Upgrading my budget PC, new GPU or new CPU/mobo?

[Internet Swag]

Hi guys. 

 

This is my current setup and I have about $300 to upgrade it (keep in mind I don't live in USA so things are more expensive) i.e a $180 GPU will cost me $200 for example or more. 

 

64 bit os

8gb DDR3 1333

i3 2120 3.3 ghz - love this little guy, served me so well

Radeon 7850 at stock speeds

1080p monitor

Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 (Socket 1155)

500gb HDD

 

So this is my dilemma. 

 

I can purchase an additional 7850/R9 270(x) and Crossfire it, but my mobo will run the second card at 4x speeds and IDK if this will hinder performance to the point where it is not feasible to make this purchase. 

 

Or I can upgrade my CPU/mobo and try to get more money in the future. 

If I do upgrade my CPU/mobo it'll probably be the i3 4350, not sure what mobo yet. 

 

or I can simply replace my GPU with another. 

 

 

Your thoughts? 

[Phage]

 

location?... i would save up more and get a 780/290 or a z97 mobo with an i5

[Paralectic]

Buy an SSD

[Internet Swag]

location?... i would save up more and get a 780/290 or a z97 mobo with an i5

Africa

 

I literally won't be able to purchase a 780 since they got for $790 here. 290 is about $650.  

[Internet Swag]

Buy an SSD

Why? 

[Lord Gaben]

Upgrade the CPU/MOBO, for the CPU I would recommend a Quad Core i5

[Erik4boss]

location?... i would save up more and get a 780/290 or a z97 mobo with an i5

U stupid? Just buying all of that is x3 his budget.

[Paralectic]

Why? 

Because it will drastically improve your overall experience using the system and the prices aren't that high anymore.

[Rheinwasser]

Buy an SSD

this

[Ren]

Instead of looking at what parts of your computer you have, think about what you're desiring more performance from the most.

Is that dual-core i3 working alright for you right now? And Haswell isn't going to perform a ton better, you're still thinking of buying an i3.

Is that 7850 serving you well, or do you think you'd like to boost the graphics up a bit?

I'm honestly not sure what the i3-2120 can handle for GPUs before it becomes the bottleneck, but I would hazard a guess that the R9 280 is a fine and dandy upgrade within your budget and won't be bottlenecked in most situations. At the same time, I'm really not a fan of i3 processors. The problem is that you're only looking at Intel and with international shipping costs and/or other factors that will jack the price up, I'm not sure you can afford a quality i5 within the budget.

So, you have a few options;

- R9 280 (do not recommend XF/SLI w/that mobo and i3, or any NVidia cards around $200-$300)

- 120/240GB SSD + new case and/or case fans/CPU cooler (for the future)

- Buy an i5-3570/3570k (your motherboard supports it)

Or you can instead save to buy a 4th/5th Gen i5 + a Z97 motherboard (Unlocked Haswell Refresh or Broadwell, don't recommend other CPUs).

These are the most impactful upgrades within your budget, in the recommended order I'd do them. I recommend doing all 3 at some point, and then eventually moving onto a new motherboard if you wanna go crazy with overclocking. If you can help it, hold off on the CPU upgrade until you can afford the latest chipset (Z97) and a Haswell-R or newer CPU like I said at the end. You don't want to dump more money into an old socket if it's about the same price as the newest, fastest, more feature-rich technology.

Locked Haswell Refresh CPU recommendations if you don't want to buy Z97 to save money (can go with H97/H81/whatever there is) in cheapest to most expensive are the i3-4160, i3-4360, i5-4590 and i5-4690. These are the ones worth buying. The 4590 is good performance, but too close to the 4690k in price to really be worth it entirely. Still, probably much cheaper than the 4690k in Africa so it's an option. The 4690 speaks for itself. It'll obviously perform just as well as the K version at stock speeds but you can't overclock it much at all. The bonus to this is it saves a few bucks on the CPU side and you can couple it with a cheaper motherboard, saving even more.

[Analog]

Instead of looking at what parts of your computer you have, think about what you're desiring more performance from the most.

