Current build included, looking for next upgrade (for sure GPU atleast).

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H

Hob

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Dec 31, 2013
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10,510
Hello all, I pieced together my computer last year on Cyber Monday (budget build similar to most) and I'm wishing to spruce it up a bit now that I may be doing slightly more gaming (WoW and BF4). I have a budget of $300 - $350 for new components, I'll pay more if need be but would be nice to keep it in that range to do some upgrades. I'm not interested in manually overclocking any piece and do not need to have the maxed graphics in any of these games but I'd like to see how high I can get them on a reasonable budget.

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz
Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600
Hard Drive: Intel 330 Series 240gb SSD
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Graphic: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5450 1GB
Power: Rosewill Green Series RG530-S12 530W Continuous
2x Monitors: Acer G236HLBbd Black 23" 5ms Widescreen LED Backlight LCD
Operating System: Windows 8.1
Case: APEVIA X-JUPITER-JR S-Type X-JPJST-MG

For sure I'll need a new GPU. Tell me what I should look and if I need other components that will boost my computing experience. Thanks for all your help!
 
Solution
bradsctt
as you already have a AM3+ board, you may as well upgrade the CPU to something a bit more powerful on the same socket.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113285 would be a good option.

and, to bring you right in on the maximum of your budget, a new GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125443

Your power supply should be able to handle both of these, or you could drop the CPU to this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286 , saving you some $, and lowering the power usage by 30w

This GPU is the recommended for BF4, so at 1080p it will get around 50fps on ultra.
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bradsctt

bradsctt

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Jun 9, 2012
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as you already have a AM3+ board, you may as well upgrade the CPU to something a bit more powerful on the same socket.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113285 would be a good option.

and, to bring you right in on the maximum of your budget, a new GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125443

Your power supply should be able to handle both of these, or you could drop the CPU to this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286 , saving you some $, and lowering the power usage by 30w

This GPU is the recommended for BF4, so at 1080p it will get around 50fps on ultra.
 
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Solution
H

Hob

Honorable
Dec 31, 2013
8
0
10,510
Very good! Today after a quick search I was looking into the FX 8350s but the 8320 would be a worthy jump as well? And for GPUs I saw the GTX 660s and Radeon 7870s I believe were the common suggestion in this price range?

Should I prepare myself to replace my Motherboard in the near future as well?
 
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bradsctt

bradsctt

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Jun 9, 2012
951
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The 8320 is not much worse than the 8350, and it is not worth paying the extra just to get the 8350 over a 8320. if you ever did overclock it would easily match the 8350 anyway. yes, a 660 or a 7870 would both be good. 7870 have become hard to get, with the introduction of the R7 and R9 series. The R9 270x is closest to a 7870 as it has replaced the 7870GHz, but it is more expensive than the 660 i suggested(by $30), with maybe 5% performance boost at most.

So the best option, with current prices and performance, would be to get the Gigabyte GTX660 OC i suggested, along with an AMD FX 8320. Your power supply should handle them, but to be safe check in a PSU calculator first ( http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp ). Note: I already looked just before when making my suggestions for you, but check yourself in case i got it wrong.

That motherboard is still fine, AMD has not released any new chipsets, so there is no need to upgrade at the moment.
 
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H

Hob

Honorable
Dec 31, 2013
8
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10,510
After some research I've learned a great GPU R9 270X or GTX660 won't be crazy beneficial for a game like World of Warcraft and rather I should be focusing on CPU power.

With this thought I'm considering going in a new direction of possibly a i5-4570 with supporting Mobo and maybe a HD 7770 GPU?

This will be expensive path but if my current Mobo won't even support a FX-8350 and I have to buy a new one I think I should go in the direction of Intel since (from what I read) the 8 cores won't benefit WoW much compared to an i5 with half respectably GPU.
 
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