Upgrading my computer. (which part?)

[aTTITUDE]

First off, your RAM is running at 1333MHz (666MHz X 2 = 1333MHz) because you didn't configure them to run at 1600 in the BIOS. The default fail-safe speed is 1333MHz.

CS:GO is a CPU dependent game and does not require a powerful graphics card. If you want your FPS to be more consistent / stable in the higher FPs range, you'll most likely need to switch platforms.

1) APUs that uses the FM2 socket aren't fast to begin with

2) The socket AM3+ (FX CPUs) are better but slow compared to Intel's counterpart. CS:GO performs better on CPUs with faster PER CORE performance (CS only uses a few cores anyways)

And this is coming from a person who prefers AMD (though I do build systems with both Intel and AMD for people based on the scenario/purpose of the system/budget/etc).

I honestly don't see the reason to get higher FPS. Don't get me wrong, I KNOW the higher the FPS to better in first-person-shooter games (its one of my preferences), but since you are already achieving a fairly consistent 150FPS, I don't why you need more.

At this point, a low refresh rate, and high input lag from BOTH your monitor and keybaord/mouse will be holding you back.

I got my brother a 120Hz, low input lag, fast response time monitor for his birthday...and the improvement was quite big. He was coming from a inespensive 60Hz Acer monitor. (He is a big CS:GO player too)

Thank you for your tips! very much appreciated! 

[aTTITUDE]

 

Not sure if I agree with most of the posts here, and some are outright giving terrible purchase advice.

 

From the sounds of it, it could be either/or CPU/GPU woes but seeing as CS:GO has nothing that strikes me as graphically demanding, especially since you say you'd deal with lower quality settings, it's likely the processor. Yours is actually in the not-so-great category if that's the case but I can understand why it was purchased. It's a decent CPU regardless.

 

 

99.9% sure that you will want to switch your platform from AMD to Intel for this, meaning a new chipset/socket and added cost/more corners cut. 100% recommend it.

(ignore store locations if they won't ship to you and pay more attention to the product names or product ID #'s)

My cheapest suggestion:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($109.99 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D2V Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($59.79 @ Amazon) 

Total: $169.78

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-06 05:47 EDT-0400

 

2nd cheapest (only get if multicore processing is enabled/works):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($177.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D2V Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($59.79 @ Amazon) 

Total: $237.77

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-06 06:08 EDT-0400

 

Motherboard isn't the absolute cheapest, just what I found was closest to your current one so it fits your case and the 2x4GB kit of RAM. The 2x2gb kit is definitely not necessary and it might even be causing problems for you. Either way, you probably won't ever see a benefit from more than 8GB unless you've got some cray stuff running behind CS:GO. Even if you were, you'd be better off with a proper dual-channel setup (e.g. get 2x8GB)..

 

Check this topic out to assist with fps as I'm unsure if Valve ever changed the feature back. http://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/1x697n/fps_fix_inside

It's to allow/re-enable multicore processing which might benefit you if it doesn't cause problems that some seem to have experienced at the time. Maybe you already knew about this but it'd be far more effective with an Intel processor.

 

 

Basically, you'd have to spend over $300 in order to get a larger performance increase than either of these CPUs can provide. By that I mean buying an i5/i7 K-series (unlocked/OCable) Intel processor. They have slightly higher per-core performance on top of being able to overclock said cores by 5-15% without too much difficulty. The i3-4150 will be about as fast as every locked/non-K i5 if multicore processing does not work. I don't see why it wouldn't work outside of bugs but who knows, not me.

 

And to finish my post off I'd like to say that buying a new GPU isn't really worth it yet since your CPU would probably bottleneck anything worth buying anyway. Not to mention the next generation of cards are coming out in the coming weeks/months, which will either drop older graphics cards prices that are still worth upgrading to or give you far more options as to what is most worthwhile without being a dumb purchase.

 

Edit: Terribly sorry for the long post. I also wanted to say you could try getting a 6-core FX processor from AMD, but that too is a platform switch and an i5 would be a better choice what with it being only slightly more expensive and a decent bit faster. (If not cheaper because the FX-6300 at ~$100 needs to be overclocked to the wall with a decent motherboard that's more expensive than the B85 I listed)

 

Sir. You are awesome in many ways! However, I'm located in Sweden so Amazon isn't really an option for me due to insanely high shipping costs.

