Slow upgrade of an old gaming PC

[dgianstefani]

youre deciding for op based on what YOUD do, but op said what he wants. which means get something a bit more then what he has, and imo, the upgrade path would be a good performance to dollar ratio.

every single post I read is always to push to buy newest equipment. I always wonder how many are pr reps with interests and agenda, not IF there are pr reps here

a slow upgrade means adding some newer components. pay attenion please. could be he doesnt want a new system or under the harsh times for the world cant allow himself to upgrade now.

@Darrii

you can buy faster cpu for that board for cheap and a gpu like the 1660 used for little money. youll notice a good increase in performance. you can probably play some games at medium/low on some settings for sure. 50+fps is perfectly great to play.

I believe that if you have the money, go a bit higher like 5600x (used) and a board will cost around $100 like I have b550m aorus elite. and 16gb ram is fine. maybe a used 108ti if you can find it.

If you wouldn't follow your own advice it's probably not very good advice.

Max CPU performance he can get from an "upgrade" on same platform is maybe 10%. Mostly less than that as games need single core speed, not many threads.

Wasted money is wasted money.

It's duty of people giving advice to give good advice, not tell the OP what he wants to hear.

So far, it seems most people understand and are doing that.

A ~10% upgrade with no support for newer tech required for modern OS/Software, effectively no ST improvement, higher power draw on a 10 year old motherboard, etc. For $50.

This isn't opinion, or a "PR rep" sales pitch , forget this dream, replace the platform.

OP also had thoughts of buying a RX580 in 2024, are you suggesting we entertain his idea and tell him it's a good one?

 

[nomdeplume]

Hi guys,

I've been looking into having some fun with upgrading my old PC, I wonder how to approach this topic and what would be the best start, I'm thining about cheap second hand parts that I will be using to replace current ones over time.

The best start would be spending US$200 on an i5-12400F and ASRock B760M Pro RS/D4. DDR4 can be found cheap used most places, though possibly not yours. This outlay makes the most financial sense taking into account the used prices for legacy hardware is equal and quite often greater in many locations.

As numerous others have stated. Be very careful with the used market for GPU. This is a much harder suggestion to make without personally inspecting the card and even then it's.. ?!??

 

[AusWolf]

Sticking with @Darrii "but second hand parts" mantra, that would go against it and be more expensive.

For the cost of either of those options brand new, I can find motherboard/RAM/CPU combos on fleabay which aren't terrible (although of course there is inherent 2nd hand parts risk).

Ryzen 5 3600 B450 combos or LGA1200 i5-11400 would offer similar performance levels, both 6C/12T, be streets ahead of what he has right now and offer all modern features.
Even if he picked up say an RTX 3080 second hand in a years time, either would do a decent job at driving it - they might leave some performance on the table in certain games, but generally wouldn't be a terrible pairing.

People want silly money for some of the X299 stuff so workstation kit is an expensive luxury at this point that yields little.

Except that AM5 will be upgradable for years to come while AM4 is a dead end. On AM4, I'd go with a 5800X3D, new or used, doesn't matter. Buying any less with the plan to upgrade it later is a waste of money, imo.

 

[Vincero]

Except that AM5 will be upgradable for years to come while AM4 is a dead end. On AM4, I'd go with a 5800X3D, new or used, doesn't matter. Buying any less with the plan to upgrade it later is a waste of money, imo.

Agreed but without a known budget neither us know how practical that is - it's not like AM4 X3D chips are super cheap yet, and AM5 isn't a 'value' option as yet.

Personally I'm no longer of the mindset of buying a CPU and motherboard with a plan to upgrade CPU in same board later on - Intel doesn't lend itself to that practice and even AM4 wasn't a clean upgrade path over time. Jury still out on AM5.
Not saying I'd not consider upgrading if a worthwhile option was there, I just don't buy with an expectation as sometimes some new CPU features can only be leveraged with new chipset / board (newer PCIe versions need improved circuitry / signal repeaters, VRM requirements can change, firmware issues, etc).

The last socket with any form of good longevity was LGA 775 in terms of active years and performance uplift achieved - although a lot of that was due to how bad the P4 was - granted the first chipsets wouldn't get you to a Core2Quad, but some 945/965s could have.

