Should I upgrade RAM or CPU first?

Edward_Leemimg · Dec 16, 2013

Hi,
I'm soon going to be upgrading my system to a EVGA GTX 760 Superclock.. I will also be upgrading my RAM and CPU afterwards. I wan't to upgrade my RAM to 8GB from 4GB, and I want to upgrade my CPU from an i3 to an i5, so my graphics card is not bottlenecked. However, I will only be able to afford one at the moment. So, would it make more sense to upgrade my CPU before RAM, or vice versa?

Thanks!

Ironsounds · Dec 16, 2013

Hello... Do you have a x64 OS to run more ram? How many programs/tasks do you run at one time, that will need more Ram?... if you need the best one program/task performance, then CPU is next.

swifty_morgan · Dec 16, 2013

4gigs of ram is still plenty for gaming. that 760 would really benefit from a proper cpu.

adimeister · Dec 16, 2013

I'd say RAM to 8gb!

I'm just basing on my experience. Because when I play, I can see the resources on my memory being used up up to 5gb (some of it are reserve) only about 2gb (or less) is free. The i3 won't bottleneck the 760, it's not a very high end card

DeadRam · Dec 16, 2013

I would upgrade the CPU first. It's more expensive than the memory upgrade but Windows uses a swap file if it needs more memory.

Supahos · Dec 16, 2013

If you have a 64 bit OS the memory would be the way to go assuming your plan is gaming. The I3 is a bottleneck but the lack of memory could be a massive bottleneck. It kind of depends on which games you play the most. BF4 runs pretty ragged on 4gb of memory but I suspect the I3 wont' fare too well either. I still think I would go the ram route. Its pretty reasonable priced and honestly if you're just dropping a new processor into your computer the CPU prices aren't likely to go up, whereas memory might go either direction.

adimeister · Dec 16, 2013

Supahos :

+1 to this. And I've read it somewhere that by next year, ram prices would sky rocket because of the DDR4 migration, and there's something about running out of stock or materials something. I forgot the exact details sorry.

swifty_morgan · Dec 16, 2013

here's another online vid to help explain the needs of ram........ have fun..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch_videos?type=0&video_ids=QabSTIfPO8I%2CuTbxPKw3xFk%2CmnAPWkehp6w%2COrrTkbyjDHk%2CZTV9FaJ_jOs%2C3xRSElifsWk%2CB97NXCb47YA%2CMckeAmnDeTk%2CM5Z8IB-tBsM%2CiHQqpIEw7jk%2C56dZmL23W3A%2CZ_AN2u83zZs&title=Popular+uploads&feature=c4-overview&more_url=&index=3

bosaile · Dec 16, 2013

i5 forsure. you can pick up ram for cheap anywhere that sells it. you get 30-50$ go buy a 4gb stick. and do that till you get 8gb if thats what your aiming for (anything over 8gb is overkill for gaming) a i3 is good but going to a i5 is a big jump. 3570k id say is better than fx 8350. who needs 8 cores for gaming? SO i5! upgrade ram later on

Robert Ostrowski · Dec 16, 2013

8 gb is a sweet spot for gaming. the i3 is still a solid processor for gaming. anything more than one graphics card and an i5 is a definite plus. but for a 760, an i3 is not going to slow it down. more than 4gb ram could definitely be useful but you need a 64bit os.

Edward_Leemimg · Dec 16, 2013

Thanks for all the responses! Looks like I'm going to go with CPU first, that's what most people are saying.

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Should I upgrade RAM or CPU first?

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