Upgrading PC For New Games

YWZMatt · Dec 1, 2013

Many of the new games coming out (and some of the slightly older ones) are becoming laggy on my PC. I was wondering what parts in my PC are the worst and are in the most need of an upgrade?

Budget: $350-$400.

Specs:
8 GB RAM
Intel Core i3-2120 CPU @ 3.30GHz
Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti
700w Power Supply
Hard drive: ST500LM000-1EJ162 ATA Device

benjii · Dec 1, 2013

Your CPU and graphics card are equally to blame. If you just upgraded your graphics card, your CPU would cause a bottleneck and vice versa. You need to upgrade both. What's your budget?

iceclock · Dec 1, 2013

What's ur full system specs and budget for upgrade. Yes ur CPU and video are slow.

diazalon · Dec 1, 2013

YWZMatt :

You would need to upgrade the cpu and gpu.
What is the power supply?
What is your budget?

YWZMatt · Dec 1, 2013

Added power supply and hard drive. Budget is $350-$400.

iceclock · Dec 1, 2013

What powersupply you have I meant?

YWZMatt · Dec 1, 2013

iceclock :

This isn't a proper sentence.

iceclock · Dec 1, 2013

Corrected

YWZMatt · Dec 1, 2013

rolandzhang3 · Dec 1, 2013

Seems that the total output on the +12v rails is 522W or 46A

An upgrade to an Ivy Bridge i5 and a better GPU would do wonders for your system, your board would probably need a BIOS update for the CPU however

Not sure about your power connectors or etc. but an i5 3350P and an r9 280x should do great (exceeds your budget to $450 however)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card ($298.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $458.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-01 19:47 EST-0500)

If you want to save $50 or so, you could go with a GTX 760 or 7950 instead

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn760oc2gdrev20

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-02gp43765kr

Something else you could consider would be to add a small SSD as a boot drive so boot times are quicker, a larger SSD with some games installed would also help with the loading times of those games

YWZMatt · Dec 1, 2013

rolandzhang3 :

Seems that the total output on the +12v rails is 522W or 46A

An upgrade to an Ivy Bridge i5 and a better GPU would do wonders for your system, your board would probably need a BIOS update for the CPU however

Not sure about your power connectors or etc. but an i5 3350P and an r9 280x should do great (exceeds your budget to $450 however)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card ($298.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $458.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-01 19:47 EST-0500)

If you want to save $50 or so, you could go with a GTX 760 or 7950 instead

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn760oc2gdrev20

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-02gp43765kr

Something else you could consider would be to add a small SSD as a boot drive so boot times are quicker, a larger SSD with some games installed would also help with the loading times of those games

Thanks for the advice. If anyone else thinks they have a better option, please list it!

iceclock · Dec 2, 2013

I second this motion

YWZMatt · Dec 2, 2013

Will my PSU be enough to power the parts recommended?

rolandzhang3 · Dec 2, 2013

Yep it should, if it actually manages to deliver all 46A that is

YWZMatt · Dec 8, 2013

I went ahead and got a GTX 770 and the processor you guys mentioned. 770 was a better price and if i'm not mistaken is better than the 280x. Also less power consumption. Now all i've gotta do is find something to do while I'm waiting for christmas...

rolandzhang3 · Dec 8, 2013

https://www.playhawken.com//

intzaki · Dec 8, 2013

If your budget allows you up to 400$, I would recommend getting a new graphics card. The GeForce GTX 760 is the best at the price value of around 240$. Your CPU is fine but it will need an upgrade. The AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core is hands down the best CPU at 200$. I would also suggest selling your CPU/Graphics card to upgrade your PSU. Both the graphics card and the CPU I suggested will work to the best settings for most games coming out this year. Now when it comes to gaming there's a lot of extra options that affect it. Mostly it's the size of your monitor. But the specified graphics card will do fine even on big resolutions. But then again you have to accept the fact that some pc games run better on branded graphics card's such as Batman on N-Vidia and so on.

rolandzhang3 · Dec 8, 2013

He has a mobo compatible with Sandy and Ivy Bridge i5s, might as well take advantage of it, getting a 8350 would require a brand new mobo as well as a fresh reinstall of windows which is a fuss

You would not need a better PSU for a 760 as well

Resolution, not monitor size

The 280x is out of stock, but that and the 770 at the $300 price point is definitely worth the premium over the 760/7950

Upgrading PC For New Games

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