Is it worth upgrading?

[member12]

Hi, I'm thinking to upgrade my rig but not sure how much will it payoff.

Current specs: AMD Phenom II X4 955@3.5GHz (stock cooler, so It's at it's max for stable work)
ASUS M5A97 R2.0
4GB RAM (2x2GB)
AMD HD 7770
Corsair CX 430

So my goal is to be able to play new and upcoming games like Rise of Tomb Raider, Scalebound, Forza Horizon 3, Gears of War 4 etc. at 30 FPS(stable) and 1080p. Details, effects etc. are irrelevant and it's no problem for me to put it at lowest possible settings if needed.

With all that said I was thinking upgrading my graphics card to ASUS GTX 760 DC Mini 2GB, I have an offer for used one with a year long valid guarantee for 115$. And getting 4GB more RAM. Maybe even 8GB? Is this all compatible and will it meet my demands?

 

[Aladdad]

Honestly, GTX 760 is probably not going to be enough for the upcoming games. its probably going to be like the minimum requirements. Looking at your current system, you need more ram..a new CPU and a Graphics card.. so basically a whole New PC. CX430 won't handle the GTX 760.

 

[Random0541]

As everyone and their mother is saying as far as graphic cards go, wait. With the new 1070/1080 and AMD cards right around the corner, I can imagine cards like the 950 and 960 will take even more of a hit. I saw a deal for a 950 the other day for $100. I think that and a total of 8GB of RAM in your system will definitely be a great start.

 

[member12]

Thx for answers. Yeah as I was afraid, I would basically need to build my PC from scratch. I would really like to make minimum invesment since my main gaming machine is PS4. It wouldn't make sense for me to splash cash on new PC and then let it collect dust after 5-6 games. A 950 and 8GB sounds great if CX430 can support it and if it's able to deliver 1080p/30 FPS experience.

EDIT: I accidentally voted down for you response Random. I wanted to vote up and but something loaded, page jumped and I vote down. Sry 🙁 .

 

[ddferrari]

A 760 should be just fine for 1080p at 30fps, especially as you said you don't care so much about the eye candy. While Nvidia *recommends* a 500 watt PSU, they are undoubtedly playing it safe, and your CX 430 isn't far off of that anyway. The 760 is more powerful than the 950 (here's an in-depth review by Techpowerup to prove it: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_950_Gaming/) and the cheapest NEW 960 is $175 on Newegg. They will probably get go lower in the near future, but I doubt they'll get down to $115. Your call on that one.

As for ram, 4 GB should be enough for your goals- you can always add more after the fact.

 

[AJ Kenway]

The upcoming RX 470 or RX 460 might be worth the wait. Since you only have a 430w PSU, performance per watt is really important here. I suggest you wait on those cards before buying a used 760 that won't see any more performance improvement in future games, just like what happened to the 780, 770, 750, and 750ti. Same is true for the R7 and R9 200 series. While performance does still improve overtime, thanks to GCN, power consumption won't improve since it is a hardware flaw.