Upgrade Help

[Boostedtoon]

Hello! I had success a few years back (2015) putting together a computer build from the "Build of the Month" post. The computer build is still very good (there's almost no game that I want to play that comes close to lagging). I recently started doing a lot of video editing/live streaming and the build is starting to show some signs of aging. Nothing too bad, but my render times could be a lot better in Premier Pro.

Most of the hardware in this build can be easiliy overclocked, but I've never attempted to do so. Here's what I have:

Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 R2.0
CPU: AMD FX-8320
Ram: 16 GB HyperX Fury (8x2) 1866mz
Graphics Card: MSI AMD Radeon R7 260x OC 2GB GDDR5
Power Supply: EVGA 600B
OS: Windows
Resolution: 1080p

I just bought a 240gb SSD to use as a media/export drive for processing videos. Ideally I'd like to know some upgrade paths for this build in the 200-350 range (nothing too crazy).

Thanks!

[Fascinate]

To get a real upgrade you gotta start from scratch, AMD fx is one of the worst choices for someone who plays WoW (i assume you do, given this forum). It is barely faster in WoW than a core 2 quad which released in 2007.

This is honestly what id do, buy the CPU and motherboard new:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($113.70 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370P D3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($95.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $209.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-12 20:29 EDT-0400

Then scour your local craigslist or ebay for some ddr4 ram and a gtx 770 or 780, those two models i have found are the best bargins you can find on used GPU's, and are an enormous upgrade over your current GPU. I wouldnt pay over 125 bucks for a 780 or 90 for a 770.

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Another option would be ryzen and a b350 board:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($141.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $201.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-12 20:35 EDT-0400

This would be faster in video rendering than the intel option but it would play games (especially WoW) worse.

[Boostedtoon]

That's so strange. I've never had any issues with WoW on this machine. I can do 20 mans with high settings @ 30 fps+. Not the best, but not that bad. Is my GPU the biggest bottleneck on this build?

To get a real upgrade you gotta start from scratch, AMD fx is one of the worst choices for someone who plays WoW (i assume you do, given this forum). It is barely faster in WoW than a core 2 quad which released in 2007.

This is honestly what id do, buy the CPU and motherboard new:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($113.70 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370P D3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($95.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $209.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-12 20:29 EDT-0400

Then scour your local craigslist or ebay for some ddr4 ram and a gtx 770 or 780, those two models i have found are the best bargins you can find on used GPU's, and are an enormous upgrade over your current GPU. I wouldnt pay over 125 bucks for a 780 or 90 for a 770.

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Another option would be ryzen and a b350 board:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($141.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $201.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-12 20:35 EDT-0400

This would be faster in video rendering than the intel option but it would play games (especially WoW) worse.

[Fascinate]

I mean thats the thing, if your used to 30 fps you dont know what you are missing If you bought either of those options i listed you would get 60 fps at nearly all spots in the game.

The worst part of your build is actually your CPU, like i said its on par with a intel cpu released in 2007/08.

If your main goal here is to lower render times/stream better the 1500x would be a better option than the 8100.

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One more option i will throw out is buying used cpu/motherboard as well.

2600k/3770k/4770k/4790k all use ddr3 ram and that would save you a ton of money on the upgrade process.

[Miyagie]

A bit over budget.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JnzZ8Y
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JnzZ8Y/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8350K 4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($166.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - PURE ROCK 51.7 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.19 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370P D3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($95.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $378.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-12 21:57 EDT-0400

[Fascinate]

Couple examples of parts id buy off ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-Asus-P8....c100505.m3226

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-i7-26...YAAOSwUg9agyag

Then slap a CPU cooler on it and you got a system for 215.00 bucks that you can use your old ram with, and is a massive upgrade over your current setup especially once you overclock it.

[Boostedtoon]

Clearly I shot myself in the foot with my original build. What is my best option for getting something now (mobo/cpu/ram/gpu) and then having the best chances of upgrading to something more expensive later on with the least amount of unused parts? As right now my ram is most likely shot and my mobo is useless since it only works for older amd chips.

[Illuman]

Clearly I shot myself in the foot with my original build. What is my best option for getting something now (mobo/cpu/ram/gpu) and then having the best chances of upgrading to something more expensive later on with the least amount of unused parts? As right now my ram is most likely shot and my mobo is useless since it only works for older amd chips.

grab a z370 board, and ddr4 memory and an inexpensive coffee lake cpu, you can always swap to a better processor later. TBH, for most games the i3 8350k is plenty though.

[Blackmist]

I'd just upgrade the GPU for now, as that's the part that furthest behind.

If you upgrade the rest later, take the card with you.

[Boostedtoon]

Any recommendations? I'm completely lost now that stupid cryto mining has made GPU prices ass backwards. I wish I would have upgraded this GPU before this nonsense.

I'd just upgrade the GPU for now, as that's the part that furthest behind.

If you upgrade the rest later, take the card with you.

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Could I get another R7 260x and run it in SLI?

[Illuman]

That would be crossfire, and to be honest, thats an old card.

[Evildeffy]

Changing out graphics card is irrelevant if your main goal is to improve upon your video rendering/streaming/content creation work.

Unless you intend to work with high grade professional software that can use GPU acceleration for 3D CGI rendering etc.

If it's just as previously mentioned mostly video editing and whatnot you're pretty much stuck on either -
A: Upgrading to something up to the Haswell era CPU for cheap as it allows you to re-use RAM
B: Grab either a new Intel board (currently only Z370) or AMD board (A320/B350/X370, from cheap to expensive, first one does not support OC at all), CPU and RAM.

A will be the cheapest and push out some extra years out of your setup where B will be better BUT will be considerably more expensive as 16GB of DDR4 (cheapest) will likely cost you 170 USD/EUR alone not counting motherboard/CPU.

So is it also gaming you wish to upgrade or just your content creation?

[Fascinate]

Any recommendations? I'm completely lost now that stupid cryto mining has made GPU prices ass backwards. I wish I would have upgraded this GPU before this nonsense.


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Could I get another R7 260x and run it in SLI?

There is likely nothing wrong with your ram, ive been building systems since early 2000's and never have had ram die on me. Financially the best way to upgrade is finding a used motherboard and i7 and reusing your old ram and gpu til prices on them come back down.