Upgrade CPU or GPU first for gaming?

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raicycle

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Oct 21, 2014
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So I have decided to upgrade my PC to a Gaming system, as I plan to use my laptop for all work purposes. So I plan to upgrade the main components first, and get to the relatively less important ones later, but should I upgrade my CPU or GPU first? I've heard that GPU>CPU for gaming, but I'm really not sure. Can anyone please give me some advice? This is my first upgrade to my first build, so any advice at all would be much appreciated.
System specs:
CPU: Intel i3 4160 @ 3.4Ghz
GPU: Sapphire Radeon R7 250 2gb DDR3.
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8gb (1x8gb) @ 1333 MHz.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B85M-D3H.
Thank you!
 
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GPU for sure. That i3 isn't the best for gaming, but it's plenty fine and you're definitely going to be massively GPU bound with the 250 DDR3.

Give us your power supply make/model, a budget and a location or preferred stores and I (or others) can make some suggestions if you like. The power supply matters because video cards can be power hungry and you do NOT want to be running anything half decent of a cheap power supply.
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rhysiam

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Mar 24, 2013
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GPU for sure. That i3 isn't the best for gaming, but it's plenty fine and you're definitely going to be massively GPU bound with the 250 DDR3.

Give us your power supply make/model, a budget and a location or preferred stores and I (or others) can make some suggestions if you like. The power supply matters because video cards can be power hungry and you do NOT want to be running anything half decent of a cheap power supply.
 
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raicycle

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Oct 21, 2014
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Ah Thank you! The problem is, I don't remember the Make/Model of my PSU, and i don't think i retained the packaging either. I do know for a fact however that it does supply over 600 watts, if that is any help.
 
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raicycle

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Oct 21, 2014
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I use HDMI instead of VGA. My budget for a new GPU is around $250-300 (AUD, in case you are from a different country), however, a bit over $300 wouldn't hurt.
 
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patrichpachich

patrichpachich

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Jul 18, 2014
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you can get 760
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($279.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Total: $279.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-21 17:45 EST+1100

or a $250AUD budget
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($245.00 @ Scorptec)
Total: $245.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-21 17:48 EST+1100

heres a benchmark so you can decide wisely
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-270X-vs-GeForce-GTX-760
 
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raicycle

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Oct 21, 2014
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Alright! Thank you everyone for helping! This was my first time using this site and replies came astonishingly fast! Thank you once again for your generous help!
 
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patrichpachich

patrichpachich

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Jul 18, 2014
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the only one that I worried is your PSU, i really dont know that widetech and if it has enough pin connector for vga.
I am not really good at PSU specs.
 
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