Should i upgrade first my gpu or cpu?

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cri9292

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Nov 27, 2017
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Hello, i currenlty have a i3 2120 and radeon hd 7790 and i was planning to upgrade to an i5 7400 and gtx 1060. The point is that i dont have enough money for both at the moment and i was thinking if i should just buy the gpu or the cpu now and wait a little bit for the other one. I was planning to buy the other piece on christmas.
 
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cri9292

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Nov 27, 2017
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I already have a new motherboard to install all my parts. The only thing i need is a new cpu and gpu
 
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spdragoo

spdragoo

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Then you have to get a new CPU first. Also, you have to make sure you also bought RAM for the new motherboard, as a Kaby Lake-compatible motherboard requires DDR4 RAM, & your old motherboard used DDR3 RAM.

Now, the question is...how much did you pay for the new motherboard/RAM, & did you buy it recently? Depending on how much you spent (& how recent your purchase was), you might see nearly as good of an increase by replacing the i3-2120 with a compatible Core i5 or i7. Most of the Socket LGA 1155 motherboards out there can not only handle a Sandy Bridge Core i5/i7 but also the next-generation Ivy Bridge Core CPUs...& clock speeds aside, there's not a whole lot of performance difference between a 4C/4T Ivy Bridge Core i5 & the 4C/4T Kaby Lake i5-7400 -- in fact, given that the i5-7400 is a little on the weaker side, you might see an i5-3570 or i7-3770 actually tie it in performance. Best of all...you don't have to worry about trying to reinstall/reactivate Windows 7/10 on your system.
 
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richiestang_78

richiestang_78

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If you go with the i5 7400 then the only GPU in that remaining budget would be a RX 460, a 1050, or maybe a 1050ti if you find one for sale.

You could get a Pentium G4560 CPU instead and then put the money toward a better GPU.

Either way its a tradeoff in performance in some way. If you could maybe save up and expand your budget to 350 you would have more options.
 
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cri9292

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For the ram i bought the Corsair vengeance 2400MHz 16gb (2x8gb) and for the motherboard i went for a simple msi b250m that i saw was compatible with all of my parts. I didn't understant quite well what you said there about the cpu. Can you explain it again?
 
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cri9292

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Nov 27, 2017
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What would you consider a great cpu to pair with a 1060?
 
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spdragoo

spdragoo

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Not buying a GPU = either reusing your old GPU (if you had one) or relying on the integrated graphics of the new CPU. It won't perform as well...but it will turn on & work.

Not buying a CPU = your new system won't even turn on. You have to have a CPU for the computer to work, period. Your old i3-3120 will not work with the new motherboard...so if you really want to use the new motherboard, you have to get the new CPU now & wait to buy the GTX 1060.

Which is why I asked about how much you spent on the new motherboard/RAM & when you bought it. If you bought it fairly recently (i.e. within the past 30 days), you could return them & use the money towards buying a Socket LGA 1155 CPU that's compatible with your current system (i.e. you could just pop out that i3-2120 & plug the replacement in), & probably have enough money left over to also buy the GTX 1060.
 
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cri9292

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Nov 27, 2017
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Thanks for explaining it again. I think i'm gonna buy the cpu and wait for the 1060. At least i can plug all the parts in, even if my current gpu it's pretty bad. Because i thought: why buy the 1060 now when my whole build bottlenecks it?
 
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