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Upgrade GPU or CPU?

Go to solution Solved by Cereal5,

you could throw something like an i5-4460 in there and that would definitely serve you better than a 4160

Just now, AlisterMultimedia said:

GTX 970 and 1060 are practically the same performance-wise, and honestly not worth the upgrade from the 960 as the performance difference to price is very minuscule. Get a 1070 tbh in order to future-proof your build and provide amazing performance. Your processor isn't hideous for now, but you should upgrade this afterwards as it's certainly not gonna be adequate if you get into the realms of multi-tasking or streaming/recording.

don't get your hopes up, hes asking about an MMO, not becoming the next linus tech tips.

 

1 minute ago, roylapoutre said:

don't get a 970. The upgrade isn't worth it. A 1060 or a RX 480 would be much better right now

the 970 and 1060 are surprisingly close in performance

First time poster so i hope this is the right place to post this. 

 

I am looking to upgrade my computer for playing mostly WoW. I play alot of other games but none as much as WoW. 

My computer specs: 

Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor

MSI H81M-E33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Pareema 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card

EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

 

I'm looking to buy either a new GPU:

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 WINDFORCE OC 6G

 

ASUS STRIX GeForce GTX 970 Overclocked 4 GB

 

 Or CPU:

Intel i5-6400 (or maybe you can give me a better option)

 

As of now i am hovering around 45-60 in secluded areas and around 30 in raids and highly populated areas. I've heard that WoW only runs on one core so it made me think maybe a new graphics card would raise my fps. But I'm not that great with computers although i did build this one maybe you guys could shed on light on what i should buy. The maximum amount of money i would want to spend is $250, MAYBE a little more if it is worth the extra money. 

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In general I would recommend upgrading the GPU first but if you mostly play WoW I think upgrading the CPU might help more since MMOs are more CPU bound and it depends on how much you want to crank up the graphical settings on other games, the 960 is fine in most cases although it's not the greatest for sure

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GTX 970 and 1060 are practically the same performance-wise, and honestly not worth the upgrade from the 960 as the performance difference to price is very minuscule. Get a 1070 tbh in order to future-proof your build and provide amazing performance. Your processor isn't hideous for now, but you should upgrade this afterwards as it's certainly not gonna be adequate if you get into the realms of multi-tasking or streaming/recording.

PC Specs: 

CPU: Intel i7 5820K  GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3070 (FE)  Motherboard: ASRock x99 Extreme4  PSU: Bequiet! Powerzone 650W  RAM:  32Gb DDR4 Crucial Ballistix Sport LT (white) 2400mhz  CPU Cooler: Bequiet! Dark Rock Pro 3  Storage: 1x Samsung 850 EVO 500gb SSD, 1x WD Blue 2tb HDD 5400rpm, 1x Toshiba 500gb HDD  Case: NZXT H440 (matte black w/ case fans)  Case Fan (Top Mounted): Notcua AF-14 144mm  LED Lights: TOP LED 2x30 Strips

 

Peripherals:

Speakers: M-AUDIO AV-42 (pair)  Headphones: AudioTechnica ATH-M20X,  Keyboard: AULA 859  Mouse: Tecknet  Microphone: RODE NT1-A  Audio Interface: ZOOM R8  

 

Camera Specs:

Cameras: BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, Canon 4000, Olympus OM-1, Zorki 4  Lenses: Olympus OM-1 Zuiko Macro, Regular and Telephoto, EFS 18mm-55mm, MFT 12mm, 25mm and 35mm, 50mm Jupiter 8, 50mm EFS

 

Software:

Editing: BlackMagic Davinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Sony Vegas Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, Cubase LE AI Elements 6, Adobe Elements

 

Phone: Pixel 4

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For playing only Wow, your PC should be fine for quite a while. But if you plan on upgrading for more demanding games, don't get a 970. The upgrade isn't worth it. A 1060 or a RX 480 would be much better right now

