Upgrading System

[seanpatrick]

Hello,
I'm going to go buy a new graphics card tomorrow, Probably the Radeon 7870 ghz edition or a comparable card. I'm not sure whether I need to buy a new processor though, and then if I do that is it worth getting a new motherboard? I've got a p8H67-M Pro I purchased a year and a half ago, however it's only got PCI 2.0 slots ( Big deal or not? ) and the processor is a g840 dual core w/ 8 gigs of Ram. Can I get away with just getting the video card for gaming? or is it integral I upgrade to a quad core as well. ( Surely the motherboard can wait no? )

 

[patrick47018]

I would definitely get a better processor, thats what will hold you back massively. And your choice in GPU is pretty good. Anythings I can do to help?

 

[stantheman123]

diffrence between 2.0 and 3.0 is about 1-5fps So its Really nothing

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/07/18/pci_express_20_vs_30_gpu_gaming_performance_review/5


If you can afford it a cpu upgrade Would be decent however that cpu is about as fast as a i3 in gaming so its defentily not bad. if your tight on money Dont bother you will be fine. however if you got the money maybie get a i5 3470. or K model if your overclocking

 

[Cons29]

as far as i know, there is no card yet that is able to saturate the pci-e 2.0 bandwidth.
even a 680 cannot. so don't think too much about it.

it's like asking between sata2 and sata3 and using mechanical drives. Only ssd's can max out sata2 that may warrant a sata3, and we are talking about numbers here. i doubt that we could notice the diff with everyday use

 

[simon12]

Just get the card there may be a bottleneck from the CPU in a few games but nothing major and as stated the PCIE 2 slot will make at most 1fps difference. You can always get a CPU later in the unlikely event it holds you back hugely.

 

[simon12]

Its will not even close to limit the GPU to 50-60% on any game unless you are running a seriously low resolution. For example Far Cry 3 if you look at all the numbers in this review http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/far-cry-3-performance-benchmark,3379-7.html you will see at 1920 x 1080 on medium settings yes the CPU wil hold back the card 12 FPs but at ultra the card will hold back the CPU 19FPs so if you play on high its the perfect balance more or less. While if you got an i5 3350 the graphics card would be the bottleneck in every game.

 

[seanpatrick]

Thanks for your replies, it seems as though the answer is - DO get the 7870, Don't worry about the motherboard, and DO upgrade the processor if I can afford it. - Simon, I should mention that I will be running games in 1920 x 1080 on my 60 inch plasma, I've read the article you submitted, and if I'm not mistaken it says it really won't be a problem on lesser resolutions... but again I'm running at a higher one, so I suppose I should splurge for a new core. I've read very good reviews about the i5 3570K - apparently this is great for gaming, it's also the one you can overclock. So I'm off to buy these two before work this afternoon ( Also an extra fan for the case ) ... Which leads me to my next question. Overclocking: My p8h67M pro (that I'm keeping now) has a built in option to overclock with GPU boost, and a setting for performance in the Bios - Will these rookie selections be enough of an overclock or do I need to do some serious tampering to get the best out of my card: Here's a link to the motherboard options: ( By the way, I'll also try to get the Radeon OC 7870 if I can ) -

http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H67M_PROCSM/

See the "Turbo V" and the "GPU Boost" Settings
Thanks again for your advice everyone!