Looking to Improve My Rig, what gets me the most bang for the buck?

azrubicon · May 15, 2015

I've got a gaming PC with the following specs:

Gigabyte Intel Z77 LGA Motherboard GA-Z77X-D3H
GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 Windforce OC 2048MB
Running games off a 256GB SSD
Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 MHz
Corsair Enthusiast Series 650-Watt Power Supply
Running everything with a monitor with max resolution of 1920x1080

Really want to play the new Witcher 3 game maxed, curious what you guys think is the way to go. Will I get much going with a new graphics card, or even SLI with another GTX670? More memory? Different CPU?

bicycle_repair_man · May 15, 2015

Assuming that your monitor has a 60Hz refresh rate, there's nothing to upgrade, really. You could consider a 144Hz monitor but if you're happy with 60 frames-per-second then it's a pointless upgrade.

Perhaps consider one of the following:

1. A second monitor (not for gaming, but productivity).
2. An Xbox 360/One controller.
3. A gaming keyboard and mouse.
4. Case fans.
5. An aftermarket CPU cooler (assuming you want to overclock and don't have one already).

azrubicon · May 15, 2015

bicycle_repair_man :

Thanks. My monitor does have a 60Hz refresh rate, and I've already got the Xbox 360 controller set up on it. I have never tried to overclock, guess it scares me a little. My tower is in an area that doesn't get great ventilation, so I have been hesitant to do anything that pushes temp up.

azrubicon · May 15, 2015

bicycle_repair_man :

Thanks. My monitor does have a 60Hz refresh rate, and I've already got the Xbox 360 controller set up on it. I have never tried to overclock, guess it scares me a little. My tower is in an area that doesn't get great ventilation, so I have been hesitant to do anything that pushes temp up.

king3pj · May 15, 2015

bicycle_repair_man :

I agree that the 670 is still a decent card that doesn't necessarily have to be upgraded immediately. The OP stated that he wanted to max out The Witcher 3 though. There is almost no chance of a 670 doing that at 1080p and holding 60fps.

The minimum card for the game as listed in the system requirements is a 660 with the recommended card being a 770. Even the recommended cards are often not capable of completely maxing out a game and his 670 is below that.

My recommendation would be to wait until the game comes out and see how it runs on your current setup. If you aren't happy with how it performs then you can make the upgrade. The benefit to waiting until release is that there will be benchmarks for just about every card imaginable all over the internet. You can use those to decide which card to buy based on your desired resolution and framerate.

I don't think it makes sense to upgrade for one specific game before benchmarks for that game are released. If you do that you are going in blind without knowing what actual performance on different cards will be and how much improvement you will see from upgrading.

azrubicon · May 15, 2015

king3pj :

bicycle_repair_man :

I agree that the 670 is still a decent card that doesn't necessarily have to be upgraded immediately. The OP stated that he wanted to max out The Witcher 3 though. There is almost no chance of a 670 doing that at 1080p and holding 60fps.

The minimum card for the game as listed in the system requirements is a 660 with the recommended card being a 770. Even the recommended cards are often not capable of completely maxing out a game and his 670 is below that.

My recommendation would be to wait until the game comes out and see how it runs on your current setup. If you aren't happy with how it performs then you can make the upgrade. The benefit to waiting until release is that there will be benchmarks for just about every card imaginable all over the internet. You can use those to decide which card to buy based on your desired resolution and framerate.

I don't think it makes sense to upgrade for one specific game before benchmarks for that game are released. If you do that you are going in blind without knowing what actual performance on different cards will be and how much improvement you will see from upgrading.

Thanks. Just curious, when you say try the game first and than decide whether or not to "make the upgrade," which component would you suggest I upgrade? The graphics card?

king3pj · May 15, 2015

azrubicon :

king3pj :

Thanks. Just curious, when you say try the game first and than decide whether or not to "make the upgrade," which component would you suggest I upgrade? The graphics card?

Yes. In general a new GPU will have a bigger impact than a new CPU. Maybe if you had an old i3 it would make more sense to upgrade the CPU but you have a relatively recent i5. I think a new GTX 970 would make a much bigger difference than a new i5.

bicycle_repair_man · May 18, 2015

Overclocking is perfectly safe as long as you're sensible about it. If you do your research and understand what's involved, you've nothing to worry about. Whereabouts is your PC located? Is it in a cupboard or just tucked under a desk?

I agree that upgrading for a single game is pretty daft and that if you were going to upgrade anything then it should be the GPU. Like king3pj said, wait until the game is benchmarked and go from there. Gaming performance is as much about driver support as it is about hardware.

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