Upgrading, looking for opinions on my plan....

[Bahnzo]

Hi, looking for some opinions. I'm looking to upgrade the mainboard/cpu/memory of the PC I built a couple years ago.

 

I mostly play two games, iRacing and DCS World. iRacing performs fine with my current setup, and DCS could use a memory boost. My current motherboard is at the end of it's upgrade life...my CPU is the best it'll take, and the DDR2 memory is expensive to upgrade, so I think it's time to move up the ladder.

 

My idea is to upgrade the mainboard and the memory. My current MB can only use DDR2 and that's gotten expensive. SO: Gigabyte AM3+ Motherboard and Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB Kit.

 

My plan is to buy these two first, as my current cpu (AMD X4 955) can be used with this board so I can wait to upgrade the processor. Then, in a couple months, I'll get: AMD FX-6300 6-Core Processor Black Edition with (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ILWYJQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1UONG99K3UV31&coliid=I15BL1X26VYQ4D&psc=1"]Rosewill ATX 12V 650-Watt PSU to complete the upgrade.

 

I already have a GTX 750ti graphics, and a couple Seagate drives and my current PSU, so I feel I'm good there for the time being. I might get a 250gig SS drive at some point to help with load times, but it's not a priority.

 

So I have a couple questions: First, for a cheap upgrade, anyone disagree with that path? I'd like to stay with that, because I can buy the immediate components that will give me the 16gig memory and wait to buy the processor/PSU later.

 

Second. There seems to be a lot of thought that Intel is better for gaming. At the risk of opening a can of worms, any opinions on instead getting an Intel Core I3-4160 Processor instead? This kind of breaks my upgrade path, as I'd have to wait and upgrade everything at once, but if it's a significant upgrade to the AMD processor, then I'd maybe consider it. Again, I'm not looking to build some sort of mega rig here.

 

Also, what about DDR4 ram? I am a little worried that going with a motherboard that uses DDR3 will put me behind when I want to upgrade years from now (kind of like how having DDR2 does now, it's become VERY expensive). Can I get a motherboard that will allow me to use my current AMD processors and the DDR4, or is that a whole different thing I need to research?

 

Anything else to add or that I've forgotten? And of course, thanks for the help and opinions.

[Oceandar]

You can always see DCS's recommended system as a reference. Its there for a reason. And yes, ssd is a good choice to avoid stuttering, its one of the best upgrade I've done to my system.

 

Gam Zeh Ya'avor - King Salomon