Help on mediocre - PC upgrade ! I have $400-500

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Tanmay_2

Commendable
Jun 28, 2016
7
0
1,510
AMD 860k
GTX 960 EVGA ACX
8 GB 1600Mhz ram
1 TB Hard drive
MSI a78 - E35 motherboard

That is my hardware currently (i know it sucks...), and I am struggling to play games at 60 FPS at 900p. I want a gaming build in which I will not have to worry about what frame rates I will get on high settings AT 1080p. I have 400$ to spend on upgrading my build and I might push it to $500 if necessary.

I was thinking of putting and i5 6500, a new case, and an SSD. The problem is that I do not know whether this will make my computer a computer in which I do not need to worry about the settings.

What do you guys think I should do to upgrade? I want to be as CHEAP as possible, so I am willing to use eBay too.

Thanks.
 
Solution
synphul
If gaming is your priority and you're on a budget I'd put the money toward performance rather than other things like a case and ssd. Those aren't going to improve fps. This is slightly over budget but the difference could be made up by selling your current cpu/mobo and gpu.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($44.18 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SC GAMING Video Card ($244.98 @ Newegg)
Total:...
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synphul

synphul

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Mar 11, 2011
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If gaming is your priority and you're on a budget I'd put the money toward performance rather than other things like a case and ssd. Those aren't going to improve fps. This is slightly over budget but the difference could be made up by selling your current cpu/mobo and gpu.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($44.18 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SC GAMING Video Card ($244.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $541.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-27 06:20 EDT-0400

You could also get it down to around $500 by going with a 3gb 1060 instead of the 6gb.
 
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Solution
Isokolon

Isokolon

Judicious
Jul 24, 2016
6,369
112
34,390
I think the 960 is still pretty viable. yes a 1060 will increase fps but a friend of mine got a 960 and he can play new games like bf1 or hitman just fine with it and it looks very good.
so I think saving some money, upgrading the CPU and getting 16 GB RAM is the way to go for now
the GPU can be upgraded at a later date (for example when AMD releases it's new set of cards which will at least bring the price down on these fancy 1070s and 1060s)

 
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Ecky

Ecky

Illustrious
Feb 3, 2013
7,592
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38,960
Your CPU limits your max framerate. No matter what GPU you have, your framerate will never be higher than your CPU can deliver.

Your GPU determines what graphical settings you need to run to get a certain framerate. Faster cards can get more frames at the same graphical settings, or run higher graphical settings at the same framerate, but never higher than your CPU can deliver.

You need a CPU adequate for your desired framerates first.

My recommendation:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($39.99 @ Directron)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($95.32 @ B&H)
Total: $394.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-27 08:55 EDT-0400


Here's the thing - if you want a new case too, you're only short a power supply and video card of having an entirely new PC, from scratch, and chances are pretty good you might want a higher quality power supply anyway.

It's possible to downgrade to an i3 6100 and fit in something like a GTX 1060, which would be close to twice as fast as your GTX 960, and still be under the $500 limit. You'd have an entirely new, second PC at that point.
 
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Tanmay_2

Commendable
Jun 28, 2016
7
0
1,510


What performance difference would the 3GB model have with the 6GB? Also, I do want to get a bigger ATX motherboard so I can add my wireless networking card.
 
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Tanmay_2

Commendable
Jun 28, 2016
7
0
1,510


The graphics card is fine, it's just that it only has 2GB of VRAM, which leads to so much stuttering. I honestly hate it.
 
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T

Tanmay_2

Commendable
Jun 28, 2016
7
0
1,510


I only want some processor that is a true quad core. My mind is set on the 6500. Also for the parts that you have picked, is it possible to have the same price on amazon? I love their customer service, therefore I only want to buy from them. I need a new case because I want an ATX case because I want an ATX motherboard with more PCIe slots. My power supply is a modular corsair, and it was a $60 power supply, so I think it is fine. Is there anything else you can recommend?
 
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synphul

synphul

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Mar 11, 2011
9,477
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This article compares the two models, 3gb vs 6gb of vram. Some games it will make little to no difference, others if they rely heavily on vram at higher quality settings will exhibit a noticeable difference. Aside from the vram the other slight difference is the 3gb version loses 1 streaming multiprocessor, 1 less texture cluster and 8 texture mapping units.

http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2604-gtx-1060-3gb-vs-6gb-benchmark-review/page-5
 
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