CPU : i7 8700k @5GHz, GPU : ASUS GTX 1080 Ti STRIX, RAM : 2x8Go 3000MHz Corsair Vengeance, MB : ASUS Prime Z370-A, PSU : CM V850, Case :  NZXT S340, CPU Cooler : NZXT Kraken x62, Monitor : Acer Predator XB271HU 27" 1440p 165Hz, OS : Windows 10 Home 64 bits  

 

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you could throw something like an i5-4460 in there and that would definitely serve you better than a 4160

Just now, AlisterMultimedia said:

GTX 970 and 1060 are practically the same performance-wise, and honestly not worth the upgrade from the 960 as the performance difference to price is very minuscule. Get a 1070 tbh in order to future-proof your build and provide amazing performance. Your processor isn't hideous for now, but you should upgrade this afterwards as it's certainly not gonna be adequate if you get into the realms of multi-tasking or streaming/recording.

don't get your hopes up, hes asking about an MMO, not becoming the next linus tech tips.

 

1 minute ago, roylapoutre said:

don't get a 970. The upgrade isn't worth it. A 1060 or a RX 480 would be much better right now

the 970 and 1060 are surprisingly close in performance

My Build, v2.1 --- CPU: i7-8700K @ 5.2GHz/1.288v || MoBo: Asus ROG STRIX Z390-E Gaming || RAM: 4x4GB G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 2666 14-14-14-33 || Cooler: Custom Loop || GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 Ti SC Black, on water || PSU: EVGA G2 850W || Case: Corsair 450D || SSD: 850 Evo 250GB, Intel 660p 2TB || Storage: WD Blue 2TB || G502 & Glorious PCGR Fully Custom 80% Keyboard || MX34VQ, PG278Q, PB278Q

Audio --- Headphones: Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 6XX || Amp: Schiit Audio Magni 3 || DAC: Schiit Audio Modi 3 || Mic: Blue Yeti

 

[Under Construction]

 

My Truck --- 2002 F-350 7.3 Powerstroke || 6-speed

My Car --- 2006 Mustang GT || 5-speed || BBK LTs, O/R X, MBRP Cat-back || BBK Lowering Springs, LCAs || 2007 GT500 wheels w/ 245s/285s

 

The Experiment --- CPU: i5-3570K @ 4.0 GHz || MoBo: Asus P8Z77-V LK || RAM: 16GB Corsair 1600 4x4 || Cooler: CM Hyper 212 Evo || GPUs: Asus GTX 750 Ti, || PSU: Corsair TX750M Gold || Case: Thermaltake Core G21 TG || SSD: 840 Pro 128GB || HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB

 

R.I.P. Asus X99-A motherboard, April 2016 - October 2018, may you rest in peace. 5820K, if I ever buy you a new board, it'll be a good one.

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3 minutes ago, bdn813 said:

But would that increase the actual FPS by having objects in the distance pre-loaded or just the load times in and out of different instances of the game?

CPU would help with rendering in game, SSD would help with load times, nothing more. Also please quote when replying so we get a notification and can reply easily. 

 

Edit: Just buy a Haswell i5 to save money, and an SSD to go with it. 

Please quote our replys so we get a notification and can reply easily. Never cheap out on a PSU, or I will come to watch the fireworks. 

PSU Tier List

 

My specs

Spoiler

PC:

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K @4.8GHz
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S 
Motherboard:  ASUS Maximus VIII Hero 
GPU: Zotac AMP Extreme 1070 @ 2114Mhz
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
Case: Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 
Power Supply: EVGA 750W G2

 

Peripherals 

Keyboard: Corsair K70 LUX Browns
Mouse: Logitech G502 
Headphones: Kingston HyperX Cloud Revolver 

Monitor: U2713M @ 75Hz

 

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5 minutes ago, light-v said:

In general I would recommend upgrading the GPU first but if you mostly play WoW I think upgrading the CPU might help more since MMOs are more CPU bound and it depends on how much you want to crank up the graphical settings on other games, the 960 is fine in most cases although it's not the greatest for sure

Honestly that would be saving more money but is Haswell better than Skylake? Just wondering as to why you mentioned just Haswell.

