So I built my first PC about 3 years ago and I have been slowly upgrading it ever since (and by slowly I mean I've only upgraded the GPU and added more ram). The next thing I wanted to upgrade was my CPU as I feel it is the slowest part of my PC.
Here are my current specs: AMD A10 5800K CPU 430 Watt CX430 V2 Builder Series PSU WD 1TB Hard Drive FM2A55M AMD Motherboard Corsair 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz RAM (x2) AMD Radeon R9 270 GPU XIGMATEK Asgard Pro Chassis
I did some research and found the AMD FX-8350 which looked to be a fairly good upgrade from my current (terrible) CPU without costing me a huge amount. (I am 15 and I don't have a job so I don't have a lot of income to say the least) I realised however that it was a different socket type than the one supported by my current motherboard. I looked through my usual PC component store and found a motherboard that had the correct socket type.
This was the cheapest one that I could find that looked to be relatively good.
What I would like to know is; if this is a good upgrade to my current CPU and motherboard, if everything I currently have will be supported by this new motherboard, is the PSU powerful enough, and is there another option that could be better/ cheaper?
This 4460 and this Z97 mobo would probably be a better option than an 8350, depends what you're doing with it though. Both links are to dabs.ie and together are roughly 305 eur. You might want to take a look on amazon, see if there are better prices.
Note that if you put a bit more money into it (60-70ish eur) you could get a 4690K and you'd be able to overclock. Wouldn't really recommend it with that PSU though. Could leave it at stock until you get a better one + an aftermarket cooler.
Overclocking with that PSU, I wouldn't recommend. It should run fine at stock. Pretty sure @anon43112114 knows a guy that has a 970 and a 4690 or similar i5 running on a (maybe even the same?) 430w (might be 500w) PSU?
For overclocking, yes. You'd want an aftermarket cooler to overclock. Might be able to push it a bit with the stock cooler but I wouldn't recommend it. You could always get an aftermarket cooler at a later date when you get a better PSU perhaps.
i5 4670K @ 4,2Ghz and a GeForce 970 @ 1430mhz here (on a CS450M). Also 4x 120mm LED Fans, one 140mm LED Fan, two ssd's, a HDD, two usb3 HDD's, mouse and keyboard also want some juice but i think u get the picture (it works is what i mean be that).
If you go with a higherend GPU like a GTX970 / R9-390 and up. I would recommend to go with an intel setup. Basicly a core i5 would be enough, you could choose for Haswell or Skylake, depending on your budget, and if you like to overclock or not.
But just because it will be a "while" before you are going to upgrade, its basicly better to wait till the time you have the money for the upgrades. Because prices can be totaly diffrent by then maybe.
I do not think it would be worth it to upgrade your CPU until you have more GPU horsepower. There are not many games where the A10-5800K is going to be a hindrance for that GPU; it's not until you get to the R9 280 and above that a CPU bottleneck starts to be apparent.
If your motherboard is beefy enough, you could try your hand at overclocking, but, otherwise, I think the best investment you can do is towards an SSD.
I'm not really upgrading my CPU for the gaming. I'm upgrading it because my PC feels slows and sluggish while doing regular things. If an SSD will fix that then I'll look into it :)