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what should I upgrade on my pc for gaming

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  • Gaming
  • Graphics Cards
  • Components
  • GPUs
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October 10, 2014 11:15:10 AM

so I have a desktop which I mainly use for gaming. I want to upgrade a specific component of my pc but I am not sure what to upgrade first.my specs are:

core 2 quad q9300 cpu
4 gb ddr3 1333mhz ram
ati radeon hd6670 1gb gddr3

(I am not looking for expensive things more like 8 gb ram or radeon hd 7770)
I just want to know what you think I should upgrade first to continue playing the latest games even if its at minimum requirements. thanks for any replies

More about : upgrade gaming

a b 4 Gaming
a b U Graphics card
October 10, 2014 11:18:07 AM

Depends on your PSU as well. If you have a low PSU, than a 750TI would make you happy. (the one that does not require extra 6 pin)
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October 10, 2014 11:18:55 AM

Look at the minimum requirements of a game you want to play, check your computer's specifications, upgrade accordingly. If you already know what your computer is lacking in, (You need to upgrade essentially everything for a next generation experience) I unfortunately can't give you any advice. The CPU is the only thing that is probably the least necessary to upgrade on your PC.

If you need a GPU, check your power specifications. Most require a 6 pin. EVGA makes a fairly cheap PSU (45 the last I checked), 500W, that's highly rated and usually gets the job done for most 2x6 PCI-E applications. This PSU would be powerful enough to handle most single card configurations. Check the GPUs total consumed power on benchmarking sites first. A common mid/high end GPU will draw about 150 which would be fine. Usually for your CPU, MB, HDD, etc, you come out to around 250W. On average, every GB of memory is $10.

A card such as an HD7770 may not be able to play next generation games but it's a good start and would be a compliment to your system. Personally, I save up and get the best card I can find when it comes to upgrade time. Currently the best card performance per dollar seems to be the GTX 970. It's 329 dollars but puts out nearly 4.5x the workload of the HD7770 for 3.5x the price. The only problem is it's hard to find a baseline one because they're all getting bought up.

For an HD7770 upgrade I would recommend 8GB system. For a GTX 970 I would recommend a 12GB system.
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a b 4 Gaming
a b U Graphics card
October 10, 2014 11:26:33 AM

like said above, a gtx750ti or even a gtx750, non 6pin power versions. otherwise i wouldn't spend much money trying to upgrade this computer since any of the parts around will not help you much. for about $500 you can build a decent entry level gaming computer that is more than 1080p capable.

you could get a cheap $70 120gb solid state drive. this would dramatically improve windows load time and overall snappy app performance, but it wont help gaming performance.

your q9300 is overall roughly equal to a current gen i3 dual core, slightly faster in high threads, slightly slower in single threads. there are no real cpus that you could drop in that are going to be much faster than what you got. we dont know your power supply, but that doesn't really matter since i wouldn't pair anything higher than a gtx750ti with it anyways.
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October 10, 2014 11:35:32 AM

nikoli707 said:
like said above, a gtx750ti or even a gtx750, non 6pin power versions. otherwise i wouldn't spend much money trying to upgrade this computer since any of the parts around will not help you much. for about $500 you can build a decent entry level gaming computer that is more than 1080p capable.

you could get a cheap $70 120gb solid state drive. this would dramatically improve windows load time and overall snappy app performance, but it wont help gaming performance.

your q9300 is overall roughly equal to a current gen i3 dual core, slightly faster in high threads, slightly slower in single threads. there are no real cpus that you could drop in that are going to be much faster than what you got. we dont know your power supply, but that doesn't really matter since i wouldn't pair anything higher than a gtx750ti with it anyways.


Well an SSD helps a fair amount in games. It removes a lot of long stuttering from most game due to loading times. I have to agree that the 750TI would be a better choice against the HD7770 for price. When I switched to an SSD the cell loading between areas in Skyrim was unnoticeable.
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a b 4 Gaming
a b U Graphics card
October 10, 2014 11:40:05 AM

coovargo said:
nikoli707 said:
like said above, a gtx750ti or even a gtx750, non 6pin power versions. otherwise i wouldn't spend much money trying to upgrade this computer since any of the parts around will not help you much. for about $500 you can build a decent entry level gaming computer that is more than 1080p capable.

you could get a cheap $70 120gb solid state drive. this would dramatically improve windows load time and overall snappy app performance, but it wont help gaming performance.

your q9300 is overall roughly equal to a current gen i3 dual core, slightly faster in high threads, slightly slower in single threads. there are no real cpus that you could drop in that are going to be much faster than what you got. we dont know your power supply, but that doesn't really matter since i wouldn't pair anything higher than a gtx750ti with it anyways.


Well an SSD helps a fair amount in games. It removes a lot of long stuttering from most game due to loading times. I have to agree that the 750TI would be a better choice against the HD7770 for price. When I switched to an SSD the cell loading between areas in Skyrim was unnoticeable.


yeah good point on skyrim. definitely gaming loading screen wait times are dramatically reduced. some games that have pop in effects that cause studder can be reduced with an ssd. but otherwise overall gaming fps is not affected at all.
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a b U Graphics card
October 10, 2014 11:53:25 AM

The AMD R7 265 outperforms the 750TI for similar $, though does need a 6pin PCIe power from the PSU.

An SSD will ONLY help for games at loading screens, if the game loads dynamically during play and causes slowdowns, or if very low ram and things are being cached/using the swap file vs staying in RAM.

I would start with a new GPU, that is what is holding you back the most in games right now.

Take a look at this chart: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-car...

Figure out your budget, and get the highest ranked card you are willing to buy (though you may need a new PSU to do it).

