Should I upgrade my x4 965 or GTX 460 ... ?

[ItsMeEntropy]

Hello there,

 

I'm looking to upgrade my current rig and I'm not sure if I should upgrade the GPU or CPU first. My specs:

 

AMD Phenom II x4 965 @ 4.00GHz

Biostar TA990FXE

GTX 460 256bit

8gb DDR3 1600MHz

OCZ ZS 750w

 

My budget is around $160, and I'm currently deciding between the HD 7870 and FX 8320... They're both on sale ATM on NewEgg (FX 8320 for $130 and HD 7870 for $150). I know I'll get more performance from the GPU upgrade, but I figure if I buy the CPU now, I can always upgrade the GPU later in May 2014. 

 

I play StarCraft II, Battlefield 4, CoD, and a lot of singleplayer games (e.g Bioshock Infinite). I also stream StarCraft II and do a lot of video editing in Sony Vegas.  

[Godlygamer23]

Video card first. Then CPU.

[TheSLSAMG]

Video card. The CPU is still good.

[Luckris]

Ewwww a 400 series card. I had a 470 running until I just got it over and grabbed a 760 to hold it's place until I get a 780. 

Go GPU first. 400 series takes in too much power, and gives out too much heat. If you only got 160$ to work with, the new 700 series it out of question, but a 580 on new egg is only 150$ I think with free shipping. I wouldn't recommend going below 600 series because they are all showing their age, but it's up to you. If you want to save up cash and set a 600 or 700 series, that would be my best recommendation. 580 SLI is beast though. 

Also depends on what your running at? 1080p, 1440p? something like that. I'm lmiting myself to a 780 because I'm running 1440p. But a 2Gig card will be great for 1080p!  

I noticed a nice leap up from going from 470 to 760. :3 Room doesn't get as hot, still dealing with a first gen i7 860 though...   

Hard for me to recommend things because I have no idea what you want to go for. 580 is a great card though. Your CPU can wait if you are just going with the gaming, and video/photo rendering thing. Unless you start doing professional video, or photo or 3D work would I consider a CPU upgrade first. 

[miyabwah]

GPU. It's a 460..

[ItsMeEntropy]

Ewwww a 400 series card. I had a 470 running until I just got it over and grabbed a 760 to hold it's place until I get a 780. 

Go GPU first. 400 series takes in too much power, and gives out too much heat. If you only got 160$ to work with, the new 700 series it out of question, but a 580 on new egg is only 150$ I think with free shipping. I wouldn't recommend going below 600 series because they are all showing their age, but it's up to you. If you want to save up cash and set a 600 or 700 series, that would be my best recommendation. 580 SLI is beast though. 

Also depends on what your running at? 1080p, 1440p? something like that. I'm lmiting myself to a 780 because I'm running 1440p. But a 2Gig card will be great for 1080p!  

I noticed a nice leap up from going from 470 to 760. :3 Room doesn't get as hot, still dealing with a first gen i7 860 though...   

Hard for me to recommend things because I have no idea what you want to go for. 580 is a great card though. Your CPU can wait if you are just going with the gaming, and video/photo rendering thing. Unless you start doing professional video, or photo or 3D work would I consider a CPU upgrade first. 

Isn't the HD 7870 comparable to the 580 though? Less power consumption and equal performance. Also, I'm gaming at 1920x1200.

[Lord Pantaloons]

Ewwww a 400 series card. I had a 470 running until I just got it over and grabbed a 760 to hold it's place until I get a 780. 

Go GPU first. 400 series takes in too much power, and gives out too much heat. If you only got 160$ to work with, the new 700 series it out of question, but a 580 on new egg is only 150$ I think with free shipping. I wouldn't recommend going below 600 series because they are all showing their age, but it's up to you. If you want to save up cash and set a 600 or 700 series, that would be my best recommendation. 580 SLI is beast though. 

Also depends on what your running at? 1080p, 1440p? something like that. I'm lmiting myself to a 780 because I'm running 1440p. But a 2Gig card will be great for 1080p!  

I noticed a nice leap up from going from 470 to 760. :3 Room doesn't get as hot, still dealing with a first gen i7 860 though...   

Hard for me to recommend things because I have no idea what you want to go for. 580 is a great card though. Your CPU can wait if you are just going with the gaming, and video/photo rendering thing. Unless you start doing professional video, or photo or 3D work would I consider a CPU upgrade first. 

5xx series is just as guilty of running hot as 4xx is.

[ViruZ_HUN]

GPU.

[Luckris]

Isn't the HD 7870 comparable to the 580 though? Less power consumption and equal performance. Also, I'm gaming at 1920x1200.

That's not a huge leap, you still should be fine. Also the 580 comes in 3Gig edition, so that should supply you well. Lower clocked I think, but should be plenty for that. 

150$ Free shipping!  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487006

About the 7879 thing, I have no idea. I blocked myself out from AMD, so there's that. I learn best when going to buy something. Never bought an AMD proudct, naming is too long to try to get down. Google benchmarks will help alot... I'm not much help on the AMD side... 

[Luckris]

5xx series is just as guilty of running hot as 4xx is.

Well, not by that much. 400 series was just kinda a fail in performance to heat. At least 580 gives ok performance. Plus his price point is kinda low... I also am not knowledge in AMD so can't recommend anything from there. 

650 TI Boost is 150$ and around there, but only has 2 gigs and a 192bit bus... VRAM might to start to be an issue for him. 

[ItsMeEntropy]

Well, not by that much. 400 series was just kinda a fail in performance to heat. At least 580 gives ok performance. Plus his price point is kinda low... I also am not knowledge in AMD so can't recommend anything from there. 

650 TI Boost is 150$ and around there, but only has 2 gigs and a 192bit bus... VRAM might to start to be an issue for him. 

My ASUS DirectCU GTX 460 actually has really good temps. I have a 20% overclock and @ full load, 70% fan speed, it doesn't go above 60c. I'm going to opt for the HD 7870 over the 580. Newer tech and fairly similar performance.

[Luckris]

My ASUS DirectCU GTX 460 actually has really good temps. I have a 20% overclock and @ full load, 70% fan speed, it doesn't go above 60c. I'm going to opt for the HD 7870 over the 580. Newer tech and fairly similar performance.

Looks good to me! Same price on Newegg, and mostly same specs.  7870 has a higher mem clock so sounds like it's neck and neck with 580. The AMD card also has lower power consumption, but is lower in a few other thing I was seeing in graphs I was looking up. I guess it's more or less up to you. You want Nvidia things like PhysX and such? I think the 580 overclocks better than the 7870. All cards are different though, 

It's basically a tie. I guess look up benchmarks in things you will use it for, and choose off that? 

[Luckris]

My ASUS DirectCU GTX 460 actually has really good temps. I have a 20% overclock and @ full load, 70% fan speed, it doesn't go above 60c. I'm going to opt for the HD 7870 over the 580. Newer tech and fairly similar performance.

Just seen a GTX 660 on NewEgg for 150$ for a black Friday thing. 3AM here so I'm getting some sleep, but you might want to look into that also.