Should I get a new CPU or GPU?

[Badger_dude]

So I have an AMD Athlon X4 760K along with a Sapphire Radeon R7 260X. In a while I may be able to afford getting a new component, but I'm not sure if it should be a GTX 970 or i5 4690k along with a compatible motherboard.
I plan on doing a bit of emulation, which really hasn't worked the best (PS2) on my Athlon (which I assume is the problem). But I also plan on playing upcoming games like Fallout 4 and No Man's Sky. What do you guys think? New CPU or GPU?

 

[SaltBucket]

What games do you plan to play?

 

[Badger_dude]

I already said, games like Fallout 4 and No Man's Sky. I plan on getting into Guild Wars 2 and The Witcher 3 later. If you meant on emulators, I mean games like Metal Gear Solid 3, Metroid Prime, etc.

 

[ONKI]

GTX 970 will bottleneck ur CPU.

i would suggest u to go for the CPU first and then think abt upgrading GPU.

 

[SaltBucket]

If you are planning on playing those titles you will for sure need to upgrade both.

Hope I helped~
SaltBucket

 

[Badger_dude]

I don't really have to money to upgrade both in the near future

 

[ONKI]

CPU first my friend.

 

[SaltBucket]

As ONKI said, if you can't do both, I would upgrade to an i5, I have an i5 4570, and I love it.

Hope I helped~
SaltBucket

 

[ONKI]

As ONKI said, if you can't do both, I would upgrade to an i5, I have an i5 4570, and I love it.

Hope I helped~
SaltBucket

an intel CPU will cost him again for the mobo....

 

[Karadjgne]

I'd do the gpu first. Games vary, some are more cpu dependent than others, and single or multi-player can make a difference. However, a move to a gtx970 from an AMD r7 260x will have an impact on every game. It will be bottlenecked by the 760k,but that's just going to be the gpu not being able to run 100%. Compared to the difference the card will make, its a negligible downside.

On the upside, you'll need a mobo and a cpu to switch to Intel, both of which can be bought separately or as a combo, which will make acquisition easier on the wallet and can be spread over time, whereas pitching out the single large price later for a 970 maybe somewhat daunting.

Gpu first.

 

[Badger_dude]

I'd do the gpu first. Games vary, some are more cpu dependent than others, and single or multi-player can make a difference. However, a move to a gtx970 from an AMD r7 260x will have an impact on every game. It will be bottlenecked by the 760k,but that's just going to be the gpu not being able to run 100%. Compared to the difference the card will make, its a negligible downside.

On the upside, you'll need a mobo and a cpu to switch to Intel, both of which can be bought separately or as a combo, which will make acquisition easier on the wallet and can be spread over time, whereas pitching out the single large price later for a 970 maybe somewhat daunting.

Gpu first.

Thank you for the response, Karadjgne. However, I have one more question. If I were to focus heavily on playing on emulators, would you recommend a new processor instead? Or is that also a lot of work on the GPU as well?

 

[Karadjgne]

By emulators, you mean what?

 

[Badger_dude]

By emulators, you mean what?

By emulators I mean PS2, Dreamcast, GameCube, and Xbox games which don't run very well on my current rig, and i'm not sure if that's due more to the processor or graphics card.

 

[SaltBucket]

Processor would be the main factor for emulators!

Hope I helped~
SaltBucket

 

[Karadjgne]

I believe the ps4 uses an 8 core amd processer running at 1.8 GHz. Considering that a majority of those games don't use all 8 cores, I think you should be ok with both cpu and gpu.