Others which maybe promised some didn't fully deliver - AM3 went from Phenom II to FX (AM3+ needed which didn't appear until a while after AM3 appeared), although arguably FX was delayed so maybe it should have been planned/supported from the get go... Oh and offered no really performance advantage. AM2 got you from Athlon64 to Phenom (although if you didn't have an AM2+ board, no Phenom II for you - and AM2+ wouldn't have been available until some time later).
LGA 2011 as a socket had a long lifespan, shame about the CPU and chipset support - all CPU generations incompatible with each other...

 

[Princess Garnet]

youre deciding for op based on what YOUD do, but op said what he wants. which means get something a bit more then what he has, and imo, the upgrade path would be a good performance to dollar ratio.

Nobody is deciding for anyone here though? Everyone is simply giving their own opinion. The quote you replied to stated that it pretty much just adds Hyper-threading the the same CPU, and honestly, that's all those quad core era Core i7s ever were over their Core i5 counterparts. Will that help in some situations? Sure. But it's important to be aware that it will be circumstantial in when it helps, and that it might be a poor value.

It's up to the thread starter to decide what they agree with/disagree with.

every single post I read is always to push to buy newest equipment. I always wonder how many are pr reps with interests and agenda, not IF there are pr reps here

That tends to happen on tech communities full of enthusiasts, yes. I also share in your displeasure of how common it is, but the fact is, sinking money into an old platform is often not cost effective. Lower absolute cost does not equal better value. So it's usually something to do only as a last resort if you can't save up for a new platform.

Having that opinion doesn't mean anyone is saying you need to constantly buy new stuff. To the contrary, to get the best value out of something, you will use it as long as you can. I ran my 2500K (plus motherboard and original 16 GB RAM from late 2011) for almost a decade (until mid 2020). I used a GTX 1060 for seven and a half years (until a year ago). And I'm not on a latest platform myself. I can't speak for anyone else, but I certainly don't work for, nor get paid by, any entity for what I post. I just post to share my opinions based on what I think are the most effective options.

You're seemingly looking at this from the standpoint that upgrading to the old CPU or upgrading the platform right now are the only options (and that the latter might be impossible if the budget doesn't allow it). What happened to just... staying with the current CPU and saving to work towards something that is more viable? I'm not saying the thread starter has to change platforms, but I would suggest it over changing the CPU alone. I've been there. I had a 2500K. I considered a 2600K/3770K at one point, but then I realized it wasn't cost effective. The best time to make that change would have been in the mid-2010s, but by time I was looking at it in the late 2010s, the cost of those used CPUs was a joke (too expensive) and the price/performance of new stuff made it unappealing. Sure, you save money not having to change motherboard and RAM, but don't you entirely lose that supposed benefit if you're spending almost as much on a used, slower CPU than a new, faster one? At that point, you're spending a premium on an old, used, slow CPU (with no warranty and may have been overclocked to who-knows-what) for that supposed benefit. It was a hard realization for me and it's why I think in-platform upgrades, at least on Intel's side where they have shorter life cycles, are almost never worth it unless...

1. You're starting point is low. Going from Core i3 to Core i7 (or even Core i5) is a bit worthwhile because the increase is bigger and/or the CPU cost is lower (if going to Core i5). Going from Core i5 to Core i7, not so much. You're making a smaller jump and having to pay the premium for what is the fastest in the socket.

2. You do it some years after the platform is new. Once it ages (five+ years or so), the price/performance of new stuff starts to make it a hard sell.

It's not about "spend more". It's about "if you have little to spend, you can't afford to spend it in ineffective ways". And that's what you're not realizing. Have you ever heard the saying "it's expensive to be poor"? This is an example. If you keep dumping what little money you have into any upgrade you can afford simply because it's better than nothing, you'll never get anywhere. Sometimes, staying with what you already have and saving is absolutely the best value move. Again, I speak from experience here. I don't tend to have high end hardware and I don't buy frequently. My monitor is a decade and a half (!) years old. My speakers are a dozen years old. Both of them, and my keyboard, have their quirks. I still use them. I was pretty disappointed in having to double my budget on my last graphics card upgrade to get something I felt was truly worthwhile for the amount of time that had passed. Most of us are just giving our opinion. Just because it isn't "buy that used CPU" doesn't mean we're on payrolls with an agenda.

