Help a guy make up his mind

[TigFlipman]

Hi everyone - I'm hoping your experience and insight will help out with an upgrade-

 

I want to give my gaming PC a little boost, I was saving for a GPU and, well, we all know how that is.  After I built, I wanted all the upgrades that I bought to carry over, but I'm thinking I may have to get a little more out of my rig than before.  I've got up to $150 to spend, or save, depending on what you think.  Here are the specs:

 

i5 4590 / LiquidMaster 120

r9 280 OC'd 1050 / 1350 MHz core / memory clock

 

1 TB HDD + 128 GB SSD

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz

 

600 W EVGA Bronze + Semi-modular

mITX CM Elite 130 case

 

I'm noticing some stutter on newer AAA titles (admittedly I don't play that many) with RAM, and everything else, maxing out.  AAA games include: Battlefront 2, whatever's handed out on Humble Monthly.  A heavily modded Skyrim (32 bit) runs at ~20-25 FPS outside.  Likewise, there's not a whole lot of room on that SSD for AAA titles.

 

So, do I break my rule and get a used 16 GB kit of DDR3 to get a smoother experience?  Do I hold on to the rule and pick up a 500 GB SSD to carry over to the new system?  Do I keep the money and put it towards a GPU to snag when they come back down to earth- and I think it's important to mention that I'm stuck on old drivers because updates to newer drivers don't let me change the clocks from either 500 MHz / 150 MHz or 1100 / 1400 MHz - both are unplayable- and I'm afraid that without newer drivers I won't be able to play any new games I may be interested in.

 

Originally I was planning to buy a nice GPU and then in a few months upgrade the the MB / CPU / RAM to current gen stuff (including 16 GB DDR4).

 

I appreciate your insight-

 

Thanks!

 

[Hugsy Malone]

GPU is that main thing that would benefit from an upgrade.. unfortunately.
Otherwise I'd say just upgrade the cpu platform.

[Nocte]

I would get an SSD and wait to upgrade GPU/CPU (upgrading CPU means upgrading RAM, which is like GPUs now... Unless you get a 4790). 

[MRmitch65]

Yea, I would go for the gpu because the 280 is a decent card but its kinda old. I would go for something like a 1050 ti because every other card is being used for gpu mining and a 1070 is worth more than my entire life right now. Maybe if you are getting crap few in skyrim, try using skyrim script extender. It's free on steam. I had a 270x and it was pretty good for me seeing as I played some fallout 4 and Gta here and there but it was perfect for 1080p 60fps overwatch. Definitely try to get a 1050 ti or maybe something higher if you can spare the money...

[TigFlipman]

5 minutes ago, MRmitch65 said:

Definitely try to get a 1050 ti or maybe something higher if you can spare the money...

I was thinking about it, and I do game at 1080 / 60 (for now, the 4k was going to come between the GPU and CPU upgrades), but I get trigger shy thinking about- dang- those 1050ti's are sitting where the 570 / 580's used to be at about $200 USD on Newegg right now.  I'll jump on that if the 280 absolutely takes a dump and I need a good replacement ASAP.

 

It's a new day in GPU Land, I get it, but I feel like if I was going to drop half an MSRP 1070 I'd rather pay the other half and habitually refresh nowinstock.net or find one checking the local shops.  Or hopefully get a spot in line if / when a refresh launches this year- either way it's a whole lot of breath holding.

[DrDerp]

23 minutes ago, Eibe said:

I would get an SSD and wait to upgrade GPU/CPU (upgrading CPU means upgrading RAM, which is like GPUs now... Unless you get a 4790). 

He has DDR3, which goes cheap on eBay. I reccomend picking up some DDR3 in the mean time, and upgrading that GPU with a used one. eBay is great for deals if you pay a lot of attention.

[zDeathMagneticz]

Definitely save for the GPU

[Nocte]

7 minutes ago, DrDerp said:

He has DDR3, which goes cheap on eBay. I reccomend picking up some DDR3 in the mean time, and upgrading that GPU with a used one. eBay is great for deals if you pay a lot of attention.

...I said *unless* he sticks to his current platform, which implies not going DDR4. 

[Damascus]

Get an ssd or save up for a 2060/2050 ti

[TigFlipman]

Thanks for your responses, everyone.  After considering your responses, I think I'm going to wait it out and not feel guilty if I have to replace the 280 if / when it conks out or the drivers break it and replace it with a 1050ti or a used 970 in the moment.  If it hangs in there, I'll save the pennies and wait for a 1070 / graphics card line refresh to come around at a price that I can get behind while keeping an eye on the CPU / MoBo / DDR4 market.

 

Thanks everyone!  

[SupaKomputa]

sell the 280 for another 8gb. spend the $150 for 1050 ti.

Don't wait for gpu price to come down, 1050ti will be good for 60fps 1080p.

[Coaxialgamer]

You won't get much from a RAM upgrade unfortunately , if at all. Wait for gpu prices to fall imo.

[SupaKomputa]

Unless all the miners decided to abandon the 1060 and up for 2060 and up, the price won't come down.
With ethereum priced above $500, there will be no shortage of new miners joining the movement to absorb the leftovers.

Old miners will eventually keep adding / upgrade a new rig every 3-4 months, when the break even point reached.

Wait for the coin bubble to pop and you'll get floods of gpus on the market.

But unfortunately not in the near future...