Is that dual-core i3 working alright for you right now? And Haswell isn't going to perform a ton better, you're still thinking of buying an i3.

Is that 7850 serving you well, or do you think you'd like to boost the graphics up a bit?

I'm honestly not sure what the i3-2120 can handle for GPUs before it becomes the bottleneck, but I would hazard a guess that the R9 280 is a fine and dandy upgrade within your budget and won't be bottlenecked in most situations. At the same time, I'm really not a fan of i3 processors. The problem is that you're only looking at Intel and with international shipping costs and/or other factors that will jack the price up, I'm not sure you can afford a quality i5 within the budget.

So, you have a few options;

- R9 280 (do not recommend XF/SLI w/that mobo and i3, or any NVidia cards around $200-$300)

- 120/240GB SSD + new case and/or case fans/CPU cooler (for the future)

- Buy an i5-3570/3570k (your motherboard supports it)

Or you can instead save to buy a 4th/5th Gen i5 + a Z97 motherboard (Haswell Refresh or Broadwell, don't recommend other CPUs).

These are the most impactful upgrades within your budget, in the recommended order I'd do them. I recommend doing all 3 at some point, and then eventually moving onto a new motherboard if you wanna go crazy with overclocking. If you can help it, hold off on the CPU upgrade until you can afford the latest chipset (Z97) and a Haswell-R or newer CPU like I said at the end. You don't want to dump more money into an old socket if it's about the same price as the newest, fastest, more feature-rich technology.

 

^^ This. If you add an other 7850, that low-powered i3 will most likely be struggling. The same goes for anything higher than a R9 280. Considering that the 7850 is still a decent graphics card, especially for a 1080p screen, I would rather upgrade the processor and the motherboard. Go for something like an i5 4440, because there is no point of buying another i3 and a decent Z97 board. This will allow you further expansion with a better K-skew CPU down the road.  

 

One more thing, you didn't note what PSU you were using, which might limit you as well if you do decide to run a dual-gpu set up or upgrade to something like a 290 in particular. 

 

Regarding the SSD upgrade thing, I believe that you already have to change some stuff on that aging rig and the SSD is more of a luxory other than a necessity. It would be the last thing that I would buy, when I already have a good processor, graphics card and PSU. 

[Ren]

^^ This. If you add an other 7850, that low-powered i3 will most likely be struggling. The same goes for anything higher than a R9 280. Considering that the 7850 is still a decent graphics card, especially for a 1080p screen, I would rather upgrade the processor and the motherboard. Go for something like an i5 4440, because there is no point of buying another i3 and a decent Z97 board. This will allow you further expansion with a better K-skew CPU down the road.  

 

One more thing, you didn't note what PSU you were using, which might limit you as well if you do decide to run a dual-gpu set up or upgrade to something like a 290 in particular. 

 

Regarding the SSD upgrade thing, I believe that you already have to change some stuff on that aging rig and the SSD is more of a luxory other than a necessity. It would be the last thing that I would buy, when I already have a good processor, graphics card and PSU.

I agree with this post entirely, although it's mostly just agreeing with my original anyway . Kind of explains it all, and I didn't really mention that the SSD thing definitely is more of a luxury thing, which is why I added in case fans and a new case since those are completely unnecessary but maybe you'd like to have a nicer-looking pc if everything else is serving you well. The SSD thing definitely will make a huge difference on a daily basis, but you almost never need it as much as a quality GPU or a CPU that isn't slow (yours is low-med range in performance, not terrible but definitely could be upgraded).

I forgot to say that I'm pretty sure the R9 280, assuming no CPU bottleneck, will max out any game at 1080p w/ 60FPS without issues. That's why I recommend it. It does it relatively cheaply as well in comparison to the NVidia option that is the GTX 770. If it doesn't, it's only with a small handful of games. Easily the best $300 or less you can spend on graphics right now, ensuring you won't need an upgrade for a long while.

[Internet Swag]

Instead of looking at what parts of your computer you have, think about what you're desiring more performance from the most.

