~$800 CPU, GPU, Mobo + Ram Upgrade

codelode

Distinguished
Dec 2, 2013
52
5
18,545
Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: First week of August

Budget Range: $500-$800

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, livestreaming, web surfing, rendering (3DS Max, Photoshop, Illustrator, Unity3D, Unreal 4)

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: CPU, GPU, MOBO, RAM(?)

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, fry's electronics, amazon.com

Location: Phoenix, AZ

Parts Preferences: Preferably Intel upgrade, and Nvidia upgrade

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I'm playing games like Warthunder, GTA 5, League of Legends, ArmA 2 & 3, Battlefield 4, etc.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Not getting the FPS I desire in many games. I have a 144fps monitor and would love to be able to run most of my games at max settings and get 144fps, 60fps minimum.

Current Parts:

CPU: AMD FX-6300

GPU: Gigabyte HD 7850 2gb OC

Mobo: MSI 970A G43

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8gb DDR3 1600

PSU: Corsair RM 650

Case: Antec twelve hundred v3

Storage: Intel 730 Series 240gb SSD
Western Digital BLACK Series 1tb

OS: Windows 10 Home

Monitor: ASUS VG248QE

Peripherals: Razer Blackwidow Ultimate 2016
Razer Deathadder Chroma
Kingston HyperX Cloud 2
 
Solution
You could save more than a hundred, but the ability to overclock a processor can sometimes extend it's useful life. You also get a lot of features on the Z170 boards, such as better audio, more SATA and USB ports, faster RAM support, etc.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI B150M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($61.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($31.98 @ Newegg)
Other: GTX 1070 ($379.99)
Total: $668.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker...
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($102.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($43.98 @ Newegg)
Other: GTX 1070 ($379.99)
Total: $790.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-24 18:00 EDT-0400
 

codelode

Distinguished
Dec 2, 2013
52
5
18,545


That's a lot of what I was already looking at, and I already have a 212 EVO on my 6300 so I can just reuse that for the i5. Looks like a good build, I didn't know the 1070 was so cheap compared to the 1080. Thanks for the quick and very detailed response as well. I'll wait for a few more replies to see others ideas before selecting a best solution, but this looks hard to beat.
 

codelode

Distinguished
Dec 2, 2013
52
5
18,545

How much would I save with that compared to the other combination? If it's not more than like $100 then I mine as well stay with your first suggestion and learn to overclock.
 
You could save more than a hundred, but the ability to overclock a processor can sometimes extend it's useful life. You also get a lot of features on the Z170 boards, such as better audio, more SATA and USB ports, faster RAM support, etc.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI B150M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($61.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($31.98 @ Newegg)
Other: GTX 1070 ($379.99)
Total: $668.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-24 18:24 EDT-0400
 
Solution