What to upgrade? CPU or GPU?

[13CA350]

After seeing everyone get new hardware for the holidays, I feel like I want to upgrade now.

 

I want to upgrade either my CPU or GPU, since I have 2 brand new SSD's and my mobo/ cpu cooler is fine.

 

Right now I have a Intel Core i3-3240 and a Geforce GTX 650TI. I like playing games like Farming Simulator, Minecraft, Euro Truck simulator, CS:GO, and sometimes I do light video editing.

 

So, should I get a new CPU or GPU? I've been looking at getting a GTX 1060 or 1070, but I feel like after getting that my CPU will be a huge bottleneck. Eventually I'd like to get an i5 as well, so it wouldn't be a bottleneck for very long. Any opinions?

[OnionRings]

As Turkey said for gaming a GPU upgrade would be best but might I suggest both? If you can afford 450$ for a 1070 clearly you have a little money to play with yes? Why not get a nice i5 and a 1060/480? The 480 is getting better and better as the days go on with driver updates and I can vouch that it handles 1080 ultra gaming fine even in heavy AAA titles, pair that with a nice i5 and you'll have a nice little PC.

 

Edit : Some i5s that come to mind are if you wanna budget a little the 6400 is good, 6500 is better and probably the best bang for buck i5, but if you have a z170 board and want to OC then perhaps the 6600k so you can squeeze out extra juice, I do believe the 6600k is only like 40$ more then the 6500. So say about 260ish for that and about 280ish for the GPU if you get one on sale (I recommend newegg as they usually don't charge tax)

Edited December 30, 2016 by OnionRings

[13CA350]

6 minutes ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

If you're planning on upgrading soon anyways, start with the GPU. You'll get better performance now than you currently have, and the bottleneck will be eliminated as soon as you upgrade

 

4 minutes ago, OnionRings said:

As Turkey said for gaming a GPU upgrade would be best but might I suggest both? If you can afford 450$ for a 1070 clearly you have a little money to play with yes? Why not get a nice i5 and a 1060/480? The 480 is getting better and better as the days go on with driver updates and I can vouch that it handles 1080 ultra gaming fine even in heavy AAA titles, pair that with a nice i5 and you'll have a nice little PC.

I'm looking at getting this:

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-06G-P4-6161-KR/dp/B01IPVSGEC/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1483060780&sr=1-4&keywords=gtx+1060

[The Sloth]

get a cpu first as CPUs don't get outdated faster then gpu.  i suggest a 4790k or a 4990k. 

[OnionRings]

Just now, 13CA350 said:

 

I'm looking at getting this:

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-06G-P4-6161-KR/dp/B01IPVSGEC/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1483060780&sr=1-4&keywords=gtx+1060

I won't turn you off your path of a 1060 but do research first, I originally wanted a 1060 myself but ended choosing the 480 due to with each and every driver it catches up to the 1060 more and more, at the start of the month Hardware Canucks made a video showing just how far the 480 has overcome the 1060 and will continue to do so. If you really want a 1060 that is fine but maybe go for a 2 fan design if you can find one cheap. I got my RX 480 for only 254$ on sale and I don't regret it at all, future DX12 and vulkan support (given the devs implement it right), 2 fans, sexy backplate, dual bios switch. Keeps cool (even given I only have 2 case fans it stills never goes above 80, when I get more fans it will stay cooler)

[OnionRings]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

get a cpu first as CPUs don't get outdated faster then gpu.  i suggest a 4790k or a 4990k. 

Why on earth would he want to spend so much money on an i7 to play games like that?

[OnionRings]

Just now, wrathoftheturkey said:

But if you don't wait a year for the next gen to release, then you'll still get the same product?

This too.

[The Sloth]

Just now, OnionRings said:

Why on earth would he want to spend so much money on an i7 to play games like that?

i was going more for future proofing the games he plays. he he has the cpu power he can throw in any gpu for next few years and not have a bottleneck. 

[13CA350]

2 minutes ago, OnionRings said:

Why on earth would he want to spend so much money on an i7 to play games like that?

