Question about Upgrading

[reely989]

Hello all, I had made a post about this in the build a system forum, but I thought I'd ask a more in depth question here.


I currently have an E8500 overclocked to 4 ghz, and a GTX 260 overclocked a bit (715/1539/1100, core/shader/memory respectively). I am curious about my need to upgrade to run upcoming games such as Crysis 2, Bulletstorm, and Metal Gear Solid Rising. I guess my question would be, is this advisable? If I were to upgrade, I would only have the budget to upgrade EITHER cpu/mobo/RAM, or the graphics card.

I guess my questions would be, are upgrades advisable?
If I were to upgrade graphics cards, what would be a good choice?

My thoughts for a processor upgrade would be:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423&cm_re=gigabyte_1366-_-13-128-423-_-Product
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0331303
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231275&cm_re=gskill_ddr3-_-20-231-275-_-Product

I know an i5 build is cheaper, but with the microcenter deal in an i7, the savings don't seem that substantial, as I would want a pretty good motherboard for the i5 because I intend to overclock. (which leads to the question: Is that gigabyte board sufficient for overclocking?)

 

[o1die]

Your system is decent. You won't gain that much by upgrading. Your new cpu may not overclock as well as your e8400. I wouldn't waste the money unless you find a buyer for your old board/cpu/ram first.

 

[reely989]

Would you think my current graphics card would create a large bottleneck (gaming wise) for an i7? My gut tells me yes, but I really don't know how my card stacks up to newer models at all (I'd imagine not well though).

 

[sam_p_lay]

That's still a pretty solid card actually. For comparison to a modern chipset, it's slightly faster than the Radeon 5770, and a bit below the 5830. If you do upgrade graphics card, the Radeon 5850 would be the winner for price/performance... but since you already have a capable card (it's within 35% the framerates of a 5850), you should probably buy the fastest thing out (Radeon 5970) so you can actually appriciate the performance increase. I just upgraded from a Geforce 8800GTX to a 5970 and I think any upgrade from a GTX260 would disappoint you. Wait for something better.

As for CPU, mobo and RAM, the latter should really be 6gb (3x 2gb), then you can benefit from i7's triple-channel DDR3 capability. That won't affect your framerates, but will help loading times and improve Windows performance a bit. CPU and mobo are both excellent choices.

 

[Emperus]

The GTX 260 is a fine card and it'll take sometime for it to be considered dated.. It stacks up in performance to a HD 5770 from the current generation of video cards.. If you really want to make an upgrade then you may upgrade your video card to a 5850 (although i don't feel its needed entirely)..

P.S. - You've mentioned you can upgrade upgrade EITHER cpu/mobo/RAM, or the graphics card. However, upgrading to a newer CPU (i7/i5) will need you to upgrade ta new motherboard and RAM as well..

 

[reely989]

P.S. - You've mentioned you can upgrade upgrade EITHER cpu/mobo/RAM, or the graphics card. However, upgrading to a newer CPU (i7/i5) will need you to upgrade ta new motherboard and RAM as well..

Yeah, I was planning on getting everything needed. I just can't upgrade my whole system at this time. It's either spend about 550-600 on the processor, RAM, and motherboard, or buy a new graphics card. And if my card stacks up fine, i'll probably just opt to upgrade the motherboard, RAM, and CPU if I can scrape up the money.

I appreciate the responses guys.