What should I upgrade first? CPU or GPU

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Danooo

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Jul 27, 2017
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Hello guys, I just want to ask you what will be better, upgrading my CPU or my GPU?

I built a system about a month ago with some budget parts I had lying around and want to upgrade it.

My current GPU is a Radeon RX 550 from Asus and my CPU is an i3-7100 and I have 8 GB of DDR4.

I can buy myself an i7-7700k, but I don't know which to get first, can you guys help me please? I don't currently have the opportunity to purchase both CPU and GPU

My Mobo only accepts LGA 1151 CPUs.

I am planning on playing some of the latest titles.

Thanks
 
Solution
raisonjohn
I think you'd get the most benefit if you upgrade the GPU first (as this would be more noticeable upgrade from an RX 550 in gaming).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB D5 6G Video Card ($279.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $279.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-27 07:36 EDT-0400

For the CPU upgrade (later on), consider first your motherboard. If you have a B250-chipset (non-OCable), you can't use OC features for the i7-7700K. As for now, your current i3-7100 would handle the GTX 1060-6GB.
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raisonjohn

raisonjohn

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Feb 22, 2015
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I think you'd get the most benefit if you upgrade the GPU first (as this would be more noticeable upgrade from an RX 550 in gaming).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB D5 6G Video Card ($279.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $279.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-27 07:36 EDT-0400

For the CPU upgrade (later on), consider first your motherboard. If you have a B250-chipset (non-OCable), you can't use OC features for the i7-7700K. As for now, your current i3-7100 would handle the GTX 1060-6GB.
 
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Solution
spdragoo

spdragoo

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Oct 17, 2011
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It depends on what games you're playing, what resolution you're playing at, & if you have any near-future plans to make further changes (i.e. plan to buy a 144Hz or 1440p monitor in the next 6 months).

Tom's Hardware use a Core i3 when they tested the RX 550 (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-550-2gb,5034.html), so their results would most likely mirror your own system. Some games were playable only on Low settings (DOOM, BF1, etc.), while other games (WoW, SC2, DOTA 2) had fairly high performance on Medium settings ("fairly high" meaning easily able to get over 100FPS at 1080p resolution).

That being said, you'll need to see which games you're playing, & check the benchmarks on sites like here or Techspot to see whether they're CPU- or GPU-driven. To be fairly honest, though, an i3 system is really more of a "budget" gaming system, so if you're wanting to play more demanding games I would strongly suggest bumping up to an i5.
 
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chalky16

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Definitely the gpu first. It will be more noticeable while gaming. A 1060 or rx580 would be a good step up. Unfortunately they're priced here that right now so just wait until they're close to $250 (for 6gb 1060 and 8GB 580). A CPU upgrade will help marginally with FPS.
 
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