 

[inquisitor1]

Nobody is deciding for anyone here though? Everyone is simply giving their own opinion.

alway give advive based on the parameters the OP asks. maybe hes low on funds, or doesnt want/need more.

also people seem to push new gear here all the time who work in the industry play it off like theyre regular users but are on forums pushing their products. very evident.

op said slowly upgrading which says low on funds, or doesnt want to spend much. or doesnt need a new pc.

give based on HIS needs, not yours

your advice is based on what you think, not based on what he wants. 2 different things. everything you said is irrelevent to op who might not have the money or even want to buy a new pc and get some inexpensive components to get a boost. I upgraded my old 8320 to 8370-fx because I got the cpu for peanuts. I still use the pc and why would I throw it out just cause someone feels its not worth upgrading. to me its worth upgrading.

 

[silentbogo]

Probably the best option today is to go AM4 route.
My course of action would look something like this:
1) Keep GPU and drives, replace Mobo/CPU/RAM with something along the lines of B450 + R5 1600/2600/3600 combo with 16GB DDR4, which can be found wa-a-ay under $150 pretty much anywhere in the world. Ideally I'd go for B550 + R5 5600(non-x), mostly because the price on used market has fallen quite a bit due to a flood of OEM new parts from China (probably the ones destined to go to mining rigs during CPU mining boom which never happened, but media blew it out of proportion anyways causing more shortages). Latter option is probably around $200 or so, but gives you a nice modern platform with some room for upgrades.
2) If you went with a cheaper option - immediately flash your BIOS to the latest version, and later down the road put your Zen1/2 CPU for sale and get an R5 5600. Don't worry about not having PCIe Gen 4, it won't affect much of anything in your case(low-end gaming GPU, and prolly cheap[er] PCIe 3.0 NVME SSD).
3) Save up for a modern GPU. If you want cheap but usable - go with 2060 super. If you want more oomph - look up RTX 30-series within your financial limits. Honestly, ATM even 1660 Super fits all of my needs, but for some real gaming I wouldn't go any lower than 3060. Anything older than Turing ain't worth your time or money.
---------------------
However, there is one big BUT in all of this: it's much-much cheaper to buy a whole AM4 rig... Which means I'm also on board with everyone who suggested just saving up some cash for a few months and just buying a whole thing all at once.

Except that AM5 will be upgradable for years to come while AM4 is a dead end.

Heck, most 5000-series CPUs still hold their own against 9000-series. I've been contemplating an upgrade for awhile, but every time I look at benchmark numbers can't find a single reason to dump upwards of half-a-grand into a new rig for marginal improvements. My 3800X is still quite snappy and powerful, and my next upgrade is definitely going to be a 5800x3D.
Don't forget that socket AM5 is already 2 years old, with just 3 more years of official support left. I doubt that with all the sticky situations in semiconductor industry, and delays in manufacturing, we'll get anything other than marginal improvements over at most 2 more CPU iterations. Remember, we are talking PC on a budget. AM5 parts will easily double OPs expenses - that's a big price to pay for future-proofing.

 

[Dr. Dro]

This system is very old and honestly, beyond salvage. No upgrade you do to this machine and no matter how money you spend on it will make this system viable for gaming in 2024 and beyond, as you cannot use anything newer than an 11 year old quad-core processor in it. If you're in a low budget, I advise against dumping any money on this 11 year old museum relic. Keep your money until you can spend more, re-evaluate your budget and work something out. Your best bet in this situation right now is to buy a socket AM4 motherboard with the B450 chipset and an used earlier generation Ryzen. You may be able to find the earlier generation AM4 chips that nobody wants anymore (eg. 1800X, 2700X) for extra cheap, and they will perform far higher than your system at its fullest potential (maxed out with a 4790K) could ever hope to.

I must stress this: Do not, under ANY circumstances, purchase a mining Radeon RX 580 or similar - the cheap will become expensive, you have been warned, you are literally buying trash!

 

[DaemonForce]

I5-4670K 3,4GHz
GTX 970 4GB
16 GB RAM DDR3
Motherboard MSI Z87-G43 (MS-7816)
SSD 250 GB and HDD 500 GB

I was thinking about starting with GPU. My ideas were RX580, RX590 and GTX 1660 SUPER, I'm not sure how much my CPU could bottleneck them.

