How to upgrade my current AMD Phenom II config?

[kodnevmisha]

I have a Phenom ii x3 black edition 720 running with 4 cores @3200 MHZ, Gigabyte MA785GT- UD3H motherboard, 4GB of DDR3 memory @1333 MHZ, Sapphire HD7850 1GB GDDR5 OC Dual-X

I am thinking whether I whould buy a GTX960 now instead of the 7850 or go for a motherboard, cpu and memory upgrade of this choice:

-Intel Core i5-4690k
-ASRock Z97 Pro4
-Kingston DDR-3 8GB /1866 HyperX Fury

Because probably even my 7850 is not utilized to its maximum capabilities within my current condig.. And my guess is, that a GTX960 could be a relevant buy as a new graphic card with a strong i5 cpu..

Am I right or what is your advice? Thanks in advance!

 

[Hawkshot]

this depends on what you're planning to do with the PC, if you are planning on playing high end games then GPU will be more important, but if you're looking for overall computer speed and better fps in CPU intensive games such as MOBA's and MMORPG's then you will want the CPU/mobo/Ram upgrade

 

[utroz]

Personally I would get the Intel system up an running and then get a new GPU (hopefully better than a 960 because 16nm GPUs should be out in the spring time). I don't think that putting a 960 in your current system will be a good investment.

 

[kodnevmisha]

this depends on what you're planning to do with the PC, if you are planning on playing high end games then GPU will be more important, but if you're looking for overall computer speed and better fps in CPU intensive games such as MOBA's and MMORPG's then you will want the CPU/mobo/Ram upgrade

Thanks for your answer! Is there any list out there on the net where I can check for relevant and popular game titles to see which are CPU and RAM intensive ones?

I would like to play the following games in the near future: SCII Legacy of the Void, Witcher 3, and maybe some MOBA's. probably these are in need of a powerful CPU and RAM combo..

 

[audie-tron25]

I definitely think upgrading your CPU should be your first priority. Your graphics card is plenty powerful for modern games and I would be assuming that your CPU would bottleneck it a bit in a few games, let alone a GTX 960. I previously had a Phenom ii x2 555 and upgrading my system to even an i3-4160 gave me heaps more performance out of my GTX 750ti.

 

[kodnevmisha]

Personally I would get the Intel system up an running and then get a new GPU (hopefully better than a 960 because 16nm GPUs should be out in the spring time). I don't think that putting a 960 in your current system will be a good investment.

I see. And for my pick as new CPU/MB/RAM combo is the previous generation of Intel HW a good one? I mean that the new skylake CPUs as far as I've seen, do not bring a substantial performance upgrade, but are more expensive.

 

[Hawkshot]

Personally I would get the Intel system up an running and then get a new GPU (hopefully better than a 960 because 16nm GPUs should be out in the spring time). I don't think that putting a 960 in your current system will be a good investment.

I see. And for my pick as new CPU/MB/RAM combo is the previous generation of Intel HW a good one? I mean that the new skylake CPUs as far as I've seen, do not bring a substantial performance upgrade, but are more expensive.

They are slightly more expensive for a 5-10% performance increase but they do give you access to DDR4 RAM which is nice, but in all fairness you can still go with Haswell CPU's as they are still very good price/performance CPU's but I honestly would say go for the newer chip anyway.

 

[Hawkshot]

this depends on what you're planning to do with the PC, if you are planning on playing high end games then GPU will be more important, but if you're looking for overall computer speed and better fps in CPU intensive games such as MOBA's and MMORPG's then you will want the CPU/mobo/Ram upgrade

Thanks for your answer! Is there any list out there on the net where I can check for relevant and popular game titles to see which are CPU and RAM intensive ones?

I would like to play the following games in the near future: SCII Legacy of the Void, Witcher 3, and maybe some MOBA's. probably these are in need of a powerful CPU and RAM combo..

no definitive list, but SC11 CPU mainly, Witcher 3 a bit of both ur current GPU + new cpu will be fine, all MOBA's run mainly on CPU very little Gpu strain, so with these games defo go for the CPU upgrade 100%

 

[kodnevmisha]

this depends on what you're planning to do with the PC, if you are planning on playing high end games then GPU will be more important, but if you're looking for overall computer speed and better fps in CPU intensive games such as MOBA's and MMORPG's then you will want the CPU/mobo/Ram upgrade

Thanks for your answer! Is there any list out there on the net where I can check for relevant and popular game titles to see which are CPU and RAM intensive ones?

I would like to play the following games in the near future: SCII Legacy of the Void, Witcher 3, and maybe some MOBA's. probably these are in need of a powerful CPU and RAM combo..

no definitive list, but SC11 CPU mainly, Witcher 3 a bit of both ur current GPU + new cpu will be fine, all MOBA's run mainly on CPU very little Gpu strain, so with these games defo go for the CPU upgrade 100%

Thanks again! And thank you all for your help. Actually this was my very first question here and I am very honored how quickly you all provided insight and help!

 

[Hawkshot]

I will always give the best advice I can as quickly as possible also welcome to the community