Should i upgrade my CPU or GPU first?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
M

Mak021

Reputable
Aug 30, 2016
11
0
4,510
First of all, i know this has been asked an abysmal amount of times, but my friends have no real input and google doesn't help me since its not build specific really.

Current specs are:
Pentium G2030 (bear with me)
8GB DDR3 1333mhz
R5 230 Powercolor

Build im doing is:
Ryzen 3 1300x
8GB DDR4 2400mhz
RX550 XFX 4GB edition

Im getting the ryzen 3 and rx550 nonetheless but the question is just which should i get first?
I could get the ryzen 3 and work with the R5 230 or i could get the RX 550 and wait a bit with the ryzen. Its a real dilemma as i am from a third world country so saving up for these items takes a while so i really need your help.

Would i benefit more right now with a new gpu or a new cpu?
 
Solution
spdragoo
Well...it's going to depend. Based on its specs, the R5 230 is just a rebadging of my old Radeon HD 6450 (same 40nm fab TeraScale 2 CPU, same shaders/texture mappers/ROUs, same clocks/VRAM, etc.). That's fine for old games (I mean StarCraft/Brood War, Halo:CE, Halo 2, etc.) & "light" browser-based gaming, or even watching YouTube videos...not so much for more recent gaming (as in anything within the past 5 years). So you need to upgrade the GPU...but your goal is going to depend on what resolution your monitor can push & how good/how much power your PSU has.

Beyond that, however, you definitely need a CPU upgrade. A 2C/2T CPU just isn't going to cut it, except maybe for older single- or dual-thread games like CS:GO. However, you...
Sort by date Sort by votes
4745454b

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
Apr 29, 2006
29,241
437
93,590
I'm going to vote it doesn't matter. Either one will improve your current performance so just upgrade them. I probably would do CPU first as by the time you get the money again the GPU might be even better than the 550. That's still a pretty low end GPU.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,298
4,146
174,240
Here is my stock approach to that question:
Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer tends to like many threads.

You need to find out which.
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

And... for gaming, I like the kaby lake and coffee lake intel offerings better for
the higher single thread performance.

If you need many threads for batch apps, then ryzen is a good value.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
spdragoo

spdragoo

Splendid
Ambassador
Oct 17, 2011
3,166
8
27,115
Well...it's going to depend. Based on its specs, the R5 230 is just a rebadging of my old Radeon HD 6450 (same 40nm fab TeraScale 2 CPU, same shaders/texture mappers/ROUs, same clocks/VRAM, etc.). That's fine for old games (I mean StarCraft/Brood War, Halo:CE, Halo 2, etc.) & "light" browser-based gaming, or even watching YouTube videos...not so much for more recent gaming (as in anything within the past 5 years). So you need to upgrade the GPU...but your goal is going to depend on what resolution your monitor can push & how good/how much power your PSU has.

Beyond that, however, you definitely need a CPU upgrade. A 2C/2T CPU just isn't going to cut it, except maybe for older single- or dual-thread games like CS:GO. However, you might be in luck. That's an Ivy bridge Pentium...& Ivy Bridge Core i5 & i7 CPUs can handle just about any modern game out there right now. If your motherboard supports it, you might be able to simply plug one of those in without having to completely update your system.

Barring that, if you really need to go with a brand-new build now, get the Ryzen build. What I would recommend is, if you can swing it, either get the R3 1200 (it's cheaper & comes with its own cooler, but you can OC it to match the 1300X), or use the money you're not spending on a GPU right now to get the R5 1400 (improves you from 4C/4T to 4C/8T) or even the R5 1600 (goes from 4C/4T to 6C/12T).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
Mark RM

Mark RM

Admirable
Jul 16, 2014
2,658
1
7,960
I'd definitely get a GPU first. that's a huge step up graphically and you'll see it right away. Even if you do bottleneck your old CPU, so what, you'll still get 2 or 3 times the performance in most games at least, right now.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom