I am going to need to change out my motherboard, RAM, and CPU at some point over the next year but I cannot afford to do it all at once. My ideal solution would be to buy a component every few months and then hopefully use it on my existing setup until i am done.
My original plan was to upgrade the RAM first because that is generally the cheapest and easiest to install. I am now leaning towards DDR4 RAM and wouldnt be able to plug that into my current motherboard. Now i am thinking that the motherboard would be easier to replace but i dont know. If i got a motherboard that could support ddr4 would i be able to use my existing ddr3 ram and components?
My current parts:
Motherboard: Gigabyte 970A-UD3P
Ram: Corsair DDR3 8 gigs
CPU: AMD 8 core 3.10 GHz
I am just looking for the biggest bang for my $ with the new components. Its a gaming PC and most of my games are CPU intensive as opposed to graphically. I already have an R9 380 GPU with 8 gigs of ram. I will also need to double my RAM in the future so looking for 16 Gigs total.
I am currently looking at these parts:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: MSI B350M GAMING PRO Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard or ASUS Prime B350-Plus
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16 Gigs DDR4
Would the new processor be a significant upgrade on my current 8 core? its only .1 GHz more. I tend to not overclock anything.
The best bet would be to buy everything at one time, as prices vary quite frequently.
If you did piecemeal the system, you might run into a situation where you would be unable to return items (if they happened to be defective) to the retailer and have to deal with RMA with the manufacturer.