help with upgrades please

qwertylives · 12 Mar 2018 at 21:27

hi, not messed with pc's for a long time so looking for some help, i have just downloaded a game on steam only to realise some aspects of my pc do not meet the minimum requirements, ie the graphics card( needs to be 2gb and mine is 1gb) and the cpu, graphics card is easy to source but the cpu is where i am looking for advice, i am running a (don't laugh lol) intel xeon w3530 @ 2.80ghz and the game recommends Intel I7-3770 or AMD FX 8350 so here are the 2 areas i need help, 1: can i change to cpu over like i would a graphics card or would i need to run a fresh windows install after? and 2: what cpu would you guys recommend that will fit into my system and to "future proof" for the next year or two. my system meets all other requirements, it's an oldish system so would you recommend i scrap it and get a new rig instead? short on cash so ideally id just like to upgrade, many thanks for taking the time to look.

orbitalwalsh · 13 Mar 2018 at 08:38

@qwertylives

whats your budget and also what games you looking/been playing?

mrbazmondo · 13 Mar 2018 at 10:53

I'd get the GFX card first to see if that solves the problem on its own.
For the CPU, find out what motherboard you have - use CPU-Z if you don't want to open your case. Find the manufacturers page for your motherboard and they should have a list of all the CPUs that your motherboard can support.

Kurgen · 13 Mar 2018 at 15:14

its a socket 1366 motherboard , the CPU looks to be just ahead of a stock clock i7 920, and you "might" be able to overclock it depending on motherboard or drop a X5650, 5660 or similar in it depending on motherboard. how much ram have you got of you have 3x 2gb, might be worth hunting for another 3x2 i would def, get a GPU first and see how it performs. check your PSU is upto a grpahics card with external power

qwertylives · 13 Mar 2018 at 18:33

i have 12gb ram, i went on the site "systemrequirementslab" and it stated my cpu & gpu didnt meet the min requirements, i will look into what motherboard i have, id spend £300 on a gpu and cpu, i would buy used if i had to

orbitalwalsh · 13 Mar 2018 at 19:01

Hopefully the above and others can give advice for core upgrade .

If you did replace the core lot , Ryzen 1400 easily beats FX 8350 recommended

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Gigabyte GA-AB350M-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard= £72.95
1 x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD48G3000= £89.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Quad Core 1400 3.40GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £139.99

Total: £313.43 (includes shipping: £10.50)

Upgrade myself from i7 860 i5 7600k last year and even though had 4 less threads, IPC change and sheer speed destroyed the old i7 .
Food for thought , but as you say got to chuck in GPU as well

Terrorfirmer · 14 Mar 2018 at 15:22

That CPU is still pretty OKish so you'd get away with just a cheap card if you want to keep costs down.

What game is it? Unless it's particularly CPU heavy I think you'd be OK with that Xeon. Get an OKish new card now like GTX1050Ti and you could always carry that over later.