PC Upgrade Ideas

I'm currently running a system with an AMD Athlon II X2-B26, an ATI HD 7700 with 1GB, 8GB of RAM, and a 500W power supply. I am looking into upgrading this rig—though I find myself questioning if such an endeavor is even worth the investment at this stage. If there is a logical path forward, what order of components should I prioritize for replacement?

Douglas Ramos5 said:I've got this setup: an AMD Athlon II X2-B26 processor, an ATI HD 7700 with 1GB, 8GB of RAM, and a 500W power supply. I'm looking to upgrade, but I'm wondering if it's even worth it. If it is, what order should I swap parts out in?

It's a bit of a tricky one. What kind of budget are we talking about? That's going to be the biggest factor in deciding the next move.

There is some room for an upgrade on this platform. You could grab a used quad-core plus a decent used GPU in the range of an RX 570 Max, and you'd be set. That would give you a solid jump in performance, letting you run things okay-ish without spending a ton of cash.

If you really want to stop worrying about hardware for a while, you'll likely need to overhaul the entire platform, which is a much bigger project requiring a larger budget.

You didn't mention which motherboard you're using, so check which CPU actually fits on it.

Seriously, don't be an idiot—just drop a Phenom X4 965 in there and you'll have a processor twice as powerful as what you're running now...

Of course, you'll need to swap out the GPU too... the power supply should be fine if it's from a reputable brand.

It all really comes down to how much cash you want to drop and what kind of gaming experience you're looking for.

I'm currently running an ASUS M5A 78L-M LX3 motherboard—my budget for now is sitting at about $275.

Douglas Ramos5 said:I've got an ASUS M5A 78L-M LX3 motherboard, and my budget right now is about $275!

You can run FX-ev processors on that board. Just double-check what kind of power supply you're running; if it's a reputable brand, you might be able to snag a used FX 4300/6300 (I wouldn't recommend an FX 8300 for a board that basic).
Aside from dropping in a better GPU, that's pretty much all there is to it for that budget.

Here’s what you can run on that motherboard. First, check which BIOS version you're running. The max CPU power draw for this board is 95W, so don't try anything more powerful than that...

Go with something like an FX 6300 or an FX 8300... both sit right at that 95W limit... just forget about overclocking...

Grab a used GTX 1060—you might even find one that still has some warranty left...

If you want more power, you'll need a newer PSU, maybe something from Fortron

Thanks for the input, everyone! I was running an FX 6300 before it finally gave up the ghost—so I decided to swap it out for this one instead. Someone mentioned to me that these FX 6300 chips are notoriously prone to failing—is there any truth to that rumor?

Douglas Ramos5 said:Someone mentioned to me that these FX 6300 chips tend to fail pretty easily. Is there any truth to that?

Not really.

Is a Fortron 500W actually going to cut it for this setup?

It depends on which one specifically, but most likely, yes.