What should my first upgrade be?

soadman89 · Dec 28, 2017

Hi guys I have around a £300 budget for my first upgrade. Could you recommend what the first thing would be to upgrade from the below build?

Thanks

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor (£63.94 @ AWD-IT)
Motherboard: MSI - B250M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£53.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 series 8GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte - Radeon RX 580 8GB Gaming 8G Video Card (£259.98 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£63.99 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£85.62 @ Aria PC)
Case Fan: Fractal Design - SSR3-140-WT 56.1 CFM 140mm Fan (£7.99 @ Novatech)
DREVO X1 Series 240GB SSD 2.5-inch Solid State Drive SATA3 Read 550MB/S Write 470M/S

mcconkeymike · Dec 28, 2017

First things first, SSD for Windows install and use your 1TB drive as storage/game drive. After that, think about an i5, the fastest you can afford.

jr9 · Dec 28, 2017

Is that build your current or planned build?

Coming from an older platform that doesn't use DDR4 or LGA1151 makes the first 3 not usable until you get the other 2. Case and PSU might be underwelming without new parts to put into them. HDD or SSD might be nice although Windows will need to be transfered on the boot drive.

I'd upgrade the graphics card first. It's one of the easiest parts to change and you notice performance gains right away. Breathes life into even a first gen core i7 system.

soadman89 · Dec 28, 2017

Hi, This is my current build.
I actually have an SSD. I bought that seperately and forgot to add to the build. I'll do it just now.

What CPU or graphics card would you recommend?

jr9 · Dec 28, 2017

soadman89 :

Understood now. Coming from the posted build then, I would upgrade the CPU instead. You won't get something significantly better than the RX 580 for £300. 1070 starts at £350. I would look at the 1070GTX though in the future, will give about 40% more performance. RX580 still an excellent card. Your board supports 7th gen Skylake processors so I would update the BIOS and opt for a CPU upgrade such as the 7700k, 7600k, or an I5 level chip like the 7500.They would be a massive step up from Pentium.

Countgreen · Dec 28, 2017

Upgrade the CPU. The 7600k is a good option. The Pentium looks like the biggest bottleneck in your system right now. You will probably see some fps increases.

soadman89 · Dec 28, 2017

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-i5-7500-Frequency-Cache-Processor/dp/B01MZZJ1P0

would this one do?

Countgreen · Dec 28, 2017

soadman89 :

Yes

soadman89 · Dec 28, 2017

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Core-i5-7600K-QuadCore-Cache/dp/B01MRRPPQS/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1514514169&sr=1-1&keywords=7600k&th=1

I was looking at this one but on amazon has 2 options one at £195 the other at £278, not to sound stupid but whats the difference? :O

jr9 · Dec 28, 2017

soadman89 :

The first one is the 7600k and the other is 7700k. More cost vs more performance.

soadman89 · Dec 28, 2017

Ahhh, great thanks jr9, countgreen & mcconkeymike!

I think I will go with https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Core-i5-7600K-QuadCore-Cache/dp/B01MRRPPQS/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1514514169&sr=1-1&keywords=7600k&th=1

its £30 more but still under budget!

Thanks

Countgreen · Dec 28, 2017

soadman89 :

it shows it in usd on mine and for some reason even after converting pounds to dollars it doesn't have the same price lol... but I would assume the more expensive one has a cooler with it.
Correction after it decided to go to the uk website... one is the 7700k and the other is the i5 but stick with the i5 its under budget

soadman89 · Dec 28, 2017

Would I need to do a BIOS update for this processor?! I read some instructions but it seems rather complicated (p.s. this is the first computer I have built so im completely new so apologies for the questions!)

Thanks

madmatt30 · Dec 29, 2017

Buying a quad core for £200 when its nearly 2018 makes very little sense at all.

Even less than no sense at all really when you also need to add a £30 cooler to it because it doesnt come with one.

https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/Intel+Core+i7+7700+3.6GHz+Kaby+Lake+Processor+?productId=67059

But the i7 7700, at £240 from aria its pretty much a bargain comparatively , it comes with a cooler .

That way you've gone the full performance upgrade on your current platform in one hit.

Its substantially better than the i5 & longetivity wise you'll get 4 or 5 years out of it no doubt.

Quad cores are beiginning to show perfoemance deficits in newer titles now , that is only going to get worse in the future.

jr9 · Dec 29, 2017

soadman89 :

It probably doesn't require one but I like to do one anyways just to eliminate any chance of bugs or errors. There is no sadder feeling then having to reinstall the old processor so you can update the BIOS for the new one. It's pretty simple: you go to the motherboard maker's website and download the BIOS and put the file on the flash drive. Then go into the BIOS settings (del at startup) and there use M-flash and select the BIOS file you downloaded. Don't interrupt it though or you risk bricking the motherboard.

As stated, consider a non K version Core i7 7th gen if you can afford one, it will squeeze the most life out of your motherboard.

Finstar · Dec 29, 2017

+1 for the i7 7700.
Those old non ht quadcores are already seeing performance issues in latest triple a games and that's only gonna get worse in the future as 6+ cores are starting to become the standard.

soadman89 · Dec 30, 2017

Great thanks everyone for their suggestions and comments! I really appreciate it. I think I will go for the one linked by MadMatt30. Also when I get paid at the end of January, I will have some more money to spend around £500. What 1070GTX card would anyone recommend? Just searched on aria and there is 2 pages worth and to be honest I dont know which one would be more suitable.

Thanks

soadman89 · Jan 5, 2018

madmatt30 :

Hi I was going to order this tonight, you mentioned quad cores are beginning to show performance deficits in newer titles. However, the one you have linked is quad core. Would this matter?

Also this is the same one right? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Core-i7-7700-QuadCore-Cache/dp/B01N0L41N7/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1515183118&sr=1-1&keywords=Intel%2BCore%2Bi7%2B7700%2BKaby%2BLake%2BProcessor&th=1

If it is I would buy form amazon as I have prime and £30 voucher.

Thanks

madmatt30 · Jan 6, 2018

soadman89 :

madmatt30 :

Hi I was going to order this tonight, you mentioned quad cores are beginning to show performance deficits in newer titles. However, the one you have linked is quad core. Would this matter?

Also this is the same one right? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Core-i7-7700-QuadCore-Cache/dp/B01N0L41N7/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1515183118&sr=1-1&keywords=Intel%2BCore%2Bi7%2B7700%2BKaby%2BLake%2BProcessor&th=1

If it is I would buy form amazon as I have prime and £30 voucher.

Thanks

yes the one at £256 is the i7,i7's are essentially still quad cores on a hardware level but have hyper threading which doubles the available thread count.

This makes them a far better choice than the i5's.

soadman89 · Jan 7, 2018

I actually bought this https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01LTI1JEM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - was a bit more expensive but was recommended. I installed it today and noticed a huge difference when streaming and playing. Safe to say im happy I upgraded the CPU! Thank you for your recommendation.

What should my first upgrade be?

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