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Should I upgrade my CPU or GPU

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January 25, 2014 11:11:19 AM

I need to know whether it would be better to upgrade my CPU or GPU for my computer I have listed the specs below and will be using the pc for gaming (ultra 1080p no AA) and light video editing. I have a budget of £250 and am willing to sell parts I am going to replace eg. Buy a new CPU sell the old one for £50. Also I would be willing to buy a good CPU now and wait a while for a good graphics card as long as games are playable on low graphics settings.
M5A78L-M/USB3
AMD Phenom II X6 1050t @ 2.8ghz
Asus M5A78L-M/USB3
12gb DDR3 1333mhz Ram
Integrated Graphics- AMD 760g/Radeon 3000
128gb Kingston V300 SSD
500gb Seagate 7200rpm HDD
XFX Pro750w Bronze
Cooler Master HAF 912
It has a liquid CPU cooler just can't remember the brand!
Thanks!


More about : upgrade cpu gpu

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January 25, 2014 11:16:44 AM

Any gaming plans will need a Discrete GPU. GTX760 should fit your budget.
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January 25, 2014 11:20:39 AM

You need to upgrade both, if you want to play anything near medium settings at 1080p with a half decent framerate. For example, Battlefield 4 on the AMD side needs at least at utter minimum a 3870 GPU, which your integrated graphics won't be as good as, and that is to run at very low settings at very low resolutions. To get decent framerates at higher settings, you will need at least a GTX 660/ Radeon HD 7870 paired with a better CPU, your CPU will not handle future games too well either, although it isn't terrible yet.
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January 25, 2014 11:23:20 AM

rolli59 said:
Any gaming plans will need a Discrete GPU. GTX760 should fit your budget.

The thing is I can afford to upgrade to a FX 8320 for £100 and then sell my Phenom for around £50. This would leave me with £200 which is enough for a GTX 760. The thing I cannot workout though, is if it is better than just upgrading to a GTX770 which wouldn't leave any money for a CPU upgrade.
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January 25, 2014 11:32:49 AM

You are going to need to set aside quite the amount of money for a solid Intel CPU, a decent i5 should do pretty well.
I'm not sure where you're located, as I am in Canada and chances are you're in Europe, and I have no idea of the prices there, but let me help you with your GPU selection.

Most cards and sold in USD, and 250 euros is about 340 dollars US.

You said you could wait for a beastly graphics card, and well the best price for performance ratio is around for me, in CAD is about the 150 - 250 dollar price point.

These cards include the 650TI, 660TI, 7870, 7770, and possibly a R9 270X.
I could also find a GTX 760 for $200.

Most decent CPU's now and days also go for about $150 - $250, so if you could save up around $40 dollars more US (29.25 Euro), you could probably get a nice i5 and a GTX 760 on sale.

Here are some parts:

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-276... - GTX 760 (EVGA) $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - i5 3470 (Open Box, $30 under new budget though)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - i5 4430 (about $10 over)

All of this might be wrong, but still, its some advice.
Also, those items might not ship to EU, and newegg.com doesn't ship internationally, so you would have to find the equivalent in your local area or find somewhere that ships internationally.

Oh, and this isn't usually said: You can also buy used GPUs. I saved alot of money that way, I've bought a 660TI in the past for $130 CAD, and I've also got a 7870 for about $160.
It might not be as trustable, but if you really are on a tight budget it might be a good thing to consider.
(oh, all of this not counting you sold some of your old parts.)
Hope I helped :) 
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January 25, 2014 11:33:23 AM

lonewolf7 said:
You can get a GTX 770 under 250GBP. Which is a high-end card and great for gaming. Later you can upgrade the CPU.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£242.90 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £242.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-25 19:24 GMT+0000)

That was my original plan but I was wondering whether the Phenom would bottleneck it
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January 25, 2014 11:37:32 AM

AgentTran said:
You are going to need to set aside quite the amount of money for a solid Intel CPU, a decent i5 should do pretty well.
I'm not sure where you're located, as I am in Canada and chances are you're in Europe, and I have no idea of the prices there, but let me help you with your GPU selection.

Most cards and sold in USD, and 250 euros is about 340 dollars US.

You said you could wait for a beastly graphics card, and well the best price for performance ratio is around for me, in CAD is about the 150 - 250 dollar price point.

These cards include the 650TI, 660TI, 7870, 7770, and possibly a R9 270X.
I could also find a GTX 760 for $200.

Most decent CPU's now and days also go for about $150 - $250, so if you could save up around $40 dollars more US (29.25 Euro), you could probably get a nice i5 and a GTX 760 on sale.

