Need upgrades on sons AMD rig

[Dsmooth]

Ok so 2 years ago I had a Pc built for my son to game on. I knew nothing about pcs. So I went to my local Pc shop. They told me to go AMD! So I did. My sons setup struggles to play doom and cod! I should have went Intel! only if I did my home work before I bought.  His set up is MSI-A88xm gaming motherboard fm2+/fm2 socket, AMD A10-6800k apu, Radeon HD8670d, the ram I believe is 4gb it's just a couple green sticks with black square socket things so not to sure. Power supply is a corsair 750. He games a lot and wants to play all the latest and greatest games! What upgrades should I do to get better performance out of his rig? Thanks in advance!

[gtx1060=value]

2 minutes ago, Dsmooth said:

Ok so 2 years ago I had a Pc built for my son to game on. I knew nothing about pcs. So I went to my local Pc shop. They told me to go AMD! So I did. My sons setup struggles to play doom and cod! I should have went Intel! only if I did my home work before I bought.  His set up is MSI-A88xm gaming motherboard fm2+/fm2 socket, AMD A10-6800k apu, Radeon HD8670d, the ram I believe is 4gb it's just a couple green sticks with black square socket things so not to sure. Power supply is a corsair 750. He games a lot and wants to play all the latest and greatest games! What upgrades should I do to get better performance out of his rig? Thanks in advance!

first of all, sell the rig on ebay for 500 dollars. Then use that money and buy a completely new intel computer. Further upgrading that computer would be a money pit. Just get an intel i5 4960k, 16gb ram, ssd, (you could keep the power supply, it's not bad) and then buy him a gtx 970 graphics card, He will be very thankful. Your wallet on the other hand, will be fairly depleted by the end of the build

[StaffCorporal]

I would get a Skylake i5 and a GTX 1060 or RX 480 (RX 480 does better in this particular game when using Vulkan). Maybe throw in some more RAM.

[ddddanil]

First, get an SSD >=240 gb and migrate your OS (use PartitionWizard). Then get a new vidocard and add some ram. For ram take an 8 gig kit. GPU choice is very dependent on your budget. I recommend new AMD RX series.

That's is very good for now, but you can find some issues later.

 

@gtx1060=value've given a good tip.

[StaffCorporal]

Just now, ddddanil said:

First, get an SSD >=240 gb and migrate your OS (use PartitionWizard). Then get a new vidocard and add some ram. For ram take an 8 gig kit. GPU choice is very dependent on your budget. I recommend new AMD RX series.

That's is very good for now, but you can find some issues later.

 

@gtx1060=value've given a good tip.

The CPU is very weak and doesn't even meet the minimum requirements for running Doom. Therefore he should upgrade that as well.

[Dsmooth]

I have been looking at the AMD Rx 8g 480! butt it's out of stock most places I have looked. I will be picking up a ssd today. The ram should be ddr3 right? For that motherboard! What ram do you recommend?

[StaffCorporal]

3 minutes ago, Dsmooth said:

I have been looking at the AMD Rx 8g 480! butt it's out of stock most places I have looked. I will be picking up a ssd today. The ram should be ddr3 right? For that motherboard! What ram do you recommend?

If you can't get a RX 480, then a GTX 1060 (preferably the 6GB version) will do fine as well.

 

You should really get a new CPU and that means getting a new motherboard and RAM as well. You will need a 100-series motherboard for a Skylake CPU. Check the motherboard specs for RAM compatibility, most will use DDR4.

[stconquest]

11 minutes ago, Dsmooth said:

Ok so 2 years ago I had a Pc built for my son to game on. I knew nothing about pcs. So I went to my local Pc shop. They told me to go AMD! So I did. My sons setup struggles to play doom and cod! I should have went Intel! only if I did my home work before I bought.  His set up is MSI-A88xm gaming motherboard fm2+/fm2 socket, AMD A10-6800k apu, Radeon HD8670d, the ram I believe is 4gb it's just a couple green sticks with black square socket things so not to sure. Power supply is a corsair 750. He games a lot and wants to play all the latest and greatest games! What upgrades should I do to get better performance out of his rig? Thanks in advance!

You have to give us a budget.  Also, how many of your current parts are you comfortable using?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($198.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($51.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($33.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: PNY GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Video Card  ($249.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $603.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-04 14:38 EDT-0400

 

 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

5 minutes ago, gtx1060=value said:

first of all, sell the rig on ebay for 500 dollars. Then use that money and buy a completely new intel computer. Further upgrading that computer would be a money pit. Just get an intel i5 4960k, 16gb ram, ssd, (you could keep the power supply, it's not bad) and then buy him a gtx 970 graphics card, He will be very thankful. Your wallet on the other hand, will be fairly depleted by the end of the build

And who exactly is going to pay him the price of a new intel computer for his used APU build? 

 

5 minutes ago, ddddanil said:

First, get an SSD >=240 gb and migrate your OS (use PartitionWizard). Then get a new vidocard and add some ram. For ram take an 8 gig kit. GPU choice is very dependent on your budget. I recommend new AMD RX series.

That's is very good for now, but you can find some issues later.

 

@gtx1060=value've given a good tip.

Moving to 8 GBs could help, especially since you are using the iGPU, so you are sharing RAM between CPU and GPU. If you add a GPU, you may or may not need to move to 8GB, you would have to check usage in that scenario, but most likely going 8GB will help.

The most obvious upgrade is to add a discrete GPU, which you can later move to a different build if you decide to take upgrades to the next level, and it's certainly holding you back here.  If you have a good cooler, you can overclock the CPU to get some additional performance out of it, and see it improves your experience.

The SSD will make boot times much shorter and overall increase the responsiveness of the system, but it won't do much for gaming unless you hit your RAM limit and start paging too much. Increasing the RAM to 8GB will most likely prevent this altogether.

