Upgrade GPU/CPU or not worth it?

chigundo

Honorable
May 15, 2012
2
0
10,510
I currently have the following:

MB: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L P35+ICH9 (Rev 2.0)
CPU: C2D E6750 2.66G 65N
GPU: Gigabyte GV-RX385512H Radeon HD 3850 512MB GDDR3 256-bit PCI-Express Zalman Fan


Trying to figure out if it's worth putting money in or will I hit a bottlneck with the MB before it's worth it now that IVY bridge is out. Basically my motivation for this is Diablo 3, which runs pretty good at anything it seems.. but I'd like to max out what I can with what I have if that's possible.. have't researched parts in a while but this vid card is only like $50 on ebay now so I assume it's a dinosaur.

I'm open to any advice... is there a GPU out there that'd fit this combo that would make games scream compared to what I have now?
 

chigundo

Honorable
May 15, 2012
2
0
10,510
That's what I was afraid of hearing... do you just toss up the parts on ebay and get what you can? I don't even see this being utilized as anything else if I get new stuff.

Also, the case.. it's a Lian LI 60... been a while since I built new stuff but it seems most cases are redesigned now with PSU on the bottom.. can I still use my case or will I need something else to accommodate the massive GPUs?
 
If all you care about is diablo 3 Your CPU is over the recommended requirements, and you could overclock it. Your GPU is not. Since PCIE is fully backwards and forwards compatible you can upgrade to about any GPU your PSU will support.

So you could go two ways. lower/mid end cheap GPU your CPU wont bottleneck. Or a mid range or higher card that might be bottlenecked for now, with an eye toward upgrading the rest of the system in say the next 6 months
 
Contrary opinion.

Your CPU is OK, not great but OK. Leave it alone. Here is a CPU relative game performance ref. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

Your video is really slow. If you upgrade the video you may find you are happy with your system. If not then use the upgraded video in your next PC. Here is a buying guide for Video, get at least HD6850 class video. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

"is there a GPU out there that'd fit this combo that would make games scream compared to what I have now? " YES, I think so. But not everyone would agree. So here is a ref that uses slow CPUs and a huge video card. Mainly the slow CPUs were able to keep up but some games suffered. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-4.html

Final note: I'd try a mild OC to bring the E6750 to maybe 3ghz from 2.66. Google 'overclock E6750' to see a ton of guides. but even without an OC, I'd buy video first and see if it gives you enough game before dumping the E6750 based system.

Second final note: If the E6750 is not strong enough all the above posters saying get new MB/CPU/Memory are correct. You don't want to spend more on a core2 CPU -- the cheap i3's are too much stronger.

edit: I missed that 'unksol' was saying essentially the same thing, so maybe this is not too much of a contrary opinion.