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Upgrade CPU or GPU first?

EarthwormJoe
By EarthwormJoe
in New Builds and Planning
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So earlier this year (May, June?) I bought an older Gaming PC for $325, it's working pretty good so far and the only problems I had was when I first got it and it would go to the recovery screen (I did a system restore and haven't had it again since) and the computer shutting down during games like Skyrim, Mass Effect and hell even the SRIV Character customization (No other games have had this problem, not even BF4 :P) and I'm assuming it's my CPU overheating (it still has the stock Intel cooler). I also bought this intending to upgrade, and since my birthday is coming up very soon I'll finally have some money to get started. Right now I have an Intel Core 2 Duo E7500, a GTS 250 and 4Gbs of RAM (full list on my profile), and am planning to upgrade to an FX-6300, an R9 270X and 8Gbs of RAM. I'm hoping to have about $200 by then and will have enough money to upgrade either the CPU+Mobo or GPU, but if I get the CPU+Mobo I'd also have to get a copy of Windows 7 since it isn't genuine on mine (the PC was used BTW) so then I could buy them but then have to wait and get money for Windows 7. But if I get the GPU, I KNOW I'll have a bottleneck there. So should I get the CPU+Mobo or the GPU? Or just say screw it and upgrade the RAM and other stuff?

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CPu Mobo the lesser of two evils

Hope I could help!

Specs: CPU: AMD FX-8320 @4.0ghz GPU: ASUS DCUII GTX 770 PSU: EVGA Supernova 750g CASE: Fractal Define R4 RAM: 8 Gigabytes ADATA 1333 Mhz MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3

 

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yep, first get the cpu and mobo, then get a gpu

AMD Athlon X4 750k; Gigabyte F2A88XM-DS2; 8Gb Corsair XMS 1600 Mhz; AMD Hd5670 1Gb DDR3; Bequiet E6-600W; W7 Ultimate x64

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Agreed with everyone else, a good CPU+MOBO will set you up well for a few years at least.

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As I get older I get angrier more cynical, meaner. I feel some warning posts coming. I feel a ban coming. I was warned.

CPU-i5 2400 GPU-Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 OC Mobo-H67MA-D2H-B3 Ram-G.Skill Ripjaws 8gb 1333mhz Case-Fractal Define R4 PSU-Corsair CX750 Storage-Samsung EVO 250gb, 1tb WD Black,Hitachi 1tb Other stuff-Corsair K90, M90 Cooling-3x 140mm Fractal fans Sound-Sennheiser HD438 headphones
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Linus has a video on this. I'm sure someone will dig it up

Desert Storm PC | Corsair 600T | ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ | AMD FX-8350 | MSI 7950 TFIII | 16GB Corsair Vengeance 1600 | Seasonic X650W I Samsung 840 series 500GB SSD

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  • Author

For gaming I was thinking gpu first, but the CPU might end up bottlenecking too much with modern games. I can see why the OP is asking the question.

How well does the 250 hold up now?

 Eh, not too bad. I was playing Crysis 1 maxed out a few minutes ago and it was pretty playable. It plays MOST games pretty well at around medium, I can probably live with it for a few more months, only reason I'm not sure about getting the CPU/Motherboard first is because I'll also have to buy Windows 7 (copy currently using is not genuine) unless I want to leave them in the package while I save up the cash to get it. I'm also gonna try and get my Laptop sold ASAP and then I'll hopefully have another $300 (That'd be enough for the GPU + new RAM).

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