cpu or gpu

[JahSwha]

which is more important in a gaming pc cpu or gpu 

 

[WyvernAbstracts]

gpu

[Si3Rra_7]

Well it's a joint effort , but nowadays since the games look so much better i'm going to say gpu. So if you want to upgrade one of your components go GPU ( but you might need to change other components first like you PSU )

 

Edit : Example , in skyrim or planetside 2 a weak cpu will lower your fps a lot , in bf4 not so much .

[Shaqo_Wyn]

GPU unless you have a really old crappy CPU that will bottleneck your GPU. Then you need to upgrade both.

[DIV1D3]

GPU or iGPU of an APU. Though for a budget build I'd recommend upgrading to a decent APU (AMD) along with some <2133Mhz >CL10 RAM. 

[ericlee30]

GPU is more important when gaming.

[Redheadsrule13]

Depends, the GPU should be the more expensive of the two. It really depends on the decision your making however. If you're like me and you have a Pentium and a 760, that 760 isn't going to be able to do much while the Pentium plays catch-up.

[Zelx]

Both, a 50$ CPU will stop your 1000$ from reaching 100% performance

[midrim]

Normally I wouldn't skimp that big on a CPU because I can always upgrade or SLI/CF a gpu.

That doesn't mean you should get an extreme edition cpu and a gtx 560. (This happens quite more often than you think)

 

 

Balance is key. 

[totjup5]

Most games are heavily gpu intensive, so gpu is more important. But it is still crucial to have a fairly strong cpu.

[shiftberry]

well, both are important and they should be paired to each other to prevent bottleneck! 

[LogicalDrm]

Depends on game but you have to upgrade GPU more often. For CPU cycle is 2-4 years, for GPU is about 2 years.

[LOST TALE]

You should choose your cpu based on your FPS range.

 

If your getting 30 fps in battlefield. Better enjoy it on ultra, because no GPU will save you from it.

 

Overall: The cpu can provide a certain amount of fps, then the quality of those images are determined by your GPU.

 

Take note that games may require different cpu/gpu performance ratio to achieve same fps.

Ex:  Single-player vs 64p BF3 match (bf4 being much more cpu efficient)

[Feeterican]

Well I can tell you from my experience, I have a secondary PC that's running a Intel E8400 duel core that is 6 years old this month. It's still kicken and playing some of the current games. Back then I spent 300 on my MoBo (EVGA 780i) and 200 something for the CPU and it's kind of lasted through the years. I still get a decent FPS on Titanfall and it will chug through BF4 (barely) but 2 years ago I tossed in a GTX 680 (it was a hand me down from my gaming PC) and I saw some improvement in GTA 4 where I can set all the settings to High from when it was running a 9800GTX where the settings were on Med. So it is an improvement to upgrade your GPU but after a year or so your going to want to toss in a new CPU and maybe a new MoBo to accommodate the right socket. So I guess what I'm saying is buying a new GPU will get you a year or two more from you set up but eventually your going to have to upgrade other stuff later on.

 

P.S. if you get a 850w PSU it will last you a lot of years. I'm still running my Cooler Master 650w PSU on my old system for 8 years now. It started off in an older build before the EVGA mobo. Now it's running (on the 650w) that E8400, GTX 680, 8GB ram, 4 HDD, 2 rom drives a sound card and 8 fans. So a PSU can go a long way if you get a decent one.

[Feeterican]

Forgot to mention that when I benchmarked GTA 4 with the new card and taking all the settings to high at 1920x1080, it was a solid 63 FPS and also running Win7 64bit