I've Got $200 To Upgrade, What Do I Buy?

Thesloth · May 18, 2015

As the title states I've got about $200 for an upgrade to my current rig.

Here's the specs at the moment:

Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower
RAM: Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB)
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 750K Trinity 3.4GHz Socket FM2 100W (With new aftermarket CPU cooler and 4.1GHz overclock)
GPU: SAPPHIRE R9 280
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A55M-E33 FM2 AMD A55 (Hudson D2) HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM
Power Supply: Cooler Master i500 - 500W Power Supply

I'm thinking CPU would be a solid choice seeing my X4 750k is getting fairly old but not completely sure which route to go, any input would help.

Thanks!

Eximo · May 18, 2015

I would save your money for a more worthwhile upgrade. New CPU is going to require a new motherboard.

An SSD would be about the only other thing to get, but it would not improve gaming performance.

Bengal Tiger · May 18, 2015

AMD A10-6800K

Eximo · May 18, 2015

Bengal Tiger :

That would be quite the side grade and kind of pointless with an R9-280 sitting there.

Bengal Tiger · May 18, 2015

Thesloth :

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 and an AMD A10-6800K

Bengal Tiger · May 18, 2015

to be able not to bottleneck your gpu as for the motherboard and newest tech cpu he got only 200 greens he will need a better psu in that case

Thesloth · May 18, 2015

If I say saved up another $100 for a total of around $300 to spend, what do you think would then be a solid route to go? I'm assuming getting a new CPU will need to include a new motherboard/power-source as well judging from the wattage needed and what you guys are saying.

Thesloth · May 18, 2015

Also, side note, would you recommend switching over to intel when I make the upgrade? I mainly use the computer for gaming and streaming games.

Bengal Tiger · May 18, 2015

hmm lets see what kind of changes we can do give me two minutes

Bengal Tiger · May 18, 2015

Most recomend intel but on high end games you better use the amd even if its one year old is more eficient on gaming of multithreading

Bengal Tiger · May 18, 2015

Thesloth :

i would go for

ASUS M5A97 75 $

AMD FX 4350 4.30GHz AM3+ 115$

Corsair Builder Series CX750M 750W 12cm Fan 80+ Bronze Modular 94$

and if you find another 63 $ you go for

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866

Thesloth · May 18, 2015

So I should probably stay AMD until I have the big bucks to spend for say an i7 or something like that?

Eximo · May 18, 2015

This is all terrible advice. I am not sure at all where you are coming from with this...

Why spend money to update the memory? With an APU it makes some sense, but then you would want the fastest memory available, not 1866.

Replacing a 750k with an A10 will achieve no difference in performance other then adding a second GPU that will go unused. They are the same CPU basically. The A10 has integrated graphics, the Athlon is the same CPU with the onboard graphics disabled.

Getting an FX-4350 would be a technology downgrade to a 2 core per module chip rather then the true quad core in the 750k.

I would indeed suggest saving up for an Intel build. With $300 you can pick up a cheaper Z97 motherboard and an unlocked i5 processor. Depending on which CPU cooler you ended up with you could potentially re-use that. Or stick with the Intel stock cooler for a while.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $314.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-18 13:33 EDT-0400

Or a locked processor under $300

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($177.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($81.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $259.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-18 13:34 EDT-0400

Thesloth · May 18, 2015

Eximo :

This is all terrible advice. I am not sure at all where you are coming from with this...

Why spend money to update the memory? With an APU it makes some sense, but then you would want the fastest memory available, not 1866.

Replacing a 750k with an A10 will achieve no difference in performance other then adding a second GPU that will go unused. They are the same CPU basically. The A10 has integrated graphics, the Athlon is the same CPU with the onboard graphics disabled.

Getting an FX-4350 would be a technology downgrade to a 2 core per module chip rather then the true quad core in the 750k.

I would indeed suggest saving up for an Intel build. With $300 you can pick up a cheaper Z97 motherboard and an unlocked i5 processor. Depending on which CPU cooler you ended up with you could potentially re-use that. Or stick with the Intel stock cooler for a while.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $314.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-18 13:33 EDT-0400

Or a locked processor under $300

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($177.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($81.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $259.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-18 13:34 EDT-0400

Thanks for the input man, I was slightly confused at the previous advice seeing that the FX-4350 was basically the same as my current CPU.

I do want to try out Intel seeing as I've only had AMD's in the past, and I'm starting to think the i5 is a full step up from my current setup.

PC tec · May 18, 2015

Eximo :

This is all terrible advice. I am not sure at all where you are coming from with this...

Why spend money to update the memory? With an APU it makes some sense, but then you would want the fastest memory available, not 1866.

Replacing a 750k with an A10 will achieve no difference in performance other then adding a second GPU that will go unused. They are the same CPU basically. The A10 has integrated graphics, the Athlon is the same CPU with the onboard graphics disabled.

Getting an FX-4350 would be a technology downgrade to a 2 core per module chip rather then the true quad core in the 750k.

I would indeed suggest saving up for an Intel build. With $300 you can pick up a cheaper Z97 motherboard and an unlocked i5 processor. Depending on which CPU cooler you ended up with you could potentially re-use that. Or stick with the Intel stock cooler for a while.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $314.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-18 13:33 EDT-0400

Or a locked processor under $300

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($177.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($81.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $259.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-18 13:34 EDT-0400

Save up a bit. Sounds like your doing some gaming. Go for memory if you don't want to save up for more.

fport · May 18, 2015

Oh dear, yes two things that keep a machine viable for a little longer. An SSD - a 500GB SSD now carries over to
your next build. I also routinely double the RAM when I am looking for a little oomph for a few bucks. More, not
faster, helps with everything you do other than gaming.

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I've Got $200 To Upgrade, What Do I Buy?

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Bengal Tiger

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