Thinking of Upgrading

Charlie Otter

Charlie Otter

Charlie Otter

Associate
Joined
27 May 2020
Posts
4
Hey guys, hope everyone is good.

I first got my PC from Overclockers 5 years ago, and I think that it's too slow for the games I want to play (I want to get into the Witcher series). I think that my storage and graphics card are still good for my purposes, but my processor needs upgrading. If I replace my processor, then I will probably need to change my motherboard and the PSU. I currently have an Intel Pentium CPU G3258 @ 3.20 GHz (2CPUs) and an MSI Z97 PC Mate Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard, with a 350W PSU.

Thing is, I'm a noob at electronics. The most I do is take off the case to dust the components with air. So I don't really know the steps I need to take or what would be the most suitable for me. I had a look at the upgrade bundles on the overclocker's site, and I think they look good. Is this something where I can just remove my older components and install the new ones with needing to go into the BIOS? Would I need to reinstall software if I upgraded? Is it even worth buying an upgrade bundle in the first place?

Thanks!

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Oh, here's more of my specs:
Team Group Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3 -12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD
Seagate 2TB HDD
GeForce GTX 970
Intel Pentium G3258 Socket LGA 1150 Processor
350W PSU
MSI Z97 PC Mate Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard​
 
Hi and welcome to the forums. :)

You could drop a 4790k straight into that motherboard and while it's a huge upgrade over a G3258 I wouldn't recommend it as the 4790k is still fetching silly money on the likes of Ebay. More sensible would be a AMD Ryzen 3600 and a B550 motherboard (they launch on June 16th) along with 16Gb of 3600mhz DDR4. You will probably need a new psu as well (what make and model is that 350w one you have?). You can carry over the GTX970 and the drives but DDR3 is obsolete now and everything uses DDR4. What case do you have? I am sure that if you post how much you would like to spend I am sure someone will be along and spec you some new components.
 
You should be able to squeeze something half decent, a huge improvement, and a bit of future proof to boot, for £400. But i'm unsure on how much the B550 are cost wise. Then when the 970 dies a death, or GPUs drop in cost, you could then upgrade there also.

Intel CPUs second hand are kinda insane in price. Though i'd not like to say how capable that PSU is of powering a better CPU, i just don't have he knowledge there.
 
If you change the mobo I think you have to reinstall windows - it would be a good idea to do so regardless when doing an overhaul like that!
 
Hi guys, thanks for your replies!

To answer some of your questions:
My PSU is a SuperFlower Golden Green HX 350W "80 Plus Gold"
My case is a BitFenix Neos ATX Tower - Width 18cm, Height 41cm, Length 46cm
According to my DxDiag, my BIOS is v4.10 (type UEFI)

I'd say my budget for an upgrade is £450, the upper limit on what I could spend being £550.
So, if I replace the motherboard, I probably need to reinstall windows. I'm not sure if I still have the installation code, but I need to look around.
 
You can get your product key from the registry, should be able to find a guide on how to on Google.

3600 would be a good upgrade but I'd probably get a new PSU too - 350W doesn't leave much headroom for future upgrades, 500+ should be fine
 
I'd probably go for something like this right now and then save up for a better Gpu to drop in.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £436.02 (includes shipping: £11.10)​
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The 3300x CPU is a very decent CPU , only 4 core so not as good as the 3600 for multitasking but for gaming its decent as most don't utilise more than 4 cores. Can be picked up for £120, that's £60 you could use towards a newer PSU
 
I'd wait for the B550 to release and see if the prices work for you. While the MSI b450 Max board may support Ryzen 4th gen, there's no guarantees, but more relevant, the B550 will likely support 5th gen.

AMD 3300X defo a decent choice if wanting to save cash.
 
The_Arbiter said:
I'd wait for the B550 to release and see if the prices work for you. While the MSI b450 Max board may support Ryzen 4th gen, there's no guarantees, but more relevant, the B550 will likely support 5th gen.

AMD 3300X defo a decent choice if wanting to save cash.
Click to expand...

Think the 5000 series is due to move to a AM5 socket so support wouldn't be possible
 
The_Arbiter said:
I'd wait for the B550 to release and see if the prices work for you. While the MSI b450 Max board may support Ryzen 4th gen, there's no guarantees, but more relevant, the B550 will likely support 5th gen.

AMD 3300X defo a decent choice if wanting to save cash.
Click to expand...
MSI have confirmed that its entire range of B450 and X470 will be recieving Zen 3 support.

https://www.techpowerup.com/267775/...00-series-chipset-motherboards-with-16mb-roms

B550 prices look pretty terrible for a budget builder so unless you need pcie gen 4 which most people don't unless your just transfering large files around all day then B450 is still the bang for buck option.

  • B550 Gaming Carbon Wifi: $219.
  • B550i Gaming Edge WiFi: $199.
  • B550 Gaming Edge WiFi: $189.
  • B550 Tomahawk: $179.
  • B550M Mortar WiFi: $169.
  • B550M Mortar: $159.
  • B550 Gaming Plus: $149.
  • B550-A Pro: $139
Convert to dollar to pounds and add 20% vat and you get pretty much those same prices in £.
 
Last edited:
bagel said:
https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-5000-zen-4-am5-desktop-cpus-ddr5-usb-4-support-2022/

I had read it a few times on forums so thought it was pretty much confirmed but looks like it's still just a rumour - wouldn't be entirely surprising though after all this time with AM4
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks.
If true, B550 seems like a waste for the consumer. But have little knowledge on the VRMs on the boards.

Picked up a Max B450 for a friend hoping support would help his future proofing a little.

Those B550 prices are a little eye watering for sure.
 
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