What to upgrade first?

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Marksy5

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Apr 18, 2015
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I mainly play games such as SMITE on my pc but have only been getting 30fps at times when playing. I was thinking about upgrading my pc but i don't know what to upgrade.
Current Specs:-
500W FSP Quiet Power Supply - Bronz 80 Plus
AMD Quad-Core A8-6600K APU, 3.9GHz, with Radeon™ HD 8570
8GB 2133MHz DDR3 Memory
2GB AMD Radeon R7 260X Overclocked
samsung evo 250bg ssd

UPDATE
-I'm a student in the UK so don't have a huge budget
-Cpu is actually water cooled with a cooler Master seidon 120V
-Mobo is a
MSI A88XI AC, AMD A88X, S FM2+ Mini ITX Motherboard
-Only have room for 1 gpu as it's a small case to take on the train once a month.


 
Solution
imsqam
Okay, first be advised that you have an FM2/FM2+ mobo/CPU, not an AM2. The two are separate and not compatible.

Using some guess work on models I put your current system into PCPartPicker to see general power draw. The one major item that you didn't provide is the case make/model, with a mini-ITX build space compatibility is going to be a big concern.

PCPartPicker part list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/KBNVHN
Price breakdown by merchant: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/KBNVHN/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD A8-6600K 3.9GHz Quad-Core Processor (£89.04 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI A88XI AC V2 Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard (£82.97 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850...
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mitch074

mitch074

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Mar 17, 2006
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Don't bother upgrading the SSD (it's good) or the PSU (not before it fries).

As your CPU is using an FM2 socket and is among the best you can find for that socket, upgrading anything but the graphic card would mean replacing the motherboard anyway. So, two paths:
- your CPU is a black edition; changing its cooler for a better one would allow you to overclock it some. budget around 50-70 USD or EUR. It won't increase your FPS alone but it might stabilize it.
- increase the amount of RAM to 16 Gb. Depending on what motherboard you have, you'd need to either add 8 Gb or replace your 8Gb with 16 Gb.

Now, for the GPU:
- if I'm not mistaken, you should be able to use both the 8570 and the 260X in Crossfire mode on some games. Making proper use of this would requirededicating 2 Gb of RAM to the 8570 IGP : as such increasing RAM to 16 Gb is mandatory. It will work only with Crossfire-enabled games though.
- disabling the IGP and replacing the video card: your CPU, once overclocked, should be able to drive up to a RadeonHD 380 or a RX460 without too much trouble. You'll double your FPS. This will free up your RAM and staying at 8 Gb should be fine.

So, budget:
- increasing RAM + CPU overclock : 150 + 50 = 200 bucks for 16 Gb more or less (back to imsquam's question: where do you live? What mobo do you have?)
- changing GPU + CPU overclock: 120 + 50 = 170 bucks for a RX460

If you can increase the RAM by 8 Gb provided your motherboard has free slots (it would be a good idea to reduce wear on your SSD), overclock the CPU and change the IGP, that would take you to 70 + 50 + 120 = 240 bucks.

Now, as your motherboard is pretty much an evolutionary dead end, you may want to wait until lower range Ryzen CPUs come out to replace motherboard, processor, RAM and GPU all in one go. It will be more expensive but last longer.
 
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Marksy5

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Post updated with relevant information ^ thanks for the help?
Would upgrading my gpu and overclocking last long before it all needs to be upgrading? Or am I best waiting and upgrading everything later on?
 
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imsqam

imsqam

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Mar 25, 2011
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Okay, first be advised that you have an FM2/FM2+ mobo/CPU, not an AM2. The two are separate and not compatible.

Using some guess work on models I put your current system into PCPartPicker to see general power draw. The one major item that you didn't provide is the case make/model, with a mini-ITX build space compatibility is going to be a big concern.

PCPartPicker part list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/KBNVHN
Price breakdown by merchant: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/KBNVHN/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD A8-6600K 3.9GHz Quad-Core Processor (£89.04 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI A88XI AC V2 Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard (£82.97 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£89.00 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card
Power Supply: FSP Group Berzerker 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Total: £316.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-07 12:45 GMT+0000

Okay, building on what mitch074 suggested, I see two paths too
1) GPU only upgrade with overclock of your APU. Now you have a pretty decent 120mm AIO liquid cooler so no need to upgrade. In fact, with a mini-ITX build this is about as good as it gets. Watch your temps in this mini-ITX build.

But I pick a different path for graphics. The RX 460 is only two tiers above the 260X and you might not see a big difference in performance. As well, if you try to crossfire the APU then you have to match the discrete card performance to the iGPU on the APU
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2126330/apu-gpu-crossfire-compatibility.html
http://www.cpu-world.com/info/AMD/Recommended_graphics_cards_for_AMD_dual-graphics.html

Better to get a GTX 1050 Ti which will pair well with the A8-6600K.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=380,377&sort=a8&page=1
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp%5B%5D=3595&cmp%5B%5D=3557&cmp%5B%5D=2701
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

I would go with this one
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/NndFf7/zotac-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-4gb-mini-video-card-zt-p10510a-10l

And if you are not relying on the iGPU then you can reduce the load on your RAM so you could skip the additional RAM if really needed to. 8GB is today considered a minimum but still playable. You have two slots, I assume they are filled.

2) Upgrade the CPU/mobo/RAM/GPU. This path while more expensive will produce a much faster machine. I think the best path right now for budget builds is with Intel Kaby Lake Pentium processors and not Ryzen. The reason is that Intel has enabled Hyperthreading and now they sport 4 threads but a very low price. The G4560 is that much faster than your A8-6600K.

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-A8-6600K-APU-vs-Intel-Pentium-G4560/m3344vs3892

And we don't know when AMD will be releasing the lower end Ryzen CPU's. Here is my suggestion.

PCPartPicker part list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/QRG4jc
Price breakdown by merchant: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/QRG4jc/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor (£52.34 @ BT Shop)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120V 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£0.00)
Motherboard: MSI B250I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard (£99.80 @ Alza)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£103.62 @ More Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£0.00)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Mini Video Card (£136.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: FSP Group Berzerker 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£0.00)
Total: £392.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-07 13:51 GMT+0000
 
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Solution
mitch074

mitch074

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Mar 17, 2006
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Upgrading your GPU and overclocking should tide you over for a few months - long enough for Ryzen R5 to come out and Intel to react with a price drop on the i5. And then you'll be able to upgrade the rest.
 
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Marksy5

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Apr 18, 2015
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Hi sorry about the lack of information, I wasn't expecting such great responses.
I have 1 8gb stick of memory at the moment and have a slot free.

My case is a corsair 380t and can fit 1 of most graphics cards

I think upgrading my gpu will be my best option and maybe overclocking my APU.

What would be a good Gpu for around £250?

 
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Marksy5

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Apr 18, 2015
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Thanks a lot everyone!
 
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