Upgrading CPU, Intel or AMD

nicholas_yiu

nicholas_yiu

nicholas_yiu

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My system currently have a FX-6300 overclocked to 4.2Ghz with 8Gb of DDR3 ram.

I have been quite outdated in terms of hardware because I very rarely game now.

Last time I upgraded purely so that I can play GTA 5. I don't chase the max settings for graphics and have a tiny monitor which is why the graphics card (GTX 760) coped OK. It seem to be the CPU that's struggling so I overclocked it a bit more. It could be improved but is OK.

Reason I want to upgrade is now that I am working from home more, I sometimes have to run some software from work that are quite CPU intensive. It is still OK but starting to struggle a bit.

The recommended hardware is i7 10th Gen with 16Gb of RAM. The software prefer single core performance so seem to be the sensible choice. However, 10th gen i7 is a bit over my budget.

I read somewhere that a Ryzen 5 1600 can be overclocked quite well and get somewhere close to a i7 10th gen? (might be completely wrong here) If that's the right route to go down, what Motherboard / RAM would you recommend. I am on a bit of a budget so after value for money.
 
My budget is as little as possible, preferably under £200.

My thinking is buying high spec last gen hardware + a bit of overclocking could get me there? I am not sure if I am being realistic.
 
nicholas_yiu said:
My budget is as little as possible, preferably under £200.

My thinking is buying high spec last gen hardware + a bit of overclocking could get me there? I am not sure if I am being realistic.
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Your not being realistic.

£200 used may get you ryzen 3600, b450 motherboard and 16gb of memory or 10400f b460 and memory.
 
Also the gains from overclocking are not huge these days so don’t expect any miracles there either. Most CPUs are running relatively close to the max out of the box with things like automatic turbo clock speeds being very much the norm.
 
Didn't know there's not much gain in overclocking nowadays, I still remember the days of overclocking my XP-M 2500 to 2.7Ghz.

So it's a case of spending £300 for the recommended hardware or live with a slightly slower £200 setup which will still be a huge improvement from what I have now.

I am watching the software on the other monitor taking 5 seconds to process each part on the simulation which is hugely frustrating.

Will google the recommendation above to try and see how much difference it would be between spending £200 and £300.
 
£200 will get you a basic 10th gen i3 quad core, board and ram whereas for £300 you would be looking at a 6 core CPU + board ram etc.

If you have a gpu then look for the 10105F for £70 which brings it down to almost £200

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £270.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​

£300

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £310.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​
 
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Thanks for that, I think the 11400F seems better value for money and is a good starting point, shame that both the mobo and cpu are out of stock from here.

Sounds like I have no choice but to up my budget. Is there an AMD equivalent in this performance / price range?
 
AMD have pretty much abandoned the budget price range and now their cheapest offerings start around £250 with the 5600G which offers similar performance to the 11400F but for £100 more, you maybe able to find a 3600 but even those are generally overpriced right now while offering less performance than the 11400F.

If you can hold out for another month or two till release then the 12400F and B660 combo is looking very good.
 
Honestly, I think you're barking up the wrong tree... the FX-6300 is pretty long in the tooth, but still reasonably capable. It is a very different CPU, but comparable to an i7-6700, which is the most you could realistically hope for as a CPU upgrade (as you'll need CPU + motherboard)... certainly with a £200 target.. anything more than that and you'll need CPU+mobo AND RAM.... and that will blow the budget as even 16Gb DDR4 3200Mhz will eat around £50 of your budget (2x8Gb Corsair LPX DDR4-3200C16).

Graphics card is definitely what is holding you back more: a GTX1060 (<£200) will triple the graphics memory and nearly double your gaming performance and get you onto a GPU that still has optimised+updated drivers - and likely will do for at least another 3 or 4 years.

Look at the relative performance charts: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-gtx-1060-6-gb.c2862 - the GTX 760 is roughly half the performance of a GTX1060.
 
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If you do drag yourself down the route of a CPU upgrade.

Ryzen 1600 or similaris a sensible option: try to get it with a B450 board as a minimum (there are some Fleabay bundles for around £250 that will get you a Ryzen5 1600, motherboard and 16Gb DDR4 - most likely only PC3000, possibly CAS18)... just watch out as some people are pairing those with an A320, which will struggle to get even the normal base speed out of a R5 1600, forget about overclocking - ANY budget B450 would be better as most will let you upgrade to a 5000-series Ryzen later....

You can probably get a much better platform spec'ing your own:
B550 ~£80 @ OC
2x8Gb DDR4 3200-C16 £45 @ OC
... and then a Fleabay R5 1600 CPU for ~£100 (£140 for a R5 2600) incl a Wraith cooler.

Looking at £235-£275 for a solid base.

Just don't expect any gaming improvement - the recommendation for that remains the GTX1060 - hold out for a 6Gb version for ~£200, but having been looking at recent auctions, you may have to stretch to closer to £240.... which is crazy as that's more than I paid for my GTX1660S 2 years ago (new!).

