Wanting to Upgrade My PC Build -Budget $1200

Hey everyone, I'm currently shopping/looking for some advice on upgrading my PC build for gaming on games such as League of Legends and the new Battlefield coming out also high quality sound. I'm currently looking to spend between $1000/$1200 max for a CPU/Motherboard(with Wi-Fi)/Ram/SSD M.2/SSD 2.5"

My current gaming specs in which I'm after a price check on as I'm looking at selling:

CPU : I7 2600K Running at 4.3GHz
CPU Cooler : Thermaltake Frio Silent 12
Motherboard : Asus P8Z68-V
Ram : Kingston Hyper X Fury DDR3-1866MHz 2X 8GB
Kingston Hyper X Fury DDR3-1866MHz 2X 4GB
GPU : NVIDIA Asus Strix 1060 6GB OC edition
SSD : M4 Crucial 64GB
SSD : Samsung Evo 840 120GB
HHD : WD Green 1TB

Poll Options expired

  • 13
    AMD
  • 13
    Intel

Comments

  • League should work fine on your pc right now.

    https://www.ign.com/articles/battlefield-2042-system-require…

    Your graphics card meets the minimum requirements for Battlefield 2042, but the cpu might be struggling a bit.

      • Yea, I think it would still run fine, obviously not on max settings or anything. Some games seem to run good enough even if the pc is below the minimum specs.

    • League does run pretty well on it at 144fps max settings… It's more so to future proof it for when battlefield comes out as I'd like to have a sustainable and reliable setup for that..

  • +11

    Not worth it dude. Save up to build a new PC.

    DDR3 will bottleneck any new current CPU/Graphic card.

    I thought I was the only one still running an i7-2600k and DDR3.

    • +5

      I too am still using the venerable 2600K, paired with a GTX 1080, and still running Windows 7 too!

    • Yeah I'm pretty keen to upgrade really it's been a while 😅 DDR3 has been good but I think for the future it's well and truly done considering

    • I'm using the i7 2600 paired with 8GB DDR3 and a RX 570 4GB; quite low end but it gets the job done. It plays League 100% fine. It isn't too hard of a game to run fortunately.

  • If you plan on overclocking, 11600K ($350) + Z590 Wifi board either of these will be fine: ASUS TUF/Tomahawk Wifi/ROG Strix ($309-$369)

    2x8GB RAM will be fine for gaming. Aim for 3200 C16 as a minimum. ($139)

    M.2 and SSD drive depends on what capacity but I’d aim for 1TB M.2 (Samsung for $199) and another 1TB (that being said can just get a lower quality M.2 for $120 or so anyway over a 2.5” SSD)

    If you want AMD, 5600X and X570 board will be similar price to Intel.

    I wouldn’t bother with 11700k for gaming alone, same with 5800X. Better off with the money in a higher quality board to OC properly.

    Consider CPU cooler too perhaps you might wanna look for a bundle like this but i might avoid PCCaseGear if I was you given a recent thread on here.

    • Honestly I'd be happy with a solid CPU that can last 5+ years… Not overly worried about overclocking, I do have a pretty good cooling setup considering my rig atm runs hottest at 50 degrees underload..
      Performance wise comparison of Intel and AMD? I can see quite a price difference but I've always been Intel myself I'm happy to change it up if it's worth it 👍

      What happened with pccg if you don't mind me asking? I lean to msy usually but have recognised alot of pcbyte on Oz bargain going up

      • +1

        Read here.

        I think when it comes to gaming, Intel still has the edge as single core clock speeds matter most, especially in lower graphically intensive games like LOL. Especially more so if you plan on gaming at 1080p.

        If you’re going to do anything that makes use of all cores, like render, CAD, photo or video editing etc Ryzen will have the edge.

        However I wouldn’t sweat either one for purely gaming.

  • +1

    If you can wait, you can wait and check for the 12th gen performance & prices, (may be with DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 according to rumours)
    Morever, GPUs are still not that cheap

    • +1

      I've heard that ddr5 is coming out when is that due?
      Yeah I'm not in a position to buy a gpu in the current market so I'm happy to wait that out

      • I am not sure about DDR5 as those are rumours on 12th gen.
        If you really want to you can just swap CPU+MB+RAM becuase GPUs are still really expensive.
        I am in the same boat with i5-2400 + 16GB RAM + GTX1060 3GB but still can play games, not the best but kinda ok at 1080p,
        Recently tried FS2020 too but I think it was not at 1080p though.

        • Ah yeah and I suppose if it does happen the market will be overpriced.. any recommendations on what builds to look into?

  • +2

    If you can wait til the second half of next year i think we are going to see a full generational refresh, with new AMD am5 sockets and CPUs, new DDR5 RAM, and next gen graphics cards.

    Buying a new motherboard now means you are getting a board that will be obsolete next year and will have no future upgrade path.

    • However the new gens will be super expensive. ddr5 ram will be $300-400 for 16gb, who knows how much video cards will be

    • +1

      More than happy to wait and save more $$$ hopefully the GPU market will relax and be back to normal 🙏

      • Wait for new gen, buy today's current gen for a discount :)

      • +1

        You can wait for ever and something new will always be just on the horizon or just upgrade now and enjoy it.

  • +1

    I was basically in your position with an i5 2500 and 1070 two years ago.
    Jumped into a TechFast 3070 deal early Feb this year for $1450 (before everything skyrocketed).

    As other people said, it's not worth upgrading parts because you'll have to replace everything. Just do a fresh build and sell that setup for $300-400.

  • If you're going Intel, from what I'm hearing, you should wait until mid/late next year for the 12th generation chips. DDR5, better USB standard, lower power usage etc.

    That being said, there may be more changes to the hardware than most are willing to accept. Intel is getting a unified front of blowback recently over their changes to power supply requirements, which would mean everyone would need a new power supply.

    There are also rumours of the 40x series from nvidia, but there's also words that the price of wafers is rising sharply so it's starting to look like the cost of video cards may never return to reasonable prices.

  • I appreciate the feedback from everyone.. too be fair I'm probably not going to wait till ddr5 as I imagine it's gonna be very pricey and demand will be very limited considering the GPUs have taken a hit..

    Can anyone convince me why AMD or Intel is the way to go?

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