Upgrade advice please

[Emmental41]

Hello, Would really appreciate some tech advice to help a friend with their gaming PC. In 2020 they bought the spec below, and they have just upgraded the processor to Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-9400 (2.9GHz) 9MB Cache. They are looking to upgrade again in future but there is no option to upgrade the processor showing now and I don’t know if there is anything else that would improve performance - maybe graphics card? Thanks!

Case
CIT PYRO RGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i3 Quad Core Processor i3-9100 (3.60GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H310M-A R2.0: Micro-ATX, DDR4, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 - HDMI
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

 

[SpyderTracks]

What is it they're looking for with upgrading? What do they use the system for and where is performance lacking?

What make and model monitor are they using?

What's the budget for upgrades?

To be honest, it's a really poorly configured system, and a replacement may be a better option from a value standpoint.

 

[Emmental41]

Ah, OK, thanks. They are looking for better gaming performance as it can be a bit laggy, though much less so since getting the six core.

The monitor is AOC 21.5" E2270SWDN LED Monitor. 1920 x 1080, 5MS.

They will look at the upgrade options and save up, so not sure of exact budget.

Could you possibly say a bit about what makes is poorly configured?

Thanks!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ah, OK, thanks. They are looking for better gaming performance as it can be a bit laggy, though much less so since getting the six core.

The monitor is AOC 21.5" E2270SWDN LED Monitor. 1920 x 1080, 5MS.

They will look at the upgrade options and save up, so not sure of exact budget.

Could you possibly say a bit about what makes is poorly configured?

Thanks!

I'm afraid it's just not designed well at all from the ground up, it's not a gaming system by any means, and the monitor isn't a gaming monitor anyway, so can't support over 60fps.

It's got too many bottlenecks as it is currently so those components would need replacing entirely

The case
The processor, but it's limited by the motherboard anyway.
The RAM both quantity and speed
The GPU would bottleneck a gaming monitor at 1080p
The primary SSD
The PSU can't support upgrades required

It's basically the whole system that needs replacing really.

You can't just throw any components together if you want upgradeability, you have to design a platform that can support upgrades.

You'd need a full PC replacement, that system isn't worth upgrading, to upgrade it you'd be limited by a poor platform, so you'd spend as much as you'd need for a new system but on an outdated platform. Would make far more sense buying a current gen platform for far better performance at the same price.

But that’s not a gaming pc, it’s an office pc spec with a gpu thrown in, it’s never going to do well for gaming

 

[Emmental41]

Understood. That’s a shame but I will suggest saving up for a new PC instead and buying something off the shelf this time. Could it be worth getting a new monitor for the existing PC as it could eventually be used with a new PC or is it not worth it? Thanks again for your help!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Understood. That’s a shame but I will suggest saving up for a new PC instead and buying something off the shelf this time. Could it be worth getting a new monitor for the existing PC as it could eventually be used with a new PC or is it not worth it? Thanks again for your help!

I would wait until they know the budget they have for the new pc for a monitor as the monitor needs to match the pc