Upgrading, please help!

[linkf]

Hello,
I have

I7 920 / Sapphire Black X58 / 12 GB RAM 1066 Mhz Gskill / 650 Watt Thermaltake RX2 / AMD 7870

Should i go for and I5 3570k with motherboard and new memory with an ssd, or buying a AMD 7970 with an ssd and overclock i7 920

Thanks all!

 

[willard]

Stick with the 920. Most games don't need very much CPU muscle, you've already got plenty.

I would upgrade to DDR3-1600, though. Shouldn't be too much for a triple channel kit.

You could also get better performance for less money by getting a second 7870 for Crossfire. 650W should be enough for a pair of mid range cards, I've got a pair of 7970s and a 3770k on a 650W unit (SeaSonic X650 Gold) myself, though most PSUs can't pull that off.

 

[linkf]

Stick with the 920. Most games don't need very much CPU muscle, you've already got plenty.

I would upgrade to DDR3-1600, though. Shouldn't be too much for a triple channel kit.

You could also get better performance for less money by getting a second 7870 for Crossfire. 650W should be enough for a pair of mid range cards, I've got a pair of 7970s and a 3770k on a 650W unit (SeaSonic X650 Gold) myself, though most PSUs can't pull that off.

I cant afford buying another 7870 but buying a 7970 selling mine, and buying 1600mhz memory and a ssd, should i go for that? thank you for helping!

Or should i wait to have more money to do what you said?

 

[linkf]

Best answer selected by linkf.

 

[willard]

I cant afford buying another 7870 but buying a 7970 selling mine, and buying 1600mhz memory and a ssd, should i go for that? thank you for helping!

Or should i wait to have more money to do what you said?

Well, it depends. The 7870 is already fast enough to get good framerates on the majority of games at or near max settings, going bigger doesn't necessarily buy you a whole lot. It's possible that the SSD and memory will actually be a more meaningful upgrade than the video card.

So, without knowing what exactly you're looking for in your computer, I can give you my general guidelines.

First and foremost, a gaming computer needs a video card that meets your expectations. If you expect to play games on max settings with 60 FPS steady, then it's time for an upgrade. I'm a huge fan of the 7970, and it gets my wholehearted recommendation. A single one will max out most games easily, Crysis 3 being a notable exception (a single 7970 gets about 25 FPS on max at 1920x1080).

The SSD is a tricky thing to recommend for a gaming computer. As a rule of thumb, I don't recommend sacrificing the budget on components that will impact framerate, since that's really what the computer is all about. You should only pick one up if it's not going to mean you skimp on your video card, but if it comes down to the SSD vs. the memory, get the SSD.

The memory upgrade is going to be a nice, cost effective way to get a boost to everything on your system, including gaming. The gains going from 1066 to 1600 should be pretty significant, I'd expect noticeable improvements in framerates and system performance. You can get 12GB of 1600 for about $80 on Newegg. If it's in the budget, I think it's worth it.

 

[linkf]

Thank you very much, I think Im going to buy another 7870 when i have the money and now im going for ssd and memory upgrade because i saw benchmarks and i think 2x7870 its better than one 7970, and if i buy 7970 i couldnt afford buying another in years. Again thank you for your help!

 

[willard]

Not a problem, glad to be of assistance.