Best upgrades for PC

Ohlins · Jan 21, 2016

Hello I have recently built a PC and despite being very happy with it at the moment I am seriously considering to upgrade it in the future. I would like to hear different opinions on the matter, since this is a very personal question (each pc is different from another and so on).I only game on this machine by the way,nothing else. I play on a Ben Q RL2455HM (1080P). Having said that here are my current specs:

Silverstone Raven RVZ-02B Mini ITX Case
Silverstone Strider SX500-LG Strider 500 Watt PSU (80 Plus Gold)
Asus H81-I PLUS Mini ITX Motherboard
Intel Core i3-4170 (3.7Ghz) Dual Core CPU (/w Hyperthreading)
2x4GB Kingston HyperXFury Black DDR3 1600MHz RAM
Kingston HyperX Savage 240GB SSD
MSI Nvidia GTX 950 Gaming 2G (2GB GGDR5) GPU

P.S I was thinking that my first upgrade should be a 480GB SSD and a Noctua NH-L9i CPU cooler.

Thanks

kwa-e · Jan 21, 2016

A new cooler is overkill as the stock is more than enough to cool the CPU well, Don't know about the 480GB SSD as it's all up to you to decide whether or not it's worth the steep price tag.

Dulith1118 · Jan 21, 2016

well going for a samsung 480gb ssd would be good but if ur thinking about going for a 480gb kingston it would be a waste cuz kingston ssds are slow now...
try to get a i5 processor and mobo for that... will cost u like 250... that would be a upgrade performance wise

-HH- · Jan 21, 2016

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $174.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-21 06:16 EST-0500

Ohlins · Jan 21, 2016

I was thinking of going for a Crucial BX200 480 GB SSD which costs around 99 GBP. Also I can get a second hand i7-4770 for 150 pounds minus the money I can get from selling my i3 (70 pounds), it's gonna cost me around 80 pounds. Though I would need to get that Noctua CPU cooler, since my case has only passive cooling. An i5 wouldn't make much difference would it? Also what about the GPU? That's my biggest concern to be honest.

Dulith1118 · Jan 21, 2016

well what i would do is sell the i3 and the ssd.....
get a i5 4460 or a 4960k and get a samsung 240gb ssd u will see a difference between the ssd cuz samsung evo series is faster than the kingston..
and a samsung 240 evo will cost around $80..

Ohlins · Jan 21, 2016

Dulith1118 :

Why would I sell the SSD? I just need more space. Plus the Kingston HyperX Savage I have has 560 Mb/s Read Speed and 530 Mb/s Write whereas the 850 Evo has 540 Mb/s Read and 520 Mb/s Write, and they are around the same price, so the Samsung is slower.
Also a 4460 or even a 4690K would cost 150 pounds or more and for that price I can get a second hand i7-4770 from a reputable shop, which is faster than any i5.

kwa-e · Jan 21, 2016

The SSD and the 4770 should be both good upgrades, be sure to buy a decent cooler like the cryorig H7 as the stock can get quite hot.

Ohlins · Jan 21, 2016

kwa-e :

thanks what about the GPU? Any suggestions?

kwa-e · Jan 21, 2016

If you're already satisfied with the 950''s performance then there's nothing to warrant spending extra on a new GPU, But if you're still set on a GPU the 970 is a good step up.

Ohlins · Jan 21, 2016

kwa-e :

I am quite satisfied sure, but I think I will probably need something more powerful in the future like a 980 or 980 Ti. I dont intend to play at 4K resolution but even so I noticed that in recent games there is an increasing need for VRAM memory.

kwa-e · Jan 22, 2016

Ohlins :

Well as of the time being I'd recommend waiting until you really -need- the upgrades, and by that time you there should be a new set of cards launched that has better architectures, more VRAM and better performance per buck.

Ohlins · Jan 23, 2016

kwa-e :

Agree with you there, it would be wiser to wait for the new Pascal cards, though assuming that I had a budget of £400 for upgrades which upgrades would you suggest to go for first, in order of importance? For example if you consider the GPU is the most vital component for gaming then should I spend 60% of my budget on it? etc (numbers only used as a guide).

kwa-e · Jan 24, 2016

Well it really depends, If your CPU is still good enough for today's games then spend the money on a good GPU, But if the CPU is already bottlenecking below 60FPS upgrade that, then see if you have enough money left over for a good GPU.

Ohlins · Jan 25, 2016

kwa-e :

When you say my CPU bottlenecking below 60FPS what do you mean exactly and how can I find out?

-HH- · Jan 25, 2016

Check this

http://www.maximumpc.com/will-your-cpu-bottleneck-your-graphics-card/

kwa-e · Jan 25, 2016

Ohlins :

Run the any intensive game, and set the resolution and grapical settings at the lowest possible. This will make sure the CPU is the limiting factor.

If the game runs smoothly while maintaining good framerates then there is no reason to upgrade the CPU.

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