Trying to upgrade a mid budget PC

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Defiance_14

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Aug 10, 2015
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Hello my experience is rather limited with building computers. So I am a little paranoid that I would end up upgrading parts in my PC that would not make much a difference/not needed when I should have upgraded some other component instead. I am also worried about any major bottlenecks happening with my CPU and GPU if I try to upgrade one of them (Or even my PC as a whole).

My current build is as follows: CPU: AMD Athlon X4 760K
Mobo: MSI A78M-E35
GPU: Sapphire Radeon R7 260X
RAM: 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport
HDD: 1TB Western Digital Black
PSU: 430W Corsair CX430
Case: Corsair SPEC-01

I do know that the first thing I should upgrade should be my PSU for the sake of future proofing for down the road when I can make a jump from mid/low high budget into a high budget PC. I was thinking about purchasing the FSP Hydro G 650 so I shouldn't have to worry about buying a GPU that won't have enough power. For the GPU I was considering either the Radeon R9 270x or the GTX 760ti, but for the CPU I am a little confused as to what I should upgrade it to. I can't spend anymore than $300 on it, and I would prefer to not spend more than $200 so I can still have some money to work towards a new GPU.
 
Solution
G
You can keep your case and hard drive, but I recommend you upgrade all your other parts.
I would add a SSD for your OS and wait till June 29 for the Radeon RX 480.
Also upgrade your CPU to a Skylake i3 (i5 if you can afford it) and RAM to DDR4.
The 700B power supply is great for the money (probably overkill but a great deal), but you could also spend more for Modular/Gold efficiency.
This is the lowest I would go for:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)...
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G

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You can keep your case and hard drive, but I recommend you upgrade all your other parts.
I would add a SSD for your OS and wait till June 29 for the Radeon RX 480.
Also upgrade your CPU to a Skylake i3 (i5 if you can afford it) and RAM to DDR4.
The 700B power supply is great for the money (probably overkill but a great deal), but you could also spend more for Modular/Gold efficiency.
This is the lowest I would go for:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($33.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($35.49 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 700W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($47.99 @ Micro Center)
Other: 4GB Radeon RX 480 (Q3 2016) ($199.99)
Total: $488.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-10 17:57 EDT-0400
 
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Defiance_14

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Aug 10, 2015
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4,510


Quick question dosen't the core i3 have integrated graphics? Would this interfere with a dedicated GPU? If not then it's ok to have the integrated graphics on or do I have to somehow disable it.
 
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The iGPU is set to auto by the BIOS usually, but you can manually enable or disable it. I always leave it on auto in case my GPU dies. It won't interfere with a dedicated GPU.
 
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