Exactly my thoughts

3 minutes ago, OnionRings said:

I won't turn you off your path of a 1060 but do research first, I originally wanted a 1060 myself but ended choosing the 480 due to with each and every driver it catches up to the 1060 more and more, at the start of the month Hardware Canucks made a video showing just how far the 480 has overcome the 1060 and will continue to do so. If you really want a 1060 that is fine but maybe go for a 2 fan design if you can find one cheap. I got my RX 480 for only 254$ on sale and I don't regret it at all, future DX12 and vulkan support (given the devs implement it right), 2 fans, sexy backplate, dual bios switch. Keeps cool (even given I only have 2 case fans it stills never goes above 80, when I get more fans it will stay cooler)

I'll look around, doesn't Linus have a master spreadsheet for all GPU benchmarks?

[OnionRings]

Just now, nerdslayer1 said:

i was going more for future proofing the games he plays. he he has the cpu power he can throw in any gpu for next few years and not have a bottleneck. 

Its not worth it, the only real scenario where future proofing plays in is say my case where I have 8GB of ram and I was either going to add 4 more on a budget or cough up the extra 8gb and future proof a bit, but a CPU like that isn't future proofing him for much unless he wants to do content creation, an i5 will do him just fine, he can save the money and put it into a GPU.

[OnionRings]

1 minute ago, 13CA350 said:

Exactly my thoughts

I'll look around, doesn't Linus have a master spreadsheet for all GPU benchmarks?

Perhaps but check out some hardware canucks and hardware unboxed videos, they are both great at it as well, but yes you can also use linus' spreadsheet. IMO though the stuff you play either card will handle it fine, so perhaps base it on thermals and noise? I do believe 1060 cards are cooler then 480 cards, the coolest 480 I think is the XFX GTR.

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, OnionRings said:

Its not worth it, the only real scenario where future proofing plays in is say my case where I have 8GB of ram and I was either going to add 4 more on a budget or cough up the extra 8gb and future proof a bit, but a CPU like that isn't future proofing him for much unless he wants to do content creation, an i5 will do him just fine, he can save the money and put it into a GPU.

 

yes it is i could have went for a 6600k and got myself a 1080 but i know my 5820k will stay with me lot longer then a 6600k and a 1080 or a titan xp will. its a long term solution and have a piece of mind that no gfx in next new few will bottleneck a 5820k. 

[OnionRings]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

yes it is i could have went for a 6600k and got myself a 1080 but i know my 5820k will stay with me lot longer then a 6600k and a 1080 or a titan xp will. its a long term solution and have a piece of mind that no gfx in next new few will bottleneck a 5820k. 

That's peace of mind not future proofing, I get your reasoning but it doesn't make sense for OP's situation, he clearly doesn't need i7 or 1070/1080/titan power, its just wasted money at that point.

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, OnionRings said:

That's peace of mind not future proofing, I get your reasoning but it doesn't make sense for OP's situation, he clearly doesn't need i7 or 1070/1080/titan power, its just wasted money at that point.

 

he is video editing so a i7 with a rx480 will do him well a used 4770k can be cheap.   

[DarkBlade2117]

11 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

get a cpu first as CPUs don't get outdated faster then gpu.  i suggest a 4790k or a 4990k. 

why a 4790k when skylake is about the same price as haswell and if he were to get an older gen CPU, he might as well get Ivy-Bridge since he already has the mobo for it.

[The Sloth]

2 minutes ago, DarkBlade2117 said:

why a 4790k when skylake is about the same price as haswell and if he were to get an older gen CPU, he might as well get Ivy-Bridge since he already has the mobo for it.

 

 

i went to new york for my job and found a 4770k for about 150 usd. in my opinion, that's worth it.  buying a used cpu is not bad long it it works. 

[13CA350]

4 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

he is video editing so a i7 with a rx480 will do him well a used 4770k can be cheap.   

I do video editing once in a while, not every day, so personally I really don't want to spend the extra money for an i7 that I will only take advantage of every once in a while. I also really want to avoid buying used hardware

3 minutes ago, DarkBlade2117 said:

why a 4790k when skylake is about the same price as haswell and if he were to get an older gen CPU, he might as well get Ivy-Bridge since he already has the mobo for it.

Agreed!

2 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

i went to new york for my job and found a 4770k for about 150 usd. in my opinion that's worth it.  

