Is it worth it to upgrade gpu?

[mike7]

Hello, I have i3 540 overclocked @ 4.3ghz and overclocked GTS 450. Does it make sence to upgrade my gpu to R9 270x? Will I gain any benefits, or my cpu just will be a bottleneck for it? Thanks.

[Markyod]

Depends what games you play, or if you want more fps, but no I don't think it would bottleneck, 270x is a good card if you decide to go for it.

[Mao_Zedong]

To start, just because they have the same score in that doesn't mean it will be bottlenecked. For most games you will want more GPU power than CPU power. I have almost the same CPU score as you and I have a gtx 660, so I upgrading my CPU, but it is fine for now.

[JujuShinobi]

From what I heard, the R9 270 will give you pretty much the same as a 270x but for a tad bit less.

Either way, upgrading your GPU will give you a significant performance increase. However I would suggest that you maybe upgrade the CPU some time in the future. Since that i3 is quite old, getting something like a haswell i5 or maybe an AMD 8320 would be something good to go for. But hey it's your call

[roid]

It all depends on what you do with ur pc, games,mining,video editing?. If your a big time video editor or playing CPU intensive games like bf4, planetside2, dayz,sc2 then you'll want to upgrade your CPU. If you don't play too intensive CPU games then your current CPU should do just fine with most games. The r9 270 is a nice card will give you a huge fps boost compared to your current gpu.

I3 540 bench: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/143

I3 540 vs i5 3570k bench: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/143?vs=701

R9 270x: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1043

[kevinheinrich]

Those are great Windows Experience scores for your setup. I did notice better performance from my 560ti after going from the same i3 540 to a  i7 860. Can you find a friend with an i5-i7 and test your card with it? That is what I would do before purchasing to detect cpu bottlenecking. Your Windows experience scores are pretty even so im thinking your in good shape with your current setup. You could also do a passmark benchmark and compare it with the stock gpu list and see if your near the score of a stock 270x. I'd send you my old i7 860 chip but i need to make a build for my father in law in eastern europe where pcs are extremely expensive and slow they currently are running an pentium D 2.66 and 1 gb ram in a tower. It pains me to see my relatives using this setup and takes hours to cleanup via logmein.  I just checked ebay and you can grab a 1156 i7 860 for between 60-120 bucks worst case scenario after the upgrade. Let us know that you find out

[mike7]

I'm from easter europe too, and yes, pc parts are very expensive there. I have this rig for a 3 years now, and not planing to ugrade my cpu yet, it's out of my budget. I will upgrade my cpu, then I build a new system, but that will happen not sooner then after another 3 years. I'm planing just to upgrade my gpu, but if it doesn't make sence, I'll stick with my current setup. In case you want to know my setup, there's my specs:

 

I3 540 @4.3ghz 1.32v

ASUS P7H55D-M PRO

Gygabyte GTS 450 OC2

Corsair vengeance 8gb 1870mhz cl8

Corsair Force GS 240gb SSD

Corsair CX600

Cooler Master Hyper TX3

Cooler Master 690 II

Hitachi 320gb hhd 

[Jumper118]

I'm from easter europe too, and yes, pc parts are very expensive there. I have this rig for a 3 years now, and not planing to ugrade my cpu yet, it's out of my budget. I will upgrade my cpu, then I build a new system, but that will happen not sooner then after another 3 years. I'm planing just to upgrade my gpu, but if it doesn't make sence, I'll stick with my current setup. In case you want to know my setup, there's my specs:

 

I3 540 @4.3ghz 1.32v

ASUS P7H55D-M PRO

Gygabyte GTS 450 OC2

Corsair vengeance 8gb 1870mhz cl8

Corsair Force GS 240gb SSD

Corsair CX600

Cooler Master Hyper TX3

Cooler Master 690 II

Hitachi 320gb hhd 

you've got a good overclock on that i3 so it shouldn't hold a 270x back too much, it would still be a massive improvement over your gts450.

[mike7]

Thanks Jumper118. Well I made my decision, I will get R9 270x after my next payment. By the way, I use my pc just for gaming, internet and smetimes photo edit.

[applebook]

Ignore Windows "benchmark" scores.

 

Get the 270 if the games that you're playing don't provide a relatively smooth performance. Your CPU will be a moderate bottleneck in some games, but it will not prevent you from playing at good rates (assuming a reasonable resolution, 1080p). 

[legend8887]

Hello, I have i3 540 overclocked @ 4.3ghz and overclocked GTS 450. Does it make sence to upgrade my gpu to R9 270x? Will I gain any benefits, or my cpu just will be a bottleneck for it? Thanks.

Probably worth it, but don't use that Windows benchmarking. It's pretty much useless. Use this forum.

[mike7]

I know that windows score is rubish, but I don't have any other benchmark scores, so I putted it here. I can play some new games at 1080p at very high setings, some at high, but some like assasins creed black flag I must run on low setings in order to play it on playable framerate around 30 fps.

[Leonard]

If you are only interested in the Index score then no, the figures for the graphics will just go to 7.9 and stop as windows index only goes to 7.9 but if you was to play the latest 3D games in ultra, then yes, as an upgrade will give you a smoother game play.

[WoodenMarker]

No bottleneck. There will be a drastic improvement in performance.

The Windows Experience Index is pointless when it comes to gauging actual relevant performance.

[ilikemacandpc]

No bottleneck. There will be a drastic improvement in performance.

The Windows Experience Index is pointless when it comes to gauging actual relevant performance.

 

THIS. Finally a correct answer. 

[mike7]

Thanks, you guys helped me a lot. I will upgrade my gpu to r9 270x as soon as possible.

[AHaskin14]

Thanks, you guys helped me a lot. I will upgrade my gpu to r9 270x as soon as possible.

why 270x? why not 760?

[mike7]

Because it's cheaper and has mantle