Need advice on upgrade(s)

[Christopher_00]

Hello, I would like to upgrade my PC to better handle Crysis 3 and other games.
My current didn't do so well in the C3 beta and would like some help on upgrades.

i5-2500k CPU (stock cooling)
ATI 6950 Sapphire GPU
P67 B3 Revision Mobo
Neo ECO 620w PSU
8gb RAM (Would have to take them out to look at brand/model if important)

I have $400 to spend and don't know how to get the best performance increase with it.


Was planning to get a gtx670 but all the recommended models seems discontinued.
But also noticed a few things. All the 670s require atleast a 600w PSU, I have 620. This gonna be a problem?
Also they use PCIe 3? I have PCIe 2 on my motherboard. This another problem?

Alot of things im unsure about so I ask you guys for advice =P
How should this $400 be spent.


Note: Im a student without a job, so saving money takes time =P (Sold one of my Diablo3 characters for this money lol.)

 

[master_chen]

The only thing you should really upgrade in your build, is video card. Everything else is quite fine.
Just get a newer card of HD "7870~7970" level.

...

...400$, huh....hmmm...

I have a couple of recommendations for you:
Get this (or this, if you don't mind to spend a couple of extra dollars, but you can actually find it for less money at some places) and you're pretty much good to go with Crysis 3 on very high settings (or maybe even maxed out, probably) with stable 60 FPS through the entire game.

Anyway, aside from that:

1. Difference between PCI-e 3.0 and PCI-e 2.0 is absolutely miserable, so you won't feel any difference at all. It's 1% difference, lol.
Also, all PCI-e 3.0 slots are backwards compatible, and video cards too, so you can plug "PCI-e 3.0" GPU into PCI-e 2.0/2.1 slot just fine.

2. Your PSU is probably Antec's HCG...it's more than enough at the current time, do not worry at all.

3. You DON'T need highly overpriced cards like GTX 670/680, because they aren't all that good at all, really.
They are just heavily over-advertised and over-hyped, but they seriously don't earn the money which they cost. >: )

4. You have quite of a solid gaming build, seriously. You really won't be needing to upgrade much, before Haswell comes.
Just GPU and maybe adding more memory (instead of 8GB overall, getting "8GBx2 1333MHz" kit and putting them into Dual Channel, would be the best thing to do, actually.
You DON'T need memory that has faster frequency than 1333MHz, really).

 

[Christopher_00]

Thank you Master_chen. Went with the 7970.

I didn't even notice the "AMD Gift coupon: Crysis 3 + Bioshock Inf."
Was a huge surprise because I REALLY want to play these games =D