Looking for upgrade help/path/suggestions

SSGCatfish

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So this is my current build:

-ASUS F2A55-M LK PLUS FM2 AMD A55 (Hudson D2)
-AMD A4-5300 Trinity 3.4GHz (3.6GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 65W Dual-Core Desktop APU with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 7480D AD5300OKHJBOX
-Western Digital WD Blue WD2500AAKX 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
-Rosewill R103A Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with 350W Power Supply
-2 x G.SKILL Value 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

This was my first build I put together a little over 3 years ago and my intro into multiple core processors. I had built this on a budget with the mind set of gaming with it (I never cared for playing on the highest graphic setting, just wanted to play smoothly) and picked the APU for the "better then on board" graphics so I could save a bit of cash on the graphics card at that time. With the shared RAM I had bumped it up to 8gb and seemed to get a little better performance fps wise so I've been happy with it since honestly. I had always planned on upgrading, some part of it but have just put it off. Now I'm to the point where I don't even know where to head next. Pretty much I'm at a point of trying to get the best bang for my buck but so far behind on tech that I'm not sure which I would benefit from the most. So without rambling on anymore here are the questions I've ran into.

1. Upgrade my APU. Since it seems AMD has already moved on to FM2+ Sockets, My best FM2 choice would seem to be the A10-6800k 4.1 quad. It would be much faster then the CPU I am running now and the graphics would also be a step up. Looking at this http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-A4-5300-vs-AMD-A10-6800K it looks like I would be pretty well off going this route.

2. Adding more RAM. Since the RAM is shared, and I did get a higher fps performance going from 4 to 8, why not try going to 16? My board can take 32 but I really don't want to spend $120 a stick on 16s. What I can't remember is how the APU shares it's RAM and if there is a cap on how much it would use. I've also thought about doing the A10 and going up to 16gb of RAM. That would put me a bit higher then I wanted to spend but hey, tax season and all. G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 This is what I was considering.

3. Add a dedicated Graphics Card. This graphics wise is probably the best route to take if I was wanting to bump up fps, and graphics settings but I no longer know what to look for in a card. I also run into the problem the with a 350W PS I would probably have to upgrade that as well. Just clicking through I picked the Radeon HD 6450 and Newegg's PS Calculator recommended 366W. So would I be safe? I also just ran it with the A10 APU and it looks like I would need to get a new PS anyway...


4. The last resort would be dropping the FM2 Socket and upgrading to a new Mobo. If I went FM2+ I could, or I should be able to just transfer everything over and put off upgrading again for a while. I thought I read that FM2+ will take FM2 chips, but not the other way around because of pin count.

So these are the questions I am hoping someone can help me with. Believe me thank you for your time regardless, I know I kind of make a wall of text there. I want to say again I am not a big time gamer, at least not any more. I don't need to run on ultra settings, I will never need (although I want) a triple monitor set up nor will I ever over clock a system or need my pc to be anything more then fan cooled. I would just like to give what I have a little more oomph and wake her back up agian.
 

SSGCatfish

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Figures with how much thought I put into this I would leave something like that out. So at the time I didn't want to spend over $100. I guess now I would be around $200 considering most my choices involve upgrading my PS.
 

Crapcicle

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Okay so basically you just wanna run the game smoothly right? Let me answer your questions in order of posting.
1. Not really experienced with AMD CPUs since I've been an Intel fanboy ever since so I can't really give a benchmark on the actual performance gains (although AMD makes generally weaker cores in their CPUs than Intel), but your CPU won't be a problem as much as your GPU when running games if it's at 3.6GHz.

2. More RAM does not equal more performance in games. You never need more than 8Gb unless you're gonna be playing a game while encoding a video or something.

3. Upgrading your GPU is probably the best route for increasing your fps right NOW, but if you ever want to upgrade again in the future you will end up changing almost the whole build. I won't lie you have some pretty old budget stuff. If you want toget a new GPU you would have to buy a new PSU. Also the power calculator isn't a recommendation, it is a REQUIREMENT to be able to run the build. If it says that you need 366W that means the rug won't run unless it is supplied by 366W or greater, but people in general add 100-200w for headroom in upgrading for the future. Also power usage tends to fluctuate based on usage so if your PC is under a heavy load (playing a graphic intensive game or doing many tasks) it might use more power.