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Just now, Cereal5 said:

the 970 and 1060 are surprisingly close in performance

The 1060 6GB version is better than a 970, closer to a 980 in a lot of scenarii. Plus, buying a 970 with 3.5GB of VRAM when 1060s and RX 480 are available is not worth it when you already have a 960 2GB. Except if the 970 is A LOT cheaper than any RX 480 or GTX 1060 :P 

CPU : i7 8700k @5GHz, GPU : ASUS GTX 1080 Ti STRIX, RAM : 2x8Go 3000MHz Corsair Vengeance, MB : ASUS Prime Z370-A, PSU : CM V850, Case :  NZXT S340, CPU Cooler : NZXT Kraken x62, Monitor : Acer Predator XB271HU 27" 1440p 165Hz, OS : Windows 10 Home 64 bits  

 

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6 minutes ago, AlisterMultimedia said:

GTX 970 and 1060 are practically the same performance-wise, and honestly not worth the upgrade from the 960 as the performance difference to price is very minuscule. Get a 1070 tbh in order to future-proof your build and provide amazing performance. Your processor isn't hideous for now, but you should upgrade this afterwards as it's certainly not gonna be adequate if you get into the realms of multi-tasking or streaming/recording.

The thing is i'll never record or stream so i didn't think a CPU would be what i needed. Since the newest expansion is so much more graphically intense i thought maybe a new card would be the best bet..Just so damn expensive.

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3 minutes ago, roylapoutre said:

The 1060 6GB version is better than a 970, closer to a 980 in a lot of scenarii. Plus, buying a 970 with 3.5GB of VRAM when 1060s and RX 480 are available is not worth it when you already have a 960 2GB. Except if the 970 is A LOT cheaper than any RX 480 or GTX 1060 :P 

I didn't state they were identical, but its not really all that better than a 980, therefore it's in the same range as the 970. 

PC Specs: 

CPU: Intel i7 5820K  GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3070 (FE)  Motherboard: ASRock x99 Extreme4  PSU: Bequiet! Powerzone 650W  RAM:  32Gb DDR4 Crucial Ballistix Sport LT (white) 2400mhz  CPU Cooler: Bequiet! Dark Rock Pro 3  Storage: 1x Samsung 850 EVO 500gb SSD, 1x WD Blue 2tb HDD 5400rpm, 1x Toshiba 500gb HDD  Case: NZXT H440 (matte black w/ case fans)  Case Fan (Top Mounted): Notcua AF-14 144mm  LED Lights: TOP LED 2x30 Strips

 

Peripherals:

Speakers: M-AUDIO AV-42 (pair)  Headphones: AudioTechnica ATH-M20X,  Keyboard: AULA 859  Mouse: Tecknet  Microphone: RODE NT1-A  Audio Interface: ZOOM R8  

 

Camera Specs:

Cameras: BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, Canon 4000, Olympus OM-1, Zorki 4  Lenses: Olympus OM-1 Zuiko Macro, Regular and Telephoto, EFS 18mm-55mm, MFT 12mm, 25mm and 35mm, 50mm Jupiter 8, 50mm EFS

 

Software:

Editing: BlackMagic Davinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Sony Vegas Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, Cubase LE AI Elements 6, Adobe Elements

 

Phone: Pixel 4

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6 minutes ago, roylapoutre said:

The 1060 6GB version is better than a 970, closer to a 980 in a lot of scenarii. Plus, buying a 970 with 3.5GB of VRAM when 1060s and RX 480 are available is not worth it when you already have a 960 2GB. Except if the 970 is A LOT cheaper than any RX 480 or GTX 1060 :P 

What i've seen on amazon is that some 970's and 1060's are about the same price give or take ten bucks. 

https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-1060-WINDFORCE-GV-N1060WF2OC-6GD/dp/B01JNUO6BG/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1476090425&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+1060

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NJ9BJ8G/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

 

The 1060 here has 6GB option and is VR ready if VR is what everyone makes it out to be it could be an option later on..