You could add another 4GB ram after that (but I wouldn't unless you keep the system for 2+ years)

Besides that you will need to get a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM to improve on the q9300 (and be worth the $). Yes you could buy a q9400/9500 or qx9*** but you wouldn't see any gains outside of benchmarking software.
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a c 289 4 Gaming
a b U Graphics card
October 10, 2014 12:26:47 PM

Ayex Revenge said:
Pretty much everything, I think this build will suit you more:


Somehow I don't think the average upgrader has $10gs to throw away on a PC. Even if you could, what's the point?:heink: 
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a b U Graphics card
October 10, 2014 12:53:51 PM

g-unit1111 said:
Ayex Revenge said:
Pretty much everything, I think this build will suit you more:


Somehow I don't think the average upgrader has $10gs to throw away on a PC. Even if you could, what's the point?:heink: 


Hear hear!

Especially as the OP was talking about things like 8GB of ram or a 7770 GPU as possible upgrades and definitely not asking for a $10K build.
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a c 289 4 Gaming
a b U Graphics card
October 10, 2014 12:57:49 PM

menetlaus said:

Hear hear!

Especially as the OP was talking about things like 8GB of ram or a 7770 GPU as possible upgrades and definitely not asking for a $10K build.


That user is in the process of being taken care of by the moderators, if you catch my drift. ;) 
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October 10, 2014 11:14:47 PM

well I have a rough idea of what part I will get but I am just not sure if I should upgrade my gpu or ram first. judging on what they are and what future games will need should I upgrade my ram or gpu
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October 11, 2014 12:59:38 AM

well I have a rough idea of what part I will get but I am just not sure if I should upgrade my gpu or ram first. judging on what they are and what future games will need should I upgrade my ram or gpu
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October 11, 2014 1:48:08 AM

In terms of Gaming below is a typical list for most important component to least important

GFX Card
CPU
Ram
HDD

As already noted Look at the Box or online for Min Requirements and Ignore that... Your Looking for Recommended Requirements - Aim for at least that or better
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a c 289 4 Gaming
a b U Graphics card
October 12, 2014 12:07:43 AM

Markkk said:
In terms of Gaming below is a typical list for most important component to least important

GFX Card
CPU
Ram
HDD

As already noted Look at the Box or online for Min Requirements and Ignore that... Your Looking for Recommended Requirements - Aim for at least that or better


I definitely agree with this - graphics most important, CPU second most important, then everything else. Having a solid SSD like a Samsung 840 Evo, OCZ Vertex 460, or Crucial M550 should also be a critical component as well. As far as CPU goes there's people who are still gaming on Q6600s and Q9300s. But moving to Z97 definitely wouldn't hurt things.
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October 12, 2014 2:15:21 AM

g-unit1111 said:
Markkk said:
In terms of Gaming below is a typical list for most important component to least important

GFX Card
CPU
Ram
HDD

As already noted Look at the Box or online for Min Requirements and Ignore that... Your Looking for Recommended Requirements - Aim for at least that or better


I definitely agree with this - graphics most important, CPU second most important, then everything else. Having a solid SSD like a Samsung 840 Evo, OCZ Vertex 460, or Crucial M550 should also be a critical component as well. As far as CPU goes there's people who are still gaming on Q6600s and Q9300s. But moving to Z97 definitely wouldn't hurt things.


So you think because of my hardware I should upgrade my gpu before ram


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October 12, 2014 1:57:29 PM

Of what you have the CPU is the strongest Item in your System. Being Quad core gives it a lot more life expectancy.

GFX and Ram are you best upgrades (Unless your Running a 64 bit OS A Ram upgrade is pointless as 32 bit only uses just under 3.5Gigs of addressable ram)


Your current card...
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+HD...

Your Purposed Upgrade
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+HD...
The card you looking at is an upgrade but a very weak one even

Depending on your PSU Wattage a GTX 750 or GTX 750ti are low power performance cards (Considered entry level now)
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+G...
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+G...
Power Draw http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt...
350 Watt PSU on average system

If you want to stick with Radeon R7 260X is comparable to Above for speed - but does use a lot more power
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+R7...
Refer http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/radeon-r7-260x-r9-...

AMD R7 260X - On your average system the card requires you to have a 450 Watt power supply unit.

Depending on your budget and PSU go for at least one of these or better
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a b U Graphics card
October 12, 2014 3:50:10 PM

adam ryder said:

So you think because of my hardware I should upgrade my gpu before ram


I wouldn't upgrade the ram in that system, unless I found a really good local price on something used.

Any money you spend on ram is not going to be able to move with you into a new motherboard, so I'd save the $80 to get more 8GB ram now and put it towards ram for the next build.
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October 12, 2014 4:23:26 PM

GFX is your Best Upgrade for Bang for Buck

Ram is a minimal Upgrade (only if the Games require it & Only if your running a 64 bit OS) Ram may give you 2 FPS
The only reason to upgrade Ram is if you Running out of it to stop your Computer Caching to Slow HDD it does little to nothing for Actual FPS. Not enough Ram causes longer game loads between levels or occasional game pausing as it caches to HDD - ie opening Bags or new areas having to cache causing momentary lag.
Chances are you wont have to upgrade ram for a while, unless your running several background programs, Skype, Music, and 1/2 a dozen other must have programs chewing up all your ram. - and then your starting to overtax you CPU...
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a b 4 Gaming
a b U Graphics card
October 12, 2014 4:38:05 PM

a 4gb stick of ram wouldn't hurt, you can find some for just over $30 on a good deal. if your not on 64bit windows, you should seriously think of backing up everything and installing 64bit. but if you intend this system to last another 3 years gaming wise, a gtx750ti is going to easily be your best bet. i think a q9300+750ti is a great match and should give you at least 1080p@medium settings on even the most demanding of games.
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