GPU Upgrade (Gaming)

[Jackie Chan 007]

I have an AMD Athlon X4 760k coupled with an HD 7790 2GB version (ASUS)
about 8gbs of ddr3
an ssd (not specific b/c don't think it matters)

Games run pretty well
I mainly play League of Legends and Overwatch
But i will sometimes play games like GTA V, etc.

The problem is that when it gets really intense (lots of things going on the screen)
the lag becomes a problem that really ruins gameplay experience

if you don't know the capability of the HD 7790 w/ x4 760k
OVERWATCH - 50-60 fps - lowest setting everything; anything higher than low it dips to <50fps
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS - 60+ fps highest settings - dips to 20-50 when lots of stuff going on

Im not putting a "limit" on budget
I want the best value - price per performance

i play on 1080p.

Ive seen the rx470 performance on youtube it looks promising
but idk if my CPU can handle it

there are too many GPUs out right now my head hurts
im only familiar with the GPUs 2 years ago lol

CORSAIR CS550M is my psu btw

 

[MnMWizard]

Simply put your CPU and GPU are about "equal", so if you only upgrade one you will suffer performance penalties from the other. Since those games would most likely benefit from a CPU upgrade I'd say upgrade your CPU if you had to pick one. This list is what I'd recommend:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9WbkzM
and if you have any money left over from that, use it for the GPU, which I could also help pick out if you'd tell me the budget for it.

 

[Finstar]

Both your cpu and gpu are pretty old
Here's a pretty good current gen budget setup:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($164.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($107.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($120.50 @ Jet)
Video Card: Sapphire - Radeon RX 570 4GB PULSE Video Card ($179.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $573.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-06 19:03 EDT-0400

 

[Jackie Chan 007]

Simply put your CPU and GPU are about "equal", so if you only upgrade one you will suffer performance penalties from the other. Since those games would most likely benefit from a CPU upgrade I'd say upgrade your CPU if you had to pick one. This list is what I'd recommend:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9WbkzM
and if you have any money left over from that, use it for the GPU, which I could also help pick out if you'd tell me the budget for it.

Is the RAM upgrade a necessity? If not, I can use that money to put into a GPU.

Both your cpu and gpu are pretty old
Here's a pretty good current gen budget setup:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($164.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($107.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($120.50 @ Jet)
Video Card: Sapphire - Radeon RX 570 4GB PULSE Video Card ($179.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $573.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-06 19:03 EDT-0400

I forgot to mention that I regretted buying an AMD CPU as the intel side just seemed more powerful with the base i3's
is AMD processor at the price that worth it if a little more adds to an i5?

 

[MnMWizard]

The new Ryzen CPUs have very good price to performance and are comparable or even better than intel CPUs in certain cases. I would actually say use the build that Finstar put, but instead of the 1400 get the 1600: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mV98TW/amd-ryzen-5-1600-32ghz-6-core-processor-yd1600bbaebox

The new RAM is necessary, new CPUs use ddr4 instead of ddr3.