4. Probably the most future proof solution, but it won't solve you problem in any way with regards to being able to play smoothly.

Anyway, pretty soon you're going to have to change almost your whole build to be able to play smoothly. Probably in the middle of 2016. You will eventually have to upgrade your cpu which means upgrading your mobo and also your gpu to keep up with more demanding games.
 

SSGCatfish

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So, the APUs are pretty much a CPU+GPU combo. If the 3.6 dual is going to keep me up to date on speed for a while then that is fine, the other side of updating the APU is I get a much better GPU out of it. The difference between the A4 and A10 GPU wise is about twice as good. This of course would require upgrading the PS.

I mentioned upgrading the RAM because the CPU+GPU share ram. I did just finish reading an artical that I should be able to dedicate 2GB through my bios to the GPU so assuming I am able to do that, and the game still runs smooth, then I probably will not consider adding more RAM in the future.

Adding a dedicated GPU, you are correct is probably the best option for gaining graphics performance. And of course would have to upgrade my PS. If I went this route, I would probably let my system sit at this until I did a whole new build. That is how I came about to this current build anyway. My last PC was an eMachine that I upgraded to an Athlon 64 2.4 single core, 4GB of ram, and use a 1650X Pro Graphics Card. I used that machine from like '02 to '12.

Right now my only game is WoT which I play on low setting and sit around 30-40 fps. My goal, for as little as it is would be to hit 60+ on at least medium to high settings. I don't see where I would need to upgrade my CPU in 5 months so that statement kind of confused me a bit honestly.

That last option, changing the mobo, was something I was rolling around with but honestly I think if I did go in that direction for upgrades in the future, I would be better off building a real gaming PC and get away from the APU series.

 

Crapcicle

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Okay so my two cents: If you're planning to build a whole new system in the future anyway, then just go for the GPU and PSU upgrade. It will solve your current problem and honestly the new PSU can be reused for your future build. If you wanna see a tier list of PSUs to see which to look for and what to avoid: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html and for the GPU are you looking for an AMD solution or an nvidia one?
 

SSGCatfish

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I am very much leaning towards your 2 cents. I could be years before a new build and those two upgrades seem to make the most sense.

I was looking at this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127689 just off hand for the GPU.

edit:
No. I have no clue which way I would go with a card. I just realized what I had originally posted, and what I just linked here are 2 different cards so I have no idea what direction I will be going with them.
 

Crapcicle

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Do you want future headroom for the PSU? If so may I suggest the XFX TS series? They're a tier 2 PSU and I bought mine for $55 from walmart a couple of months ago. Not sure if the price is still the same. You have a budget of $200 right? Since you're on a budget might I suggest an r7 360, r7 370, or this: http://galaxstore.net/Galax-Nvidia-Geforce-GTX-950-OC-2GB_p_92.html for the GPU? The last option is very good for the price and will be able to run games smoothly for a while. However if you want to see a list and choose for yourself i found this also http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html
 

Crapcicle

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For PSUs the general rule is Seasonic and XFX are what to look for. They're very reliable and high tier PSU brands. But since you're on a budget and it's not really a high end gaming system, you can probably get away with buying a tier 3 PSU instead of a tier 1 or 2 one.
 

SSGCatfish

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Crapcicle

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Yes. Although if you buy a lower watt PSU you may be able to squeeze a little more into your card. MI actually found an AMAZING deal on jet.com for a Rosewill Capstone PSU (which is tier 2 on the PSU tier list btw) i really wish i saw this when i was buying my pc... Anyway here it is: https://jet.com/product/detail/2055950ca2e044e9881e3b38212b51e0?jcmp=pla:ggl:cwin_electronics_a3:electronics_accessories_computer_components_storage_devices_a3_other:na:na:na:na:na:2&code=PLA15&k_clickid=d25b87da-b42a-42f6-961a-b445a4db25ec&gclid=Cj0KEQiA_MK0BRDQsf_bsZS-_OIBEiQADPf--hTk44l9cimzW63zqDHqTOQxKh9sytKLjsY-B0blq24aAmXC8P8HAQ and with that you can buy this card: http://galaxstore.net/GALAX-NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-960-OC-2GB_p_27.html it has a base clock speed higher than most GTX 970s.