What should I upgrade to with this budget?

[nick12345]

Hello,

I have a $450 budget for upgrades on my gaming PC. It will be the only upgrade for a while. I am already getting another 500GB HDD (outside budget).

My specs are -

Asus M4A78T-E
AMD 6970
AMD Phenom ii X4 955 @ 3.612 OC
500gb HDD
3 X 2GB Dual Channel

Pretty simple really... I am looking to improve FPS in games, but I also want it to be future proof.

I am considering getting an i5-3570K and trying to hit 4.1Ghz OC with fairly good temps. What motherboard and cooler would be up for the task?

I've put this in CPUs because I don't want to get a new graphics card in a years time and find my phenom 955 is bottlenecking it (this is what I mean by future proof). Basically which direction should I go for upgrading with my budget?

Thanks guys

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

You have a decent cpu, I would just invest your money in a 7 series card which you can take with your when you upgrade the cpu/mobo in the future..

All the best Brett

 

[nick12345]

Ok thanks,

I am thinking about spending a little more and getting the 7970 would the FPS be bottlenecked with my current CPU? What kind of FPS increase would I see with the i5 above with the 7970 compared to my phenom 955?