My upgrade planning

[IAmAndre]

Hi,

 

I have a budget gaming PC that I built a couple years ago, and I would like to upgrade it gradually. It's been running a lot of the games very well for some time, but now with games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Street Fighter V coming, I can see that it's time to upgrade my rig. Here are the current specs :

- i3 4130

- 2x4 GB Kingston 1600MHz RAM

- Samsung EVO 240GB SSD

- Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

- Gygabite GTX 750 2GB

- Thermaltake NiC C4 (CPU cooler)

 

For now I'm considering overclocking the GPU, but I would like to know which component I should upgrade first. I know it can't be the CPU because that would include upgrading the motherboard as well and I can't afford to buy both components at once (but I guess I could save money for some time). About upgrading the GPU, I'm not sure which one I should pick now because power consumption is a huge deal for me and I can't find any GPU as power efficient as the one I'm currently using. Some people even say that the GTX 950 is not worth buying at all for 750 owners because it's not a solid upgrade. Should I wait for the next NVidia card that would replace the 750, and buy a new motherboard next month?

 

Thanks

[Bananasplit_00]

get an I5 something like a 4460 if you dont have a Z series mobo and something like a 4690K if you have a Z series and pick up a 380x/390/390X depending on budget

[IAmAndre]

3 minutes ago, IAmAndre said:

Just now, Bananasplit_00 said:

get an I5 something like a 4460 if you dont have a Z series mobo and something like a 4690K if you have a Z series and pick up a 380x/390/390X depending on budget

Hi,

 

I have a budget gaming PC that I built a couple years ago, and I would like to upgrade it gradually. It's been running a lot of the games very well for some time, but now with games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Street Fighter V coming, I can see that it's time to upgrade my rig. Here are the current specs :

- i3 4130

- 2x4 GB Kingston 1600MHz RAM

- Samsung EVO 240GB SSD

- Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD

- Gygabite GTX 750 2GB

- Thermaltake NiC C4 (CPU cooler)

 

For now I'm considering overclocking the GPU, but I would like to know what is the piece I should upgrade first. I know it can't be the CPU because that would include upgrading the motherboard as well and I can't afford to buy both components at once (but I guess I could save money for some time). About upgrading the GPU, I'm not sure which one I should pick now because power consumption is a huge deal for me and I can't find any GPU as power efficient as the one I'm currently using. Some people even say that the GTX 950 is not worth buying at all for 750 owners because it's not a solid upgrade. Should I wait for the next NVidia card that would replace the 750, and buy a new motherboard next month?

 

Thanks

Do you think the 4460 would improve my gaming experience? I thought I should get a Skylake CPU, do you think getting a better Haswell CPU is worth it and futureproof?

[Raiden60]

Just now, IAmAndre said:

Do you think the 4460 would improve my gaming experience? I thought I should get a Skylake CPU, do you think getting a better Haswell CPU is worth it and futureproof?

Skylake doesn't offer too much performance increase, haswell is fine.

[IAmAndre]

Just now, Raiden60 said:

Skylake doesn't offer too much performance increase, haswell is fine.

OK what about power consumption?

[Bananasplit_00]

Just now, IAmAndre said:

Do you think the 4460 would improve my gaming experience? I thought I should get a Skylake CPU, do you think getting a better Haswell CPU is worth it and futureproof?

a 4460 would fit your current motherboard and wont bottleneck any current graphics card so yes it would. its also faster when doing every day things like opening files and archives 

[Raiden60]

Just now, IAmAndre said:

OK what about power consumption?

Skylake is generally more efficient, but not by loads. The only reason the TDP is higher on Skylake processors is due to the iGPU, which you probably won't use.

[IAmAndre]

1 minute ago, Raiden60 said:

Skylake is generally more efficient, but not by loads. The only reason the TDP is higher on Skylake processors is due to the iGPU, which you probably won't use.

Hmm you meant the TDP is higher on Haswell, right?

