Upgrade help please

[Rumblefish]

Looking to upgrade my kids PC which I handed on to them a couple of years ago. Q6600, Abit IP35, 4GB RAM, HD6870, Corsair HX 620W and a 1280x1024 monitor. It's struggling with games recently now they're old enough to play some of the more graphically demanding titles.

I did think of upgrading my PC which is a i7 4770k, R9 280X, and passing some components on but it still feels plenty fast so I think I'd rather keep it as is.

So... was thinking to upgrade the mobo, processor and RAM in the kids PC with either:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-6400 2.70GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £139.99
• 1 x MSI H170 Gaming M3 Intel H170 (Socket H170) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £88.99
• 1 x Avexir Core Red Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (AVD4UZ124001604G-2CIR= £38.99

Total: £278.47
(includes shipping: £10.50)
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Is that right picking DDR4 memory??

or..........

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte Z97X-SLI - Devils Canyon Core i5 4690K Bundle **£12 Saving**= £257.98
• 1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16001104= £35.99

Total: £305.07
(includes shipping: £11.10)
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I was going to try and persevere with the HD6870 as it's only driving a small monitor but if I wanted to add a graphics card for around £150 what gets the vote at the moment.

Thanks all.

 

[Jaskaran]

I think at the moment mate there isn't much real world performance of having DDR4 over DDR3 especially if they just play games on it.

 

[vince99]

Yes you are right to pick DDR4 memory for your first bundle as skylake requires it, both your selections are fine for gaming although the skylake CPU you selected is quite slow and cannot be overclocked, if thats not a problem then fine.

Your second selection has the faster CPU and will be better in games like GTA5 and FA4, and is the better choice unless you add another £60 for the 6600k.

Your GPU is going to need upgrading for gaming also, in the £150 range you have these and theres not much between them.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Asus Radeon R9 380 DirectCU II Strix OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £155.99
• 1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 960 Superclocked 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (02G-P4-2962-KR) **UPGRADE= £158.99

Total: £325.48
(includes shipping: £10.50)
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[dacads]

Yeah I'd vouch for the second bundle as well, it's older tech but better bang for buck and will outperform the i5-6400.

GPU wise may as well go with one that has 4GB VRAM

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Asus Radeon R9 380 DirectCU II Strix OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £161.99

Total: £171.89
(includes shipping: £9.90)
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[Rumblefish]

Thanks for the advice. I wondered if there may be some hidden advantages going for newer tech (Skylake) over the older socket? More 'future-proofed' although I know there's no such thing as future-proofing PC purchases!

Cheers

Rich