Better Upgrade: CPU or GPU?

wildfireajs

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Jul 13, 2012
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I'll make this short and sweet.

Here is my current setup:

Asus M5A78L-M LX Motherboard AM3+
AMD FX-4100
8GB of DDR3
PNY Nvidia GTX 550 Ti
Dual [Matching] 23" LED LCD Acer Monitors
Cooler Master Elite 430 Mid Tower ATX w/ Window
600 Watt PSU

I have a Beta key to the upcoming Guild Wars 2 Beta weekend. I'm wanting to stream it on Twitch.tv.
My system does ok streaming certain things, but bottlenecks somewhere and my CPU gets maxed.

My primary questions is this: Which would be a better upgrade for my system at this time. A better CPU or a better GPU?

I've considered the HD 6870 or the HD 6950. I've had my FX4100 OC'd to 4.6 for a while, but I would need better cooling to keep it that way. It didn't seem to help much regardless.

I've been racking my brain over this, and I was hoping to get some feedback from a knowledgeable community.

You now have the floor... thoughts?
 

Im-MaTRiiX

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Jul 6, 2012
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GPU, most CPU's don't play a large role on you're gaming performance. I do recommend also updating you're CPU just to keep up to date with hardware features. CPU's hyperthreading helps alot with rendering videos and such. But you want a card to multitask at high rates because live streaming just beats up you're computer performance.

So for my answer i recommend a video card upgrade.

-MaTRiiX
 

Thomas_89

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Mar 21, 2012
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Well, unless you want to go with Intel which would require a new mobo as well, I would upgrade your GPU. A better AMD CPU would only give you a small performance gain in games so I wouldn't blow your money on that. Actually, I would upgrade the GPU anyhow. It will give you a much larger increase in gaming performance than any CPU upgrade since the GTX 550 Ti is fairly weak.
The HD 6870 is not a bad choice, but for about $50 more the HD 7850 is much more solid. Check out Tom's articles on best CPU and GPU for the money too, very informative!
 

wildfireajs

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Jul 13, 2012
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Well, so far it seems the unanimous decision is to upgrade my GPU.

A better AMD CPU would only give you a small performance gain in games so I wouldn't blow your money on that. - Thomas-89

After doing a large amount of "Googling" I had come to about the same conclusion. I do want to switch over to an i3 or i5 at some point in the future. I'm really looking for a "first step" that will make the biggest improvement.

I know the GTX 560 Ti is a largely popular card right now, but for the price I feel the HD 6870 [or HD 7850] are much better values. I usually prefer Nvidia, but sometimes ATI just wins on overall value.

If I understand things correctly: Live Streaming is CPU heavy. If the GPU gets taxed it spills over into the CPU. I've noticed that with the GTX 550 Ti I can play just about anything I want on pretty high settings. When I start screen capturing or live streaming though it's a whole new ball game. My CPU gets pegged because the GPU can't take the heat. If I were to get a more sufficient GPU it would take the load of my CPU and free it up to handle video compression for live streaming.

Do I understand that correctly?
 

wildfireajs

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Jul 13, 2012
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What exactly do you mean by, "...a card to multitask at high rates..." ...?
I could speculate, but I just want to be clear.
 

Thomas_89

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Mar 21, 2012
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If you upgrade the GPU remember to get one that is significantly better than your 550 Ti. Tom's article I referred to previously states you should get one at least 3 tiers higher. That means at least a HD 6950 or equivalent but better yet a HD 7850 or equivalent or even higher depending on your budget.
 

wildfireajs

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Jul 13, 2012
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Why 3 tiers higher? I was considering the HD 6950 anyway... but why 3 tiers higher than what I have?
I did glance at those articles, but I haven't had the time to actually read through it all yet.
 

wildfireajs

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Jul 13, 2012
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Following that link lead me to a wealth of knowledge on the topic. I was able to find the answers I was looking for, and I will now just focus on getting a new mobo and intel processor. I'll most likely upgrade my GPU down the road as well.

Thanks for all your help guys!