Yeah no don't do that. The RX 580 was super attractive way back then, I even picked mine up at double MSRP, a very stuck on stupid moment that was probably worth it but I spent more time fighting Firefox, tuning for VR and just fighting a bunch of unstable odds and ends that ultimately made way more of a pain in the ass than every other card I've ever had and that's before overclocking/underclocking. Add to that the timing of these getting dumped by the bucketload and onto the Chinese chopping block for 16GB memory refits, headless or single (functional) HDMI/DP only units that retained their og Sapphire/XFX designs but with a miner vBIOS and you're going to have a fun time like every other RX 580 thread here and on equally if not far more degraded silicon. I get that the performance looks appealing. I came from a really out of date place before pulling the trigger on some sweet new hardware. You did not.

The 580 tops out when paired with my FX-8370 and that's about the same if paired with a properly tuned 4790K. Are you able to push those pixels on your current CPU? It's possible.

You could also pick up a RX 590 but those have a whole other universe of issues starting with vBIOS. Everything after this point of support should be fine but if it were up to me I'd rather jump ship to a newer platform like AM4/AM5. Intel doesn't exactly have the most appealing loadout when it comes to AVX support and some of my stuff might be headed in that direction real soon so anything after 10th gen is a non-starter. You might be in a similar situation and it's also possible that we all are and just don't know it yet. I had a legit reason to go to the 580 as my hardware was extremely out of date and I was already sold on VR gameplay. If you're sold on some newer technology or encoder functions or something that isn't obvious to normal people, it's going to be a massive headache just to make a decision but the support issue is going to influence that a ton.

That is every major feature going on AMD side with anything even semi-recent.
This is one case where you want to stay OUT of the middle. HD7000 is a 2012 era product and very reasonably out of support.
Same with R200/300. R500 is just a refresh of R400 and you can already see the encroachment on a 2017 era product lineup.
Vega has somehow always stood separate but you know that's not going to be safe forever. 5000 series looks safe (but isn't).
6000 and 7000 series are really the only safe options if you don't want to revisit this topic for a very long time but if you're chasing this from 4th gen and FX era, it's going to be a very modest and light duty card. In this situation it genuinely makes sense to pick up a 7600XT and just max out everything but I'm very much unaware of the upper limits of these CPU+GPU combos since I can't seem to get my hands on a functional card. The DOA rates are kinda nuts.

Fair warning if you do decide to go that route, anything ancient, if you're still relying on that technology, stuff is already getting dropped. Everything is in such a weird spot right now.

Other option I considered was changing a motherboard to AM4, one of the Ryzena 5 models and 16GB RAM DDR4 and then in the future looking or fitting GPU.

When I jumped ship to FX, it was a nice uplift from suffering low frames in UnityVR stuff but it still suffered a lot of the security issues that I had on Phenom II.
MOST of those issues disappeared when I jumped ship for a nice entry level Ryzen 3600 (that I still use today) but it's already long in the tooth due to so many new technologies.
If you go AM4 you'll want to hit the ground running with something 5000 series and then just stay there until something serious pushes you out. 7000 and 9000 series won't convince me which means it probably won't look exciting to you either.

 

[AusWolf]

Heck, most 5000-series CPUs still hold their own against 9000-series. I've been contemplating an upgrade for awhile, but every time I look at benchmark numbers can't find a single reason to dump upwards of half-a-grand into a new rig for marginal improvements. My 3800X is still quite snappy and powerful, and my next upgrade is definitely going to be a 5800x3D.
Don't forget that socket AM5 is already 2 years old, with just 3 more years of official support left. I doubt that with all the sticky situations in semiconductor industry, and delays in manufacturing, we'll get anything other than marginal improvements over at most 2 more CPU iterations. Remember, we are talking PC on a budget. AM5 parts will easily double OPs expenses - that's a big price to pay for future-proofing.

It's a wholly different situation if you already own an AM4 system. OP doesn't. In that case, I wouldn't go with AM4, because they would have to do another platform swap with the next upgrade, whereas they wouldn't with AM5.

Edit: For someone building a new system, AM5 is slightly more expensive in the short term than AM4, but massively cheaper in the long run with future CPU upgrades (as you won't need another new motherboard and RAM, just the CPU).

 

[Rafael.luc]

Ryzen 5 5600x U$87.17

Ryzen 5

Motherboard AMD X370 ASROCK U$ 59.53

Motherboard AM4

Memory 2 x 8G 3200 MHz U$ 34.02

Memory Sansung


All Kit = U$ 180.72


I have already purchased several parts on Aliexpress and have had no problems.