Here are some parts:

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-276... - GTX 760 (EVGA) $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - i5 3470 (Open Box, $30 under new budget though)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - i5 4430 (about $10 over)

All of this might be wrong, but still, its some advice.
Also, those items might not ship to EU, and newegg.com doesn't ship internationally, so you would have to find the equivalent in your local area or find somewhere that ships internationally.

Oh, and this isn't usually said: You can also buy used GPUs. I saved alot of money that way, I've bought a 660TI in the past for $130 CAD, and I've also got a 7870 for about $160.
It might not be as trustable, but if you really are on a tight budget it might be a good thing to consider.
(oh, all of this not counting you sold some of your old parts.)
Hope I helped :) 

Thanks for the info the only problem with going Intel is it would require a new motherboard for at least £60 so that would mean I would only have money for a GTX 640/650 left. This decision just got a little harder!
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January 25, 2014 11:39:42 AM

UsmanM4 said:
lonewolf7 said:
You can get a GTX 770 under 250GBP. Which is a high-end card and great for gaming. Later you can upgrade the CPU.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£242.90 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £242.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-25 19:24 GMT+0000)

That was my original plan but I was wondering whether the Phenom would bottleneck it


No it wont. Don't worry you will be fine.

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January 25, 2014 11:42:13 AM

UsmanM4 said:
AgentTran said:
You are going to need to set aside quite the amount of money for a solid Intel CPU, a decent i5 should do pretty well.
I'm not sure where you're located, as I am in Canada and chances are you're in Europe, and I have no idea of the prices there, but let me help you with your GPU selection.

Most cards and sold in USD, and 250 euros is about 340 dollars US.

You said you could wait for a beastly graphics card, and well the best price for performance ratio is around for me, in CAD is about the 150 - 250 dollar price point.

These cards include the 650TI, 660TI, 7870, 7770, and possibly a R9 270X.
I could also find a GTX 760 for $200.

Most decent CPU's now and days also go for about $150 - $250, so if you could save up around $40 dollars more US (29.25 Euro), you could probably get a nice i5 and a GTX 760 on sale.

Here are some parts:

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-276... - GTX 760 (EVGA) $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - i5 3470 (Open Box, $30 under new budget though)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - i5 4430 (about $10 over)

All of this might be wrong, but still, its some advice.
Also, those items might not ship to EU, and newegg.com doesn't ship internationally, so you would have to find the equivalent in your local area or find somewhere that ships internationally.

Oh, and this isn't usually said: You can also buy used GPUs. I saved alot of money that way, I've bought a 660TI in the past for $130 CAD, and I've also got a 7870 for about $160.
It might not be as trustable, but if you really are on a tight budget it might be a good thing to consider.
(oh, all of this not counting you sold some of your old parts.)
Hope I helped :) 

Thanks for the info the only problem with going Intel is it would require a new motherboard for at least £60 so that would mean I would only have money for a GTX 640/650 left. This decision just got a little harder!


You don't have to buy Intel, I'm almost certain there is an AMD variant out there of this CPU, you just need to do your own research and find it. Plus, if you sold some of your parts, do you think you could make up about 60 euros or no? Oh, and you could also save up more. Most people always have this laying outside of their heads, because they want a beast system as soon as possible, but it might be worth more to wait a little more.

Just some suggestions, good luck.
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January 25, 2014 11:47:14 AM

lonewolf7 said:
UsmanM4 said:
lonewolf7 said:
You can get a GTX 770 under 250GBP. Which is a high-end card and great for gaming. Later you can upgrade the CPU.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (£242.90 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £242.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-25 19:24 GMT+0000)

That was my original plan but I was wondering whether the Phenom would bottleneck it


No it wont. Don't worry you will be fine.


Now all I've got left to consider is this
MSI GAMING GTX660 £140
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Gaming-GDDR5-DisplayPort-Ac...
i5 3350p £120
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-i5-3330-Ivybridge-Process...
MSI Z87 MOBO £65
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Z87-G41-PCMate-Motherboard-...
Total:£325
-Old parts:£70
New Total: £255

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January 25, 2014 11:53:42 AM

UsmanM4 said:
Yoann Teodosieff said:
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor (£59.71 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4 ATX FM2 Motherboard (£57.42 @ Dabs)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£186.98 @ Dabs)
Total: £304.11
Also you said you gonna sell some of your parts for 50. So thats the best you can get.

Are you sure that processor is better than mine??


No, i am sorry.
I didnt see that you are chose a motherboard yet. The best is to upgrade to 8320 buy an 212 evo clock it to 4 ghz and then buy the GTX 760/ R9 270x.

