I could use a little advice on upgrading my machine without spending too much money (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 month ago by Glifted@lemmy.world to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.ml

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So I've been using this machine for a little over 10 years now and making upgrades as nessesary. I don't care much for graphic quality so it's mostly been fine. However, my FPS on certain games has started to become pretty frustrating so I'm trying to come up with inexpensive options to upgrade.

In particular I'm trying to play Nuclear Option online and am having a lot of trouble late in the match. I'm guessing this is due to the high amount of smoke effects but I'm not an expert in any way.

I'm getting 10~20 FPS regardless of graphic settings. I've also checked on my GPU and it maxes out at around 50% utilization so I'm guessing the processor is my limitation

The best CPU my motherboard can take is a i7-4790k (please correct me if I'm wrong) and I think I can get one for $100ish but I'm not sure if that would make enough of a difference. It also seems like DDR3 era board/CPU combos are a little more expensive but fairly affordable on ebay. However, I'm not really sure what would be a good value and worth the investment performance-wise.

Any advice you could give is appreciated. Thanks

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[-] Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You would need to detail your usecase more (what games do you play, what settings & resolutions?), but I don't think your CPU, RAM, or GPU are the main bottleneck - it's the GRAM (the one on you 1060) & the resolution you play on. You can test this by lowering in game resolution to 1280×720.

My first advice would be to look for a used PC in the range of minimum of 300(~500?) monies prioritising GPU (any Intel 10th or AMD Zen2+ will do).

Short of that about the same start but in two parts - go used gfx card hunting & find a good deal (it's the biggest bottleneck atm & you can switch the rest of the parts later).
If games run slow even on low it's the GRAM (not GPU) vs your resolution ... and playing at 720p is just too retro :).

Perhaps you could get lucky getting like a 6600 or maybe 3070 (prob the price of two 6600?) for a good price? It really depends on the local market what would be the best option available to you.
Maybe think about a gaming-only monitor too (1920×1080, so inferior to your 1440, but vastly less GRAM hungry), if upscaling doesn't work for you (tho it got better over generations).

With a new gfx card make sure you have a decent PSU.

I wouldn't bother upgrading your CPU on that mobo unless you get one for free, the prices are always too high - but think about overclocking the current CPU (your CPU & mobo support that).

this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026

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