GPU upgrade over CPU

Hi guys this is my first post so sorry if its in the wrong place/section.

I have a rather rubbish build from about 3 years ago that I am looking to upgrade. The system is pretty much un usable for gaming except from Minecraft and games like Team Fortress on lowest settings. Not on that PC currently so don't have the specs

My CPU is an old 1.9ish 2-core and my graphics card is about on the same level.

My question is I don't have too much money to throw at this all at once and am wondering what will be the most effective part to upgrade first. Im lookout at the Nvidia GTX 960 GPU and also a 3.3ghz quad core intel CPU. I can only afford one this month and the other next month (then to upgrade the rest)

I have other computers that Ive brought I just want to attempt a basic build on my own.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

The exact specs of your current build would help a lot. In general, however, GPU upgrade will give you a lot more bang for your buck than CPU.

Let us know your full system specs and budget for the first upgrade and we'll go from there.

Hi ninjacore Im back on this PC now so got my specs for you.

CPU: Intel Pentium G620 " 2.60GHz (2CPUs)

GPU: GeForce GT 630

Thanks again

Any idea what motherboard you have? Power supply? RAM?

That CPU is socket 1155, so your board should support an i5 2500k. That would be my recommendation for the CPU upgrade and would run in the neighborhood of $100-125 used.

You will get more bang for your buck upgrading the GPU first, though. The one you have is basically useless for games

Are you looking to game at 1080P? Are you buying new?

Some options in order of performance (least to greatest):

GTX 960 - $175 (after $20 rebate)
R9 380 - $175 (after $10 rebate)
R9 280X - $200 (after $20 rebate)
R9 290 - $230 (after $20 rebate)
R9 290X - $280 (after $20 rebate)
GTX 970 - $290 (open box)
R9 390 - $285 (after $20 rebate)

The last four will max out the majority of games at 1080P. The rest, you'll be turning some settings down, especially for upcoming titles.

All of those cards will be bottlenecked by your current CPU.

What's your budget for this first upgrade? For the second?


I know I've asked a lot of question, but please try to respond to all of them. Save a lot of back and forth

Yep, definitely need full system specs. See my sig for an example of what we need.
We also need your upgrade budget.

You can often get a lot of bang for the buck by getting a card which is at the same time:

1. Already old enough to be sold used (and not by someone who wants 90% of the price of a new unit), and:
2. Still new enough to support all the tech you need.

This works as long as you have the juice in your PSU to accommodate a less efficient card, i.e. one that draws more power than a modern card that offers comparable performance in games. But the differences aren't always huge for cards that aren't lightyears apart. It also needs patience and attention to detail, you just can't be bored by keeping tabs on auctions etc. Financially, it's more efficient to make a snap decision and convert all the saved time into money at work (e.g. saving 10 bucks is not worth losing the whole afternoon unless you find pleasure in the chase).

Thanks guys, I think im going to invest in the GTX 960 first as my GPU is insanely weak!

ScaredyMatt said:

Thanks guys, I think im going to invest in the GTX 960 first as my GPU is insanely weak!

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Get an SSD too if you don't have it yet. Their prices seem to have fallen considerably of late (if you buy one, make sure you check out their timings first, as they can vary wildly.)