upgrading gpu or cpu first?

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mauhjt2007

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Oct 13, 2012
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Hey guys,I'm looking to upgrade some parts as I'm moving away from league of legends to more demanding games (graphically at least) to things like witcher 3.

I currently have:
CPU: AMD phenom x4 II 965
GPU: ASUS Radeon HD7850

I'm aware that these are ageing now and was wondering which of the two would be holding back performance more, hence which should be upgraded first.

I'm thinking of moving to:

CPU: (Has to be AM3+) so fx 3820 or fx 6300 (potentially fx 3850)
GPU: Radeon r9 380

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated!
 
Solution
geofelt
A perennial question.
Here is one approach to a better decision:
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do...
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geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,333
4,162
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A perennial question.
Here is one approach to a better decision:
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one core. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option. You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of processors to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.

If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system, and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

If you decide cpu, go for intel.
Few games can make use of more than 2-3 threads. The FX cores are slow and more of them is not helpful.
This particularly hurts in cpu limited games such as sims, strategy and mmo types. They depend on a single fast master thread.


If you decide on graphics, then make it a good jump or you may be disappointed.
A R9-390 or GTX970 class card would be good.
But, wait a bit if you can because there are some Pascal and Polaris announcements coming.
 
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