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Memory or CPU?

bossdre
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So I have a friend who wants to upgrade his gaming rig, but is on a budget. His asking for advice on what to get first or what components that will have the most performance boost.

 

Specs:

 

Pentium G3240

Kingston 4gb 1333mhz

HD 7770

 

What should he upgrade first, his CPU or RAM?

 

I'd advised him on getting a Pentium G3258 and another 4gb memory stick to increase the system memory, used.

 

But he is leaning on getting either a dual channel 8gb memory kit or an I3 4130.

 

What should he get first? What component will benefit him the most?

 

 

The argument about my advise are, first, it is still a dual core cpu although you can overclock it and second, the memory even though it has increased capacity the bandwidth will be the same since it will run on single channel.

 

What do you think? Would it be a better choice?

 

Thanks!

 

Edit: The rig will be used primarily for gaming.

 

He wants to play Dragon Age: Inquisition and Far Cry 4.

I love free stuff.

GTX 970 with pseudo 4gb vram at pseudo 224gb/s at pseudo  256-bit with 56 ROPs (corrected from 64) and 1.75mb L2 cache (corrected from 2mb).

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what is friend doing that they expect a boost in performance? gaming or daily applications?

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what is friend doing that they expect a boost in performance? gaming or daily applications?

 

Sorry, I forgot to mention. It will be primarily used for gaming. :)

I love free stuff.

GTX 970 with pseudo 4gb vram at pseudo 224gb/s at pseudo  256-bit with 56 ROPs (corrected from 64) and 1.75mb L2 cache (corrected from 2mb).

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can he hold off for an I5

 

UPGRADING

 

Pentium G240 to Pentium G258 = NOT MUCH

 

Pentium G258 to Intel I3 = Fair Bit

 

Intel I3 to Intel I5 = HEAPS

CPU: Intel Core I5 4590 | GPU: EVGA GTX 970 SSC | Mobo: ASRock Fatality H97 Performance | Ram: HyperX Fury 8gb 1866 | SSD: Intel 520 series 240 GB | HDD: WD Blue 1TB | Case: Aerocool DS 200 red/black | Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212X | PSU: Antec High Current Gamer 620w | Monitor: AOC i2367fh & old HP | OS: Windowws 7


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can he hold off for an I5

 

UPGRADING

 

Pentium G240 to Pentium G258 = NOT MUCH

 

Pentium G258 to Intel I3 = Fair Bit

 

Intel I3 to Intel I5 = HEAPS

 

No, he can't.

 

How about the memory? Will he still be ok with an I3 and 4gb ram for gaming?

I love free stuff.

GTX 970 with pseudo 4gb vram at pseudo 224gb/s at pseudo  256-bit with 56 ROPs (corrected from 64) and 1.75mb L2 cache (corrected from 2mb).

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can he hold off for an I5

 

UPGRADING

 

Pentium G240 to Pentium G258 = NOT MUCH

 

Pentium G258 to Intel I3 = Fair Bit

 

Intel I3 to Intel I5 = HEAPS

 

^^ this ^^

if can't wait, upgrade to i3, if they can wait, the i5 would be much better (in FPS outcome).

the RAM would not be the route for gaming performance.

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For gaming start of with 8gb of ram.

 

 

Now I'm confused. xD

I love free stuff.

GTX 970 with pseudo 4gb vram at pseudo 224gb/s at pseudo  256-bit with 56 ROPs (corrected from 64) and 1.75mb L2 cache (corrected from 2mb).

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Now I'm confused. xD

I had 4gb a few years back swappped it to 8gb and it got a ton more performance,

Get 8gb now save some more for a i3 or i5.





 
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ya cant have it all.

 

you buy 4 more gigs of memory and wait till you can upgrade the cpu

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this tread is a bit vague

 

what games exactly is he playing?

 

MMO?

 

Dota?

 

LoL

 

WoW?

 

 

8Gb is nice but i dont think having 8GB is good when the CPU is weak or vice versa

Budget? Uses? Currency? Location? Operating System? Peripherals? Monitor? Use PCPartPicker wherever possible. 

Quote whom you're replying to, and set option to follow your topics. Or Else we can't see your reply.

 

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your friend has the unenviable position of being in a tough spot. cpu, ram and graphics card are all inadequate. 4 gb of ram just doesn't really cut it in today's AAA games. however, if he doesn't have a 64 bit version of windows, add more ram will give 0 benefit. the gpu he has is pretty weak to be honest. but that cpu is the weakest link. going up to an i3 doesn't make much sense, since even an i3 is starting to show its limitations in gaming now. i'd recommend your friend save up for an i5 4430 which will be leaps and bounds more capable (and be good for a much longer time) than any i3. the system will run faster for general use as well. after that upgrading the ram would be a good choice unless he has a 32 bit version of windows, in which case kick that 7770 to the curb and get a gtx 750ti or r7 265.

My rig:
CPU: i5 4690k 24/7 @4.4ghz (1.165v) Max 4.7ghz (1.325v) COOLER: NZXT Kraken X61 MOBO: Asus Z97-A   RAM: 16GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical   GPU: EVGA GTX 970 SSC   PSU: EVGA GS 650W   CASE: NZXT Phantom 530 HDD: WD Caviar Blue 1TB + WD Black 2TB

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Yes he is definitely in a tough spot, but he just want to play the latest AAA games on playable framerates even on low settings. He is definitely satisfied about his rig that I assembled considering the price because this had worked for him, he can play arguably every game on it with some tweaking on the game's settings, but the new Dragon Age and Farcry forced him to consider an upgrade.

 

It's odd though, I've seen videos on youtube with playable fps(around 20-30fps) with comparable specs as his.

 

And yes, he can't have it all, he can only buy one component atm and we're wondering what component would give a fair amount of performance boost to his low end gaming rig.

 

He intends to buy now because it would take him years (over exaggerated) to get an i5. xD

 

Edit:

 

He has a 720p display.

I love free stuff.

GTX 970 with pseudo 4gb vram at pseudo 224gb/s at pseudo  256-bit with 56 ROPs (corrected from 64) and 1.75mb L2 cache (corrected from 2mb).

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