Perhaps wait until after Christmas... there might be a few Christmas presents that allow people to flog off what comes out of their PC's as they upgrade?
 
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I picked up a 2600 for £60, an a320 motherboard for £20 and 16gb 3200mhz for £40 so it's entirely possible, just gotta keep your eyes peeled for deals!
 
Dreadi said:
I picked up a 2600 for £60, an a320 motherboard for £20 and 16gb 3200mhz for £40 so it's entirely possible, just gotta keep your eyes peeled for deals!
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Not wanting to ruin the "budget" side of a budget build... but there's a balancing point where the hardware would be good for a a future build that will handle another 3 generations of CPU's (from a R5 1600 to a R7 5800X), versus a one-time throwaway spend (e.g. a cheap B560 board an a 11th gen i3 or i5 - it will struggle to support an 11th gen i7 and you'll need a new motherboard for a 12th gen).

If you're scraping a PC together, then a B450 for ~£50 would be a better bet.... far more legs than an A320.

Also careful with 3200Mhz DDR4 under £50.... OC's had some TeamGroup Vulcan at £45 that was still CAS16, but a lot of it drops to CAS18 performance at <£50.... worth spending £5-£10 more for CAS16.

Great work on the CPU though - that's exactly the sort of chip that I was thinking would pair well with a mid-level workstation/gaming rig....
 
Preytheon said:
Not wanting to ruin the "budget" side of a budget build... but there's a balancing point where the hardware would be good for a a future build that will handle another 3 generations of CPU's (from a R5 1600 to a R7 5800X), versus a one-time throwaway spend (e.g. a cheap B560 board an a 11th gen i3 or i5 - it will struggle to support an 11th gen i7 and you'll need a new motherboard for a 12th gen).

If you're scraping a PC together, then a B450 for ~£50 would be a better bet.... far more legs than an A320.

Also careful with 3200Mhz DDR4 under £50.... OC's had some TeamGroup Vulcan at £45 that was still CAS16, but a lot of it drops to CAS18 performance at <£50.... worth spending £5-£10 more for CAS16.

Great work on the CPU though - that's exactly the sort of chip that I was thinking would pair well with a mid-level workstation/gaming rig....
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My build is a for a 7 year old to play Minecraft and older steam games with a budget of £250 all in hence why I picked up the 320 instead of a 450. The ram is team group Vulcan cas16 :) and I'm only looking at a gtx 760 for the gpu.

PSU is an old one
SSD is a spare one
Cpu £60
Ram £40
Board £20
Matx case £23
RGB fans and controller £20

Just need to find the elusive GPU and can always go up to a ryzen 3000 series if needed in future or he can have my b450/5800x when I upgrade :D
 
Sorry for digging up an old thread.
I ended up just leaving it back then because I didn't think I could have done anything worthwhile with realistically around £250 max at the time.

Now that Christmas, self assessment etc are out of the way, I have a bit more budget to play with.

Looking around at the moment, I can get a 11400f / B560 mobo / cas16 ram for around £270
I can also get a 12400f / B660 mobo / cas16 ram for around £330

I think the 11400f combo probably went down in price with the 12400f being out now so is quite good value, but is it worth spending extra £60 for the 12400f combo with everything being a bit newer or would there not be much of a difference.
 
nicholas_yiu said:
Sorry for digging up an old thread.
I ended up just leaving it back then because I didn't think I could have done anything worthwhile with realistically around £250 max at the time.

Now that Christmas, self assessment etc are out of the way, I have a bit more budget to play with.

Looking around at the moment, I can get a 11400f / B560 mobo / cas16 ram for around £270
I can also get a 12400f / B660 mobo / cas16 ram for around £330

I think the 11400f combo probably went down in price with the 12400f being out now so is quite good value, but is it worth spending extra £60 for the 12400f combo with everything being a bit newer or would there not be much of a difference.
Click to expand...

I'd pay the extra too. Being on a new platform with a better upgrade path and a faster CPU, I'd say is worth £60.
 
nicholas_yiu said:
Looking around at the moment, I can get a 11400f / B560 mobo / cas16 ram for around £270
I can also get a 12400f / B660 mobo / cas16 ram for around £330
Click to expand...
I'm not sure I'd choose any Intel CPU based on "upgrade path", given they never last more than two generations and recent form (11th to 12th gen), the generational upgrade was little more than a token box-ticking exercise where the CPU made a lot more heat (and noise) and zero/lower performance.

The rant about Intel wasting our money on 1 or 2 generational motherboards aside; the 12400F is a decent budget CPU (still VERY capable!). Plus, going in with mid-range CPU and a B660 board you'll have an option at a 12700KF whenever you want a bit more CPU capacity further down the road. Just don't buy it expecting the 13th gen to be anything more than another token effort and the 14th gen to need yet another motherboard.

Factor your own cooler into the mix - the Intel stock coolers have apparently improve a bit, but they're still little more than e-waste unless you want your system to thermal throttle.
 
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