Need help upgrading hardware for my pc.

[Kcesar68]

So I have owned my current pc for about 5 years now. I went to a recent gaming LAN event at my old college and felt rather inadequate at the other extremely impressive pc's people brought and figure, even though I might not have the funds just now, eventually I can probably save up a bit to improve my pc. Problem is, I have very little technical know-how. Usually just enough to trouble shoot something with the help of google and maybe Tom's hardware assistance. My pc was sorta custom-built but from a pc repair/sales place so it was new but not the best performance (got a new vid card for it right away in fact).

So, what would you guys need to know to help a newb upgrade it to something pretty respectable, and what out of those things, once I obtain the info, should I be looking to beef up? I'm looking for something that can get past the 60 fps barrier on most games on high settings of most games.

Current specs:
intel core i5-3350p cpu @ 3.10 ghz
RAM is 16.0 gb 64 bit op sys
nvidia geforce gtx 770
Someone asked before about the resolution but let's just i'm looking for somewhere in the middle like 1920? (Again I'm pretty ignorant on the matter, and not sure how important that would be)

As an example, I'm playing Vermintide 2 on medium and getting about 50-60 FPS in idle areas and high 30's to 50's on big fights. Not horrible and this game is on the newer side but I would like to make sure my pc gets an upgrade for other new releases in the near future.

 

[geofelt]

What is your budget?

Your pc is relatively well balanced now.

If you favor fast action shooters, you might want a stronger graphics card like a GTX1070.
If you favor multiplayer games, added threads from a i7-3770K might help.
Sims, mmo and strategy games want faster single thread speeds.

You need to find out which.
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Look at the recommended specs for your games to see where you need to do better.

I suspect you should be looking at essentially a new build.

 

[Kcesar68]

My budget is somewhat flexible atm, but I wasn't looking to get a whole new build not so much the cost (though that's a big factor) but because I myself don't have the know-how. Didn't put the pc together myself as I said. In fact the new vid card I had put in overheated quite a bit so I gotta stick a desk fan next to it for it to remain cool. I'm not sure what a thread is though... but the interesting thing is that I asked this on reddit as well to get more options and someone their said:

i7 3770 and a GTX 1060 would get you solid 60FPS on just about every game. Thats about $450 in upgrades though.

So i'm glad you mentioned that as well, seems that might be the way for me to go. And btw: I play a lot of different games. Not just one genre.

 

[geofelt]

Your GTX770 is an older(and hotter) gen card that typically needs 570w from a psu.
Here is a chart for other options:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
As you can see, a GTX1070 needs only 500w.
A GTX1070 is three tiers stronger on tom's gpu hierarchy chart.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
They recommend that a graphics card upgrade be at least three tiers higher or you may be disappointed if you do not see significant gains.
If budget is not a big issue, an upgrade to GTX1070ti might be good, or even more if your budget and psu will support it.
A graphics card upgrade is very easy, as you already know.
The new card can in the future be transferred to a new build which is likely to involve not only cpu but motherboard and ddr4 ram also.
See how you do with just a graphics card change first.

What is your case?
A good cooling case will have at least two 120/140mm front intakes.

 

[Kcesar68]

Your GTX770 is an older(and hotter) gen card that typically needs 570w from a psu.
Here is a chart for other options:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
As you can see, a GTX1070 needs only 500w.
A GTX1070 is three tiers stronger on tom's gpu hierarchy chart.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
They recommend that a graphics card upgrade be at least three tiers higher or you may be disappointed if you do not see significant gains.
If budget is not a big issue, an upgrade to GTX1070ti might be good, or even more if your budget and psu will support it.
A graphics card upgrade is very easy, as you already know.
The new card can in the future be transferred to a new build which is likely to involve not only cpu but motherboard and ddr4 ram also.
See how you do with just a graphics card change first.

What is your case?
A good cooling case will have at least two 120/140mm front intakes.

I think my power supply is 630 watts (and that's me switching it from an older pc that was broken too, the one that came with this was lower i think.) so it seems to be ok now but still overheating without the fan. I think a GTX 1070 would be enough, thanks. Don't want to go overboard especially if i can't trouble shoot it myself too well in case im not satisfied with it, but yeah installing it is no problem. Are there any other things i have to be aware of besides the power requirement?

And I don't think i have intake fans hence my problem... might be easier to just take a few pics of it to show. Will do so soon.