Upgrade CPU or GPU

elementality799 · Oct 23, 2013

Right now I am running a
AMD Athlon II X4 620
&
GeForce 9800 GT
(Don't Judge

)

I am looking to upgrade to an i5 3570k and a GTX 760 or 770

Anyways here is my predicament. Right now I can only upgrade one (either the cpu/mobo or the gpu) and I will then upgrade the other in 2 months or so. I'm just not sure which will give the biggest improvement. I'd like to get the best bang for my buck here. The system will be used primarily for gaming. I will mostly be playing Arma 2/3 and some Battlefield (for now at least). I know Arma is a pretty CPU intensive game but I seem to see mixed answers with what to upgrade first when people ask this question. So I figured I'd just post my current specs too see what the verdict is.

So what do you guys think?

bigshootr8 · Oct 23, 2013

You will be grawling in BF3 or BF4. ARMA I'm not very familiar with. I would upgrade your CPU/motherboard now so you can at least leave yourself open to upgrading your GPU at some point. Without a good cpu to back up a graphics card you won't fair very well.

rolli59 · Oct 23, 2013

CPU and motherboard, it is quickly going to drive you to upgrade GPU after it.

PepitoTV · Oct 23, 2013

I second the CPU/MOBO change. Your GPU can handle some games a little longer.

HeyyScott · Oct 23, 2013

CPU. You should grab the i5-4670k instead. It's faster than the i5-3570k in stock and imo it's pointless upgrading to a 3rd generation product that's dying out.

dextermat · Oct 23, 2013

+1 cpu / mobo.

If you plan on overclock, get i5-3570k if not i5-4670k.
The i5-4670k is worse at overclocking.

bigshootr8 · Oct 23, 2013

dextermat :

They are both not extremely great at overclocking. People have replaced the TIM by deliding a CPU but nevertheless the Haswell CPU's the 4670 at stock is a little bit faster then the Ivy stuff. If you are going to upgrade your better off snagging a combo deal with the haswell cpu's

HeyyScott · Oct 23, 2013

dextermat :

lol. No way dude. Grabbing i5-4670k is a must at this point.
i5-4670k is better on stock plus you won't even see that much difference on OC even though i5-3570k has better OC capability. Plus, 3rd generation are dying out and factories are manufacturing them anymore. No point of building on dead parts.

elementality799 · Oct 23, 2013

oh god, now 3570k vs 4670k will consume me for the next week. haha

rolli59 · Oct 23, 2013

Why if the 3570K is much cheaper go with it, really the only reason to go with 1150 over 1155 is more Sata 6GB plugs for drives if needed since price is in favor of the LGA1155 platform for close to the same performance at stock.

kirilmatthew · Oct 23, 2013

It seems like I'm one of the few here that advocates for GPU. Get yourself a radeon 7950 ($175) or radeon 7970 ($250). The athlon is weak, but not terrible. That and a good GPU will perform much better on games than the other way around (i5 and current GPU).

elementality799 · Oct 23, 2013

rolli59 :

Well I'm looking at either the 3570k with the Asus p8z77 v pro which would come to $360ish or the 4670k with the Asrock z87 extreme6 for about $375ish. Unless one of the mobos is not a good pick, the price difference is pretty negligible.
I've read that that 4670 preforms better but overclocks worse and the 3570 overclocks better but preforms just slightly worse. It seems as if they even out in the end.
If I am correct the only real difference between the two options would be the z77 vs the z87 chipset. z87 allowing for a possible upgrade to broadwell (although I really don't think I'll be upgrading again that soon) and like you said the extra Sata III ports.
Am I missing anything else?

bigshootr8 · Oct 23, 2013

You don't need to get a extreme 6 look towards an extreme 4 which is substantially less expensive. unless you are really pushing overclocking a motherboard is a motherboard with the intel boards. I would get the 4670k with a board with a z87 chipset from ASRock, ASUS, MSI, or Gigabyte but I wouldn't pay more then 150 dollars for a motherboard not unless you get something special like a LED post light or a special onboard audio solution and or NIC card.

rolli59 · Oct 23, 2013

Well with the Asus you get a WiFi card so it adds to the price difference if needed. Ultimately it is your decision but performance or efficiency difference between the two is negligible.
The V PRO is one of the better Z77 boards.

elementality799 · Oct 23, 2013

bigshootr8 :

Well my reasoning behind the extreme6 over 4 is actually the layout of the slots. Id like to keep the option of SLI open for the future. and i also have an Audiophile card which is PCI. So I needed the mobo to have at least one PCI slot which wouldn't block a gpu that takes up two slots.

Edit: Actually after looking at the Extreme 4 again I realized it does meet that requirement, I guess I mistakenly eliminated it from my options. SO, in that case I'd go with the the Extreme4 over 6

bigshootr8 · Oct 23, 2013

Well there you go sir

money saved /win

elementality799 · Oct 23, 2013

Thanks for all of the help guys! I really appreciate it.

Upgrade CPU or GPU

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