Upgrade advice

Telecaster · 21 Mar 2013 at 15:07

Hi guys,

What should I upgrade first, CPU or gfx card? I currently have the basic i3 2100 and a MSI HD6850, I'd been quite happy until a recent monitor upgrade and now I think it struggles a bit at higher resolutions.

I play mainly world of tanks at the minute, it runs fine but I do notice things are running a bit flat out so wondering what will make the biggest difference to performance?

Other spec is:
Gigabyte Z77-D3H board
Patriot Viper Xtreme 16mb ram
Sata 3 SSD for OS and some games.

Cheers.

Lemin · 21 Mar 2013 at 16:05

Id get a 3570K first.

Telecaster · 21 Mar 2013 at 16:39

Indeed that was my thoughts, but I thought I'd ask here first because I'm not that experienced in these matters, this was my first proper build.

Doomedspeed · 21 Mar 2013 at 17:13

Depending on your monitor res it may be your VRAM that slowing your down..

I think a 7850 would really make a lot of difference, though whether the 2100 would limit it im not sure, don't think it will..

Telecaster · 21 Mar 2013 at 17:45

It's a Dell Ultra Sharp 24", it will do 1900x1200 but that was too much and it robbed too much FPS, I dropped it to 1080 and all is well but I have noticed that the GPU and CPU are both a bit more stressed than before.

Telecaster · 22 Mar 2013 at 16:29

So that's one opinion for each, anyone else anything to add?

Is there a way to determine which would be the better upgrade from the results of some sort of benchmark test?

I suppose my budget is the cost of an 3570k so around £170 ish.

dacads · 22 Mar 2013 at 16:34

An i5 3570k will allow the 6850 to really perform at its fullest. I'm hoping you have OCed the 6850 already?

honosuseri · 22 Mar 2013 at 16:58

Personally I think I would up the GPU. The 7850 or 7870 is a good boost anyway before you even do the "mandatory" overclock

Seeing as AMD are throwing in free games at the mo it makes even more sense as you get more for your cash. Have you tried overclocking your 6850 at all?

Tough call to make but I think I'd wait on the CPU and see what i5Ks come up after Haswells launch......some people have to have the latest kit and will flog off decent stuff

Telecaster · 22 Mar 2013 at 21:25

dacads said:
An i5 3570k will allow the 6850 to really perform at its fullest. I'm hoping you have OCed the 6850 already?

I've OC'd it slightly, any more and it causes boot problems/waking from sleep problems, TBH the small amount of OC doesn't really make a noticeable difference.

VIPER258 · 22 Mar 2013 at 23:39

I think I would get the 3570k.

Although the free games is tempting with a 7 series.