[IAmAndre]

7 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

get an I5 something like a 4460 if you dont have a Z series mobo and something like a 4690K if you have a Z series and pick up a 380x/390/390X depending on budget

I'm looking for a power efficient GPU, but it's not what AMD is good at.

[Raiden60]

Look here. Skylake has a higher TDP. Like I said, it's due to the powerful intergrated graphics.

[Bananasplit_00]

Just now, IAmAndre said:

I'm looking for a power efficient GPU, but it's not what AMD is good at.

the something like a 970 or 960 might be more up your valley, there a bit better 

[jcw150]

What's your budget for upgrading?

[Elehat]

The 750 is already pretty power efficient. But you want a card that is both power efficient and powerful? Try a 970. But why, what PSU do you have? You might want to upgrade that first. 

[Raiden60]

1 minute ago, IAmAndre said:

I'm looking for a power efficient GPU, but it's not what AMD is good at.

If you're looking at playing AAA titles, a GTX 970 is the probably the best value wise.

[IAmAndre]

1 minute ago, jcw150 said:

What's your budget for upgrading?

As low as possible. I already have a fully working PC that can play most titles, but the ones that were released this month (and that I won't play until they are on sale!) show that my rig needs to be updated. I want the best price-quality ratio and I'm looking to establish a planning for the next months. If the price is high, I will just need to save money for a longer period

Just now, Elehat said:

The 750 is already pretty power efficient. But you want a card that is both power efficient and powerful? Try a 970. But why, what PSU do you have? You might want to upgrade that first. 

I have a Gold 450W PSU that I never use at its full potential due to my power efficient components, which is great. I want my PC to be as power efficient as possible. I'm even ready to wait for the next generation of NVidia GPU's, if they release a replacement card for the 750.

Just now, Raiden60 said:

If you're looking at playing AAA titles, a GTX 970 is the probably the best value wise.

Still too power hungry for me. I was considering getting the 950 but don't you think I would be better off waiting for the next generation of NVidia GPUs and get a CPU (and maybe a new motherboard) instead?

[Elehat]

Yeah I think power efficiency is the hot topic at the moment in processor circles (imo mainly driven by the portable sector), So I'd maybe wait for Pascal. Maybe an i5 4460 and sell the i3, but really the gpu will improve your performance much more. Your RAM and storage is already good.   

If you still have a burning desire to upgrade in the mean time I'd recommend peripherals (including displays and audio).

 

Though I still don't see the power efficiency thing as you could always just get another PSU (Do you know the brand/model? It might be that you should upgrade this bit anyway). Do you want to save on power bills? Are you concerned with heat in case? Maybe it's an environmental issue for you?   

[NumLock21]

Core i3 is like a quad core due its hyper thread. Of course it's not like a real quad core such as the Core i5, where it actually has 4 cores. Your system looks decent. I would first buy the game, try them out first and see how well they play before doing any upgrades. Don't want to waste money on some upgrade, only to find out your original parts is just as good. When doing a upgrade, buy all parts at once, so start saving.

[IAmAndre]

1 hour ago, Elehat said:

Yeah I think power efficiency is the hot topic at the moment in processor circles (imo mainly driven by the portable sector), So I'd maybe wait for Pascal. Maybe an i5 4460 and sell the i3, but really the gpu will improve your performance much more. Your RAM and storage is already good.   

If you still have a burning desire to upgrade in the mean time I'd recommend peripherals (including displays and audio).

 

Though I still don't see the power efficiency thing as you could always just get another PSU (Do you know the brand/model? It might be that you should upgrade this bit anyway). Do you want to save on power bills? Are you concerned with heat in case? Maybe it's an environmental issue for you?   

It's a mix of all this. I work from home so I spend a lot of time on it and I don't want to impact the power bills. And yeah, I do care about polar bears as well. I'm happy with the PSU and I'm looking forward to buying a new mouse. However, I can't have a multiple display installation with this GPU as it struggles to play most games in ultra on my 1080p monitor. I'm considering getting a 21/9 monitor though.