 

[PierreJG]

I am also going to do the same to test my first custom loop. Opinions will differ. I would consider something like a 4790k and a GTX 1660super. Not sure how many memory slots you have. If you have 4, your mobo should support 32GB. Well overkill for a test dummy PC though . Also, you can clock your memory to 2133MHZ. It will not be a groundbreaking performance but the 4790k is a pretty good overclocker. This is a nice what the hell product. People told me the same to not waste time upgrading to a 3770k but I need a test dummy for my custom loop and she's the sacrifice.

 

[silentbogo]

It's a wholly different situation if you already own an AM4 system.

From the performance perspective - it doesn't matter. Saving $100 on just the CPU/motherboard combo does matter in this case, since OP's "gradual upgrade" usually means his budget is very-very tight.
And that's just with new parts. If we consider used or OEM stuff from Ali, then a whole combo may cost less than 7600 or 9600 alone. Or for the same amount of money he could have more options, like 5700X3D which could be found in the wild for as low as $160.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006164059291.html

AM5 only makes sense if, let's say, the OP comes back with a concrete budget number, like $350-$400 for the core kit. Only then it'll be worth looking at 7000/9000 series.

 

[Vayra86]

The idea was to slowly upgrade, one or two things at a time to still have some performance boost but still not spend a lot of money at once

The upper ceiling of the upgrade possibilities just isn't high enough AND doesn't pay off. The bang/buck isn't there anymore. Its too old.

If you say fun project, by all means sure, but don't expect a noticeably better system at the end of the road. I run an Ivy Bridge system too, and its functional, but its no longer fast in any metric.

If you want to engage this in a fun way, I'd say start the scavenging hunt to gather parts for free, and then see what rig(s) you can frankenstein out of that stuff.

 

[Chrispy_]

The problem you have is that your system is pretty well-balanced for its age. You really can't upgrade any single thing at a time without it being mostly bottlenecked by the rest of the system. Throwing a used RX6600 or RTX 3060 in there isn't a terrible idea, but your whole platform is old so any other sensible upgrades are going to be incompatible.

You want to be buying NVMe storage, DDR4, 6-core CPUs, and none of that is possible on your old board. Honestly, the suggestions to get a CPU+RAM+Motherboard combo off ebay is the smartest move. Ryzen 3600/3700X and 10th/11th gen Intel i5 are all sensible DDR4 platforms with NVMe support.

Also, your original post didn't mention power supply - but if you're running an 11-year old PSU that's probably also something that needs to be replaced if you intend to get anywhere near it's maximum output power with newer, hungrier hardware.

The upper ceiling of the upgrade possibilities just isn't high enough AND doesn't pay off. The bang/buck isn't there anymore. Its too old.

If you say fun project, by all means sure, but don't expect a noticeably better system at the end of the road. I run an Ivy Bridge system too, and its functional, but its no longer fast in any metric.

I don't even sell the i7-4790/32GB/H97 systems I'm stripping down any more. For the last few years I've been dumping them on ebay but they're worth so little that it's almost not even worth the cost and effort of finding suitable packaging or paying to ship them. They're entirely dependent on dying standards like DDR3 and SATA that are going up in price relative to NVMe and DDR4, making them less attractive to people on a tight budget even as a low-cost option. People's decade-old boards are dying, too - meaning that there's a surplus of Sandy/Ivy/Haswell S1155 CPUs on the market with poor availability of boards. It's time to put that entire generation to rest, I think!

 

[Vayra86]

youre deciding for op based on what YOUD do, but op said what he wants. which means get something a bit more then what he has, and imo, the upgrade path would be a good performance to dollar ratio.

every single post I read is always to push to buy newest equipment. I always wonder how many are pr reps with interests and agenda, not IF there are pr reps here

a slow upgrade means adding some newer components. pay attenion please. could be he doesnt want a new system or under the harsh times for the world cant allow himself to upgrade now.

@Darrii

you can buy faster cpu for that board for cheap and a gpu like the 1660 used for little money. youll notice a good increase in performance. you can probably play some games at medium/low on some settings for sure. 50+fps is perfectly great to play.

I believe that if you have the money, go a bit higher like 5600x (used) and a board will cost around $100 like I have b550m aorus elite. and 16gb ram is fine. maybe a used 108ti if you can find it.

