I need help upgrading a friends "gaming pc"

[TheRoyalScrumpy]

i have a friend that i enjoy playing games with, the problem is his pc cant even handle tf2 at medium, and that makes me sad so i thought i could help him upgrade it

and as i dont know alot about amd i figured i could ask for help here.

specs: 

Card : AMD Radeon HD8470D 

Prossesor : AMD A6-6400k

Ram : 4gb 

motherbord : MSI A78M-E35 (MS-7721)

PSU : SPI - 350watt

i was planning on buying a upgrade kit with a new motherbord, intel i5 and 8gb ram but maybe its possible to save it

 

so i was wondering if anyone could tell me how i can boost performance or if i should just scrap the thing and get him a new one

 

 

[Streetguru]

1 minute ago, TheRoyalScrumpy said:

i have a friend that i enjoy playing games with, the problem is his pc cant even handle tf2 at medium, and that makes me sad

 

Is his RAM single channel or dual channel? How fast is it?

Also what budget?

[TheRoyalScrumpy]

Just now, Streetguru said:

Is his RAM single channel or dual channel? How fast is it?

Also what budget?

as im the one upgrading i dont really have a budget, i just want him to be able to play games with me, but i dont want to spend too much either

[Streetguru]

Just now, TheRoyalScrumpy said:

as im the one upgrading i dont really have a budget, i just want him to be able to play games with me, but i dont want to spend too much either

Well what's his RAM? if it's single channel then it's signifigantly slowing down the APU, and that could be why it doesn't  run TF2, because I used that APU for a while and ran Dota 2 with no issues, with 1866mhz dual channel RAM, it even emulated kingdom hearts once overclocked.

[Deusrex]

Just now, TheRoyalScrumpy said:

as im the one upgrading i dont really have a budget, i just want him to be able to play games with me, but i dont want to spend too much either

Video card, is the obvious choice, and a second stick of ram, if he isn't using duel channel.

[Deusrex]

I'd go with a R9 380 if you want to go for a new card, or find a used R7 280 / GTX 760.

[TheRoyalScrumpy]

2 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Well what's his RAM? if it's single channel then it's signifigantly slowing down the APU, and that could be why it doesn't  run TF2, because I used that APU for a while and ran Dota 2 with no issues, with 1866mhz dual channel RAM, it even emulated kingdom hearts once overclocked.

hold on, lemme check 

[stealth80]

also probably going to need a new PSU

[techguru]

Card : AMD Radeon HD8470D ..upgrade to like a amd 370 or a nvidia 950

Prossesor : AMD A6-6400k..upgrade to like a intel i3 for cheap

Ram : 4gb ..1 more 4gb stick

motherbord : MSI A78M-E35 (MS-7721)...change to a intel b85 or h97 board

PSU : SPI - 350watt...upgrade to a better psu..atleast 500w

[SImoHayha]

19 minutes ago, TheRoyalScrumpy said:

i have a friend that i enjoy playing games with, the problem is his pc cant even handle tf2 at medium, and that makes me sad so i thought i could help him upgrade it

and as i dont know alot about amd i figured i could ask for help here.

specs: 

Card : AMD Radeon HD8470D 

Prossesor : AMD A6-6400k

Ram : 4gb 

motherbord : MSI A78M-E35 (MS-7721)

PSU : SPI - 350watt

i was planning on buying a upgrade kit with a new motherbord, intel i5 and 8gb ram but maybe its possible to save it

 

so i was wondering if anyone could tell me how i can boost performance or if i should just scrap the thing and get him a new one

 

 

Well a cheaper thing would be. Getting 8 GB of ram that is 2122 mhz speed. The faster the RAM the more better the APU performs. Of course overclocking would help too so grab him a new CPU cooler as well to over clock that badboy. 

