CPU, RAM, or other upgrade? What first?

EpicStarman

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Jun 9, 2014
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Hello fellow hardware geeks,

I am currently using my pc a lot and I love it to bits. Recently I have started to play some games and livestream them. Some games are giving me troubles and it isn't bitrate or network issues on my end in the slightest.

My current rig holds an Nvidia GTX 970, an Intel Core i5 4690k at stock clock 3.5 GHz, and 8GB of 1600MHz ADATA RAM with a 600 watt PSU from Corsair and a Zalman Air cooler. Storage units are a 1TB HDD and a 128GB SSD.

I also have external storage, but I need to get it cleaned as I recently removed a virus and said storage was attached.

My question to you is what would you upgrade first, and do you have recommendations as to what I should upgrade to? I don't have a ton to spend currently, but I do want to consider my options for the future.

I usually play Arma III, Skyrim, Garry's Mod, Fallout Series, and Rust and stream, but sometimes the first 2 and Rust can be a slag for the PC.

 

JalYt_Justin

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None of those games really require a decently strong PC, but for streaming and gaming you'll need to upgrade to an i7 for the extra threads. More cores in streaming is better, but you can't really get more physical cores from your current setup, so bumping up to an i7 at least adds 4 extra threads. Your PC currently is actually very balanced, and if you didn't stream I would say you should get a new GPU. Streaming on a 4 core 4 thread CPU definitely taxes it hard.

As for the gaming, Rust is poorly unoptimized, Skyrim has a very old engine, and Arma 3 is incredibly CPU intensive. If you were streaming and had Arma 3 settings cranked to max, I can definitely see why your PC would struggle. Not to say that your CPU is bad, just not made for those deeply threaded workloads.
 

EpicStarman

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Yeah, I was thinking about that. What processor jumps out to you then?

 

EpicStarman

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Yeah...now to get the funds and figure out how to install it. Should I invest in a new cooler too do you reckon?