PC Upgrade - Graphics or Processor/Mobo/Ram

Avenem

Commendable
Mar 2, 2016
7
0
1,510
I'm looking to upgrade but can only do it spread out over a year or so.


Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: 1 month until first buy

Budget Range: €400 for graphics, €600 for mobo/processor/Mem

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, 3d Rendering, Movies

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: CPU/Mem/Mobo - Graphics Card

Do you need to buy OS: Maybe

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Komplett.ie, Dabs.ie Elara.ie (open to sudjestions)

Location: Ireland (Not Northern)

Parts Preferences: Would like to stick with nvidia for graphics card, for physx and rendering purposes. Usually buy Intel for Processor, but happy to swap to amd. Asus is my preffered brand for mobo/graphics.

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire:No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I like my system to run cool. Keeping graphics card under 65 is my happy place, so I usually buy the "DCII" Models of card.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: To stay on top of games graphic requirements.

Include a list of any parts you have already selected:

Intel Core i7-6700 3.40GHz 6th Gen Skylake
MSI H170A PC MATE Intel H170 S1151 DDR4
MSI GeForce GTX 970 1279MHz 4GB

These are just the standard I was looking for, happy to change anything in the list.

My Current system is an Intel i7 2600, Asus gtx770 dircetcuII 2gb and 12gb of ddr3 memory.

I won't be changing my display resolution for the foreseeable future, and want to be able to play at max settings on games (Witcher 3 and the like).

As I can't afford to do the upgrade in one go, My main question is which to upgrade first. The Motherboard/Ram/CPU or the Graphics Card. Any further advice is welcome, Thanks.
 
Your Ram should be fine 12gb is good for modern games
Your cpu looks like it can run games decently
Your graphics card looks like it could use some upgrading though, what exactly is your budget? I would recommend a 970 or up depending on your budget
 


The 970 is the one I had in mind. I'm not sure if going beyond that is beneficial for 1080p gaming. My budget is ~€400 for the graphics card, but if the processor is going to do me for another few years I can increase that.
 
To 970 from a GTX 770 is not such a huge bump in FPS, your GTX 770 is already a great card itself and very very good in 1080p gaming so you still have a very good long while till you want a "Real upgrade". If you want to upgrade right now, either get a gtx 980/980ti preferably the 980ti. If I were you, and I had that card, I wouldn't upgrade anything yet and keep saving money till it really needs an upgrade.
 
If I were to do that, upgrade to the 980ti, do you reckon my cpu is enough to carry me through to the next gen of processors?
 


No, your CPU is one of the finest CPUs if not, one of the strongest, you won't notice any bottlenecks. But for the love of god wait, be patient, you have an amazing rig, your GPU is still strong, and will stay for a long while till you need a "true upgrade". Be patient, save more money till you really need to "upgrade". I mean, look at this....http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=2707&gid2=1774&compare=geforce-gtx-970-asus-directcu-mini-oc-4gb-edition-vs-geforce-gtx-770-directcu-ii-2gb-oc-edition

http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=3141&gid2=1774&compare=geforce-gtx-980-ti-asus-directcu-iii-oc-strix-gaming-6gb-edition-vs-geforce-gtx-770-directcu-ii-2gb-oc-edition

If that GTX 770 would be overclocked, it would be a GTX 970, pretty pretty close to it.

Also, I was wondering, what's your motherboard?

EDIT 1: I would also like to know your PSU model please.
 


I've never felt comfortable overclocking, my skills come into question. I'd have thought the memory jump from 2gb to 4gb (or 3.5gb) would have been reason enough to upgrade.

My PSU is Cooler Master V650
and Mobo is ASUS P8P67 EVO (REV 3.0)
 


Overclocking GPUs are so easy, it's basically sliding a slider but carefully. Well, it's your choice, if you want to overclock GPUs, there are a lot of tutorials out there, it's too easy. I have nothing more to say, peace :)!

NOTE: I think you also need to upgrade your PSU to 750 watt or higher if you were to go with a 980 ti, but that';s just me and the game debate site. http://www.game-debate.com/hardware/index.php?gid=2935&graphics=GeForce%20GTX%20980%20Ti%206GB

http://www.game-debate.com/hardware/index.php?gid=3141&graphics=GeForce%20GTX%20980%20Ti%20Asus%20DirectCU%20III%20OC%20Strix%20Gaming%206GB%20Edition
 


I knew it was one of the stronger cpu's when I bought it, just didn't expect it to remain so for 5+ years, that's great news ^.^ I guess I might wait untill I can afford the price tag on the 980ti then, (or whatever it's better is when I can actually aford it). Many thanks for the input!