FX Series CPU

[__Hyperlink__]

I've been told many times that I should upgrade my CPU (FX-8350) before my GPU(EVGA GTX 960), but with the specs of the CPU, I really think my gpu is the bottleneck at the moment, and I can get a decent GPU a lot cheaper than I could a decent CPU. (I'm a teenager with no high school job prospects atm, so money is tight.)

[Yea, i use windows, W]

4 minutes ago, __Hyperlink__ said:

I've been told many times that I should upgrade my CPU (FX-8350) before my GPU(EVGA GTX 960), but with the specs of the CPU, I really think my gpu is the bottleneck at the moment, and I can get a decent GPU a lot cheaper than I could a decent CPU. (I'm a teenager with no high school job prospects atm, so money is tight.)

Not at all! Upgrade Both! and as money is tight i understand, When upgrading sell your older components, Also, try to buy used products, and how tight is your budget? which motherboard?

[aisle9]

Depending on the games you play, the 960 might be ok for a while. I got stuck using one for a few months this year, and was surprised at how competent it still is at lower detail settings.

 

I'd upgrade your CPU first, but that's going to mean a total platform shift. New CPU (R3 3100 is fine), a B450 board with BIOS updated for Ryzen 3000 and new DDR4 RAM. If money is really tight, look for a combo with a B350, X370 or B450 board, a hexa-core Ryzen 5 and 16GB of DDR4. If that's all out of reach, then there are worse things in life than waiting to see what October 28th and November bring in the way of midrange cards.

 

TBQH, you can't really upgrade one without creating a bottleneck for the other, so I'd go for the total platform upgrade first.

[AlwaysFSX]

I'd personally change the CPU first. The 960 is fine at 1080p with low settings. FPS > Quality imho.

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, __Hyperlink__ said:

I've been told many times that I should upgrade my CPU (FX-8350) before my GPU(EVGA GTX 960), but with the specs of the CPU, I really think my gpu is the bottleneck at the moment, and I can get a decent GPU a lot cheaper than I could a decent CPU. (I'm a teenager with no high school job prospects atm, so money is tight.)

We all "should" do a lot of things. 

But the Gpu does most of the rendering......

 

Either way you go, you'll still have poor frame rates with a GTX 960.

I upgraded my modded Asus GTX 980 to a 2060 and saw a night and day difference.

 

But for comparison reasons, First Gen Ryzen 1400 4/8 threads is about 10-15% faster than your FX-8350

But a GTX 980 is about 75-80% faster than a GTX 960.

 

I think your greatest increase in performance to the dollar (say you have a 100 bucks to work with) the GPU upgrade would be better if we where looking at the numbers.

[__Hyperlink__]

6 hours ago, Yea, i use windows, W said:

Not at all! Upgrade Both! and as money is tight i understand, When upgrading sell your older components, Also, try to buy used products, and how tight is your budget? which motherboard?

The ASUS M5A97 R2.0. I'm currently running off of christmas money and whatever I can scrounge up. I plan on getting a job next summer.