Update CPU or GPU.

[Vale]

Running a GTX 670 Windforce, stock. CPU is a I3 4130. Have about £140 to spend, so either looking at a new GPU (Radeon R9 380) or maybe a second hand 970.

Play Doom, MWO and Battlefield. Which of the 2 options would give me best performance?

1. Update CPU to an I5 and keep the 670.
2. Keep the I3 4130 and update GPU.

?

Thanks as always.

 

[razorpakk]

Go for a used 970, wouldn't invest on such an old platform with another CPU.

 

[AllBodies]

The R9 380 wouldn't be that much of an upgrade really, but the 970 would be a huge upgrade.

I'd probably go for the GPU rather than CPU. An i3 4130 isn't bad, and the new APIs (DX12, Vulkan) help with having a weaker CPU. Also Nvidia are much better with weaker CPUs than AMD because their drivers are more CPU-optimised.

 

[Phil87]

I agree if you can get a 2nd hand 970 at that price it would be a great upgrade. The CPU might be ok especially if your monitor only goes up to 60Hz. If you were trying to get over 100 FPS on a high refresh rate monitor I'd say you need a new CPU.

However it might be a good idea to upgrade the CPU in the future. The 4-series i5 and i7 are still very good and just barely slower than the latest CPUs, so a 2nd hand i7 could be another good upgrade and would bring your system bang up-to-date (maybe with a cheap RAM upgrade).

 

[Vale]

Thanks all, the other option I have is a stock 780 for £140 or £180 for a 780TI or £145 for a 290.

Choices choices.

 

[varkanoid]

970 is coolest quietest option if you can get one for £140 its a steal and will have masses of OC room. If you ever updated your motherboard/CPU it would be a good base for a new machine until you can afford to replace it.

 

[Poneros]

Pre-Maxwell are all very poor purchases now (in one simple image), Nvidia just left them behind and their AMD counterparts absolutely destroy them now. Even Maxwell is questionable looking forward but it's still new enough that it won't be too bad. A 970 would be the best, but otherwise the 290 is gonna do great.

 

[AllBodies]

Thanks all, the other option I have is a stock 780 for £140 or £180 for a 780TI or £145 for a 290.

Choices choices.

I'd still go with the 970 out of that lot.

You don't want a 7-series Nvidia card as their performance has really suffered in recent games.

Also although the 290 would be attractive, as mentioned AMD are not very good with weaker CPUs because their drivers aren't very well CPU-optimised.

An i3-4130 + 970 will certainly give more performance than a i3-4130 + 290. It would only get more complicated if you had a top i7 CPU.