What to upgrade, CPU or Graphics Card or even RAM

James Noscoper

Distinguished
Aug 23, 2014
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PC Specs:

OS: Windows 10
RAM: 8GB Single-Channel DDR3 @803MHz
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC. M5A78L-M/USB3
Grapics Card: 1024MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series (MSI)

I was wondering how to get more FPS on games with better graphics. At the moment I am playing ARK: Survival Evolved and I have to have everything on low settings to get 30fps (I think this is mainly the Graphics card but I thought I had a pretty good one) but I played Call of Duy: Black Ops 3 and same again I have to have medium graphics on it but this time it uses 99-100% CPU usage.

Seen as I am young and I don't have a job, which out of them would be best upgrading (for Christmas)
I was going to get http://www.amazon.co.uk/EVGA-600-Power-Supply-Unit/dp/B01127D0MY/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1450568103&sr=1-1&keywords=EVGA+600+W+80%2B+PC+Power+Supply+Unit+-+White with either http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-i7-5820K-Extreme-Processor-Generation/dp/B00MMLXIKY/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1450568136&sr=1-1&keywords=Intel+i7-5820K+Extreme+Hex+Core+CPU+Processor+%283.30GHz%2C+15MB+Cache%2C+140W%2C+Socket+2011-V3%2C+28+Lanes+PCI+Express+Generation+3%29 (Intel i7-5820K Extreme Hex Core CPU Processor (3.30GHz, 15MB Cache, 140W, Socket 2011-V3, 28 Lanes PCI Express Generation 3))
or
http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-GTX-970-Graphics-Express/dp/B00NOP536Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1450568155&sr=1-1&keywords=MSI+NVIDIA+GTX+970+Gaming+Twin+Frozr+HDMI+DVI-I+DP+Graphics+Card+%284GB%2C+PCI+Express%2C+DDR5%2C+256+Bit%29 (MSI NVIDIA GTX 970 Gaming Twin Frozr HDMI DVI-I DP Graphics Card (4GB, PCI Express, DDR5, 256 Bit))

Or anything you recommend what's best for me (less than £300 budget)

Thanks.

RAM which I was going to get in the future: http://www.amazon.co.uk/HyperX-Savage-1600-Memory-Module/dp/B00N8H066A/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1450568094&sr=1-1&keywords=HyperX+Savage+8+GB+%282+x+4+GB%29+1600+MHz+DDR3+CL9+DIMM+XMP+Memory+Module (HyperX Savage 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) 1600 MHz DDR3 CL9 DIMM XMP Memory Module)
 
Solution


If you are planning to run AMD CPU in the long term then buy an AMD graphics card like 290x. However, Nvidia GPUs are much better and I'd advise buying 970 (your CPU will probably bottleneck it somewhat) and then upgrade to i5 - i7 as soon as you can. AMD graphics cards are cheaper but Nvidia smashes them in terms of performance.

LaMaestro

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Dec 26, 2012
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If you are planning to run AMD CPU in the long term then buy an AMD graphics card like 290x. However, Nvidia GPUs are much better and I'd advise buying 970 (your CPU will probably bottleneck it somewhat) and then upgrade to i5 - i7 as soon as you can. AMD graphics cards are cheaper but Nvidia smashes them in terms of performance.
 
Solution