Upgrade CPU or GPU?

[NukaB]

Hi,

I'm a casual PC gamer. I have the money to upgrade to a state of the art system but not the need to. Anyway, I picked up a GTX 570HD a few months ago for £50/$65 or so, as I had some money spare. At the moment I have an A8-6600K APU. I can max out most games at 1080p including Crysis 2 but when it comes to titles like GTA V and Fallout my PC really struggles. I was just wondering, do I go down the route of:
Replacing the Mobo and APU with something like a AMD FX-8350
or
Upgrading the GTX 570 to a 580/670

 

[clarkjd]

According to this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
Upgrading the 570 to a 580/670 is more or less a lateral move; You might not NOTICE an improvement.
If you are going to upgrade both your motherboard and CPU, then I would suggest getting an Intel I5/I7 along with a compatible motherboard.

 

[TJ Hooker]

If you're going to be replacing your mobo and CPU, I would not get an AM3+ mobo or FX CPU, as it's a dead platform and really not that great for gaming. Unless you do something like video encoding that benefits from a high core count, I would go with a 6th gen Intel i3/i5.

 

[Jack_H14]

a cpu upgrade would be better long term. But likely more expensive. Even something like an i3-6100 would give you much better performance.

 

[RobCrezz]

CPU/mobo (go intel, preferably i5) first, then gpu later.

If you dont mind the used market, then a 3rd gen i5(3470/3570/3570k on a H77 or Z77 motherboard) can be a good buy, much more performance and you can reuse your existing ram.

 

[jerdle]

Both that APU and GPU are in need of replacement really. As others have said Intel is better at the moment. Since you seem to want to upgrade to a better AMD processor, they are releasing their next architecture in 4Q this year.

 

[Alan Caldwell]

Better switch to Intel(i5 6500 with a H110 mobo). What is your budget?

 

[NukaB]

Both that APU and GPU are in need of replacement really. As others have said Intel is better at the moment. Since you seem to want to upgrade to a better AMD processor, they are releasing their next architecture in 4Q this year.

Yeah, they're both pretty awful but do the job for me, at a low price. If my current socket allowed it, I'd go for a better AMD CPU, but since it doesn't, I was considering either Intel or AMD; whichever.

I'm not bothered about which brand; just the price really. If I really wanted to I could buy an i7 4770k and a GTX 780 but I really don't play games enough to warrant spending a quarter of my savings on something like that! I only have a budget of about £100/$150.

 

[NukaB]

Better switch to Intel(i5 6500 with a H110 mobo). What is your budget?

About £140/$180, max. It's not a lot but I really don't want to spend an awful much.

 

[Alan Caldwell]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H170 Pro4S ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $197.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-13 12:09 EDT-0400

 

[NukaB]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H170 Pro4S ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $197.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-13 12:09 EDT-0400

Would that be better than an i5 2500k?

 

[RobCrezz]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H170 Pro4S ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $197.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-13 12:09 EDT-0400

Would that be better than an i5 2500k?

At stock speeds, a bit. Overclocked the 2500k can be faster.