Gaming upgrade - gfx or cpu?

Associate
Joined
30 Jul 2007
Posts
979
Location
Surrey
Current specs are:

Intel C2D E8600 (stock+stock cooler)
Asus P5E-VM (mATX motherboard, rubbish for oc'ing)
4GB GeIL Black Dragon RAM
BFG GTX260 OC (not maxcore version)

I'm looking to upgrade my pc for gaming and windows 7, however i'm not sure which of the two paths to go down: i5 (so effectively a new starter build) or just OC my current CPU and upgrade gfx. The two ideas I've had are:

Sticking with E8600:

option1k.jpg


Changing to i5:

option2l.jpg


With i5, I know the H50 is yet to officially obtain a bracket for the 1156 socket, but im thinking it'll be done by the time i do order (~1month).

EDIT: Forgot to mention purposes of the rig!! Main use is gaming and music production - I like the i5 as its cheaper and i can save more on the mobo and ram for a sound card!

Any other suggestions will be received warmly :)

Cheers!
 
Associate
Joined
3 Sep 2009
Posts
419
Location
Nottingham
I'd probably say go for the i5 rig for now, maybe push for a 1366 socket i7 if you've got the cash.

Wait a little for all the dust to settle on dx11 gpu's and with luck we could be seeing 5870x2's and/or 5890's within the next 6 months, not to mention nVidia's new range which will unearth themselves in due time.

The 260 should be able to manage with most games that you throw at it for now, if you feel you can manage a couple of months I think you'd be wise to do so.

Hope this helps and good luck with the build!
 
Associate
Joined
25 Jun 2008
Posts
637
GPU all the way.

Modern games tend to be very gpu limited.

You have a very very fast cpu even at stock, give it a decent mobo it will see 4ghz under a decent cooler.

i5 is great and all but you wont see an improvment in frame rate if you go that route and stick with the 260.
 
Soldato
Joined
30 May 2009
Posts
4,620
Location
Maidenhead
go i5/i7 or AM3 mate, the 260 can hold its own for a little while longer. then wait for the price war to begin on the DX11 cards and they'll be more affordable then.

Agreed here. You will probably see more of an overall boost from an i5/i7 currently. Unless you KNOW your GPU is struggling.

I do not regret getting my i7 at all. And I've not even properly tested it in games.
 
Associate
Joined
11 Jan 2009
Posts
964
In games specifically the 5870 will definitely see a greater improvement, although if it was me personally id go for the i5/i7 seen as you have a gtx 260 which will run games good enough for now and then upgrade to a 58xx when prices start to drop.
 
Associate
Joined
18 Jun 2009
Posts
1,781
Location
Kent
Short term investment - upgrade the GPU. Pro, Immediate performnace gain. Con, paying launch pricing which will drop next year.

Long term - Invest in i5/i7, then GPU when prices fall. Pro, Provides upgrade path for future. Con, No huge increase in performance immediately.
 
Back
Top Bottom