As you mentioned, my CPU is bottlenecking anything worth buying, which also has come to my attention. Do you think that I could switch to a FM2 A10 series instead? Since buying a new Motherboard would further increase the cost and i'm already on a FM2 platform.

[Ren]

No, even if you went to FM2+ for the cheaper Athlon X4 860k (Kaveri A10-7850k/7700k without the graphics cores), you'd probably be worse off than you'd be with the core i5-4460 and motherboard I listed. Not performance-wise, just by how much money you're spending for how much you're getting. That 300fps goal of yours will not be met on the FM2/FM2+ platform without some serious GPU beef behind it.

 

Highly recommend you ditch the FM2/FM2+ platform. It does not offer anything truly competitive for higher performance systems at this time. AM3+ can be acceptable, but I'm unsure if that's worthwhile right now. Keep in mind I'm also telling you to steer clear of the 8-core FX because they are garbage for their price. The i5 is better/faster for this specific use.

 

 

Edit: I'm gonna check the prices of things actually, wait a minute.

K, I looked at some stuff and I'm pretty sure you'd still want to move to an i5. Until the GTX 960 is released, my two best recommendations for a graphics card are the R9 280 (~$170-$200) and the R9 285 (~$190-$240). After that you might as well pick up a GTX 780 or 970. With any of those 4 cards, you'd need a faster CPU than any Athlon - except for the 860k. That should run the R9 285 and perhaps even the GTX 780 without bottlenecking much.

 

Sadly, Gigabyte hasn't released a bios update that allows any of their FM2+ boards to support the Athlon x4 860k. I'm not even sure if they will do that. Also, keep in mind cheaper motherboards may cause some issues for you so that B85 will probably not be good with anything above the R9 285, potentially including the GTX 960.

 

 

So yeah, hope that helps a bit more. Oh, last thing: just grab the names of the products I listed and then search for those wherever you shop for pc hardware where you live (online or in-store/by phone or something). You can also try to check Amazon Global or w/e to see if shipping prices are different/they can find a retailer near you to go through.

[aTTITUDE]

No, even if you went to FM2+ for the cheaper Athlon X4 860k (Kaveri A10-7850k/7700k without the graphics cores), you'd probably be worse off than you'd be with the core i5-4460 and motherboard I listed. Not performance-wise, just by how much money you're spending for how much you're getting. That 300fps goal of yours will not be met on the FM2/FM2+ platform without some serious GPU beef behind it.

 

Highly recommend you ditch the FM2/FM2+ platform. It does not offer anything truly competitive for higher performance systems at this time. AM3+ can be acceptable, but I'm unsure if that's worthwhile right now. Keep in mind I'm also telling you to steer clear of the 8-core FX because they are garbage for their price. The i5 is better/faster for this specific use.

 

 

Edit: I'm gonna check the prices of things actually, wait a minute.

K, I looked at some stuff and I'm pretty sure you'd still want to move to an i5. Until the GTX 960 is released, my two best recommendations for a graphics card are the R9 280 (~$170-$200) and the R9 285 (~$190-$240). After that you might as well pick up a GTX 780 or 970. With any of those 4 cards, you'd need a faster CPU than any Athlon - except for the 860k. That should run the R9 285 and perhaps even the GTX 780 without bottlenecking much.

 

Sadly, Gigabyte hasn't released a bios update that allows any of their FM2+ boards to support the Athlon x4 860k. I'm not even sure if they will do that. Also, keep in mind cheaper motherboards may cause some issues for you so that B85 will probably not be good with anything above the R9 285, potentially including the GTX 960.

 

 

So yeah, hope that helps a bit more. Oh, last thing: just grab the names of the products I listed and then search for those wherever you shop for pc hardware where you live (online or in-store/by phone or something). You can also try to check Amazon Global or w/e to see if shipping prices are different/they can find a retailer near you to go through.

Thank you very much!

Off-topic: I just realized that everything we buy in sweden has a tax of 25% so you have to add ~ 1.25 x [your price] = what I have to pay for it, because in Sweden we have to pay taxes on each thing we buy (unless we buy it as / for a company) = why we can have great infrastructure & health-care (which basically goes hand-in-hand)

Just checked out the 280. It costs ~1900SEK which is equivalent to ~$300.

electronics are so expensive over here :'(

follow-up question: If i stick with my current CPU, would / will my GPU be bottlenecked (if I were to go with a 280)? And is there any way I could be able to estimate that amount?

Thank you again!