Is it worth spending £150-200 on upgrading my cpu

Wayfall · Feb 17, 2015

My specs are as followed;
-Athlon II x4 750k Black Edition 3.40GHz
-Sapphire R9 270 2gb
-Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600Mhz 2x4GB Dual Channel 8GB kit
-500w Corsair Bronze
-1TB WCD Hard drive
-Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Motherboard
-Windows 7 Ultimate
-BitFenix Comrade Case Midi-Tower

Hi

I want to get a new Mobo and cpu but i'm worried about its power so may go for a ps4 instead. I'm worried that if i spend £200 on a mobo and i5 cpu it still won't play my games smoothly at 60fps at 1920x1080.

I have posted before and a guy suggested a Intel Core i5-4570 and then another suggested a Intel Core i5 4690.

Which CPU is better and would they be able to play games which my current GPU like:
-Borderlands 2
-Killing Floor and the upcoming Killing Floor 2
-Dayz
-Far Cry 3
-Red Orchestra 2
-Sniper Elite 3
-Instellar Marines
-The new Thief
-Most importantly Team Fortress 2 as right now i struggle with a player count above 24

Also what mobo would you suggest that is simpler to my current board in brand and size?

Thanks your input would be very helpful

royalcrown · Feb 17, 2015

The i5 will crush your current CPU. Also the PS4 won't be playing everything at 60fps 1920x1080 anyhow.

http://www.ign.com/wikis/xbox-one/PS4_vs._Xbox_One_Native_Resolutions_and_Framerates

VincentP · Feb 17, 2015

The Intel Core i5 4460 is a great CPU for games. The other CPUs mentioned are faster, but not enough to make a difference in your games.
If experiencing frame rate drops, try lowering detail settings.
If this helps, then the issue is your graphics card and a new CPU won't help.
If you still get low frame rates at lower detail settings, this is your CPU and the Core i5 could make a huge difference.

60 FPS in TF2 isn't difficult, your card should manage this no problems.
In a game like Far Cry 3, 40 or 50 FPS is probably more realistic with your graphics card and you will probably need to set detail to high rather than ultra.

Benab3 · Feb 17, 2015

As said above, the i5 4690k is on of the best CPUs for gaming ( without going into expensive i7s ) and Xbox 1/ps4 play less than 1080p an 30 fps on most intensive games anyway

Wayfall · Feb 17, 2015

Okay first is this board okay:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gab85mds3h

Then what is the complete best GPU i can get for an i5 4690 which is presume is the most powerful as i remember its clock speed being at 3.5ghz. Will the i5 be able to maintain 60fps on high even ultra if i get the best card it can handle?

Wayfall · Feb 17, 2015

Because then i know how much i will need to save as i will be able to get the required parts to make a proper gaming computer.
I've just quickly researched GPU's for the i5 4690 and apparently it won't bottleneck any out right now so waht is the best all round best Nvida card that isn't super super expensive, also i find Nvida more reliable and its vysnc actuality works compared to AMD's which doesn't.

VincentP · Feb 17, 2015

Core i5 4460, 4590 and 4690 are Haswell refresh CPUs. B85 motherboards need a BIOS update to support these CPUs. This can be an issue because you don't know what BIOS revision you will get. A H97 motherboard would be safer.
Any of these CPUs can manage 60 FPS in games. The actual frame rate you see will depend on your graphics card and the detail settings you choose.
In top tier games to get 60 FPS:
R9 270 - low settings
R9 280X - medium settings
GTX 970 or R9 290X - high settings
GTX 980 - ultra settings

Anything with minimum frame rate of 30 FPS (typically average 40 FPS+) is smooth. 60 FPS is unnecessary. These high end games are more about stunning graphics than ultra high framerates.

Wayfall · Feb 17, 2015

Would i need a PSU upgrade and what motherboard would i get?
Also would the bigger cards fit in my case as i have like a place in my case where i can stack hard drives and ssd's which takes up a bit of space. i need to see if i can remove that but i dunno.

I would like to get Gtx 980 but the price tag wowza...

I might get the cpu , board and install them then re-install windows 7 and use my current card then get a GTX 980 in a month.
Pc gaming so expensive.... XD

Wayfall · Feb 17, 2015

And sorry but if i play any game on pc that is lower than 60fps my eyes really hurt so i'd prefer 60fps

VincentP · Feb 17, 2015

Wayfall :

This would be your imagination.
Do your eyes hurt while watching movies?

Wayfall · Feb 17, 2015

Sometimes yes it does.

Wayfall · Feb 17, 2015

I'm just asking what is the best GPU that will let me play battlefifield 4 for example on high settings at 60fps no problem that is a GTX card.

VincentP · Feb 17, 2015

It is pretty hard to tell the difference between 40 FPS and 60 FPS.
Your 60 Hz monitor keeps refreshing the screen at 60 Hz unless you have g-sync or Freesync, so refresh rate is not affected by frame rate.

Any frame pacing issues (time variation between frames), input lag (delay from the time you move the mouse until the monitor responds) or motion blur are all more noticeable.
The first is major problem with Crossfire and SLI solutions.
The second two are related to the quality of your monitor.
All of these can occur no matter how high your frame rate is.

If you get eye strain, the first thing to do is get a good monitor.
Start with something flicker free from this list:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/flicker_free_database.htm

Wayfall · Feb 17, 2015

...i'm asking you about what motherboard should i get and what is the best Gpu do you think i should get?

VincentP · Feb 17, 2015

Wayfall :

An R9 290 or GTX 970 should be able to achieve an average frame rate over 60 FPS in Battlefield 4 with ultra detail at 1920x1080 resolution based on this benchmark:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2013/11/27/battlefield-4-performance-analysis/3.

Wayfall · Feb 17, 2015

So do i need a PSU upgrade and will this card be fine (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NNXVPS2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE) as it is one that pc gamer recommends as a brilliant high resolution and gaming card. Also could you tell me how many PCIE cables do i need to plug into the end of this card to power it as my PSU only has 2 PCIE power cables.

Also can you recommend a motherboard.

VincentP · Feb 17, 2015

Current power supply is ok.
Suggested graphics card is great.
Suitable motherboard very similar in features and quality to your current board:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GA-H97M-D3H-GIGABYTE-Micro-ATX-MOTHERBOARD/dp/B00K7807IK/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1424204791&sr=1-6&keywords=gigabyte+H97M
This one is a little cheaper, but it has only two memory slots rather than 4 and the expansion slots are different. See if it meets your needs:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-H97M-HD3-LGA1150-Motherboard-USB3-0/dp/B00K872DZ0/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1424205096&sr=1-3&keywords=gigabyte+H97M

royalcrown · Feb 17, 2015

Sometimes tigerdirect.com has some REALLY good bundle deals. Usually the case is not so good and or the power supply; if you just comb through the bundles though there are several with ALL really good components and a good price.

con635 · Feb 17, 2015

Just a warning, you'll be gpu limited in lots of modern games with r9 270 at 1080p, so dont expect miracles from the new cpu, in some situations you wont see any difference at all. Overclock and get a new gpu first imo. Oh and games like Dayz wont do much more than 30fps in certain scenarios no matter the hardware.

Is it worth spending £150-200 on upgrading my cpu

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