$800 to spend on cpu + gpu + m/board + ram

[cpoustie]

I am looking to upgrade my system as much as I can for around $800-$850 Australian Dollars. What I have currently is:

AMD Phenom x6 1055T - Stock 2.8MHz
Asus M4A87TD/USB3 motherboard
Powercolor HD6950 2GB
12GB no name ram - CPU-Z says 400MHz
Corsair TX850 Power Supply
23" Viewsonic LCD - 1920 x 1080 native

The parts I want to upgrade are : CPU, M/board, GPU and Ram

I'm not really into overclocking or SLI/Crossfire setups I just want to run games like Skyrim, Final Fantasy 14, Witcher 4 the best I can.

I'm hoping to get some ideas about choosing between 3 upgrade packages I list below.

1. Intel i7-3770 3.4GHz - $350
GIGABYTE GA-H77-D3H-MVP Motherboard - $109.00
Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 - $119.00
Total = $580
Edit - Video card on par with HD7950 for $250? Does it exist?

2. Intel i5-3570 3.4GHz - $250
GIGABYTE GA-H77-D3H-MVP Motherboard - $109.00
Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 - $119.00
PowerColor Radeon HD7950 Boost State, 3GB - $289.00
Total = $770

3. Intel i7-3770 3.4GHz - $350
GIGABYTE GA-H77-D3H-MVP Motherboard - $109.00
PowerColor Radeon HD7950 Boost State, 3GB - $289.00
Total = $750

You might say just take option 1 and throw in the HD7950 for $880 but $850 is a hard limit and about $20-$30 of that will be freight. Edit - Unless you can point me to a similar performing card for $250.

So basically it boils down to which component can I cheap out on? Do I keep my old GPU, keep my old ram, or replace it all with a cheaper CPU?

 

[JoseyMG]

If you want to just play games dont even consider an i7. Get an i5 or an 8320/50. With the 8320 youll be able to do more things in the future for example if you want to do video editing, it will destroy the i5.
What i would do is get an 8320 which comes in at around $150 here where i live. You can get a Sabertooth gen 2/3 mobo. The difference between the second and third gen is that third gen has PCie 3.0 and gen 2 doesnt, but it has a Pcie 1x slot which the gen 3 doesnt. They both come in around $185, i would get gen3. So that leaves 465 dollars for a gpu, and here i would go with an Asus GTX 770. Coming in at around 400, its a beast of a card and you can overclock the hell out of it. And that leaves you with some money to spare. I also have the 770 and is a beast, maxes out bf3 with about 85 fps. So wonderful.

However, if you dont want the 8320, or you hate amd for whatever reason, id get an i5 4670 which comes in around 220.
Motherboard i would go with a GD 45 gaming, there are some cheaper options, but i believe this is one hell of a board at 160. That leaves 470 for the gpu, and i again, would go for the Asus 770 2gb. Either way, youre still saving money.

Hope this helped m8, happy gaming!

EDIT: I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THE RAM haha ok so, instead of the 770, get a 760. It gets around 65 FPS in BF3 maxed, great card. Id just go evga on that. Its basically a 7950, but the 7950 is a much much better deal. You get some free games with it too. And for the ram, get some Gskill 8gb or if you want 16, well it doesnt really matter. Try to get some that has the lowest CAS latency. Preferably 9 or lower. You can get a 16gb kit from gskill for about 115, and even then you still have some money left over.
Now,
Happy gaming!

 

[cars12345]

Intel build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($255.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($92.07 @ Mwave Australia)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($315.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $791.07

AMD Build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($239.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Motherboard: MSI 990FXA-GD65 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($119.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Mwave Australia)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($339.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $786.99

 

[bryonhowley]

Agree you could get a FX-8320 or FX-8350 with a GTX 760 and 8gig DDR3 1600 with a good socket AM3+ motherboard and you would be good to go. While most people will tell you to go intel I have three rigs and only one of them is intel. I have a i5 3570 and a FX-8120 FX-8350 based rig and can tell you without a doubt both of my AMD/ATI rigs can keep up in any game I have with no problems at all.