CPU or GPU upgrade??

I would have to say there isnt much you could upgrade but if you were going to, judging by what you said about your programs being CPU intensive, that the obvious choice would be to upgrade your I5 to an I7.

Seeing as how your available budget wouldnt be able to get anything much better than your R9 380X right now with the market being altered by the crypto-craze and GPUs being very much overpriced. You should get a new processor.

Remember to make sure the processor youre going to purchase is the same socket as your existing CPU, so that they fit into the same motherboard.

Good luck, hope this helps.

I think you have answered your own question.

A H110 motherboard will run a I7-7700K which costs about $310.
That is as good as you can do without changing your motherboard.
You will also need to budget $35 or so for a better than stock cooler.
Your I5-6500 runs at 3.2 with a turbo to 3.6 for one fast core.
I7-7700K runs at 4.2 with a turbo of 4.5.
That is what you will get using a H110 motherboard since overclocking is not possible.

If you buy a Z270 based motherboard, you can run a I5-7600K or a I7-7700K at an
overclocked speed around 4.9 depending on your luck in getting a good chip.

Here is my stock answer to this question, test whatever you think is appropriate:

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer with many participants tend to like many threads.

You need to find out which.
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

I think you have answered your own question.

A H110 motherboard will run a I7-7700K which costs about $310.
That is as good as you can do without changing your motherboard.
You will also need to budget $35 or so for a better than stock cooler.
Your I5-6500 runs at 3.2 with a turbo to 3.6 for one fast core.
I7-7700K runs at 4.2 with a turbo of 4.5.
That is what you will get using a H110 motherboard since overclocking is not possible.

If you buy a Z270 based motherboard, you can run a I5-7600K or a I7-7700K at an
overclocked speed around 4.9 depending on your luck in getting a good chip.

Here is my stock answer to this question, test whatever you think is appropriate:

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer with many participants tend to like many threads.

You need to find out which.
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Hopping on this thread a bit late, looks like you play a bunch of MMO's. which if i remember correctly, are very CPU Intensive.

Upgrade CPU.