CPU & Graphics Upgrade Advice

smithy50 · Oct 20, 2014

Hi,

I currently have a Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 motherboard with an Intel G620 CPU and 16GB (4 x 4GB Crucial DDr3-PC3-10600) of RAM. I do not have a dedicated graphics card and use the graphics capabilities of the Intel CPU.

The PC is mostly used for photo and video editing and I want to give it a bit more grunt.

I am considering upgrading the CPU and possible installing a dedicated Graphics card.

As the motherboard is an LGA1155, I thought about an Intel i5 3470 CPU for the upgrade. I understand the graphics performance is better on this CPU than the existing G620, so I was thinking of upgrading the CPU first and then checking if the video performance was suitable and, if not, then installing a dedicated graphics card.

My main question is will the existing DDR3-PC3-10600 RAM be compatible with the i5 3470 CPU, or will I have to upgrade the RAM as well.

Any relevant advice, or comments, would be appreciated.

Thanks

LukaBoki · Oct 20, 2014

The RAM will be compatible,but the i5 isn't good for editing.It can be used,but it's not as fast as an i7.
Get an i7 LGA1155 CPU and GTX 750 Ti.The integrated GPU will be enough.
If you really want a dedicated GPU,get a GTX 750 Ti.

Eximo · Oct 20, 2014

You can drop in any 1155 chip practically. Might need a BIOS update to do any of the 3rd gen chips, but that is okay since you have a working processor now. i5's will add support for faster ram but can run any lower speed.

Graphics improvement will be significant, but if you are spending a lot of time doing graphics work, a dedicated GPU would help a lot. You would spend about ~$200 on an i5. What is your budget for graphics?

Eximo · Oct 20, 2014

LukaBoki :

Night and day compared to the Pentium dual core. i5 doubles the cores and cache. i7 would offer longevity, but that would be another $100.

LukaBoki · Oct 20, 2014

You can go with this CPU.It's a quad-core with Hyper-Threading.Graphics is good both for editing and gaming at low-medium settings on the latest games and high on older games.

PCPartPicker part list/Price Breakdown By Merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.99 @ Amazon)
Graphics card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $354.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-20 13:16 EDT-0400

smithy50 · Oct 20, 2014

Firstly, Thank you both LukaBoki and Eximo for you superfast responses.

Does the i7 offer a better integrated GPU performance than the i5 - and is there an i7 that you would recommend up to about US$300. My main use of the PC is Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, but I also want to get more into video editing.

Thanks

LukaBoki · Oct 20, 2014

i7 3770 or the i7 3770k(depends if you wanna overclock).
The i7 3770(K) offers a HD 4000 and an iGPU,while the i5 3470 offers a HD2500 as an iGPU.
I believe that your best bet would be this:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.99 @ Amazon)
Graphics card: Gigabyte Radeon R7 250 2GB Video Card ($75.38 @ Newegg)
Total: $300.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-20 13:39 EDT-0400

smithy50 · Oct 20, 2014

LukaBoki and Eximo, thank you both for your comments and advice. It's much appreciated.

Eximo · Oct 20, 2014

LukaBoki :

I agree with the Xeon, always forget those things are out there.

LukaBoki · Oct 20, 2014

True story.

Search

CPU & Graphics Upgrade Advice

smithy50

Reputable

LukaBoki

LukaBoki

Splendid

Eximo

Titan

Eximo

Titan

LukaBoki

Splendid

smithy50

Reputable

LukaBoki

Splendid

smithy50

Reputable

Eximo

Titan

LukaBoki

Splendid

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page