Is that dual-core i3 working alright for you right now? And Haswell isn't going to perform a ton better, you're still thinking of buying an i3.

Is that 7850 serving you well, or do you think you'd like to boost the graphics up a bit?

I'm honestly not sure what the i3-2120 can handle for GPUs before it becomes the bottleneck, but I would hazard a guess that the R9 280 is a fine and dandy upgrade within your budget and won't be bottlenecked in most situations. At the same time, I'm really not a fan of i3 processors. The problem is that you're only looking at Intel and with international shipping costs and/or other factors that will jack the price up, I'm not sure you can afford a quality i5 within the budget.

So, you have a few options;

- R9 280 (do not recommend XF/SLI w/that mobo and i3, or any NVidia cards around $200-$300)

- 120/240GB SSD + new case and/or case fans/CPU cooler (for the future)

- Buy an i5-3570/3570k (your motherboard supports it)

Or you can instead save to buy a 4th/5th Gen i5 + a Z97 motherboard (Unlocked Haswell Refresh or Broadwell, don't recommend other CPUs).

These are the most impactful upgrades within your budget, in the recommended order I'd do them. I recommend doing all 3 at some point, and then eventually moving onto a new motherboard if you wanna go crazy with overclocking. If you can help it, hold off on the CPU upgrade until you can afford the latest chipset (Z97) and a Haswell-R or newer CPU like I said at the end. You don't want to dump more money into an old socket if it's about the same price as the newest, fastest, more feature-rich technology.

Locked Haswell Refresh CPU recommendations if you don't want to buy Z97 to save money (can go with H97/H81/whatever there is) in cheapest to most expensive are the i3-4160, i3-4360, i5-4590 and i5-4690. These are the ones worth buying. The 4590 is good performance, but too close to the 4690k in price to really be worth it entirely. Still, probably much cheaper than the 4690k in Africa so it's an option. The 4690 speaks for itself. It'll obviously perform just as well as the K version at stock speeds but you can't overclock it much at all. The bonus to this is it saves a few bucks on the CPU side and you can couple it with a cheaper motherboard, saving even more.

Such a good response and I thank you for this! Lot's of info here I did not know at all, like there's a Haswell refresh! I think the best option is, as you say, to wait for now when it comes to CPU/mobo.

 

I think getting the Radeon is the best idea atm and then I will wait for the new processors and get a motherboard that will support future CPU's. 

I probably won't overclock the CPU anyways, unless there is a reason for me to do so? I pretty much only do gaming. 

Can I ask why you don't like i3 processors? (genuine enquiry, not trying to argue) 

 

Thank you  

[Internet Swag]

^^ This. If you add an other 7850, that low-powered i3 will most likely be struggling. The same goes for anything higher than a R9 280. Considering that the 7850 is still a decent graphics card, especially for a 1080p screen, I would rather upgrade the processor and the motherboard. Go for something like an i5 4440, because there is no point of buying another i3 and a decent Z97 board. This will allow you further expansion with a better K-skew CPU down the road.  

 

One more thing, you didn't note what PSU you were using, which might limit you as well if you do decide to run a dual-gpu set up or upgrade to something like a 290 in particular. 

 

Regarding the SSD upgrade thing, I believe that you already have to change some stuff on that aging rig and the SSD is more of a luxory other than a necessity. It would be the last thing that I would buy, when I already have a good processor, graphics card and PSU. 

What is a 'K-skew'? 

 

I agree with you on the SSD, I don't know too much about them, but IIRC the best use is for a faster OS and load times, I am more concerned with FPS and performance than load times. That being said, I was wealthy I would definitely have one! 

 

My PSU is the Antec High Current Gamer 620 watts and I believe it is not modular. I remember buying that one in 2012 because I was told it would be good for future use, reading reviews seems to confirm that, I don't know about in 2014+ if I need a stronger PSU though or if PC's are getting more power efficient. 

 

Thank you for your help! 

[Ren]

Such a good response and I thank you for this! Lot's of info here I did not know at all, like there's a Haswell refresh! I think the best option is, as you say, to wait for now when it comes to CPU/mobo.

