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budget system upgrading advice

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  • GPUs
  • RAM
  • Systems
  • Motherboards
  • CPUs
Last response: in Systems
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August 8, 2014 8:12:24 AM

Hi, I'm an extremely budget gamer (self-supplied student) who likes game but without much money. My system is the following, bought 3 years ago:

MB Gigabyte P55-UD3L
Intel i3 530
GTX 560Ti
4GB RAM

At first it could ran anything at max settings even new games. But with the release of the next gen consoles and the resulted upgrade of game graphics, my system has shown signs of fatigue, especially CoD ghosts, watch dogs and crysis 3. I can still run those games at all-high, but can no longer maxed out because of unplayable fps.

So I'm planning to upgrade my system. I'll definitely get a GTX 860(Ti) when it comes out. My question is, do I need to get a higher cpu? For my 1156 socket the best I can get is i7 880. Will this suffice? Strangely none of my games ever make my CPU reach 100% usage rate. So I'm not sure if I should get a new one.

I can make my system 8GB RAM easily

I cant buy a new motherboard because that'll result in an entire new system. I dont have enough budget for that because i'll need to get different RAM bars beside a new mainboard.

Thank you for your help.

More about : budget system upgrading advice

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a b à CPUs
August 8, 2014 8:17:59 AM

With Devil Canyon CPU's released with a very good gaming overclock rate, you should consider the i5's as they are very robust and can go through a hell of a lot of stuff in the future being.

If you take a look at my build in my signature I can run things very close to MAX some things toned down because it won't make a difference to my eyes and that's just using and i3.

If you upgrade RAM to about 1800-2133Mhz & 8GB you'll be fine.
GPU I recommend AMD as I use the R9 280 now and it's been excellent.
a b V Motherboard
a b à CPUs
August 8, 2014 8:23:28 AM

I think you missed the part where he said he didn't want to change Mobo's/Sockets.

Don't think the CPU upgrade would be worth it. You're practically spending enough money for an entirely new platform. Just save that money until you can afford the latest mobo/CPU platform.

The GPU upgrade should be your first move, as you'll get the most bang for your buck up front, even if the CPU may bottleneck it a bit. Plus it can be moved to a new system down the road. Not sure what the 860(ti) will be like, but the R9 280 is a great buy in it's price range right now, for 1080p gaming.

Most games have surpassed 4GB, along with the OS and background applications, so another 4GB would make sense. Again, it can be moved to your new system. (Socket 1156 still used DDR3, right?) Grab a dual-channel (2x2GB) kit from a reputable brand like Corsair or Gskill.

Before you make the plunge to a brand new platform, you could also benefit from an SSD right now. Game loading, and overall system responsiveness gets a huge boost. The Samsung 840 EVO or cheaper Crucial MX100 are good options.
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August 8, 2014 8:32:11 AM

I'm not sure what you mean devil's canyon cpu. Can you specify the i5 model? I can only buy socket 1156 cpu though
August 8, 2014 10:44:14 AM

I dont know if i can get a new mainboard anytime soon. Squeezing for the gtx 860 (about $250) is already a lot of effort for me. Although I don't know if getting a brand new gig is a smart move because even my poor i3 can still suffice a lot of games without being used all that much. And the i7 880 get almost 2 times higher benchmarks so I think it's not really necessary to get a new system (although it's really a smarter move, just not very feasible for the near future), cpu has never been that important to games, right? Current CPUs just exceed way too much what games are requiring.

The reason I'm not very interested in getting a new mobo is the time it'll take to save all those money. Waiting for the gtx 860 alone is a long enough time with all the new games being released this holidays. So I kinda prefer just max out what this mobo can offer soon with not so much money I'm having right now.
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a b à CPUs
August 8, 2014 11:45:18 AM

Devils Canyon is special series of the 4th generation of Intel core processors, specially designed to overclock like crazy. (You've got a 1st gen Core processor). Looking at prices here, upgrading to a i7-880 is definitely not worth it, as you're spending 2/3 the amount of a brand new 5th gen mobo and a i5-4790k.

Anyway, whether the CPU or GPU has the biggest impact, depends on the game. Usually, it is the GPU, including most of the games you mentioned. Some games, like Battlefield 4, are starting to use 8+ cores for heavy multiplayer, physics, AI, etc...and the latest GPUs can be bottlenecked by older CPUs.

In your case, your best bet is to grab the GTX 860, another 4GB of RAM, and then save up for the next platform. If you don't want to wait for the 860, the GTX 770 or R9 280 or both good cards in their price-range.
August 8, 2014 2:10:48 PM

Thank you Rapajez. I will follow your advice. I just hope this old cpu pal can muscle through all the games Im throwing at him
a b V Motherboard
a b à CPUs
August 8, 2014 2:22:35 PM

It'll get the job done until you can upgrade.

Again, I see $230 for i7-880 here--but you can get a nice Z97 mobo for $100 and a i5-4790k for $260. You might as well save the $230, until you can add $100 to it and jump ahead 5 generations. Get double the CPU performance and 5-years worth of faster new interfaces and protocols. Unless i7-880s are super cheap there, they may perform a lot better than your current CPU in CPU benchmarks, but I doubt real world gaming would see anything but a tiny, 1-5% difference.

Don't forget to select a solution...you know...for whoever...not like I care about those silly statistics.
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