PC upgrade suggestion?

[killer47985]

So my brother is not happy with his computer and has given me a 150$ budget. So right now he has:
Amd fx-4100
Deepcool Gabriel *so happy with this cooler*
A motherboard... I think it's acer
8 gb of ram, g.skill, ddr3 not gonna touch
A gtx 650 zotac 1gb
1 TB hard drive
500w evga power supply
6 120mm red led fans
A case...
With the 150$ I was thinking of getting:
1) fx-6300 and a 128gb ssd
2) gtx 750 ti 2gb and a 128gb ssd
3) just get a 500gb ssd
Honestly it's a fight for me between options 1&2, but what would give more performance?

 

[americanbrian]

I assume you mean gaming performance. I would always go for GPU and ssd generally. Also if you can tell me about the CPU cooling, you may well be able to OC the CPU to squeeze better performance there.

 

[ChumP]

The second option will definetly give better performance.

Also you can consider buying a GTX 950, but you won't be able to buy the SSD anymore.

MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 OC 2GB - 149.99$
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MSI-950G2O&c=CJ

 

[AKThomsen]

So my brother is not happy with his computer and has given me a 150$ budget. So right now he has:
Amd fx-4100
Deepcool Gabriel *so happy with this cooler*
A motherboard... I think it's acer
8 gb of ram, g.skill, ddr3 not gonna touch
A gtx 650 zotac 1gb
1 TB hard drive
500w evga power supply
6 120mm red led fans
A case...
With the 150$ I was thinking of getting:
1) fx-6300 and a 128gb ssd
2) gtx 750 ti 2gb and a 128gb ssd
3) just get a 500gb ssd
Honestly it's a fight for me between options 1&2, but what would give more performance?

It really depends on what you want to run and at what resolution. But the GPU will definitely make a difference! As far as the CPU goes, you might not see that much real world improvement. But that extra clock speed will do good. I would personally go with option two, since that is where you will see the biggest improvement in performance.

 

[-HH-]

There's 2 ways you can look at this.

Option 1 will have a better over all performance, including a small upgrade in gaming performance too.

Option 2 will bottleneck the GPU and still process really slowly.

IMO I'd take option 1 though if it's solely for gaming then option 2 may work SLIGHTLY better. IMO I'd do option 1 now and follow with a 950 at a later date.

 

[geofelt]

What kind of performance do you need?

If you need more performance for rendering or other multithreaded apps, then the extra cores of the FX-6300 would be good. But... you will need better than an average motherboard to support a fx-6.
Exactly what is the motherboard? CPU-Z will tell you.

2. If you want better everyday snappiness in desktop and browsing, then a ssd is a very good upgrade.

3. If you want better gaming performance then you need to find out if you are cpu limited(the FX-4100 has weak cores)
Or, if you need better graphics.

Here is how to find out:
------------------------------------------------------------
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 core. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option. set the number of processors to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.

If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

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.
-------------------------------------------------------------

If cpu core speed is the limiter, there is not much you can usefully do except try to overclock the FX-4100.
If graphics is the limiter, then a GTX750ti will be a modest boost, and a GTX950 would be better.

 

[Newbbuilder11]

So my brother is not happy with his computer and has given me a 150$ budget. So right now he has:
Amd fx-4100
Deepcool Gabriel *so happy with this cooler*
A motherboard... I think it's acer
8 gb of ram, g.skill, ddr3 not gonna touch
A gtx 650 zotac 1gb
1 TB hard drive
500w evga power supply
6 120mm red led fans
A case...
With the 150$ I was thinking of getting:
1) fx-6300 and a 128gb ssd
2) gtx 750 ti 2gb and a 128gb ssd
3) just get a 500gb ssd
Honestly it's a fight for me between options 1&2, but what would give more performance?

Option 1 seems to be the best option, the 4100 is a weak CPU so i would get a higher AMD processor.

 

[Chris Droste]

i have an FX4100 and a 7790 w/120GB SSD on my HTPC; currently i can play steam games, watch netflix/hulu, and do just about anything i need it to do with no problems. it's a lot of fun playing World of Warships on a 60" screen!

now, if the focus is just gaming, I'd move up to the 950 and call it a day. SSD only helps with load times. if there's no problem with games and it's just about stuff loading in general, get the larger SSD, as with a mechanical drive that will be the PC's largest bottleneck. a balanced upgrade would be adding the 120/128GB SSD and the 750Ti for sure though. so i think the question really boils down to what is making your bro unhappy about the machine.