GPU or CPU upgrade?

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basuka

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Aug 2, 2016
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I am looking to upgrade my computer, and since I dont know much about this, so I thought I should ask you guys on here:

My question is should I upgrade my CPU or GPU first for gaming? My current CPU is the AMD FX(tm)-4300 Quad Core and my GPU is AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series.
 
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spdragoo
Well, with that budget it's definitely going to be an 'either-or' situation. You can get a new GPU or a new CPU for your existing board, but you can't get both -- & you definitely can't think of switching to Intel for that price.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_R20/HelpDesk_CPU/

You can get any of the octa-cores (€140 for the FX-8320 to €168 for the FX-8370. However, I'm not 100% sure you'll see a lot of performance improvement from it.

That leaves a GPU replacement. You may have to stretch your budget a little bit, however, as there're no 'great' upgrades for that price point (the best ones, R9 380/380X, are only 1 tier up from your current one). If you can stretch to €275-300, however, then you can pick up a...
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spdragoo

spdragoo

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Tough decision. You'll definitely benefit from either upgrade, but there are always complications.

The CPU upgrade would be the cheapest, as you can even get the FX-8370 for under $200 USD. In fact, the FX-8300 -- currently one of Tom's Hardware's recommended CPU buys (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpus,3986.html) at ~ $125 USD -- would even be a good upgrade, as all of the non-"E" octa-cores are 2 tiers up the hierarchy (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html), & the minimum upgrade path you usually want to take.

However... it depends on what CPUs your motherboard supports. Obviously, your board is an AM3+ board, since you already have the FX-4300. But if it only supports the 95W chips, then the only "decent" choice you're going to have is the FX-8300, because it's the only 95W chip that will push you up the tiers (the 6300, 8320e, & 8370e are all at the same tier as your current 4300). So double-check your motherboard's CPU support list to make sure it can take the 8320/8350/8370 series; if it can't, then get the FX-8300.

Even then, a CPU upgrade may not provide a whole lot of performance boost. A GPU upgrade will provide a lot more oomph for your system. In this sense, though, it depends on a) your budget, & b) what resolution you want to play at. Luckily, even an RX 480 (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1722?vs=1749) or GTX 1060 (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1722?vs=1771) will provide 30%-100% more performance from your games than your current 79xx series (the links assume a 7970, BTW). Those will run you $300 USD or less (much less for the RX, especially the 4GB model), & be more than enough for 1080p gaming.
 
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rcald2000

rcald2000

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+basuka In order to help you, could you please answer these two questions: (1) What is your upgrade budget? and (2) What are your full system specs? CPU (known), GPU (known), memory, motherboard, power supply manufacturer and model, case, storage, everything. If you own a prebuilt computer, then you can simply list the manufacturer and model # of it, and I can simply google the specs. But the most important question is, your system budget. Also, do you live in the US? What website are you going to order your parts from?
 
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rcald2000

rcald2000

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+basuka We still need more information from you. If you had $500 to spend, in addition to selling your CPU/MB/RAM, you could upgrade to an i5-6600K + GTX 1060. The new processor would necessitate upgrading your motherboard to LGA1151 and also your RAM to DDR4, but the performance increase would be killer. Again, we'd need you to answer our questions. But without you providing that information, I'd say the CPU. The FX-4300 is a disappointing processor.
 
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basuka

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Aug 2, 2016
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I am thinking to spend up to around €250.

The specs are listed below:

Corsair CX500W PSU BULK
AMD AM33+ FX-4300, 95W
ASUS M5A97 R 2.0, Socket - AM3+
Kingston DDR3 13333MHz 8GB Kit CL9
XFX Radeon HD7950 3GB 2xFAN PCI-E
Samsung SSD 830 Series 128GB BK Sata 3.0
Seagate Barracuda 500GB Sata 3.0
 
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spdragoo

spdragoo

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Oct 17, 2011
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Well, with that budget it's definitely going to be an 'either-or' situation. You can get a new GPU or a new CPU for your existing board, but you can't get both -- & you definitely can't think of switching to Intel for that price.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_R20/HelpDesk_CPU/

You can get any of the octa-cores (€140 for the FX-8320 to €168 for the FX-8370. However, I'm not 100% sure you'll see a lot of performance improvement from it.

That leaves a GPU replacement. You may have to stretch your budget a little bit, however, as there're no 'great' upgrades for that price point (the best ones, R9 380/380X, are only 1 tier up from your current one). If you can stretch to €275-300, however, then you can pick up a 2-tier upgrade:
-- older cards would include the GTX 970 or R9 390
-- newer cards would include the GTX 1060 or RX 480

Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card (€276.94 @ Mindfactory)
Total: €276.94
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card (€262.92 @ Mindfactory)
Total: €262.92
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card (€276.99 @ Mindfactory)
Total: €276.99
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GAMING Video Card (€286.94 @ Mindfactory)
Total: €286.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-03 19:59 CEST+0200


 
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