[stconquest]

4 minutes ago, Dsmooth said:

I have been looking at the AMD Rx 8g 480! butt it's out of stock most places I have looked. I will be picking up a ssd today. The ram should be ddr3 right? For that motherboard! What ram do you recommend?

The RX 480 is good, but the GTX 1060 is the same price and a better card all around for now.

[ddddanil]

7 minutes ago, Dsmooth said:

What ram do you recommend?

Yes, DDR3. G-Skill Ripjaws X is a good choice.

[Dsmooth]

3 minutes ago, stconquest said:

You have to give us a budget.  Also, how many of your current parts are you comfortable using?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($198.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($51.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($33.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: PNY GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Video Card  ($249.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $603.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-04 14:38 EDT-0400

 

 

I would like to just upgrade his rig for now but that price is good to! $1200us would be the budget because I am going to do my first pc build after refreshing his!

[stconquest]

Just now, Dsmooth said:

I would like to just upgrade his rig for now but that price is good to! $1200us would be the budget because I am going to do my first pc build after refreshing his!

$1200?  That includes your PC as well?

[ddddanil]

1 minute ago, Dsmooth said:

$1200us

You can throw that pc out of the window with this budget. Try to sell the parts, it's really easier to start from scratch.

[Dsmooth]

3 minutes ago, stconquest said:

$1200?  That includes your PC as well?

No $1200 for his and $1200 for mine

[stconquest]

2 minutes ago, ddddanil said:

You can throw that pc out of the window with this budget. Try to sell the parts, it's really easier to start from scratch.

He could use the current rig as a home theater PC.  He does not have to throw it out. 

[ddddanil]

Just now, stconquest said:

He could use the current rig as a home theater PC.  He does not have to throw it out. 

Or make a home server, as I did with my old rig.

[stconquest]

Just now, Dsmooth said:

No $1200 for his and $1200 for mine

That is a lot of money, a decent budget...

 

Last questions:

 

1.  Do you need an OS/Windows 10?

 

2.  Do you need a monitor for either of the PCs?

 

2.  Do you need peripherals? Keyboard, mouse, speakers, headset.

[Dsmooth]

A lot of good advice so far keep it coming. 

[Vadise]

You don't need to purchase an entire new system. Since you have an FM2+ Motherboard, you can just get an Athlon X4 from the top of their Athlon line and an RX video card. Ram speed and CPU prowess is not the main kicker in games like Doom. Perhaps on CPU heavy titles like Cities XL and such.

[Dsmooth]

Just now, stconquest said:

That is a lot of money, a decent budget...

 

Last questions:

 

1.  Do you need an OS/Windows 10?

 

2.  Do you need a monitor for either of the PCs?

 

2.  Do you need peripherals? Keyboard, mouse, speakers, headset.

Nope I have all that stuff. Might not be the best but will get by for now. 

[ddddanil]

@Vadise has a point. Mobo isn't that old.

[stconquest]

18 minutes ago, Dsmooth said:

Nope I have all that stuff. Might not be the best but will get by for now. 

Okay, $1200 gets you big performance... I mean i7 6700K + GTX 1070 level performance... Do you want to go that high end?

 

Example:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($324.99 @ SuperBiiz)  <<Best gaming CPU on the market
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-E ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($127.99 @ SuperBiiz)  <<SLI capable
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($74.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING Video Card  ($409.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($71.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($64.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Fan: be quiet! Pure Wings 2 61.2 CFM  140mm Fan  ($8.90 @ Newegg)  <<Front intake
Case Fan: be quiet! Pure Wings 2 61.2 CFM  140mm Fan  ($8.90 @ Newegg)  <<Front intake
Total: $1196.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-04 14:58 EDT-0400

 

If you like the idea of being able to install a second GTX 1070, you would need a bigger PSU.  Something like this:  http://pcpartpicker.com/product/zTdqqs/seasonic-power-supply-ss750am2

[StaffCorporal]

19 minutes ago, stconquest said:

Okay, $1200 gets you big performance... I mean i7 6700K + GTX 1070 level performance... Do you want to go that high end?

 

Example:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($324.99 @ SuperBiiz)  <<Best gaming CPU on the market
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-E ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($127.99 @ SuperBiiz)  <<SLI capable
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($74.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING Video Card  ($409.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($71.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($64.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Fan: be quiet! Pure Wings 2 61.2 CFM  140mm Fan  ($8.90 @ Newegg)  <<Front intake
Case Fan: be quiet! Pure Wings 2 61.2 CFM  140mm Fan  ($8.90 @ Newegg)  <<Front intake
Total: $1196.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-04 14:58 EDT-0400

 

If you like the idea of being able to install a second GTX 1070, you would need a bigger PSU.  Something like this:  http://pcpartpicker.com/product/zTdqqs/seasonic-power-supply-ss750am2

For gaming there is no reason to get an i7. You could get a much larger and better SSD with the money you save by buying an i5-6600K

[stconquest]

10 minutes ago, StaffCorporal said:

For gaming there is no reason to get an i7. You could get a much larger and better SSD with the money you save by buying an i5-6600K

There is a reason, more performance.  Sure you are paying $100 more over a i5 6600K, but it is not useless.

 

1.  Higher clock out of the box.

 

2.  A rather large performance boost when an application/game can use more than four threads... 20-40%?

 

3.  Better streaming capability, I like to stream now and then.  My i5 3570K does okay, but an i7 would do it better.

 

So, yes you pay a premium... but you get more.

 

Just because this is a "gaming" PC, does not mean the only thing the user will ever do is game.  3d modelling, video/audio editing, and a slew of other hobbies might be desirable not today, but 6 months or a year down the road.  The i7 will greatly benefit many tasks.