Help me upgrade my computer!

[rhosmera]

Hey guys!

I'm pretty excited! I inherited a slightly old model of an ibuypower computer from a friend. I've been testing out how games play on it thus far and have had good results with games like Final Fantasy XIV and various other MMOs, capping out at about 30-45 fps with my current set up at the highest settings. When it comes to games like the new Assassin's Creed and Grand Theft Auto 5, my frame rate tends to take a nose dive down to an abysmal 10-15 when I crank everything up to full settings and try to play. I'm hoping that I can get some good advice on some upgrades to buy for my computer and how you chose them from the educated minds here.

My budget is fairly open, so feel free to make recommendations...and include some links to the parts too, if you wouldn't mind. If there's something I can do to make my computer process graphically intensive games much better than it does, please also advise me there! I have no idea what overclocking is.

Case: Raidmax Seiran II Gaming Case
Processor: AMD FX-8320 CPU (8x 3.50GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 PLUS -- AMD 970 w/ 2x PCI-E 2.0 x16, 2x USB 3.0
Memory: 8 GB [4 GB x2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module [AMD] - Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card: AMD Radeon R9 270 - 2GB - Single Card
Power Supply: 700 Watt - Standard 80 PLUS Bronze -
Processor Cooling: AVC K7127N 120mm Liquid CPU Cooler [AMD] - Standard 120mm Fan
Primary Hard Drive: 1 TB Hard Drive -- 32MB Cache, 7200RPM, 6.0Gb/s
Optical Drive24X Super Multi Internal DVD Rewriter Optical Drive - Black
Sound Card: 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Speaker System: Logitech S120 2.0 Speaker System
Network Card: Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)

Thank you for taking the time to help me if you do!

 

[zoltan.boese]

I would first snap in a 250GB SSD and a gtx 1060 6GB GPU for smooth 1080p gaming.

The FX-8320 might bottleneck in some use cases according to this chart https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q7lIYRK5T0ABLvAkgbM_2jJGvbhlep27mR-eRcCy4FA/edit#gid=0 but replacing that would necessitate other changes in the rig. Overclocking should help, start with reading the guide here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-overclocking-guide,4593.html

Recomendations:
Samsung 850 evo or Crucial MX500 SSD
MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X 6GB (V328-001R) graphics card

and have fun!

 

[guanyu210379]

That rig is not yet that bad.
Yes, FX8320 is already a huge bottleneck for some new AAA games (e.g. BF1) but it is still very useable.
Yup! SSD and GTX1060 6GB are your top priority...and..if it is still possible, add additional 8GB RAM too.

You can not do much upgrade with the rig main parts (proc, ram, mobo), not without a big overhaul.
Overclocking would help a bit, I would learn and try it.

 

[maxalge]

Hey guys!

I'm pretty excited! I inherited a slightly old model of an ibuypower computer from a friend. I've been testing out how games play on it thus far and have had good results with games like Final Fantasy XIV and various other MMOs, capping out at about 30-45 fps with my current set up at the highest settings. When it comes to games like the new Assassin's Creed and Grand Theft Auto 5, my frame rate tends to take a nose dive down to an abysmal 10-15 when I crank everything up to full settings and try to play. I'm hoping that I can get some good advice on some upgrades to buy for my computer and how you chose them from the educated minds here.

My budget is fairly open, so feel free to make recommendations...and include some links to the parts too, if you wouldn't mind. If there's something I can do to make my computer process graphically intensive games much better than it does, please also advise me there! I have no idea what overclocking is.

Case: Raidmax Seiran II Gaming Case
Processor: AMD FX-8320 CPU (8x 3.50GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 PLUS -- AMD 970 w/ 2x PCI-E 2.0 x16, 2x USB 3.0
Memory: 8 GB [4 GB x2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module [AMD] - Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card: AMD Radeon R9 270 - 2GB - Single Card
Power Supply: 700 Watt - Standard 80 PLUS Bronze -
Processor Cooling: AVC K7127N 120mm Liquid CPU Cooler [AMD] - Standard 120mm Fan
Primary Hard Drive: 1 TB Hard Drive -- 32MB Cache, 7200RPM, 6.0Gb/s
Optical Drive24X Super Multi Internal DVD Rewriter Optical Drive - Black
Sound Card: 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Speaker System: Logitech S120 2.0 Speaker System
Network Card: Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)

Thank you for taking the time to help me if you do!

there is really no point in upgrading this current setup

a better gpu would be bottlenecked by the old fx, so i suggest saving your money for a complete reuild

right now a i5 8400 setup is the sweet spot price/performance wise

with a i5 8600k/i7 8700k beign the pinnacle of performance for gaming

 

[gondo]

8GB works for now. Memory is so expensive it's a bad time to upgrade to 16GB just for the hell of it. 8GB will game just fine.

An SSD would definitely speed up your entire computer experience, and loading times for games, but would do little for actual FPS in games. An SSD is amazing and once you are used to it it's hard to go back. Windows is so quick and the computer boots so fast.

A graphics card would be best but they are very expensive now. I would hang onto your CPU for now. It's still quite capable. Wait for the next generation of CPUs to come out.

It's easy to choose a video card. Depending on your monitor just get a matching video card. An NVidia 1060 or an AMD RX580 would pair well with a 1080p 24" 144Hz monitor. NVidia if you want GSync or AMD if you go Freesync. This is the route I would take. Video card for sure.

 

[Bungle11]

forget the ssd unless loading times bother you. ssd's dont improve fps. Just get a gpu. 1060 6gb is the best option.