Biggest bang for buck from an i3 Clarkdale @ 3.74, 4GB ram and an ATI 7850 1GB

d|b · 5 Dec 2013 at 21:24

I have:

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Gigabyte GA-H55-UD3H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard
Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - OEM
MSI Radeon HD 7850 1GB

I want to upgrade my rig to get the biggest bank for buck when playing games. My thoughts were to get a better CPU (Intel Core i7-875K) and 8GB RAM. Is this the right thing to do?

Doomedspeed · 5 Dec 2013 at 21:26

What games do you play?

I think you need to consider a new motherboard (moving to a newer socket).

Bart_Hunt · 5 Dec 2013 at 21:29

Hi

How much money can you spend?
What games do you play?

Cheers

d|b · 5 Dec 2013 at 21:32

I play a range of games including all the latest releases (AC4, BF4 etc). I am looking to spend a max of £200

I was hoping I could squeeze some more life out of my current mobo if possible.

wazza300 · 5 Dec 2013 at 21:41

8gb of ram and a 64bit version of windows would be best imo,I also have an i3 540 with a 7850 and it copes well tbh

Bart_Hunt · 5 Dec 2013 at 21:43

You won't find new s1156 cpu's in stores, it is an old tech.
Upgrade to new may be neccesary.
If you dont mind going for amd then Piledriver 6300 and suitable motherboard ( gigabyte 990xa-ud3 or asus m5a97 evo r2 ) is a better choice. And you get some spare money for some ram. Or go for piledriver 8320 instead of that 6300.

areksnumbr1sxylady · 5 Dec 2013 at 21:44

You need 8gb these days and thats for sure... Your CPU and GPU are both weak... Your mobo is old.. If you can get i7 on your socket for bargain aka less than it costs for 4770k,3770k,2700k... Then you can do that...

But really you are playing with old hardware... Your GPU is rather weak too and its 1gb is nowhere near enough these days.

To be honest, you might be better off with going to reds... AMD 8320 + mobo + ram would set you back around 200 maybe a tad more... Since your i7 875 wont out-perform 8320 judging by this bench;

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/698?vs=107

krnsniper · 5 Dec 2013 at 21:48

Upgrade it to a I7-875k it will improve overall performance over that i3 for games that are CPU-bound. Upgrade to 8GB ram if games are utilizing 95%+ of your RAM during gameplay.

wazza300 · 5 Dec 2013 at 22:04

Plenty used 1156 socket cpu's on auction sites the i5 750 isn't bad either but lacks hyperthreading,gpu can handle most games with the right CPU

Oc the 7850 aswell

almoststew1990 · 6 Dec 2013 at 06:35

Something like an i7 860 might be right up your street. I'm not sure how much these go for second hand but I'd say a litle under £100. If you sell the 7850 for £60 or so you then have £150 left over for a you upgrade...

Akagi · 6 Dec 2013 at 09:11

I'd get 8GB of RAM, 64 bit windows (if you don't have it) and an SSD.

A socket 1156 I7 would be a reasonable idea but sadly they still command a premium price. Far more than they should.

I have a friend with an i3 530 @ 4.4GHz, 8GB RAM and an HD5850. We plan on upgrading it to a 7850 soon. Its still a good little PC to be honest.

InfiniteNoise · 6 Dec 2013 at 10:29

i7-870 is probably the best you can get for around £100, maybe a little bit less.

I got mine for that around that much, best upgrade I've made, my previous CPU was i3-540.

wazza300 · 6 Dec 2013 at 11:40

@ op there's an i5 750 cpu on the mm grab it

P4Clock · 6 Dec 2013 at 11:58

i5 750 are around £50-£60
more ram.
SSD

krnsniper · 6 Dec 2013 at 18:22

an SSD isn't really beneficial to performance in games so I recommend just a CPU upgrade to either an i7 860 that can be found used on ebay for around £90-110. Upgrade your ram to 8gb.