Upgrade Recommendations

[FoggyBill]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and I hope this is the right section to post this is, but I'm looking to upgrade my current PC's gpu and cpu and I would love some recommendations. I currently have an AMD Phenom II X6 1045T cpu, and a Nvidia Geforce 650 Ti gpu. I have around $550 to spend and would ideally like to be able to run GTA V when it is released at decent framerate. My motherboard only supports AMD processors, so please no intel recommendations, but apart from that all recommendations are appreciated!

[gozzygozborn]

What is your psu?

[minibois]

Hey, welcome to the forum.

How about you just list your full build, so we can have a look at it and decide what is best

 

Anyways, 550 dollars seems like a reasonable budget. I guess you want to play at 1080p?

 

Can your motherboard take FX CPU's? Otherwise it might be worthwhile upgrading to Intel.

Maybe getting a 280(x) and a new mobo and Intel CPU is best..

[Sushicat89]

I'd say get a new Mobo+CPU+GPU, there're no significant upgrades that can be made with the AM3 socket judging from the fact that you have a 1045T

[Clear17Mud]

What motherboard and how much ram? and you probably wont get better frame if you upgrade the cpu. I would just get a new GPU and more ram if you have less then 8Gb. I would also wait for the 300 series AMD GPUs.

 

If you get a new cpu+Motherboard it would eat a $250 hole.... More then that that is like black Friday deals

[FoggyBill]

Not sure if this helps but my motherboard is a M5A97 R2.0 model, my psu is a CX750 and I have 5gb of RAM

[Clear17Mud]

This is what I think you should get

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($174.29 @ Amazon) 

Memory: Corsair XMS 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 

Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($279.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $514.27

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

 

 

with the $50 i would get a cooler, but that is personal preference. or if you already have a oem cooler then get an ssd I have seen some $60 128 gig ones.

[FoggyBill]

Thanks for the recommendation ClearMud, those all look pretty solid. I was looking around a bit though and saw the GTX 970 ranked higher than the Radeon 290X for only a little more money, would that be another good choice?

[Clear17Mud]

well currently the 970 is having some problems with the memory once it gets past 3.25Gb but I would wait for the r9 3XX series of cards they should come out before GTA5

[FoggyBill]

Okay, I may just roll with the original card you recommended, it looks like a really solid choice. I was also wondering if I could just get more RAM to put me up to 8 gigs without buying the whole 8 in bulk, and if so if that would be any worse

[WaitForMeImOnDialUp]

$550? get a gtx 970 or 290x,more ram and just overclock the crap out your x6 and save the 150-200 for a better cpu/motherboard upgrade later. those x6 get as good performance as fx8 in games so i say buy a gpu and ram

[FoggyBill]

Thanks for the recommendation, that sounds like a pretty good idea. I don't really have any experience with overclocking though, is there anything important I should know before I attempt to overclock?