Looking To Upgrade $350 Max

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Darren1977

Honorable
Dec 14, 2013
4
0
10,510
Hello

Going to be doing an upgrade and I'm looking for advice on what I can get within my budget. Monitor and accessories are fine just looking at whats inside the case. This is my current system -

CPU : AMD FX-8350
Cooler : Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
RAM : Kingston 8GB PC3-10600, 1.5V, CAS Supported:6.7.8.9 Kingston
MB : ASUSTeK M5A97 LE R2.0 (Socket 942)
GPU : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
HHD : WD Blue 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
PSU : Thermaltake TR2 TR-600 600W

I have $350 to upgrade. I do mostly gaming but not graphic intense games. Mainly World Of Warcraft and Minecraft. With this set up I get pretty bad frame rates in wow during raids even at lower settings. I don't plan to overclock and I would like to stick with AMD, Asus and Nvidia as I have had very good experience with them over the years. My max monitor resolution 1650 x 1050.

I know the RAM and GPU are definitely suspect. I got them both on sale from a local store at a very good price. The RAM is pretty generic and a single stick not running in dual channel so I would like to go to a 2 x 4GB set up. The GPU is entry level but I'm not sure what card would give me the best bang for my buck. The GTX 760 looks good but its a little out of my range.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
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plywrlw

plywrlw

Admirable
Jul 5, 2014
2,811
0
7,960
Something like this would give you the most noticable improvement

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Tri-X Video Card ($271.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $351.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-09 23:26 EDT-0400

For most all-round imporvement you could do this but I doubt the RAM stick you have is holding you back too badly

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($76.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB Dual-X Video Card ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($68.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $355.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-09 23:30 EDT-0400
 
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D

Darren1977

Honorable
Dec 14, 2013
4
0
10,510
So from advice I'm thinking the GPU is the higher priority. I am liking the idea of the MSI GTX 760 and that will leave over enough for the GSkill or Kingston RAM. But I'm looking at the benchmarks for the GTX760 vs GTX770 and wondering would there be much of a difference in performance in-game with these two? If there is I would go with the 770 and pick up the ram in a month or two. Also would my PSU be enough power for the 770?

My board say it has 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (blue) and the GPU card is PCI Express 3.0 . Would I get the full performance from the card with this MB?
 
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Huang Ray

Reputable
May 3, 2014
688
0
5,060
This GPU is much cheaper then gtx 760...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121823&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

and also, it has good performance/price rate
 
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