There is no value for money proposition here, nobody is deciding what OP wants, we're here to give sound advice, not mislead them thinking there's a twilight zone where this is economically a great idea. Better to get into this stuff with the right expectations, right?

As for harsh times, sure, we can't look into someone's financials, but even then, paying scarce money for upgrades like this is especially not recommended. Its penny wise pound stupid behaviour, at that rate, just keep what you've got and deal with it.

I don't even sell the i7-4790/32GB/H97 systems I'm stripping down any more. For the last few years I've been dumping them on ebay but they're worth so little that it's almost not even worth the cost and effort of finding suitable packaging or paying to ship them. They're entirely dependent on dying standards like DDR3 and SATA that are going up in price relative to NVMe and DDR4, making them less attractive to people on a tight budget even as a low-cost option. People's decade-old boards are dying, too - meaning that there's a surplus of Sandy/Ivy/Haswell S1155 CPUs on the market with poor availability of boards. It's time to put that entire generation to rest, I think!

Exactly what I was thinking... so... you should be able to scavenge rigs for free at this point. Most things DDR3 should be moving into this territory by now.

 

[nomdeplume]

Because so much hardware is being blocked from further use I suggested new at retail cpu/mobo only 3 (nearly identical) gens old.
Without a geographic area to shop prices in we are at a dead end so far as new or used options.

 

[AusWolf]

From the performance perspective - it doesn't matter. Saving $100 on just the CPU/motherboard combo does matter in this case, since OP's "gradual upgrade" usually means his budget is very-very tight.
And that's just with new parts. If we consider used or OEM stuff from Ali, then a whole combo may cost less than 7600 or 9600 alone. Or for the same amount of money he could have more options, like 5700X3D which could be found in the wild for as low as $160.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006164059291.html

AM5 only makes sense if, let's say, the OP comes back with a concrete budget number, like $350-$400 for the core kit. Only then it'll be worth looking at 7000/9000 series.

Saving $100 now only means you'll have to spend $2-300 more on another motherboard and RAM kit during the next upgrade, that's why I cannot recommend it, regardless of budget. Penny wise, pond stupid, as they say in Britain. But ultimately, it's up to OP to decide what's best for them.

 

[Vincero]

Saving $100 now only means you'll have to spend $2-300 more on another motherboard and RAM kit during the next upgrade

That's based on the assumption that the next time they upgrade it will not be a similar scenario where part upgrading the CPU might be worthwhile Vs a wholesale change. Can't make that assumption based on any info we have from OP.

Your point is valid, but so is the value in second hand parts such as AM4 - the real decider is budget which we still have no idea on.

Nobody should really be arguing what's better at this point... If he says $500 or 250 then one argument wins Vs the other in each scenario.

 

[Frick]

Saving $100 now only means you'll have to spend $2-300 more on another motherboard and RAM kit during the next upgrade, that's why I cannot recommend it, regardless of budget. Penny wise, pond stupid, as they say in Britain. But ultimately, it's up to OP to decide what's best for them.

This is entirely about when the "next upgrade" is supposed to happen and what "$100" is worth to the OP. I think the OP will not, and should not, think like that at all.

So yeah AM4/2600/some RAM will make the most sense. And used Geforce 2060's has dropped a lot in recent times.

 

[silentbogo]

Saving $100 now only means you'll have to spend $2-300 more on another motherboard and RAM kit during the next upgrade

You are still assuming he'll have to go sAM5 no matter what, and that's wrong thinking. If his Haswell rig was good enough up until 2024, then I'm pretty sure a decent AM4 rig will be relevant even as AM5 reaches its EoL (which is only ~3 years away btw). Basically after 2027 we'll have the same dilemma with AM6 or whatever next Intel socket will be.

 

[Princess Garnet]

alway give advive based on the parameters the OP asks. maybe hes low on funds, or doesnt want/need more.

op said slowly upgrading which says low on funds, or doesnt want to spend much. or doesnt need a new pc.

give based on HIS needs, not yours

your advice is based on what you think, not based on what he wants. 2 different things. everything you said is irrelevent to op who might not have the money or even want to buy a new pc and get some inexpensive components to get a boost. I upgraded my old 8320 to 8370-fx because I got the cpu for peanuts. I still use the pc and why would I throw it out just cause someone feels its not worth upgrading. to me its worth upgrading.

