New processor or better gpu?

jake9402

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
4
0
10,510
I have a phenom 2 x4 955 black edition and a geforce gtx 650 ti boost superclocked edition with 8 gb of RAM on win 7 64bit...now with all that said, i play small games like minecraft and big games like battlefield 4. Lately it seems like my cpu is really struggling to keep up on modern games. Far Cry 3 Bf4 AssassinsC4 and so on. I can run on low settings, medium settings and sometimes high, but NEVER at a constant frame rate. Not even with everything turned down. So my question is should I go buy a new processor or a better gpu? With any answers it would be great if you had any suggestions. I have a limit of ~$350 and if i upgrade my processor i will more than likely need a new mobo for it, as mine only supports am3, so please factor that in. Thanks ahead of time for any answers!
 
Solution
This should serve you well, you can buy install the CPU cooler later on if your budget limit of 350 is strict

No one knows how well upcoming games are going to utilize the multiple cores of AMD CPUs so the powerful threaded performance of intel's i5 is a safe bet

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $374.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)...
This should serve you well, you can buy install the CPU cooler later on if your budget limit of 350 is strict

No one knows how well upcoming games are going to utilize the multiple cores of AMD CPUs so the powerful threaded performance of intel's i5 is a safe bet

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $374.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-04 02:50 EST-0500)

The 650 Ti Boost should last you a fair while longer running games at high settings at 1080p so you can upgrade to the upcoming series from AMD/Nvidia next year

You're going to need to reinstall windows with the new CPU and mobo
 
Solution

jake9402

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
4
0
10,510


Thank you! Just ordered all of it! haha
 

jake9402

Honorable
Dec 4, 2013
4
0
10,510


Actually quick question! The order hasn't gone through yet, and I just decided to look at other mobo's to see what it compared to, i'm willing to spend the extra money, do you think the MSI USA z87-g45 would be a bit better?
 

jpmeneses21

Distinguished
Aug 10, 2013
119
0
18,710
+1 for rolandzhang3's reco. If you want to "futureproof" your system, going with a haswell i5 and a decent board from ASUS is the way to go. But if you want performance now, an alternative is to get the best card you can get for $350. But the catch is, you won't be able to maximize the 350-dollar card's performance because your current CPU is going to bottleneck it. By how much, I don't know.

I was about to suggest to get a FX6300 (which is a substantial upgrade from your current CPU), a new AM3+ board that supports SLI (Gigabyte 990FX), and get another 650ti boost and have it in SLI with your first card. But then I realized that config will cost you around 400 bucks, and to be quite honest, the AM3+ platform is on its way out already.

FM2 is now AMD's "posterboy" platform.
 
Uhm yeah, that is way low for performance sorry to say for the demands of the newest games nevermind the low performance of your 650 ti (http://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/11/battlefield-4-benchmarked-is-your-pc-up-to-the-task/). You need a total new system. Now is the Windows OEM with the purchase of the computer or bought seperately? If it is OEM it is tied to the hardware and you can't even 'transfer the HDD' to a new computer, as you have to wipe and reinstall Windows clean.

And I am sorry but there is no gaming rigs for high end games at @350. What you CAN do though is, grab a i5 Core Walmart desktop ($349), upgrade the PSU to 600W ($99+) then add the game card ($149-$500) to get a system that can do High level BF4 graphics at 50FPS, on the cheap. Any real serious gaming system is based on i7 Core, and your talking at least $1200-$1500 normally.

If you go AMD, normal AMDs are at / below i3 Cors, and only the HIGH end AMD reach i5s. So you can game, but your performance drops as these new games require more core/threads in the CPU to keep up with the higher end GPUs (BF4 demand minimum 4Cores).
 
He's asking about a $350 upgrade, not a new system, by next year he'll have saved up enough for further upgrades whether it's an SSD or new GPU/PSU etc.

Cores are not important, single thread/core performance is what's important, there's a reason why Intel's i3s can stand up to AMD's quad cores

The 650 Ti Boost will last a while playing at high settings, not ultra with AA

One step at a time, the boost will last long enough until June 2014 or so when a true new GPU generation is introduced

OEM systems have crappy casing so grabbing a Walmart desktop is silly, especially considering he probably has a nice mid tower case (with his current PSU) which would be better for cable management and airflow

There is no need for a brand new system, also OEM motherboards are generally rubbish (and not z87 gaming tier boards which will help with overclocking) so just stick with the i5+z87 mobo, then wait for Maxwell or SLI with another 650 Ti Boost to achieve GTX 770 levels of performance

i7s are generally recommended for video editing/rendering and photoshop, an overclocked 3570k and now 4670k at 4.5GHz+ for gaming is more than sufficient

You do not need an overpriced i7 build for way over most budgets for gaming, that's one of the bloody reasons console fanboys use to deter would-be PC gamers, it's about achieving a balance, not getting an overpriced build for more than you need to

One thing at a time