Like I said, I don't want to take the risk of buying used hardware. (Don't bother talking me into it, it wont work)

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, 13CA350 said:

I do video editing once in a while, not every day, so personally I really don't want to spend the extra money for an i7 that I will only take advantage of every once in a while. I also really want to avoid buying used hardware

Agreed!

Like I said, I don't want to take the risk of buying used hardware. (Don't bother talking me into it, it wont work)

 

yes if you know what you are looking for and test the hardware its good to buy used. i bought used hardware most of my life my micro center build is the first new desktop i ever had other then prebuilt from when i was a kid. used things worked vary well for me my 4770k htpc is better then any new cpu you can get in that price, also CPUs last a long time 10 to 25 years easily your system will be outdated before your cpu dies. 

[DarkBlade2117]

4 minutes ago, 13CA350 said:

I do video editing once in a while, not every day, so personally I really don't want to spend the extra money for an i7 that I will only take advantage of every once in a while. I also really want to avoid buying used hardware

Agreed!

Like I said, I don't want to take the risk of buying used hardware. (Don't bother talking me into it, it wont work)

Used hardware is far from bad. It's quite hard to get scammed on craigslist as most of the time just ask the people to test the stuff and if they can't don't bother. Ebay 99% of the time goes with the buyer and on places like /r/hardwareswap just avoid people with low post and karma accounts with no verfied trades and people who don't give tracking numbers. I can see why some people won't though. Some parts like motherboards can be a risk to buy used but CPUs and GPUs ect are normally fine.

[The Sloth]

2 minutes ago, DarkBlade2117 said:

Used hardware is far from bad. It's quite hard to get scammed on craigslist as most of the time just ask the people to test the stuff and if they can't don't bother. Ebay 99% of the time goes with the buyer and on places like /r/hardwareswap just avoid people with low post and karma accounts with no verfied trades and people who don't give tracking numbers. I can see why some people won't though. Some parts like motherboards can be a risk to buy used but CPUs and GPUs ect are normally fine.

 

i usually go to buy sued stuff face to face, so you can see them test the item front of you also if you are scared to go take a friend. 

[DarkBlade2117]

Just now, nerdslayer1 said:

i usually go to buy sued stuff face to face, so you can see them test the item front of you also if you are scared to go take a friend. 

My Grandma is scared to let me shop on craigslist. I'm like.. I'm 6'2" 260 pounds and can bring my friend who is 6'4" 275 pounds who carries a gun. Still got a no... ):

[The Sloth]

Just now, DarkBlade2117 said:

My Grandma is scared to let me shop on craigslist. I'm like.. I'm 6'2" 260 pounds and can bring my friend who is 6'4" 275 pounds who carries a gun. Still got a no... ):

 

 i take my buddies with me we are around 5.7 to 6 foot tall with no muscle we are all skinny engineering student but there are 4 of us. also us Canadians don't carry guns. 

[OnionRings]

Go new or go home. OP didn't specify he was on a budget so why buy used?

[UrdnotGrunt]

3 hours ago, 13CA350 said:

After seeing everyone get new hardware for the holidays, I feel like I want to upgrade now.

 

I want to upgrade either my CPU or GPU, since I have 2 brand new SSD's and my mobo/ cpu cooler is fine.

 

Right now I have a Intel Core i3-3240 and a Geforce GTX 650TI. I like playing games like Farming Simulator, Minecraft, Euro Truck simulator, CS:GO, and sometimes I do light video editing.

 

So, should I get a new CPU or GPU? I've been looking at getting a GTX 1060 or 1070, but I feel like after getting that my CPU will be a huge bottleneck. Eventually I'd like to get an i5 as well, so it wouldn't be a bottleneck for very long. Any opinions?

I would get an i5 6600K and a Z170A series board. If in the future you want to upgrade the CPU to an i7 6700K, all you have to do is buy the cpu  since both the 6600K and 6700K use the same socket (1151)

[13CA350]

10 hours ago, OnionRings said:

Go new or go home. OP didn't specify he was on a budget so why buy used?

Exactly

10 hours ago, UrdnotGrunt said:

I would get an i5 6600K and a Z170A series board. If in the future you want to upgrade the CPU to an i7 6700K, all you have to do is buy the cpu  since both the 6600K and 6700K use the same socket (1151)

I could but I will never need to buy an i7 so why bother?