PC upgrade vs replacement

What are you trying to do that you cant do on your current machine? (This is what drives my own upgrades)

I'd recommend a replacement with those specs, but it does really depend on what you're using it for. Though keep in mind that it's probably the most expensive time in the last decade to build a PC with DRAM prices so stupidly high.

Personally I'd recommend future-proofing with DDR5 if you can afford it, but it ends up being a rabbithole of upgrades for any architecture change. I ended up Ship-of-Theseusing my rig last year when I was having CPU bottleneck issues (music production) and decided on a replacement, but I figured there was no point in getting an older spec for a build I'd hope to be using in a decade, so I got an AM5 processor. But that meant I needed a new compatible motherboard, which meant new DDR5 RAM, new fans, a new cooler, new PSU, all of which needed a larger case, and at the end I just thought 'screw it' and got a new graphics card for the whole thing. I was fortunate in my timing since I built the thing only a few months before the data centre boom hit; it would literally cost me triple the amount of money to build that machine today.

Whatever you decide to go for, 16GB of RAM is the bare minimum these days and that upgrade should be your top priority. For quick and (relatively) cheap performance boosts you could also consider a new SSD (emphasis on relatively since SSD prices are insane now) and maybe installing Linux if it fits your use case. Even just reinstalling Windows from scratch helps a ton if you've not done it since building.

Even with those specs, another 8GB is probably gonna do you wonders, especially on windows. Though a general upgrade would do you well across the board, assuming you're doing things more intensive than like indie/retro gaming and YouTube. If that's your use, I probably wouldn't bother beyond the 8GB DDR4 tbh.

I've never entirely replaced a PC. Instead, I usually alternate between upgrading motherboard+RAM+CPU and GPU. Helps me not break the bank all at once and I eventually ship of Theseus my way into a "new" computer and upgrades for my server/friends.

Edit: I see your motherboard has an AM4 slot, you can get an OK upgrade there with something like the ryzen 5 5500 for <100 and not needing to upgrade the motherboard + buy DDR5 -- nothing stellar or future proof, but maybe a frugal midpoint in this economy.

I could bump RAM to 16 without breaking the bank since its DDR4, and maybe splurge on a new processor, but I'm not sure if I'd just want to go with a new machine at that point, thoughts?

Little confused by the wording here. If you're worried about "breaking the bank" upgrade is probably your only option.

That said if you have the budget to upgrade, it's an awkward time. On the one hand things have never been more expensive, on the other it's very possible they won't go down anytime soon (or hell maybe ever).

My wife upgraded earlier this year on the logic she didn't want to have to wait out another 5+ years if things only get worse in that time. Not sure where you fall on that scale. Given it's a 10 year old machine I'm sure you're already hitting issues which is spawning this question, and I kinda doubt 16 GB of ram will make a significant difference in what ever issue you're facing?

Recommendation would vary based on what you do with your current machine to be honest. I think most straightforward thing you can do is double the RAM since 16GB is pretty standard nowadays and would give you more breathing room. If you needed a tiny bump in power you could go to a 2000 series Ryzen too to keep your upgrade costs low.

Your ryzen 3 1300 only has 4 cores and 4 threads (no hyper-threading). You could easily get a cpu with 8 cores 16 threads, while keeping your same motherboard. Also check what speed your ram is running at. If it's 2133mhz then check if your ram supports 3200mhz and enable the xmp profile in your uefi/bios to run it at full speed. Or when you buy new ram, make sure it says XMP 3200.

I don't know what you use your computer for. If it's games, you can also get a huge upgrade from a variety of newer video cards, but be careful with that old PCIE 3.0 slot. The nvidia 5060 suffers from the lower bandwidth, while the radeon 9060xt does just fine. You still only need 16gb of ram for the big new games, but vram on these cards should be more like 12gb. And running ddr4 ram at 3200mhz really does help.

You will probably have to upgrade your bios to get support for newer CPUs. Just start scrolling through this list on wikipedia and stop at Zen 3 (or earlier).