What to upgrade?

NotFadeAway · Mar 25, 2017

Hi all,

I want to increase my fps in CS:GO and I am therefore looking to upgrade some of my hardware.

My setup:
ASRock H97 Pro4
EVGA 550W SuperNOVA G2
G.Skill DDR3 8GB
i5-4590
Asus Geforce 960 Strix - 2 GB
Samsung 850 EVO SSD - 500 GB

Is it better to upgrade MB/CPU/RAM or just GPU?

If I want to use between $500 - $700 on upgrades, how is my money best spent?

I appreciate your help, thanks!

Aeacus · Mar 25, 2017

Your CPU is good medium-end CPU and there's no point switching it out. (My Haswell build has the same CPU, full specs in my sig.)
For gaming, you'll gain the most from the new GPU.

Here i suggest you go for GTX 1060 6GB,
pcpp: http://pcpartpicker.com/product/JVWrxr/msi-geforce-gtx-1060-6gb-gaming-x-video-card-geforce-gtx-1060-gaming-x-6g

And comparison between GTX 960 and GTX 1060 6GB,
link: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-960-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1060-6GB/3165vs3639

You can also go for another 8GB of RAM, bringing your total to 16GB but it doesn't have much impact on FPS.

NotFadeAway · Mar 26, 2017

Thanks for your answer!

My concern is that I am hearing all the time that CS:GO is very CPU heavy/dependent and that the GPU doesn't affect as much (relative to a alot of other games).

If there is a lot to gain by switching GPU, I could be tempted to upgrade to a GTX 1070. But I am unsure whether the CPU will be a big bottleneck then.

Aeacus · Mar 26, 2017

GTX 1070 is a powerful GPU and it will bottleneck your CPU, that's why i suggested going for GTX 1060 6GB.

If you want to use GTX 1070 then you'll need to upgrade your CPU. There's only one CPU to go for, without replacing the MoBo: an i7-4790.
comparison: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-4590-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4790/2604vs2293

New CPU and GPU.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($289.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card ($406.46 @ Amazon)
Total: $696.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-26 14:17 EDT-0400

I prefer MSI GPUs since they are the quietest GPUs out there (i don't like my system to be noisy when i game). If you don't like MSI and their black & red theme then feel free to go for any other GTX 1070. Here's a good article that helps you to choose the right GTX 1070 for you,
link: https://gpunerd.com/guides/best-gtx-1070

And here's comparison between your current system (as a base) and after CPU and GPU upgrade (as alternative):

Userbenchmark PC Build Comparison

Baseline Bench: Game 42%, Desk 64%, Work 38%
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590
GPU: Nvidia GTX 960
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 500GB
RAM: G.SKILL RipjawsX DDR3 1600 C10 1x8GB
MBD: Asrock H97M Pro4

Alternative Bench: Game 88%, Desk 72%, Work 50%
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1070
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 500GB
RAM: G.SKILL RipjawsX DDR3 1600 C10 1x8GB
MBD: Asrock H97M Pro4

Just for comparison, under the spoiler is my Skylake build (as a base) vs your upgraded Haswell build (as an alternative).

Userbenchmark PC Build Comparison

Baseline Bench: Game 65%, Desk 78%, Work 47%
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060-3GB
SSD: Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB
HDD: WD Blue 1TB (2012)
RAM: Kingston HyperX DDR4 3000 C15 2x4GB
MBD: MSI Z170A GAMING M5 (MS-7977)

Alternative Bench: Game 88%, Desk 72%, Work 50%
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1070
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 500GB
RAM: G.SKILL RipjawsX DDR3 1600 C10 1x8GB
MBD: Asrock H97M Pro4

Since your GPU and SSD are far better than mine, your build will be much better in games than my high-end Skylake build.
With GTX 1070, you're looking high/ultra settings @ 1440p (2K) with solid 60+ FPS.

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What to upgrade?

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