Upgrade CPU or GPU?

[Chris182aa]

So my current set-up is a AMD Athlon x4 860k and a GTX 750 Ti which is starting to show that it cannot play newer titles. So I already got a GTX 1060 (I am returning it) and did not see a huge performance increase at all (Mostly decrease if anything) So I was wondering if I should buy another gtx 1060 (That was my plan) and wait for zen cpus to come out. Or go to Intel and buy something like a i3 6100 or i5 6500 and buy a better GPU next year. I'm in a weird position because GTX 20 series with improved vram I guess is to come out in the summer as well as AMD Zen, So I'm wondering which I should be upgrading to.

 

[TheloniousBreskin]

You've got quite and old processor... I'm not surprised there was no difference with the 1060, chances are your CPU won't be able to provide it with instructions fast enough. Definitely upgrade it first. However, don't invest in anything AM3+ right now, wait for Zen. I'm personally a fan of Intel--I think you get what you pay for in a huge way. Check out the i5 6600, and use a motherboard with a B series chipset.

 

[Karadjgne]

Zen, purportedly, will be @40% increase to IPC which will basically bring the FX upto around Haswell ability. It'll also require a new mobo and ddr4 ram. Unless amd introduces the cpus at a seriously low price, in effect what you'll purchase is a Haswell pc at skylake prices. Personally, I'd jump on the Intel now. Waiting 6 more months to build a pc of the same ability as one that was out a couple years ago is just idiocy.

 

[Chris182aa]

You've got quite and old processor... I'm not surprised there was no difference with the 1060, chances are your CPU won't be able to provide it with instructions fast enough. Definitely upgrade it first. However, don't invest in anything AM3+ right now, wait for Zen. I'm personally a fan of Intel--I think you get what you pay for in a huge way. Check out the i5 6600, and use a motherboard with a B series chipset.

Zen, purportedly, will be @40% increase to IPC which will basically bring the FX upto around Haswell ability. It'll also require a new mobo and ddr4 ram. Unless amd introduces the cpus at a seriously low price, in effect what you'll purchase is a Haswell pc at skylake prices. Personally, I'd jump on the Intel now. Waiting 6 more months to build a pc of the same ability as one that was out a couple years ago is just idiocy.

Apparently even the quad core with eight threads will be starting at around $100 and going up per more cores. I think I will buy a new GPU now and get a CPU, MOBO, and New RAM next year...Because Id rather not buy a i5 6500 for $200 if something with better performance will be $100 soon.

 

[nirdinur]

I am in a similar position. I never overclocked before but maybe it's a good idea to upgrade the cooling and overclock my aging pc, get better performance for the next few months and than replace my system and use the new cooling to auto overclock a Zen CPU. That way If I screw up anything It's old gear and I don't waste the warranty. Of course if you already overclock or don't want to overclock it's irrelevant.

 

[Chris182aa]

I am in a similar position. I never overclocked before but maybe it's a good idea to upgrade the cooling and overclock my aging pc, get better performance for the next few months and than replace my system and use the new cooling to auto overclock a Zen CPU. That way If I screw up anything It's old gear and I don't waste the warranty. Of course if you already overclock or don't want to overclock it's irrelevant.

Hey. Yeah I had turbo mode on for a while on my system that made it go up to 4 Ghz but now I have adjusted the motherboard setting to allow up to 4.2 GHz and I also use AMD Overdrive to make it run at maximum power while I play my more demanding games if needed (Default clock is 3.7)