Upgrade recommendations?

Hey everyone.

I’ve been planning on building a new PC for a long time now, but honestly, who actually enjoys waiting for prices to drop? With GPU prices going absolutely crazy lately, I'm thinking about just sticking with my current R9 380 4GB and seeing if upgrading the CPU makes any sense first.

Right now, I'm running an Intel Core i5 2500 with 16 GB of RAM and an SSD.

Does it even make sense to swap out the processor? If it does, what should I go for? The issue is my motherboard is pretty old—an ASUS P8H61—so I’m not really sure what else would even fit in it. I might consider grabbing a new motherboard too, but only if upgrading the CPU actually feels worth the money.

Anyway, I'd really appreciate any advice you guys have. I mainly use this rig for office work and some casual gaming.

Intel Core i7 3770 K... It hits about 6437 on PassMark, which probably makes it pricey to pick up. If your motherboard doesn't support overclocking, there's really no point in getting the K series. Just look at the standard Intel Core i7 3770 instead...
The Intel Core i5 2500 clocks in at 4080.
The Intel Core i7 2700 K hits 5629, might be a better deal.
For comparison...
The Intel Core i3 10100F scores 8794 on PassMark and has much faster single-core speeds... for $217, but you'd need a different motherboard and new RAM...

You know your own setup best and whether you actually need more cores or just raw performance...

https://www.asus.com/supportonly/p8h61/HelpDesk_CPU/

Here’s the CPU list. You might need to flash the BIOS first too...

Bryan Taylor6 said:https://www.asus.com/supportonly/p8h61/HelpDesk_CPU/

Here’s the CPU list. You might need to flash the BIOS first too...

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/de...-3-30-ghz.html

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/de...-3-40-ghz.html

The board supports both of these. If he can snag one for a decent price, that'd be ideal—they're basically just an Intel Core i7 3770.

I actually threw a Xeon 1245 v2 into my buddy's old rig after he swapped out his Intel Core i3 3220, and honestly, the performance is pretty much identical to an Intel Core i7.

Thanks, everyone. 👍