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January 25, 2014 11:56:59 AM

If you insists then yes that setup will do. I would go for i5-3570K for a couple of bucks more with ASROCK Z77 Ex 4 MB. But unfortunately there will be nothing left for a GPU. But this setup will be far better than your chosen one.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.17 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£87.62 @ Dabs)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card (£151.97 @ Dabs)
Total: £400.76
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-25 19:56 GMT+0000)
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January 25, 2014 11:57:11 AM

AgentTran said:
UsmanM4 said:
AgentTran said:
You are going to need to set aside quite the amount of money for a solid Intel CPU, a decent i5 should do pretty well.
I'm not sure where you're located, as I am in Canada and chances are you're in Europe, and I have no idea of the prices there, but let me help you with your GPU selection.

Most cards and sold in USD, and 250 euros is about 340 dollars US.

You said you could wait for a beastly graphics card, and well the best price for performance ratio is around for me, in CAD is about the 150 - 250 dollar price point.

These cards include the 650TI, 660TI, 7870, 7770, and possibly a R9 270X.
I could also find a GTX 760 for $200.

Most decent CPU's now and days also go for about $150 - $250, so if you could save up around $40 dollars more US (29.25 Euro), you could probably get a nice i5 and a GTX 760 on sale.

Here are some parts:

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-276... - GTX 760 (EVGA) $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - i5 3470 (Open Box, $30 under new budget though)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - i5 4430 (about $10 over)

All of this might be wrong, but still, its some advice.
Also, those items might not ship to EU, and newegg.com doesn't ship internationally, so you would have to find the equivalent in your local area or find somewhere that ships internationally.

Oh, and this isn't usually said: You can also buy used GPUs. I saved alot of money that way, I've bought a 660TI in the past for $130 CAD, and I've also got a 7870 for about $160.
It might not be as trustable, but if you really are on a tight budget it might be a good thing to consider.
(oh, all of this not counting you sold some of your old parts.)
Hope I helped :) 

Thanks for the info the only problem with going Intel is it would require a new motherboard for at least £60 so that would mean I would only have money for a GTX 640/650 left. This decision just got a little harder!


You don't have to buy Intel, I'm almost certain there is an AMD variant out there of this CPU, you just need to do your own research and find it. Plus, if you sold some of your parts, do you think you could make up about 60 euros or no? Oh, and you could also save up more. Most people always have this laying outside of their heads, because they want a beast system as soon as possible, but it might be worth more to wait a little more.

Just some suggestions, good luck.

Ok do you mean an AMD equivalent to an i5 as that is made by intel. If so then I guess your meaning a fx 8320 which is a good idea because after selling my old processor the upgrade price would be around £50 leaving a lot of money for my gpu!!!!
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January 25, 2014 9:08:48 PM

lonewolf7 said:
If you insists then yes that setup will do. I would go for i5-3570K for a couple of bucks more with ASROCK Z77 Ex 4 MB. But unfortunately there will be nothing left for a GPU. But this setup will be far better than your chosen one.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.17 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£87.62 @ Dabs)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card (£151.97 @ Dabs)
Total: £400.76
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-25 19:56 GMT+0000)

What's wrong with the 660? It still performs good :??: 
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January 26, 2014 1:37:56 AM

Quote:

What's wrong with the 660? It still performs good :??: 




I agree, there's nothing wrong with it and anyway transferring to intel would mean changing the motherboard... haven't got enough funding for that :(  so my plan will do just fine, ; I would love to go with the i5 plan though 'lonewolf7'. Additionally if any of you have anymore input I would be most appreciative of it; it could change or tweak my loose decision. :D  thanks!
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January 26, 2014 9:41:34 AM

I would not advise with getting a GTX 770, with your processor, it would be bottlenecked so much that you couldn't tell the difference on most applications between a 770 and, say, a 760. While in a few games there will be a difference, a CPU upgrade at this point may be most beneficial. I would get either a FX-6300 or better on the AMD side or an Intel i5 processor or better on the Intel side. People like to bash AMD processors, but truth be told, they work incredibly well for the price, but the limit I would go is the FX-8320/8350, because as costs rise on the AMD side there, the benefit becomes much smaller, and above the 8350 price point Intel definitely has better options.

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January 26, 2014 10:04:28 AM

apcs13 said:
I would not advise with getting a GTX 770, with your processor, it would be bottlenecked so much that you couldn't tell the difference on most applications between a 770 and, say, a 760. While in a few games there will be a difference, a CPU upgrade at this point may be most beneficial. I would get either a FX-6300 or better on the AMD side or an Intel i5 processor or better on the Intel side. People like to bash AMD processors, but truth be told, they work incredibly well for the price, but the limit I would go is the FX-8320/8350, because as costs rise on the AMD side there, the benefit becomes much smaller, and above the 8350 price point Intel definitely has better options.


