Help uprgading 5yr old desktop

[ErlendK]

I have a desktop that i built 5 years ago that i would like to upgrade for better gaming performance. I need some help figuring out if it is really worth it putting any money into this system and if so, what should i be spending my money on. I'm looking to spend no more than 500 USD. 

 

Here is my current system:

 

Cooler Master Elite 310

 

Corsair VX 550W PSU
ATX 12V V2.2, 80 Plus, Standard, 1x 6pin, 1x 6+2-p

 

Intel Core? i5 Dual Processor i5-660
Dual Core, 3.33Ghz, Socket 1156, 4MB, 73W, 

 

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA2
16MB 7200RPM

 

ASUS P7P55D, P55, Socket-1156
DDR3, ATX, GbLAN, Firewire, eSATA, PCI-Ex(2.0)x16

 

ASUS GeForce GTS 450 1GB PhysX CUDA
PCI-Express 2.0, "DirectCU", GDDR5, 1xDVI

 

Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz 4GB CL9
Kit w/2x 2GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24, for Core i5

 

The links are to a Norwegian site, sorry.

 

 

Thanks

[fank]

Buy SSD, replace graphics card

[Streetguru]

 

I have a desktop that i built 5 years ago that i would like to upgrade for better gaming performance. I need some help figuring out if it is really worth it putting any money into this system and if

 

Get an SSD and a 380 GPU, you should be all set

[Belgarathian]

Buy SSD, replace graphics card

 

Get an SSD and a 380 GPU, you should be all set

 

 

Guys, you've missed that the i5 is a dual core which is going to bottleneck most titles. You should look at quad core second hand i5s on eBay or AMD chipsets. 

 

I'd recommend a cheap i5 quad core & MB combo, 8GB of RAM (upgrade later to 16), and a new GPU... Something like a 380/370 or 970/960. Grab an SSD if you can afford it too. Anything over 60GB for your OS would be fine. 

 

Being that your budget is $500, possibly picking up some 2nd hand cards like the 280X, or 290 could work in your favor too. 

[Streetguru]

Guys, you've missed that the i5 is a dual core which is going to bottleneck most titles. You should look at quad core second hand i5s on eBay or AMD chipsets.

It's got hyper threaded, it would be fine overall, a GPU is going to be more important than a new CPU, though an 860K isn't very expensive in most places

[Sam Z Man]

It's got hyper threaded, it would be fine overall, a GPU is going to be more important than a new CPU, though an 860K isn't very expensive in most places

His CPU is literally on par with a 860k.

[Streetguru]

His CPU is literally on par with a 860k.

So not much reason to replace it with a 500 dollar budget then, although I'm sure the 860k is at least a little bit faster

[dizmo]

Honestly? I'd sell the current rig and use the money towards something better.

Figure you can get about $225 USD for it.

 

You could build something like this:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($174.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($19.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-GAMING 3 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($59.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX200 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 390 8GB PCS+ Video Card  ($293.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($36.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $741.69

 

Naturally your local market will likely have different retail pricing, but your used market will also be different so you might end up getting more for your old rig.

[Sam Z Man]

So not much reason to replace it with a 500 dollar budget then, although I'm sure the 860k is at least a little bit faster

No the 860K is 7% slower.

[Streetguru]

No the 860K is 7% slower.

Well where are you getting that?

[Sam Z Man]

Well where are you getting that?

Userbench

[Streetguru]

Userbench

It seems relatively even overall, the breakdown puts them within 2% of each other, not sure if he can overclock his CPU well with his current set up though

[Sam Z Man]

It seems relatively even overall, the breakdown puts them within 2% of each other, not sure if he can overclock his CPU well with his current set up though

Look at the power delivery on that motherboard, it has 12+2 phase power delivery that thing would rock it like a boss, I would recommend he spends 60$ on a quad core 1156 CPU on eBay, then buy a hyper 212 and then attempt to BCLK overclock it to around 3.5-4.0ghz, that would solve his CPU problems for just under 100$.

Then upgrade to 8gb of ram for about 40$.

Get better PSU for about 60$.

Buy a 390 with money left over.

[ErlendK]

Thank you guys for all the input. Think I'm gonna wait till I have some more money and get a new mother board or just get a completely new system