[Mcmole]

Cheapest thing to do would be this:

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($17.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $249.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-06 21:22 EST-0500

 

 

And overclock that AMD Processor, later on do a motherboard and CPU upgrade.. But this will get decent FPS at high to ultra in basically anything

[TheRoyalScrumpy]

19 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Well what's his RAM? if it's single channel then it's signifigantly slowing down the APU, and that could be why it doesn't  run TF2, because I used that APU for a while and ran Dota 2 with no issues, with 1866mhz dual channel RAM, it even emulated kingdom hearts once overclocked.

yepp its single channel 4gb

[TheRoyalScrumpy]

9 minutes ago, Mcmole said:

Cheapest thing to do would be this:

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($17.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $249.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-06 21:22 EST-0500

 

 

And overclock that AMD Processor, later on do a motherboard and CPU upgrade.. But this will get decent FPS at high to ultra in basically anything

i was thinking something like that, i just didnt know what amd card or if the apu was good enough as i run intel myself

[Streetguru]

28 minutes ago, TheRoyalScrumpy said:

yepp its single channel 4gb

Well that would be why it runs so bad, just pick up some 2400mhz RAM and you should be good to go for a while, even if the board doesn't support it the RAM will generally be more stable when it's under clocked

And then I included an option CPU upgrade, try just the RAM first, then upgrade the CPU to any A8 or higher 6xxx APU, you'll need to extra cores if you ever get a dedicated GPU, or just have him save up for like an i3 + 380 card, saving up for a new platform and CPU is going to be the best option, the APU below would perform just under these benchmarks here

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2013/08/21/the-verdict-on-amds-a8-6600k-and-surprising-revelations-testing-an-a10-6800k-with-dual-graphics/#3a27c3672a33

if you buy just a 2nd stick of 4Gbs there's a good chance it won't run in dual channel mode without tons of work, even if it's the same kind of memory, best to buy a kit and call it a day
 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r4Kz23
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r4Kz23/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD A8-6500 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  ($38.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $128.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-06 21:50 EST-0500

 

[TheRoyalScrumpy]

1 minute ago, Streetguru said:

Well that would be why it runs so bad, just pick up some 2400mhz RAM and you should be good to go for a while, even if the board doesn't support it the RAM will generally be more stable when it's under clocked

And then I included an option CPU upgrade, try just the RAM first, then upgrade the CPU to any A8 or higher 6xxx APU, you'll need to extra cores if you ever get a dedicated GPU, or just have him save up for like an i3 + 380 card
 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r4Kz23
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r4Kz23/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD A8-6500 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  ($38.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $128.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-06 21:50 EST-0500

 

sounds simple enough, but i was thinking about a upgrade kit with a new motherbord, i5 - 4460 and 8gb ddr3 ram, its not that expensive where i live so

[Streetguru]

2 minutes ago, TheRoyalScrumpy said:

sounds simple enough, but i was thinking about a upgrade kit with a new motherbord, i5 - 4460 and 8gb ddr3 ram, its not that expensive where i live so

Is that without a GPU? because with proper memory, as far gaming goes I can't imagine intel's iGPU on that chip is going to have any real advantage over his current set up.

 

Also if you're willing to spend that much then just upgrade the CPU to a 750K and get a 360 GPU
 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wNX4yc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wNX4yc/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($89.75 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 360 2GB Core Edition Video Card  ($100.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $190.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-06 21:58 EST-0500

[TheRoyalScrumpy]

1 minute ago, Streetguru said:

Is that without a GPU? because with proper memory, as far gaming goes I can't imagine intel's iGPU on that chip is going to have any real advantage over his current set up.

 

Also if you're willing to spend that much then just upgrade the CPU to a 750K and get a 360 GPU
 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wNX4yc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wNX4yc/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($89.75 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 360 2GB Core Edition Video Card  ($100.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $190.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-06 21:58 EST-0500

oh i forgot to mention ill have to get a new psu probably a 650 or 700, and i got a spare msi 970 i could throw in

[Streetguru]

1 minute ago, TheRoyalScrumpy said:

oh i forgot to mention ill have to get a new psu probably a 650 or 700, and i got a spare msi 970 i could throw in

Well if you have all that then ya an i5 + 970 would be the way to go

[Mcmole]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($224.95 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($17.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $312.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-06 22:11 EST-0500

 

Add your 970 to this and you have yourself a REALLY nice gaming rig.

[TheRoyalScrumpy]

38 minutes ago, Mcmole said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($224.95 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($17.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $312.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-06 22:11 EST-0500

 

Add your 970 to this and you have yourself a REALLY nice gaming rig.

would i need to buy a new motherbord or would the one he already have work for this, also i will need a new cpu cooler as i dont trust the stock one 

[Mcmole]

you would need a new Motherboard.

 

I changed the CPU down to a cheaper I5 to keep it at the same sort of cost.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($74.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($17.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $337.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-07 00:47 EST-0500

 

This also includes the price of a decent cooler.