How about a i5 3570k and a decent z77 mobo for around £220
After selling my old mobo, cpu and cooler i would probably have just over £130 to buy a low end gpu.
Do you think that would be better than upgrading to an fx8320 for £100 and selling the phenom so i have £200ish left for a gpu????????

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January 26, 2014 10:31:35 AM

UsmanM4 said:
apcs13 said:
I would not advise with getting a GTX 770, with your processor, it would be bottlenecked so much that you couldn't tell the difference on most applications between a 770 and, say, a 760. While in a few games there will be a difference, a CPU upgrade at this point may be most beneficial. I would get either a FX-6300 or better on the AMD side or an Intel i5 processor or better on the Intel side. People like to bash AMD processors, but truth be told, they work incredibly well for the price, but the limit I would go is the FX-8320/8350, because as costs rise on the AMD side there, the benefit becomes much smaller, and above the 8350 price point Intel definitely has better options.


How about a i5 3570k and a decent z77 mobo for around £220
After selling my old mobo, cpu and cooler i would probably have just over £130 to buy a low end gpu.
Do you think that would be better than upgrading to an fx8320 for £100 and selling the phenom so i have £200ish left for a gpu????????



CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor (£58.00 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4 ATX FM2 Motherboard (£57.42 @ Dabs)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£186.98 @ Dabs)
Total: £302.40
That is what i think for 300.
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£80.00 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.18 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£49.49 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card (£224.48 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £379.15
I think that is the best, but you can trade the R9 280X with 760 Zotac.
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Best solution

January 26, 2014 1:24:16 PM

Yoann Teodosieff said:
UsmanM4 said:
apcs13 said:
I would not advise with getting a GTX 770, with your processor, it would be bottlenecked so much that you couldn't tell the difference on most applications between a 770 and, say, a 760. While in a few games there will be a difference, a CPU upgrade at this point may be most beneficial. I would get either a FX-6300 or better on the AMD side or an Intel i5 processor or better on the Intel side. People like to bash AMD processors, but truth be told, they work incredibly well for the price, but the limit I would go is the FX-8320/8350, because as costs rise on the AMD side there, the benefit becomes much smaller, and above the 8350 price point Intel definitely has better options.


How about a i5 3570k and a decent z77 mobo for around £220
After selling my old mobo, cpu and cooler i would probably have just over £130 to buy a low end gpu.
Do you think that would be better than upgrading to an fx8320 for £100 and selling the phenom so i have £200ish left for a gpu????????



CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor (£58.00 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4 ATX FM2 Motherboard (£57.42 @ Dabs)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£186.98 @ Dabs)
Total: £302.40
That is what i think for 300.
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£80.00 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.18 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£49.49 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card (£224.48 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £379.15
I think that is the best, but you can trade the R9 280X with 760 Zotac.


I have already got the asus am3 mobo but i am now considering the option of a FX8350 + R9 270X for £300
and after ive sold my current cpu for around £50 it would even out!
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January 26, 2014 1:26:49 PM

UsmanM4 said:
Yoann Teodosieff said:
UsmanM4 said:
apcs13 said:
I would not advise with getting a GTX 770, with your processor, it would be bottlenecked so much that you couldn't tell the difference on most applications between a 770 and, say, a 760. While in a few games there will be a difference, a CPU upgrade at this point may be most beneficial. I would get either a FX-6300 or better on the AMD side or an Intel i5 processor or better on the Intel side. People like to bash AMD processors, but truth be told, they work incredibly well for the price, but the limit I would go is the FX-8320/8350, because as costs rise on the AMD side there, the benefit becomes much smaller, and above the 8350 price point Intel definitely has better options.


How about a i5 3570k and a decent z77 mobo for around £220
After selling my old mobo, cpu and cooler i would probably have just over £130 to buy a low end gpu.
Do you think that would be better than upgrading to an fx8320 for £100 and selling the phenom so i have £200ish left for a gpu????????



CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor (£58.00 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4 ATX FM2 Motherboard (£57.42 @ Dabs)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card (£186.98 @ Dabs)
Total: £302.40
That is what i think for 300.
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£80.00 @ Ebuyer)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.18 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£49.49 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card (£224.48 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £379.15
I think that is the best, but you can trade the R9 280X with 760 Zotac.


I have already got the asus am3 mobo but i am now considering the option of a FX8350 + R9 270X for £300
and after ive sold my current cpu for around £50 it would even out!


You solved it by yourself :) 
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