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2 minutes ago, AlisterMultimedia said:

I didn't state they were identical, but its not better than a 980, therefore it's in the same range as the 970. 

That's my whole point, it's better than a 970 (in the same range as a 970 if you will), but really similar in price. It's newer, it has more VRAM and he already got a Maxwell based GPU. The only way a 970 is worth it over a 1060 or 480 is if it's 100€ less than the aforementioned solutions imo :D 

CPU : i7 8700k @5GHz, GPU : ASUS GTX 1080 Ti STRIX, RAM : 2x8Go 3000MHz Corsair Vengeance, MB : ASUS Prime Z370-A, PSU : CM V850, Case :  NZXT S340, CPU Cooler : NZXT Kraken x62, Monitor : Acer Predator XB271HU 27" 1440p 165Hz, OS : Windows 10 Home 64 bits  

 

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2 minutes ago, bdn813 said:

 

if you want better FPS in WoW:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116989

without reinstalling windows or getting a new motherboard.

(might need to update BIOS)

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1 minute ago, bdn813 said:

Yeah that's exactly why the 970 is a bad choice. You should really look at RX 480s 4GB, they're the sweet spot in terms of price to performance ;) 

CPU : i7 8700k @5GHz, GPU : ASUS GTX 1080 Ti STRIX, RAM : 2x8Go 3000MHz Corsair Vengeance, MB : ASUS Prime Z370-A, PSU : CM V850, Case :  NZXT S340, CPU Cooler : NZXT Kraken x62, Monitor : Acer Predator XB271HU 27" 1440p 165Hz, OS : Windows 10 Home 64 bits  

 

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23 minutes ago, roylapoutre said:

The 1060 6GB version is better than a 970, closer to a 980 in a lot of scenarii. Plus, buying a 970 with 3.5GB of VRAM when 1060s and RX 480 are available is not worth it when you already have a 960 2GB. Except if the 970 is A LOT cheaper than any RX 480 or GTX 1060 :P 

Oh I know, I'm just saying in games out rn, they basically trade blows. I have no doubt the 1060 will outperform in DX 12 and when more than 3.5GB of vram is needed.

My Build, v2.1 --- CPU: i7-8700K @ 5.2GHz/1.288v || MoBo: Asus ROG STRIX Z390-E Gaming || RAM: 4x4GB G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 2666 14-14-14-33 || Cooler: Custom Loop || GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 Ti SC Black, on water || PSU: EVGA G2 850W || Case: Corsair 450D || SSD: 850 Evo 250GB, Intel 660p 2TB || Storage: WD Blue 2TB || G502 & Glorious PCGR Fully Custom 80% Keyboard || MX34VQ, PG278Q, PB278Q

Audio --- Headphones: Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 6XX || Amp: Schiit Audio Magni 3 || DAC: Schiit Audio Modi 3 || Mic: Blue Yeti

 

[Under Construction]

 

My Truck --- 2002 F-350 7.3 Powerstroke || 6-speed

My Car --- 2006 Mustang GT || 5-speed || BBK LTs, O/R X, MBRP Cat-back || BBK Lowering Springs, LCAs || 2007 GT500 wheels w/ 245s/285s

 

The Experiment --- CPU: i5-3570K @ 4.0 GHz || MoBo: Asus P8Z77-V LK || RAM: 16GB Corsair 1600 4x4 || Cooler: CM Hyper 212 Evo || GPUs: Asus GTX 750 Ti, || PSU: Corsair TX750M Gold || Case: Thermaltake Core G21 TG || SSD: 840 Pro 128GB || HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB

 

R.I.P. Asus X99-A motherboard, April 2016 - October 2018, may you rest in peace. 5820K, if I ever buy you a new board, it'll be a good one.

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