What upgrades make sense for this budget PC without changing the motherboard?
Asked by
MellowQuasar47
I built this PC for about $150 from used and salvaged parts so I could move on from an old laptop. I mainly want to play the Fallout games, Dishonored, titles from around 2013–2020, and various indie games—not demanding new releases.
The current parts are:
- Asus H97M-E motherboard
- Intel Core i5-4690K
- Palit GTX 1060 6GB
- 16GB (2x8GB) HyperX DDR3
- 120GB Kingston SSD and 250GB Samsung SSD
- 500GB Hitachi hard drive
- Chieftec A-80 700W power supply
- Mars Gaming case with five 120mm fans
What upgrades are worthwhile while keeping the motherboard? Would this CPU hold back a significantly faster graphics card, and are there any especially sensible improvements for the games I want to play?
Answers
For the CPU, the practical upgrade is a used i7-4790K, assuming you can find one cheaply. It gives you four cores with Hyper-Threading and higher clocks, but the improvement may not justify a high price. The motherboard's CPU options are limited to compatible fourth-generation chips, with a few fifth-generation models depending on BIOS support.
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Changing to a newer Ryzen platform could be better value if you find a cheap used CPU, motherboard, and memory bundle, but it is not necessary for your stated games. With the parts you already have, I would keep the GTX 1060 unless you find a very good deal, add more fast storage if needed, and upgrade the graphics card only after checking actual performance in your games.
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A faster GPU can work in this system, but the i5-4690K will become the limit in some CPU-heavy games, especially if you're targeting high refresh rates. A used GTX 1080 Ti would be a major jump from the GTX 1060, while an RTX 3060 12GB is about as far as I'd go before the old platform starts making less sense. Check the required power connectors and be cautious with the age and quality of the power supply.
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The cheapest useful upgrades may be storage and system tuning rather than replacing the whole platform. Put Windows and frequently played games on a larger SSD, and consider replacing the hard drive if loading times bother you. An inexpensive PCIe-to-NVMe adapter can add capacity, although the older platform will not get the full speed of a modern NVMe drive. You can also make sure the CPU and GPU are properly cooled and investigate a mild overclock if temperatures and the motherboard BIOS support it.
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VelvetMango61: For the games listed, the 1060 is still fairly reasonable. Before buying anything, monitor GPU usage and frame rates so you can tell whether the GPU or CPU is actually limiting performance.