So you old pc parts and $500 USD do you

I would upgrade CPU, RAM. Mobo... Something like a B350 Strix with a 1600X and 16GB RAM. Your CPU will bottleneck what ever GPU you upgrade to... Also if you are at 1440p a RX 480 will be fine for 60FPS.

Upgrading the cpu/mobo/ram will give you the best overall improvement with your RX 480. All the games that dont use fully use 8 threads or puts more load on a few threads A Ryzen 5/ 7 or intel quad core or better can drastically increase minimum performance, smooth out your experience big time.

CPU MB RAM, and with $500 (+whatever you can get for your old parts) Ryzen looks more interesting. Because their platform will last longer and because atm Intel doesn't offer anything but Z370 for 8th gen, and their CPUs have such turbo clocks that they don't really need any overclocking.

i'd get a new screen since my PC is otherwise in great shape at the moment

I also have an FX-8350 and a 6 GB GTX 1060. At 1080p and singleplayer games, I have no issues with most games. I usually upgrade every 4 years when the old PC would be chugging. But, the FX-8350/GTX 1060 combo isn't chugging that bad yet.

i5 8600 with 16Gb of RAM, then save some more money and get GTX1060 3Gb or GTX1070

He has a RX 480... those two cards wont be much of a upgrade. His GPU is fine for 60Hz 1440p displays or 1080p 144Hz gaming. So I wouldn't bother upgrading unless he has a 3440x1440 100Hz or a 4K monitor.

GTX1070 won't be much an upgrade? RX580 is at 1=1 with GTX1060

But yeah if you're satisfied with current performance for 1080p the RX480 is a fine card.

Well yeah the GTX 1070 is a lot faster but the price to performance especially when you factor in the loss he would take to sell the RX 480 and then the extra he would have to spend to get a GTX 1070... Just not worth it.

It would be much better to hold on to the RX 480 since his CPU is bottleneck its the more important part to upgrade and wait till a new GPU generation is here and get something along the lines of a RX 680 or GTX 2060 for $250-300 that will perform probably the same on GTX 1080 level.

I heard people are looking for AMD cards for mining, he could get lucky and sell his card high enough to buy a 2nd handed 1070 for the same price :P

If your PC not running SSD, change to SSD will make you unbelievable shock!

I done this to my antique 11 years old PC and it is worth it.

@andrewtst: @PredatorRules: @jun_aka_pekto: @PfizersaurusRex: @04dcarraher: @Grey_Eyed_Elf: thanks everyone, gonna get a new 24" 1080 ips monitor. i may save a bit more and get new cpu and ram.