You seem to have almost entirely missed the meaning of my post.

At this point, it seems as though you're basically just saying that I'm only giving my own opinion, and that I am a different person than the thread starter, so therefore my input doesn't apply?

I uh... would like to ask you to think about that for a moment, because that means nobody can ever give input, ever. All any of us can do is give our opinion. We're all different people from the thread starter. If the thread starter wasn't looking to hear outside advice, and if they already had their mind made up, they wouldn't have made the thread and would have just done it. At least, that's how I'm rationalizing it. The fact that a thread was made asking for input seems clearly to be a case of someone inviting alternate opinions, no?

Getting back to what I was saying...

Since you seem to have misunderstood my last post, I did answer according to what I presumed was their situation. I said if the budget is restrictive, it's important that you make the most of it. That means skipping on poorer value, smaller cost changes and saving for larger cost, better value changes. Again, I've been there, done that, so this isn't speaking from the perspective of someone who spends a lot on high end hardware every few years or anything (I would say there's even an argument that what I have right now isn't high end, but it's probably a matter of opinion). You're seemingly falling into the all too common trap of thinking "lower absolute cost equals better value", but that is not necessarily the case. And even if it is, sometimes the slightly better value isn't a good option at all if it's too small of a performance uplift over what you currently have, because the original problem you had (lack of performance, most likely) is likely still there if you barely improved, so then you... spent money for next to nothing. And if you have a low budget, that is the last thing you should be doing! You can't afford wasting money if you don't have much of it. "It's expensive to be poor", again, is a saying for a reason.

And if you noticed, I did tell the thread starter that if they wanted to do a CPU upgrade alone for the sake of wanting it, that it is a good enough reason to do something. "I just want to do it" is always a good enough reason. I've also made some purchasing decisions for that reason. So I actually gave the same advice you seemingly wanted me to... I just also gave other advice for consideration, and you don't seem to like that?

also people seem to push new gear here all the time who work in the industry play it off like theyre regular users but are on forums pushing their products. very evident.

This is an enthusiast/tech community. There's often a predominant enthusiast/high end skew in these communities. Yes, sometimes that can frustrating. I've expressed displeasure at this same thing myself.

However, that doesn't mean advice such as "consider saving and buying what may be a better value and a bigger overall uplift instead of sinking money into a nearly non-existent upgrade" is coming from some out of touch PR campaign.

These two basically summarize it well...

Its penny wise pound stupid behaviour, at that rate, just keep what you've got and deal with it.

Penny wise, pond stupid, as they say in Britain.

 

[Lost_Troll]

The idea was to slowly upgrade, one or two things at a time to still have some performance boost but still not spend a lot of money at once

That is fine and the genial consensus agrees with this, but not with the platform you have now, it is too old and parts for are overpriced.

Other option I considered was changing a motherboard to AM4, one of the Ryzen 5 models and 16GB RAM DDR4 and then in the future looking or fitting GPU.

This is the way you should go, and I will go one more with it, look on Facebook Marketplace for used complete AM4 systems that you can try out before you buy. For complete, I mean case to video card and can usually find these at times for around 500$. You can even find good used parts on there as well. There is a really good channel on You Tube that shows how to go about it, it is call Tech Yes City, and it is worth watching.

Another option is to buy the parts new one part at a time. This will let you find deals on new parts as you are buying them.

 

[ShiBDiB]

If you're planning on keeping this build for the foreseeable future.

Mobo/CPU/Memory

That's your first upgrade. Buy something current gen mobo/socket wise to leave you room to further upgrade it in the future. You can go cheaper on the CPU/Memory here if needed, getting your socket up to current gen is the goal.

 

[Chrispy_]

If you're planning on keeping this build for the foreseeable future.

Mobo/CPU/Memory

That's your first upgrade. Buy something current gen mobo/socket wise to leave you room to further upgrade it in the future. You can go cheaper on the CPU/Memory here if needed, getting your socket up to current gen in the goal.

Yup. Platform useful lifespans are 2-3x GPU useful lifespans.

Buy the best, longest-lasting platform your budget permits. That's used AM4 if money is tight and AM5 if you can scrape together $350 or so. I'd say 12th Gen Intel is a reasonable bet too, but Intel appears to be imploding with issues right now, and their platform lifespans are pitiful compared to AMD.