What to upgrade first?

[Johnboat]

Hi guys,

I currently have a Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16Ghz CPU, 8gb of ram, and a AMD Radeon HD 4850.

I just got Battlefield 3 and get about 16 to 30 FPS, and it's time to start upgrading.

I was going to get either the Radeon HD 6870 or Geforce GTX 560, then get a new CPU, motherboard, etc... in a few months, but I'm wondering if I'd get better performance by getting an Intel I5, motherboard, and ram now, and a new video card in a few months?

Thanks!

 

[leeashton]

your GPOU choices will get bottlenecked by that CPU, so you realy need (for best performance) to get a CPU and GPUb at the same time, if you can ONLY do once then get the GOPU as this will be the most performance in game, the CPU and Mobo upgrade wont offer MUCH performance over the current rig in game (i mean not as much as GPU increase)

 

[esrever]

I'd say wait on the gpu since the 7XXX and 6XX of gpu will release in the next 2 months.

 

[de5_Roy]

if you're building right now, an intel core i5 2500k pc would be good. for example,
core i5 2500k + cooler master hyper 212 evo
asus z68 v pro gen3 or gigabyte z68x ud3 or asrock extreme4 gen3
8 gb ddr3 1333 ram
radeon hd 6870 or geforce gtx 560ti
at least 550w 80+ rated psu (seasonic/antec/corsair etc)
may be a 120 gb ssd
if you're not building till april, decide after seeing how ivy bridge turns out.
ivy bridge core i5 k series (promises around 15% more cpu performance, according to the rumors and leaks) + cooler master hyper 212 evo (or any ivb compatible cooler)
z75 or z77 motherboard
8 gb ddr3 1600 ram
radeon hd 7850 or a mid range geforce gtx 28 nm card (may be 660/760)
at least 550w 80+ rated psu (seasonic/antec/corsair etc)
amd might release piledriver cpu later this year and trinity apu in late h1 2012.
core 2 duo e8500 vs core i5 2500k (stock settings):
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/55?vs=288
couldn't find 4850. here's 4870 vs 6870:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/304?vs=290
and vs gtx 560ti
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/304?vs=330
tom's hardware bf3 performance analysis:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063.html

 

[Johnboat]

Thanks for the advise guys.

 

[Mousemonkey]

your GPOU choices will get bottlenecked by that CPU, so you realy need (for best performance) to get a CPU and GPUb at the same time, if you can ONLY do once then get the GOPU as this will be the most performance in game, the CPU and Mobo upgrade wont offer MUCH performance over the current rig in game (i mean not as much as GPU increase)

You can ignore this post, I've run a single GTX560Ti and Sli'd GTX560Ti's on an e8400 and whilst the SLi setup was held back a bit it was still more than usable and a single card wasn't held back at all.

 

[Johnboat]

You can ignore this post, I've run a single GTX560Ti and Sli'd GTX560Ti's on an e8400 and whilst the SLi setup was held back a bit it was still more than usable and a single card wasn't held back at all.

Yeah, I'm going to start with a video card. Thanks!