GPU or CPU upgrade

[Andrew_007]

i know this has been asked before, but i would like an opinion on my rig.... GPU or CPU upgrade?

HD 7850 sapphire
i5 760
8 gig RAM corsair vengeance
128gig SSD

a friend told me my CPU will bottleneck my gpu
was thinking about upgrading my GPU to a 1060 / 1070
recommendations for mobo + cpu welcome

Thanks!

 

[Rapajez]

What's your budget right now? Assuming this is primarily for gaming?

You'll see an immediate improvement bumping up your GPU to a 1060 or 1070. Especially at higher resolutions. It will absolutely be bottle-necked (depending on the specific game and resolution) by your CPU, but an improvement nontheless.

A CPU update will get you to the latest platforms, but would require the CPU, Mobo, and DDR4 RAM. While it will speed up some tasks (especially if you pick up a new SSD), you won't see much of an improvement gaming, paired with a HD 7850.

Going forward, most AAA games are starting to require a semi-recent quad-core CPU. If you start with the GPU update, you'll probably want to turn down some of the effects in games that depend on the CPU. Things like Physics, Reflections, Smoke, Particle Effects, etc...

The Built in NVIDIA GeForce Experience Utility should help you set some of those settings.

 

[Andrew_007]

What's your budget right now? Assuming this is primarily for gaming?

My budget is $450 - 500 and using pc for gaming only

 

[Rapajez]

I'd do one of the following.

1. Grab a GTX 1070 for $400, and reap some immediate benefits while you save up for a CPU/Mobo/RAM upgrade. (recommended)

2. Upgrade the CPU/Mobo/RAM. Pick up a cheaper (but still better) video card, re-use some parts, and build something like the following:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($190.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($103.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($93.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($144.99 @ B&H)
Total: $533.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-15 10:35 EST-0500

Note: If you upgrade the mobo, you'll probably have to purchase a new version of windows for another $100.

If your case will fit "microATX" or "uATX" boards, you can save $40 with this mobo: http://pcpartpicker.com/product/rLs8TW/msi-motherboard-h110mgaming

 

[Andrew_007]

I'd do one of the following.

1. Grab a GTX 1070 for $400, and reap some immediate benefits while you save up for a CPU/Mobo/RAM upgrade. (recommended)

Awesome, thanks for your help!