 

I think getting the Radeon is the best idea atm and then I will wait for the new processors and get a motherboard that will support future CPU's. 

I probably won't overclock the CPU anyways, unless there is a reason for me to do so? I pretty much only do gaming. 

Can I ask why you don't like i3 processors? (genuine enquiry, not trying to argue) 

 

Thank you

There's no point in upgrading to an Ivy Bridge-E CPU or Haswell Gen 1 since they're so closely priced to the Haswell Refresh CPUs but are slower by a 'small', yet considerable amount. Going from Sandy to Haswell-R will make a huge difference in my opinion, especially if you go with an i5.

As for the unlocked CPU thing, that's really up to you. If you're spending less than 10-15% more for the i5-4690k over the 4590/4690, it's worth it to overclock if possible but entirely optional. The good part about H97/Z97 chipset motherboards is that they will support the Broadwell/5th gen Intel processors, so it makes your upgrade path much more broad. Aside from that, there's not much reason to pay that much.

Essentially, with the i5 CPUs you're just paying for more cores. The fact that i3s are stuck with only 2 right now is pretty underwhelming at their prices. They're definitely not terrible, just not as worthwhile as an i5. The CPU list I put at the end is my recommendation for what is worth buying, not what you're limited to. Spend what you want, but also buy what you think you need. If that means almost wasting $40 to get a cheaper i5 for more cores, go for it. I just don't recommend it. Better off saving up or buying something else.

Edit: I forgot to say that while there are no overclocked benchmarks on unlocked Haswell Refresh CPUs (4690k/4790k/4950k) as they are not released yet, I expect them to be way better at overclocking over Gen 1. This makes them much more worthwhile to buy if they're around the same price as Gen 1 unlocked Haswell. Z97 motherboards are very very good for the most part as well, so you don't need to worry a lot about wasting money. I think that despite these not being needed at all right now, you'd still be happy with the performance increase from an overclocked i5-4690k or better and a $150-$200 motherboard if you were to save up for it. Just keep in mind that by the time you had the extra ~$400-$450 for a new mobo + overclockable CPU after upgrading something else, Broadwell might be out.

[Phage]

U stupid? Just buying all of that is x3 his budget.

Probably less than you.

[Erik4boss]

Probably less than you.

wow. much hate. Very 16.

[Analog]

What is a 'K-skew'? 

 

I agree with you on the SSD, I don't know too much about them, but IIRC the best use is for a faster OS and load times, I am more concerned with FPS and performance than load times. That being said, I was wealthy I would definitely have one! 

 

My PSU is the Antec High Current Gamer 620 watts and I believe it is not modular. I remember buying that one in 2012 because I was told it would be good for future use, reading reviews seems to confirm that, I don't know about in 2014+ if I need a stronger PSU though or if PC's are getting more power efficient. 

 

Thank you for your help! 

 

K-Skew processor means an overclockable processor. Notice that every overclocking ready CPU has a "K" after its name, like 2600K, 4930K, 4770K, etc. That PSU will be enough for a 7850 Crossfire or or a R9 290(x).

[papeles]

Buy an SSD

Definitly this  

You can buy a 256GB one for around 100€ or less, not the top dogs but still performing ones. It will make all your system run buttersmooth compared to a mechanical disk.

 

I don't think you would benefit much from crossfire when there are so many stutter problems reported. You can't buy a new cpu without a new motherboard so i don't rly know.

I would buy an ssd then save money for a new mobo+cpu (z97 +  new haswell)

[Phage]

wow. much hate. Very 16.

Wow much doge reference such 12

[Recon-UK]

That i3 you have is capable of pushing a single 780.

 

With that in mind, 7850 crossfire is doable, a single 7850 is still a potent card.

[Erik4boss]

Wow much doge reference such 12

such wrong, many teen now.

[Phage]

such wrong, many teen now.

Such stupidity, much arrogance.

[Erik4boss]

Such stupidity, much arrogance.

such stop. many spam. To the moon!

[Phage]

such stop. many spam. To the moon!

Well don't quote me next time unless its relevant/useful dumbass