CPU or GPU in first upgrade?

[Euhno]

Hi to all, this is my first time posting here, I would like to ask for your opinion on this. I just want to know which is the most suitable upgrade for me?

my current PC specs are:

Mobo: MSI 760GM-P23 (FX)
CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 270
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6670 2GB DDR3
RAM: Kingston 4GB 1333 (2x2GB)
PSU: Corsair VS550

I researched that my motherboard can support up to FX cpus and I am planning to upgrade my athlon to an FX-6300 Black Edition (if I choose cpu over gpu upgrade). And for the gpu upgrade I'm thinking of replacing my 6670 to a Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 Dual-X card. After which, whichever I choose to upgrade first, I'm going to replace my ram for a corsair xms3 1600 8gb (2x4gb)

I'm still a student so I don't have that much money to upgrade them both at the same time I only got the money from my savings. So what would you guys think is the best option for me, being money-wise? CPU or GPU? Thanks.

 

[Jameson Clark]

Would go CPU first, you will see improved performance in every aspect of your computer not just gaming. Also, if you go gpu first your CPU will bottleneck the gpu so it won't help much anyway

 

[Zetor895]

Hi,

First: CPU since a lot of softwares (including games) can handle 4 cores already.
Second: VGA, because it isn't so outdated than your CPU and currently AMD is not so far from Nvidia (at all) than from Intel regarding speed.
Third: RAM, since 4 GB is enough for this system now.

 

[Euhno]

Would go CPU first, you will see improved performance in every aspect of your computer not just gaming. Also, if you go gpu first your CPU will bottleneck the gpu so it won't help much anyway

how can my cpu bottleneck my gpu? from what i've read in other forums they say that if you play a game the cpu only uses 1-2 threads? correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[Euhno]

Hi,

First: CPU since a lot of softwares (including games) can handle 4 cores already.
Second: VGA, because it isn't so outdated than your CPU and currently AMD is not so far from Nvidia (at all) than from Intel regarding speed.
Third: RAM, since 4 GB is enough for this system now.

i'm using windows 7 64-bit btw, so my actual ram usage is only at 2GB, if i'm not mistaken, because the OS gets the other 2GB? i agree with what you said, because i've been using my cpu for about a year now and i also think it'd be best if i upgrade the cpu first. just to add, i also do 3D rendering in my projects, does that put load unto the CPU or to the GPU?

 

[Jameson Clark]

Well dual core is typically the minimum requirement now for most games, not recommended. Second it's not all about the cores, the frequency, the processes per clock, and cache are also important. There is a reason your CPU is in the 7th tier on the toms CPU ranking (it actually isn't on there but other versions such as the 265 are in the 7 th tier and it is just .1 MHz slower)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

 

[Jameson Clark]

Double post

The OS will keep some of your ram busy yes and if you do 3d rendering more ram would actually be very useful as well. Typically video editing is very dependent on CPU though

 

[Euhno]

Well dual core is typically the minimum requirement now for most games, not recommended. Second it's not all about the cores, the frequency, the processes per clock, and cache are also important. There is a reason your CPU is in the 7th tier on the toms CPU ranking (it actually isn't on there but other versions such as the 265 are in the 7 th tier and it is just .1 MHz slower)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

oh, i haven't looked at this before, thanks for sharing! i think i've made my choice now, thanks again.

 

[Jameson Clark]

Well dual core is typically the minimum requirement now for most games, not recommended. Second it's not all about the cores, the frequency, the processes per clock, and cache are also important. There is a reason your CPU is in the 7th tier on the toms CPU ranking (it actually isn't on there but other versions such as the 265 are in the 7 th tier and it is just .1 MHz slower)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

oh, i haven't looked at this before, thanks for sharing! i think i've made my choice now, thanks again.

Cool, happy to help. What are you choosing?

 

[Euhno]

Well dual core is typically the minimum requirement now for most games, not recommended. Second it's not all about the cores, the frequency, the processes per clock, and cache are also important. There is a reason your CPU is in the 7th tier on the toms CPU ranking (it actually isn't on there but other versions such as the 265 are in the 7 th tier and it is just .1 MHz slower)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

oh, i haven't looked at this before, thanks for sharing! i think i've made my choice now, thanks again.

Cool, happy to help. What are you choosing?

I'm gonna go with the cpu first, then ram, then finally the gpu (hopefully by the time i upgrade my gpu there would be more cards that are cheaper but has enough performance that suits me) I'd probably go for the FX-6300 Black Ed. or I could also look at the FX-4300 Blk ed also, because i've read that it has a bit of an edge in single-core performance than the 6300.. either way i'd upgrade my cpu first.

 

[Jameson Clark]

Sounds like a plan, especially with gpu prices and ram prices inflated right now