What should I upgrade first?

Kolya2013 · Oct 31, 2013

Hey, one of my friends recently sold me his old PC real cheap due to him getting a new computer so it's a little outdated and I'm looking for some advice on what I should be upgrading first. I will be mainly using the PC for gaming, image manipulation, light video editing as well as general tasks. The PC runs modern games (Skyrim, Metro: LL, Crysis 3 ect.) at a decent level but the quality could be a whole lot better. I'm not looking to spend too much money but the budget isn't too tight (I guess food and bills are more important than gaming). I'll include the current specs and my initial thoughts about upgrading and hopefully some of you can give me some input.

CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 Sandybridge 3.1GHz
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD7770 (1GB, GDDR5)
PSU: XFX P1-550S-XXB9 PRO550W
MOBO: Gigabyte H61M-D2H-USB3
RAM: Corsair 8GB 1600Mhz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance
HD: Seagate 500GB(Serial-ATA, 6Gb/s, 16Mb, 7200RPM) + WD Black 1TB (6Gb/s, 64Mb, 7200RPM)

At first viewing of the specs I figured the CPU, GPU and possibly the motherboard would need upgrading so I've had a look at what I can afford. Right now I'm thinking about purchasing a combination of either an Intel Core i7 4770K + Asus Maximus VI Formula motherboard or Intel Core i7 4770K + Asus GeForce GTX660 right now and then purchasing whatever I drop at a later date. I realise I may be going a little overkill but I'd rather not be upgrading again in six months time.

Any recommendations or opinions would be greatly appreciated! Also, please excuse any errors in my typing, English isn't my primary language.

Deuce65 · Oct 31, 2013

If you are changing out the motherboard, cpu, anjd gpu, you aren't really upgraded so much as buying a new computer. But to answer your question the only part on your list would keep is maybe the memory, everything else would be replaced.

Kolya2013 · Nov 1, 2013

Deuce65 :

Yea I know but I don't have the money right now to do a full build so I'd be looking to gradually upgrade parts. Out of the current parts what is most in need of an upgrade?

Deuce65 · Nov 1, 2013

Kolya2013 :

In that case, my suggestion would be to not upgrade anything at all and save your money until you could do it all at once. If you insisted on doing it piecemeal though, I would probably do it like this:

Case, if you're going to be swapping out components you don't want a POS case. Also, that power supply is pretty bad so may as well do these two together.
For the CPU, GPU, and BM, the GPU upgrade will give you the most improvement all at once so maybe do that one next. Save the MB and CPU for last since these need to be done together (your current MB will not take a 4770k). Also, you're going to need to get a CPU cooler at the same time (well, you don't *have* to, but you're picking OC components so I assume you want to OC). You can possibly tone down the MB a bit. I advocate quality in a MB, but at the same time, before buying a 300 dollar MB you probably should be able to answer the question, "what does this MB do, or do better, then this 150 dollar MB over here?"
The HDDs are serviceable and can be upgraded at any time or left alone. Same thing for the memory.

Kolya2013 · Nov 1, 2013

Deuce65 :

Kolya2013 :

In that case, my suggestion would be to not upgrade anything at all and save your money until you could do it all at once. If you insisted on doing it piecemeal though, I would probably do it like this:

Case, if you're going to be swapping out components you don't want a POS case. Also, that power supply is pretty bad so may as well do these two together.
For the CPU, GPU, and BM, the GPU upgrade will give you the most improvement all at once so maybe do that one next. Save the MB and CPU for last since these need to be done together (your current MB will not take a 4770k). Also, you're going to need to get a CPU cooler at the same time (well, you don't *have* to, but you're picking OC components so I assume you want to OC). You can possibly tone down the MB a bit. I advocate quality in a MB, but at the same time, before buying a 300 dollar MB you probably should be able to answer the question, "what does this MB do, or do better, then this 150 dollar MB over here?"
The HDDs are serviceable and can be upgraded at any time or left alone. Same thing for the memory.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I was considering doing it all at once but figured I'd just do it pieces at a time. Should I be aiming for one of the crazy expensive graphics cards or are actually necessary? Same with the i7, would an i5 be suitable or is it worth just paying the extra money so it'll last longer before needing upgraded again?

Deuce65 · Nov 1, 2013

Kolya2013 :

Deuce65 :

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I was considering doing it all at once but figured I'd just do it pieces at a time. Should I be aiming for one of the crazy expensive graphics cards or are actually necessary? Same with the i7, would an i5 be suitable or is it worth just paying the extra money so it'll last longer before needing upgraded again?

Well it depends on what you are planning to do with it exactly. As well, how much disposable cash you have to spend on it. For me, yes the i7 was worth it. It is obviously a better CPU then an i5. You may not find it worth the extra money though if you aren't using CPU intensive applications. Likewise, if you gaming, play older games, one monitor in 1080, then no you probably don't need to spend 700 dollars on a GPU. Etc.

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