Upgrade CPU or GPU?

C

Calvin22580

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Hi all,

I currently have an Intel G840 CPU and a XFX GTX 260 graphics card.

Currently running BF4 on low settings alright. But want/need a better CPU.

For gaming, do I upgrade my CPU to and i5 which will also require a new motherboard because mine is 1155 or do I go and get a new graphics card?

Budget is around 4k.

Thanks
 
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you are gonna need to upgrade both.

You can buy a new GPU for about R3k now but your CPU will probably bottleneck it but you will still see a FPS increase.

Maybe you can find a cheap i5 Ivy Bridge CPU on Carbonite forums to tie you over for a while?

What MB, PSU & RAM do you have, brands&model numbers? You might also require a new PSU.

Alternatively you can buy a GPU now if you intend on saving a bit more and later get a cheap 1150 MB for R620, new CPU and use your existing ram if ddr3.

Me I would just get a new GPU (PSU permitting) and then a second hand i5 1155 cpu from Carbonite if things are tight to tie you over until you've save up more cash and hit Skylake or Cannonlake architectures in the future.
 
Upgrade your platform first. You can squeeze in a Core i5 and a decent motherboard inside that budget. Depending on your RAM, that could also be used as well (needs to be 1.5v or lower). You can upgrade your GPU at any time, but a platform upgrade usually sticks with you for a few years.

This is a pretty bad time to buy though. Price increases have resulted in quite a few things shooting up. Just about everything now is R300 more expensive on the CPU front than it was four months ago.

Intel Core i5-4590 @ R2795
ASRock B85M Pro3 mATX @ R838
Total: R3633
 
ponder said:
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you are gonna need to upgrade both.

You can buy a new GPU for about R3k now but your CPU will probably bottleneck it but you will still see a FPS increase.

Maybe you can find a cheap i5 Ivy Bridge CPU on Carbonite forums to tie you over for a while?

What MB, PSU & RAM do you have, brands&model numbers? You might also require a new PSU.

Alternatively you can buy a GPU now if you intend on saving a bit more and later get a cheap 1150 MB for R620, new CPU and use your existing ram if ddr3.

Me I would just get a new GPU (PSU permitting) and then a second hand i5 1155 cpu from Carbonite if things are tight to tie you over until you've save up more cash and hit Skylake or Cannonlake architectures in the future.
Click to expand...

Wrong.

Petrivz said:
Probably both, but if you absolutely can't then GPU
Click to expand...

Wrong.

CataclysmZA said:
Upgrade your platform first. You can squeeze in a Core i5 and a decent motherboard inside that budget. Depending on your RAM, that could also be used as well (needs to be 1.5v or lower). You can upgrade your GPU at any time, but a platform upgrade usually sticks with you for a few years.

This is a pretty bad time to buy though. Price increases have resulted in quite a few things shooting up. Just about everything now is R300 more expensive on the CPU front than it was four months ago.

Intel Core i5-4590 @ R2795
ASRock B85M Pro3 mATX @ R838
Total: R3633
Click to expand...

Right.

BF4 needs a quad core CPU. Any i5 will fine. Maybe check Carbonite.
 
ponder said:
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you are gonna need to upgrade both.

You can buy a new GPU for about R3k now but your CPU will probably bottleneck it but you will still see a FPS increase.

Maybe you can find a cheap i5 Ivy Bridge CPU on Carbonite forums to tie you over for a while?

What MB, PSU & RAM do you have, brands&model numbers? You might also require a new PSU.

Alternatively you can buy a GPU now if you intend on saving a bit more and later get a cheap 1150 MB for R620, new CPU and use your existing ram if ddr3.

Me I would just get a new GPU (PSU permitting) and then a second hand i5 1155 cpu from Carbonite if things are tight to tie you over until you've save up more cash and hit Skylake or Cannonlake architectures in the future.
Click to expand...

Well I'm thinking long term here.

Just bought the Corsair RM550 to go with the GTX 260 that was given to me, I have 8GB DDR3 RAM, 2x Corsair and 2x Adata.

Motherboard is Intel DH67CL.

Quite a sticky situation, can't see a way out without dropping 7k :(
 
Calvin22580 said:
Well I'm thinking long term here.

Just bought the Corsair RM550 to go with the GTX 260 that was given to me, I have 8GB DDR3 RAM, 2x Corsair and 2x Adata.

Motherboard is Intel DH67CL.

Quite a sticky situation, can't see a way out without dropping 7k :(
Click to expand...

Just upgrade your CPU first. You'll see a huge improvement. You'll be able to go up to MED with that GFX card.
 
Oh and I've just pre ordered BF Hardline (R379 from Kalahari, couldn't resist) hence wanting to upgrade something now.
 
Chevron said:
R1.4k is cheap. My last motherboard was R2.4k
Click to expand...

R700 is cheap. If you're on a tight budget you go for a cheap MB, decent CPU and pump most of the money into the GPU. The MB is not going to give you better performance in gaming or productivity stuff.
 
I confused the Pentium G840 with a similar model from the LGA1156 family, my bad. Since you're on LGA1155, a second-hand Core i5 from the Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge family will also work nicely. Something like the Core i5-2400 will be a big boost over what you have now.
 
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