Looking to Upgrade PC, help with part suggestion please :)

been long time since i upgraded, graphics card is playing up atm so thought id upgrade, tho dont no much about parts, this is what i currently have, what can i salvage from this and what should i upgrade, was thinking graphics card and cpu maybe? honestly dont know whats good, i recently put more ram into it like 2 years ago, if i wanted to play more recent games without any issues on say high or ultra, what would i need to upgrade or do i replace it all?

CPU: Intel Core i5 3470
Mobo: Asus P8B75-M
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3
SSD: Plextor M5S 128GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB (ST2000DM001)
GPU: AMD radeon r9 200
Case: Antec 302
PSU: Antec High Current Gamer 520W
ODD: DVD burner
OS:OEM 64 bit MS Win7 Home Premium

Comments

  • +1

    Upgrade CPU to below,

    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Intel-Xeon-E3-1230-V2-e3-123…

    Wait till July for RX5700 or RTX2060 Super

  • +1

    Your PC is actually still pretty decent! I'd say put the R9 290 up for sale, the rest of the parts aren't probably going to be worth selling - you're better off giving them a new home as a HTPC or NAS or something like that.

    To be honest, probably not the best time to be buying PC hardware because Ryzen 3000 and the new Navi GPUs are around the corner. Regardless of whether you're interested in those specific parts, they'll have a flow on effect to the broader market.

    Ultimately depends on what you want to spend and what resolution you're playing at. If you're on 1080p, then an i5 9400F + GTX 1660 Ti would be a good sweetspot I'd suggest if you really want to hit Ultra. If you're at 1440p, then I'd step up to the 2070 (though the 2080 would serve you for a bit longer). You could spend more on the CPU, but with the i5 9400F around $240 or so, the next "step up" would be to an i7 9700K at around $600, it's just not worth the extra when you could put that towards your GPU.

  • Nothing is salvageable if you want to get a latest or 2nd latest gen pc. All you can do is slightly upgrade that wont really increase the performance much so isnt worth wasting money on.

  • Save your money. Just get a new GPU.

    I'm still running my i7 2600k and have upgraded my GPU and all the latest games run perfectly fine.

    • The issue is that OP's CPU can't be OC'd. I ran my 2600K for ages as well and one of the reasons why it aged so gracefully is because you could really OC the lights out of it. I ran mine at 4.7 GHz which kept it competitive with even the 7700K at stock speeds. Even though it seems like Intel didn't do too much from Sandy Bridge to Many Lake, the IPC improvements were small but consistent and they add up.

      • Thats not an issue as such. Sure his CPU wont be top of the tree any more but its plenty for a newer GPU eg 2060 or a 1070 etc

  • What's your budget?

    I had a similar setup last year and built a whole new system for $900 odd.

    Sold my previous comp for a bargain at $350 so it wasn't all that bad.

  • Ryzen builds are better bang for buck on budget imo

    i5-9400F for 250? and where are these CPUs for that price?

    To answer your question, recommended low end CPU for gaming is i3-46***K. You can go lower but need to max the GPU out for that generation. Higher one may have negative effects.

    Grab everything secondhand except mobo and PSU.

    I spent $650:

    Ryzen 5 2600 150
    Rx 580 180
    B450a pro msi 100
    750 bronze PSU 80plus 80
    16gb LPX VENGENCE ram 80

    Personally… I'd recommend second-hand gaming laptops over gaming desktops if you're gonna exceed 700 unless you already have a mid-high end monitor.

    You'll get a pretty tough one for the same price plus it's portable - for those that care about future upgrades… Grab one with a tb3 output then sli with eGPU when it gets too old.

    By time it gets too old so would the desktop and you'd need to replace pretty much everything and resell for lower than the laptop would.

    Just sold i7-2nd gen XPS 17 for $220, it was basically falling apart and over 10 years old. The same specs for desktop, $100 if lucky.

    But we need to know your budget

    • i5-9400F for 250? and where are these CPUs for that price?

      Anywhere, MSY, CPL…etc. You can get one for around $200 right now on Computer Alliance eBay.

      Personally… I'd recommend second-hand gaming laptops over gaming desktops if you're gonna exceed 700 unless you already have a mid-high end monitor.

      That's bad advice - slower, more expensive, less reliable, less fixable when things go wrong…etc.

      Grab one with a tb3 output then sli with eGPU when it gets too old.

      That's seriously bad advice, you're suggesting SLI in 2019? Really?

      Just sold i7-2nd gen XPS 17 for $220, it was basically falling apart and over 10 years old. The same specs for desktop, $100 if lucky.

      That's a complete lie, you could get around $100+ just for an i7 2600K. You could re-use other desktop parts like PSU, case…etc.

      • Found a lappy on eBay - Dell g7: I7-9th gen/2070rtx for $870.

        You can even find decent desktop builds on ebay

        Or this from Oz bargain:
        https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/465874

        I doubt it would've expire warranty (also eBay has 1 month warranty) or that it's noticably slow and that you could match a build at the same price. (Would link but probably get banned)

        Desktop builds - you could expect 1.4k to be spent. Decent monitor/GPU is already totalling +800

        I7-2nd gen is a bad idea for 250, may as well sell it and buy a Ryzen 2600 for the same price.

        As stated before when the laptop gets too old, sli it… so not sure how you think I said right now.

        Sure but if the PSU is that old, I wouldn't risk it with a new build - if I had too, not for very long. If that PSU caves in due to normal ware and tear, then bye bye expensive computer.

        Sure, the case is probably the ONLY component worthy besides the cables, fans etc. Which doesn't really affect the price-tag anyway since the CPU, GPU & monitor are the heaviest blow to your wallet.

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