Should I Upgrade?

[Tiz68]

Ok so this is the system I have right now.

LG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS70 OEM - OEM

XFX TS Series P1550SXXB9 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Active PFC Power Supply

NZXT Beta Series CS-NT-BETA-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

ASUS M5A97 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

I was thinking about upgrading, but I really wanted some opinions from other more experienced people first. Do you think it is even worth upgrading right now? I built this system in 2011-2012 and it still runs most of my games fairly well. I have a few moments of lag and stuttering once in a while.

With steam link coming out soon, I will be streaming my games to my 46 inch tv at 1080p. Also I'd like to get Valve's VR set when it comes available. Will I be able to run things smoothly on this set up or should I look at upgrading?

And if you do think I should upgrade, can you give me some recommendations on the upgrades. I don't want to have to build a new pc from scratch, just update any of the components that are falling behind.

And as far as budget goes, I don't have an exact amount, but I'd like to keep it low to medium range. Something that won't break the bank, but will still keep me running things smoothly for the foreseeable future. Thanks in advance guys for all the help, I really appreciate it!

 

[barto]

That depends, how much do you want to spend?

There's room for improvement across the board. You could replace the CPU with an FX chip. You definitely could upgrade the GPU. Or if you want, start fresh.

 

[geofelt]

So long as it does the job, keep what you have.
The X4-955 is still a good processor. If you can, give it an overclock.
The FX series have more cores, but they are relatively slow.

At 1080P your 6870 is still decent, but many games, particularly fast action games would benefit from a faster graphics card. A GTX960 or R9-380 would be a decent upgrade.
If you wanted more, A GTX970 or GTX980 would run with your 550w psu. Higher performing R9 cards would need more power.

FWIW.
I will never again build without a ssd for the "C" drive. It makes everything you do much quicker.
120gb is minimum, it will hold the os and a handful of games. If you can go 240gb, better.

Samsung EVO is a good choice.
Intel 730 is OK too.

You did not mention the types of games you play; it makes a difference.
Strategy games, mmo and sims tend to be single threaded and cpu limited.
Fast action games tend to be more graphics dependent.

Here is my stock approach to the cpu vs. gpu upgrade question:
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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.
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[Tiz68]

Thanks geofelt that is really useful! I usually play FPS games and action games. Things like Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty, Half-Life, Portal, Arma 3, Mass Effect, Metro, Assassin's Creed, etc. Do you think my system as it stands would be able to handle the new Valve VR headsets that will be coming out soon?

 

[Tiz68]

If I were to pick between a GTX 970 or an R9 380, which would be better for my current CPU/MOBO set up? The R9 is much cheaper. Would the GTX 970 give me better performance though?

 

[geofelt]

If I were to pick between a GTX 970 or an R9 380, which would be better for my current CPU/MOBO set up? The R9 is much cheaper. Would the GTX 970 give me better performance though?

From a performance point of view, they are comparable.
That might argue for the R9-380.
But, the R9 cards are power hungry, and a R9-380 should have a 650w psu.
Here are the power requirements for other options:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

I would pick the GTX970 and keep your excellent xfx 550w psu.