Can't decide on an upgrade...

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Adam Spencer

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Dec 9, 2013
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My current specs are:

Motherboard: H61 with no PCI 3.0/USB3.0/SATA3
CPU: Core i3-3220T 2.80ghz
GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 650 Ti
RAM: Kingston HyperX 2x4GB @ 1600mhz
PSU: ThermalTake Litepower 700w


I know for sure I am upgrading to a new motherboard, however I keep changing my mind on what else I want to get. I am looking to spend around +/- $100 for the motherboard and then +/- $200. So I have around a $300 budget for upgrades. My first thought was get an i5-3470 and AsRock Z75 Pro3, but now I am thinking of scratching the i5 and getting a GTX 660 or R9 270x, Another option was to get a Haswell board/cpu.

I do a fair bit of gaming, and my main goal is to obtain better gaming performance. At the moment I do not play any real next-gen type games. Outside of gaming I don't run too many things, no streaming, editing, graphic designing, etc. I don't really plan to do any overclocking as I am not confident enough to do it yet.

Anyways, a new board is a MUST. I have a new heatsink (won't fit in my current case) and case waiting for me, however the panel switches are binded to the motherboard I have now as it is just one single plug for the power and all that nonsense.
 
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There's very little point in replacing the motherboard or CPU right now with Broadwell right around the corner. (imo)
For reference, the i3-3220T isn't really that bad of CPU. It's slightly worse than an FX-6300, and about the same as my CPU (Phenom II 955).
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i3-3220T-vs-AMD-FX-6300
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i3-3220T-vs-AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955

The GTX 650 TI isn't really that bad of a card either, though.

If I was in your position, I would continue saving money until the GTX 8xx series or Broadwell releases, whichever releases first. Then I'd upgrade either the video card with a GTX 8xx card, or the CPU+Mobo with Broadwell versions, whichever releases first.

Your GPU and CPU match up with each...
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Shain Taylor

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Mar 21, 2013
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I would advise you get a new motherboard/cpu and then later on get a new GPU.. An I3 will bottleneck an R9 270x...
Your upgrades should be in this order -
Motherboard
CPU
GPU
PSU

After that, you should be good for a few years. If you are considering Overclocking in the future, you need to either get an AMD CPU or get a K series unlocked Intel such as an I5-3470k, as the non-K series are locked and are therefore non-overclockable
 
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Adam Spencer

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Dec 9, 2013
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Yeah I understand what I would need for overclocking and whatnot, I just have never tried. What do you recommend for CPU and Motherboard? Stick to ivy or go with Haswell. I know my PSU isn't supportive of Haswell, but from my understanding I should be able to disable the C6/C7 with no issues?

Edit: I prefer to stick with Intel in the chipset department, whereas I don't do a lot of heavy, cpu intensive things outside of gaming.
 
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Rationale

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Mar 21, 2014
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There's very little point in replacing the motherboard or CPU right now with Broadwell right around the corner. (imo)
For reference, the i3-3220T isn't really that bad of CPU. It's slightly worse than an FX-6300, and about the same as my CPU (Phenom II 955).
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i3-3220T-vs-AMD-FX-6300
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i3-3220T-vs-AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955

The GTX 650 TI isn't really that bad of a card either, though.

If I was in your position, I would continue saving money until the GTX 8xx series or Broadwell releases, whichever releases first. Then I'd upgrade either the video card with a GTX 8xx card, or the CPU+Mobo with Broadwell versions, whichever releases first.

Your GPU and CPU match up with each other quite well for now.

Or you can ignore me. That works as well. :)
 
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Suztera

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Mar 18, 2014
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If you are currently happy with the frames you got with a 650Ti, then you could upgrade the cpu and mobo. But since you are mainly looking for gaining more fps, a 270X is not a bad upgrade form a 650Ti.
Case upgrade is a personal thing.
PCI2.0 and PCI 3.0 wouldn't matter really yet as it doesn't affect the performance much and is negligible. I don't see the point of a motherboard upgrade if you are not upgrading the cpu with it. There won't be much increase in performance, just functionality depending if you use a lot of USB 3.0 features or require a motherboard with better VRM cooling and quality.
The i3 you got isn't a bad cpu even if it bottlenecks in some modern games. Depending on the games, you might see an increase in performance if you playing cpu intensive games.
 
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Adam Spencer

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Dec 9, 2013
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Might be just a bit antsy to get some new shiny things, I guess. My performance is pretty good for what I do, one thing I am looking ahead to is WildStar, and that recommends a quad core. I do have a heat stink and case I want to move everything into for more airflow and better cooling but my current board wont plug into anything else lol. Maybe I will just try to find a decent priced h77 board for now.

Mostly wanted to finish off this one to make it stand solid for maybe 2 years then just do a fresh full build when I am more financially stable.
 
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Adam Spencer

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Dec 9, 2013
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Plus scored everyone with good advice and really think It's best to wait, however I am going to get a whole new rig in the future so I am not trying to future proof my current one at the moment, So for now I think i will get a new board and cpu -- any suggestions on keep it ivy or go with haswell? And any specific boards, I pretty much have the cpu sorted either way i think
 
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