Upgrade suggestions please

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Mattp2017

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Jan 25, 2017
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My build is really starting to age and I'm wanting to upgrade but budget is a concern. My current specs are:
Intel Core i3 2130
Sandy Bridge
Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2130 CPU @ 3.40GHz
Socket 1155 LGA
8GB Kingston DDR3
Nvidia GTX460

I guess my real question is if I just update the graphics card will the i3 bottleneck? I've been looking at the 980ti but don't want to get it if my cpu is going to slow me down. Obviously the plan is to upgrade both but with budget constraints which would you choose first? Thanks in advance.

 
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clutchc
If you want to avoid CPU bottleneck, then don't get a GTX 980 Ti. The aging Sandy Bridge dual core is still a 3rd tier CPU, so you can go more than your current GTX 460, tho. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html
I'd look into the RX 470 (best for Vulkan games) or the GTX 1060 3GB or 6GB. Even those may have occasional CPU bottle neck in some games with the i3-2130, but not enough to be a deal killer. Single player games will run fine at mostly max/near max settings, but online gaming on busy servers will be held back by the CPU no matter what.
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clutchc

clutchc

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If you want to avoid CPU bottleneck, then don't get a GTX 980 Ti. The aging Sandy Bridge dual core is still a 3rd tier CPU, so you can go more than your current GTX 460, tho. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html
I'd look into the RX 470 (best for Vulkan games) or the GTX 1060 3GB or 6GB. Even those may have occasional CPU bottle neck in some games with the i3-2130, but not enough to be a deal killer. Single player games will run fine at mostly max/near max settings, but online gaming on busy servers will be held back by the CPU no matter what.
 
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Mattp2017

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Jan 25, 2017
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Amazon has the i5-3470 for $80 right now. If I could pick that up what card would you suggest with an additional $200 budget? I really don't want to get too cheap of a graphics card because I do plan to upgrade the CPU as well. Actually if I could find a CPU/Graphics combo of $400 or less I may go ahead and do both. I mostly only play single player games, but I did just pick up a 4k HDR TV and it would be nice to be able to take advantage of it.

You are right though. The 1060 does look like the better option value wise.

 
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clutchc

clutchc

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4K is going to require the gfx card to render 4 times the pixels/texels that it would at 1080p... PER FRAME.
xYxCTi0.png

So that's like gaming across 4 x 1080p displays. Needs quite a bit of graphics power. In that case, the GTX 1070 8GB would be the least I'd go myself. A Ivy Bridge i5 should be able to mostly keep up with that card, but there will be times even the mighty quad core will bottleneck. Still, I don't feel it would be a deal breaker. But you won't do both of those for $400.

But... if your display is more than 60Hz vert. refresh and you want to take advantage of the faster frame rates, you will have to have an i7. The fastest one in the older Ivy Bridge line. Here is an interesting video you might be interested in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s42gvVS77dU
 
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