable experience and generally performance > looks

I would like to get into PC-Building but im afraid to do it on my PC i need everday.

 

First time Posting on this Forum.
I would love to hear your suggestions, if i need to provide more information please write whats missing

1060 6GB is still a capable 1080p GPU, so the general suggestion of a new platform is definitely the move. Unfortunately your motherboard doesn't have much support past 2nd generation, so you're basically stuck replacing it.

 

At that budget, the Ryzen 5600 is a good suggestion, with a complimentary motherboard upgrade. You can forego a memory upgrade for now by just using your current, but most people would reasonable recommend upgrading that to a 2x16GB 3200MHz/3600MHz kit. Its not required, but I say you're better off spending an addition $50 maybe on a good motherboard and waiting to buy a new kit of RAM than skimping on the motherboard to get a better kit of RAM.

 

Minimum B550 board so you can at least get PCIe 4.0 for whatever GPU you end up getting.

[Christoph98]

2 minutes ago, Agall said:

1060 6GB is still a capable 1080p GPU, so the general suggestion of a new platform is definitely the move. Unfortunately your motherboard doesn't have much support past 2nd generation, so you're basically stuck replacing it.

 

At that budget, the Ryzen 5600 is a good suggestion, with a complimentary motherboard upgrade. You can forego a memory upgrade for now by just using your current, but most people would reasonable recommend upgrading that to a 2x16GB 3200MHz/3600MHz kit. Its not required, but I say you're better off spending an addition $50 maybe on a good motherboard and waiting to buy a new kit of RAM than skimping on the motherboard to get a better kit of RAM.

 

Minimum B550 board so you can at least get PCIe 4.0 for whatever GPU you end up getting.

Ok, so ignoring the budget a little bit, should i consider spending more on a new motherboard + cpu+ ram? Or are the suggestions from @RAM555789 real solid?

[Agall]

3 minutes ago, Christoph98 said:

Ok, so ignoring the budget a little bit, should i consider spending more on a new motherboard + cpu+ ram? Or are the suggestions from @RAM555789 real solid?

Going with a B450 is precisely what I'm arguing against since it doesn't support PCIe 4.0, and a jump to a B550 isn't much in 2023 (for now). That's where if you had to cut a little budget, foregoing the RAM upgrade to afford a better motherboard now is worth it in my opinion.

 

DDR4 is still getting cheaper, so a good kit of DDR4 RAM is easy to get later (for now). Motherboards usually don't get that same treatment, since later down the line, CPUs usually last longer than motherboards, so motherboards in the future are harder to get (that might not be the case with PGA CPUs like AM4, but its still a good rule to follow).

 

That's where getting a 'decent' B550 board now in my opinion is better than any B450 board, especially since PCIe 4.0 is ever increasingly more important to have with PCIe 5.0 picking up steam.

[Christoph98]

10 minutes ago, Agall said:

Going with a B450 is precisely what I'm arguing against since it doesn't support PCIe 4.0, and a jump to a B550 isn't much in 2023 (for now). That's where if you had to cut a little budget, foregoing the RAM upgrade to afford a better motherboard now is worth it in my opinion.

 

DDR4 is still getting cheaper, so a good kit of DDR4 RAM is easy to get later (for now). Motherboards usually don't get that same treatment, since later down the line, CPUs usually last longer than motherboards, so motherboards in the future are harder to get (that might not be the case with PGA CPUs like AM4, but its still a good rule to follow).

 

That's where getting a 'decent' B550 board now in my opinion is better than any B450 board, especially since PCIe 4.0 is ever increasingly more important to have with PCIe 5.0 picking up steam.

Ok sorry i missread. 
So which kind of MSI B550 do you think of exactly? There are so many...
Most have AM4 socket and are ATX but i dont get the other differences

EDIT:Current Upgrades would be:
https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/4FxPVw

But I dont know about coolers and got a warning that the motherboard has an older BIOS version, is Upgrading the BIOS an easy thing for beginners to do?

[Agall]

10 minutes ago, Christoph98 said:

Ok sorry i missread. 
So which kind of MSI B550 do you think of exactly? There are so many...
Most have AM4 socket and are ATX but i dont get the other differences

My general recommendation when choosing between similar motherboards at similar price points is to look at the rear I/O. Sometimes that can be a major difference that's entirely subjective, but sometimes objective. In this case, ignoring the display outputs since most AM4 CPUs don't have an iGPU that can utilize those.

 

I generally recommend for ATX boards, ensuring the first PCIe slot is spaced one down from the socket, therefore starting on the case's second PCIe slot. Otherwise 140mm air coolers won't fit and comparably, its more advantageous to have than the latter. A lot of these motherboards throw the first M.2 slot there which is a good design.

 

If that doesn't help narrow your choice, then I'd look at the motherboard headers and which would work best for your setup, to include fans, USB, EPS, M.2 configuration, etc. 

 

After that the real nitty gritty is looking at things like PCIe configuration, bifurcation support, block diagrams regarding PCIe/SATA, which are all super prosumer level stuff since most people are just building basic gaming PCs in 2023.

 

 

MSI B550-A PRO AM4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Newegg.com Obviously this is in the US, but looks to be a budget B550 board without any real compromises. Has a 16x PCIe 4.0 and M.2 with PCIe 4.0 4x, all that's really needed for a modern gaming system. I'd find this respective model for your retailer of choice to see if its an acceptable price.