Need help with Hardware upgrade... - Hardware & Software

I'd like to begin with a apology if this is in the wrong place, in any case, I really need some help. 3 years ago I received a pre-built gaming PC as a present. I love it and I can play most games on it, although seeing as three years has passed its starting to feel a little bit aged. I've been planning to do a hardware upgrade although the problem is that I know pretty much nothing about PC components (I.E. What's compatible and what's not). As such, I've turned to you guys and gals for help in hopes of getting some good recommendations how to upgrade my PC. Specs: Cooler Master Elite 430 Midi Tower Black Fans: 1x 120mm Front, Blue LEDs, mATX, ATX, 2x USB, 1x Audio Silver Power SP-SS500 500W PSU ATX 12V V2.2, 80 Plus, Standard, 1x 6pin+1x 6+2pin PCIe, 6× SATA, 120mm Fan Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3, Socket-AM3+ ATX, 970+SB950, DDR3, 2xPCIe(2.0)x16, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0, FW AMD Phenom II X6 1045T Socket-AM3, Six Core, 2,7GHZ, 6MB, 95W, Boxed Kingston ValueR. DDR3 1333MHz 4GB KIT CL9, 2 x 2GB, 1,5, 240 pin, Single Rank HIS Radeon HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 2.1, "IceQ X", 2xDVI, HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort MagicView iMono UCD-562 USB 2.0 multicard reader m/ SIM-funktion Seagate Barracuda® 1TB SATA 6Gb/s (SATA 3.0), 64MB Cache, 7200RPM, 3,5" Sony Optiarc DVD±RW Writer, AD-5280S SATA, DVD±R: 24x, DVD+RW: 8x, DVD-RW: 6x, Bulk, BLACK [b]Right now my focus has been on the graphics/videocard, CPU and RAM.[/b] So yeah, help would be really appreciated. My budget isn't unlimited, so please keep that in mind while recommending. Also, if anyone happens to know about some kind of secondary fan compatible with the chassis that would be awesome as well. Thanks.

I'd think about replacing the mainboard with something for Intel CPUs. What's your budget in euros?

I'm pretty satisfied with AMD, especially seeing as I've heard that Intel cards suffer from heat issues which wouldn't be great at all during the overly warm Swedish summers. My budget is around 1000 euros.

[QUOTE=Viper123_SWE;47937619]I'm pretty satisfied with AMD, especially seeing as I've heard that Intel cards suffer from heat issues which wouldn't be great at all during the overly warm Swedish summers. My budget is around 1000 euros.[/QUOTE] The AMD chips are the ones that suffer from big heat issues, not the Intel.

[QUOTE=Viper123_SWE;47937619]I'm pretty satisfied with AMD, especially seeing as I've heard that Intel cards suffer from heat issues which wouldn't be great at all during the overly warm Swedish summers. My budget is around 1000 euros.[/QUOTE] I've been doing some research, and it seems that the summer temperature in sweden averages out at 23°C My current build (Intel/Nvidia) goes up to 70°C under load during the summer (which is far hotter), so don't sweat it

TBH switching from AMD to Intel is not of interest because my main focus is to just upgrade my existing hardware. Now please, all I need is recommendations for that.

PCPartPicker part list: [url]http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WbNQ23[/url] Price breakdown by merchant: [url]http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WbNQ23/by_merchant/[/url] CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($164.99 @ NCIX US) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($102.99 @ Newegg) Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290X 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($269.99 @ Newegg) Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ Newegg) Total: $642.96 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-12 11:02 EDT-0400 I know you need it in euros but just look those up and it should still be below your budget. I'm not familiar with amd cpus so I gave you whatever had the highest rating. I gave you 16 gigs of ram. Amd 290x. And I recommend the psu I'd wait though since amd afaik will be releasing new cpus and graphics very soon [editline]12th June 2015[/editline] You might actually need a new mobo as well. Not sure if the CPU will work in it. I could be entirely wrong

Honestly I wouldn't spend the money on an FX over a phenom ii x6. Just get the rest for now, and upgrade the CPU when skyline/Zen comes out. [editline]12th June 2015[/editline] Only 8gb of RAM too

[QUOTE=redBadger;47939312]PCPartPicker part list: [url]http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WbNQ23[/url] Price breakdown by merchant: [url]http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WbNQ23/by_merchant/[/url] CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($164.99 @ NCIX US) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($102.99 @ Newegg) Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290X 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($269.99 @ Newegg) Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ Newegg) Total: $642.96 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-12 11:02 EDT-0400 I know you need it in euros but just look those up and it should still be below your budget. I'm not familiar with amd cpus so I gave you whatever had the highest rating. I gave you 16 gigs of ram. Amd 290x. And I recommend the psu I'd wait though since amd afaik will be releasing new cpus and graphics very soon [editline]12th June 2015[/editline] You might actually need a new mobo as well. Not sure if the CPU will work in it. I could be entirely wrong[/QUOTE] Wow, thanks alot. I'll take a look at these.

Can my motherboard fit the AMD FX-6300? Is that a downgrade from my current stuff? Also, as far as RAM goes anything DDR3 fits right?

It's not really an upgrade IMO. You'd be moving from a full 6 cores to 3 modules.

Also get the new AMD 390 instead of the 290X. I do agree with Levelog tough. Wait with upgrading your CPU or upgrade to Intel. Current AMD lineup, isnt that good for gaming.

[QUOTE=taipan;48055895]Also get the new AMD 390 instead of the 290X. I do agree with Levelog tough. Wait with upgrading your CPU or upgrade to Intel. Current AMD lineup, isnt that good for gaming.[/QUOTE] VRAM amount and a slight bump in memory speed is all the 390 has over the 290x. The 290x has it on pretty much everything else.