noupasol100

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Jan 11, 2013
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Hi. I would really appreciate if someone could give me an informed answer. I currently have a Core 2 Duo E7600 running at 2.6ghz, Radeon 5770 with 5GB DDR2, Windows 7 Premium. I am on a very limited budget and can only upgrade one component, either the cpu or gpu. I currently live in India and for my budget I can either get a used or new Core 2 Quad 6600 or 8400. For gpu I can get a Radeon 6850 or Radeon 7770. Which of these two do you think will give me the most improvement? I play games like FIFA, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Crysis, Assassin's Creed, Street Fighter, Need For Speed, Age of Empires etc and sometimes do occasional video editing. Also I didn't mention my PSU since I plan on getting a new one if required. But just for information, it's a 430w from a not popular brand (probably chinese). I game at 720p since I can't afford a higher resoluion monitor at the moment, but I must say it does the trick for me and I sincerely haven't missed gaming on a 1080p screen even though I would love to.

N.B: I know my system is old and could use an entire upgrade, but please I don't need you to remind me of that, just let me know which will give me the best performance improvement. And yes, I do consider myself a hardcore gamer, I just don't have the funds to defend or support that claim. Thank you all once again.
 

zooted

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Feb 17, 2010
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I think the issue is that a 6850 and 7770 would not be a big enough upgrade over the 5770 to justify the cost. I think you should save up a little more and look at a 7850, which is when you might wanna think about upgrading your cpu/mobo/ram. I wouldn't spend any money on an aging 775 platform when modern dual cores will outperform the c2q in gaming.
 

noupasol100

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Jan 11, 2013
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Thank you for the quick reply. Your suggestion would be the most obvious route to go, but however like I explained before I just don't have the funds to upgrade my entire system and don't think I will raise the money anytime soon to justify waiting. I currently use the Core 2 Duo to run modern games and it is really showing its age. I tried running Black Opss and the fps was really bad, in the mid 20's and low 30's. Also I am unable to max a game like FIFA 13 and after visiting the EA forums I learnt that upgrading to a quad core like the Q6600 fixed the issue completely. Also Battlefield seems to be asking for a minimum of quad core to run reasonable frame rates. If I really required an update to such a dying socket, between the two what will be your honest opinion?
 

zooted

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Feb 17, 2010
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The c2q's are still pretty good gaming chips that will only start to show its age in games like fc3. I'm not saying that it won't game better, it will. I just think it isn't the route that I would go. If it is drastically cheaper then by all means do so.
But you will see a larger improvement in fps if you upgrade the gpu first. Like I said I would look at a 7850 as they are much better then the 7770/6850 for not a whole lot more.
 

noupasol100

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Jan 11, 2013
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Thank you very much, I really do appreciate your input and this is the same route I am looking at, I just wasn't sure if the Core 2 Duo would serve as a bottleneck for the upgraded gpu