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GPU upgrade or CPU upgrade. What would fit my needs better?

L_Cooper91

L_Cooper91

L_Cooper91

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Joined
5 Feb 2015
Posts
3
Hey all, I've been contemplating upgrading my gaming PC for the past month or so now and would like your opinions on what would be a better fit for my needs as a PC gamer.

I mainly play FPS games and the occasional MMORPG and RTS. I dont do streaming or any video editing. I currently run my games at 1080p and don't plan on upgrading my monitor for another year at the earliest, so I was thinking about upgrading to the KFA2 GTX 980 SOC that way when it comes to upgrading my monitor it can still perform at 1440p. But for certain games like DayZ I've heard it would be better to just upgrade my CPU. Can anyone suggest what would be better? GPU or CPU? Any help is much appreciated.

These are my PC specs; Intel i5 4670K @3.4GHz, Gigabyte Z87N-Wifi, 8Gb 1600MHz C10 HyperX Ram, KFA2 GTX 760 EX OC and a Corsair CX600M PSU all in a BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX case.
 
dus dayz use extra threads? i doubt it
just overclock
trying to future proof gfx cards is expensive tho nice to have obv! :)
 
Overclock that cpu man, even if its just a little. GPU is a little weak. Upgrade that if you want to, should get some solid gains even without having to go to the expense of a 980. New AMD GPUs are out soonish (month or two I think) looks like they might be pretty good so might be worth seeing what they are about, but if you wanna upgrade now, then you can get a solid upgrade from the 760 in the form of a 970 / 290.

I wouldnt even consider upgradding the cpu.

EDIT - if everything is running fine now, and you are just upgrading to make sure that you are ok for a future monitor upgrade, then I highly suggest you save the money and upgrade the GPU at the same time as the monitor, as things can change quickly in the GPU market.
 
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DayZ and MMOs are really CPU heavy! You will need to overclock that CPU abit from its 3.4Ghz(3.8Ghz Boost) To something bit more respectable and achievable like 4.2Ghz! or 4.4Ghz if you can reach it!

So if these games are where you want the graphical boosts most atleast get overclocking first lol!
 
Worth adding that as far as I know, the games you list will NOT benifit from MOAR CORES, so there is little point in spending a ton of money on a CPU upgrade when you can get more of a boost for free (or for the cost of a good cpu cooler) and overclocking that cpu a little. as mentioned 4.2GHz would be a perfectly achivable and super safe clock to aim to start with at least.
 
Thanks for all the info guys =) I have been toying with the idea of watercooling my CPU even if it might be a little bit of a tight fit inside my case, at least then I can get a good overclock on it over my current heat sink cooler. As for the GPU im still torn about an upgrade but I'll hold off and wait and see what effect an overclock on the CPU can have.
 
L_Cooper91 said:
Thanks for all the info guys =) I have been toying with the idea of watercooling my CPU even if it might be a little bit of a tight fit inside my case, at least then I can get a good overclock on it over my current heat sink cooler. As for the GPU im still torn about an upgrade but I'll hold off and wait and see what effect an overclock on the CPU can have.
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What cooler do you have now? If its the stock intel cooler then a jump from that to an above average aftermarket air cooler should be enough to satisfy your noob overclocking adventures I would think. I presume you mean a prebuilt "all in one" watercooling setup, if so then know that they arent really any better than a good air cooling setup.
 
new boy said:
What cooler do you have now? If its the stock intel cooler then a jump from that to an above average aftermarket air cooler should be enough to satisfy your noob overclocking adventures I would think. I presume you mean a prebuilt "all in one" watercooling setup, if so then know that they arent really any better than a good air cooling setup.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the cooler is at the moment, but considering I bought the system built to order from OCUK it may well be the stock cooler on it.

Thanks for the input.
 
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