Upgrade Graphics Card Or CPU

[CaptainSmexy]

Hi guys, so my PC has been around a year old and I have recently saved up enough money for me to upgrade it. I could have made a much better PC last year, but instead I was too lazy and did the wrong thing of not researching correctly and I just listened to a sales rep recommend things for me. I am rocking a:

• A10 6800k
• F2-V Pro board
• Gigabyte WF 280x
• 8Gb of kingston ram
• 150 SSD
• 2TB HDD
• stock cooler
• 520W PSW

I have just enough money for a 390 / 970 or an upgrade for my CPU to go to an i5. So I was wondering which of the upgrades would give me the better performance in games. I don't stream, just game. I have seen other results of the 280x and mine is just under performing so I am suspecting that the CPU may be bottle necking it. So which upgrade is better, the GPU or the CPU. Or if neither, please list down any recommendations. 

 

Thanks in advance

[NinjaJc01]

New mobo and CPU. FM2+ is a low performance socket (IMHO). Go for a hyperthreaded i3, or i5. Skylake or Haswell would be great and you can reuse your RAM.

[RuLeZ]

I would go for R9 390 and then later i5, but you can go i5 and later some R9 390, is up to you, depend on the games that you are playing really.

[Thony]

If u feel like your pc isnt as good as it should then gp for CPU. 

 

Not sure how high end gpus run on the apus but im positive i5 does better job.

[SteveGrabowski0]

Definitely get a decent i5. An R9 280x is still a pretty nice gpu for 1080p, while a 6800k is pretty low end for a gaming cpu. You should see a pretty significant difference running your 280x on an i5 that can use it to its potential. Whereas a 390 or 970 would be hugely neutered by the cpu. Then with an i5 you'd be fine for a later gpu upgrade in a year or two.

[Starelementpoke]

1 hour ago, CaptainSmexy said:

Hi guys, so my PC has been around a year old and I have recently saved up enough money for me to upgrade it. I could have made a much better PC last year, but instead I was too lazy and did the wrong thing of not researching correctly and I just listened to a sales rep recommend things for me. I am rocking a:

• A10 6800k
• F2-V Pro board
• Gigabyte WF 280x
• 8Gb of kingston ram
• 150 SSD
• 2TB HDD
• stock cooler
• 520W PSW

I have just enough money for a 390 / 970 or an upgrade for my CPU to go to an i5. So I was wondering which of the upgrades would give me the better performance in games. I don't stream, just game. I have seen other results of the 280x and mine is just under performing so I am suspecting that the CPU may be bottle necking it. So which upgrade is better, the GPU or the CPU. Or if neither, please list down any recommendations. 

 

Thanks in advance

Cpu certainly is bottlenecking it. What exactly is your psu model though?

[A6aKaH_Anastasiya]

Yep, CPU bottleneck. Get an i5 or higher.. had an AMD aswell. 8320 @ 4.1 with a R9 270x and the FX bottlenecked it so hard. Now I've got an i5 4690k + Z97 mobo from ASUS. 

[SteveGrabowski0]

double post

[SteveGrabowski0]

Something like this is doable for the cost of a GTX 970 / R9 390. If you can find an old BIOS you might be able to BLCK overclock this system also. Don't laugh at the 2.7 GHz clockspeed also, this boosts to 3.1 GHz on quadcore loads, and that's the cpu speed you'll likely see in gaming.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($179.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI Z170-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($84.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $344.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-22 12:01 EST-0500

[SteveGrabowski0]

With this system I recommended you could also pop in an unlocked i5 or i7 later on from Kaby Lake or Cannonlake in the next year or two if that kind of upgrade path is important to you. And the RAM is pretty fast, which can help out a lot in cpu heavy sections of games.

[CaptainSmexy]

6 hours ago, Starelementpoke said:

Cpu certainly is bottlenecking it. What exactly is your psu model though?

I have a Seasonic M12 II 80+ Bronze. Will it be good enough to run a 390?

[Starelementpoke]

1 hour ago, CaptainSmexy said:

I have a Seasonic M12 II 80+ Bronze. Will it be good enough to run a 390?

EZly.

[CaptainSmexy]

On 2/23/2016 at 8:49 AM, Starelementpoke said:

EZly.

Would 520 W be able to run a 390 and an i5 6500?

[CaptainSmexy]

Thanks for all the help guys. I've decided to follow SteveGrabowski0's guide and get his build found here http://pcpartpicker.com/p/h67K6h, except I've decided to go for a 6500 instead of a 6400. Thanks again for all the help everyone

[Starelementpoke]

5 hours ago, CaptainSmexy said:

Would 520 W be able to run a 390 and an i5 6500?

 

On 2/23/2016 at 7:49 PM, Starelementpoke said:

EZly.