Upgrade from GTX 260

[ls119]

I am currently looking into upgrading my current system in particular the graphics card so I can play current and upcoming games. I realise to upgrade to any modern processor or graphics card I will need a new motherboard. But I don't really want to have to fork out for a whole new system so anything I can do to upgrade my current system to allow for better use would be great.

My current system:

Motherboard: EVGA nForce 790i SLI FTW
CPU: Itel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz
GPU GeForce GTX 260 (single)
RAM: 5GB

Any advise you can offer would be much appreciated.

 

[aeras]

First of all, we need your budget. Second, you are going to be bottlenecking almost any modern graphics card. I think you should consider saving up and upgrade one thing now and upgrade something else later. You could do a nice AMD upgrade for 340 dollars. Fx 8350 + a 99fx mobo. I'm sorry for the bad news.

 

[Sanotal]

Yeah, A CPu upgrade will help you a lot. Like he said, most modern graphics cards will bottleneck, but if you want a little more performance, you could try to find another GTX 260 on ebay or something and SLI it with your current one.

 

[potpolima]

1. sell your gtx 260
2. buy a gtx 760 or hd7950
3. buy cpu/mobo/memory next year

 

[ls119]

Many thanks for your answers. My budget is fairly flexible although the less I spend the better. Ideally anything below £400-£500 for a decent upgrade to my system would be perfect. I was looking into getting an Itel I5 processor as they are fairly reasonable compared to the i7's. Also perhaps a GTX 760 as recommend in other posts. But with these in mind I would need a new mb and the cost could rack up pretty high.
Would this kind of upgrade be that beneficial with the high price considered or would it be worth upgrading my current board which is fairly limited. Leif

---------------------------

First of all, we need your budget. Second, you are going to be bottlenecking almost any modern graphics card. I think you should consider saving up and upgrade one thing now and upgrade something else later. You could do a nice AMD upgrade for 340 dollars. Fx 8350 + a 99fx mobo. I'm sorry for the bad news.

 

[Sanotal]

It would be very beneficial to get an i5, 760 and a new mobo, considering you have a core 2 quad and a 260.

 

[Avro Arrow]

It would be very beneficial to get an i5, 760 and a new mobo, considering you have a core 2 quad and a 260.

What does that have to do with anything? The CPU, video card and motherboard he has now has no bearing whatsoever on what he has next. Sounds like fake sage advice to me.

To the OP:
Your budget allows you to upgrade considerably but I won't be able to tell you what to get for another 2 hrs when I get home because I have the links to the UK sellers on my home computer, not my work computer. You should be able to get a full upgrade with your budget (CPU/GPU/MOBO). The Intel/nVidia route would be a bad idea because you do in fact have a limited budget. AMD/ATi will give you the most performance for your money. I will re-visit this thread when I get home from work to give you some direct recommendations.

 

[Sanotal]

What are you trying to say? I'm telling him that he will see a performance increase if he were to get the parts that were talked about. When did I say "You can only have this because your old motherboard etc" I'm literally just saying "This is better than this"

 

[Avro Arrow]

What are you trying to say? I'm telling him that he will see a performance increase if he were to get the parts that were talked about. When did I say "You can only have this because your old motherboard etc" I'm literally just saying "This is better than this"

Oh, the way it was worded, it sounded like you were saying that because he already had a Core2Quad and a GTX 260 that it was better to use Intel and nVidia. Believe it or not, I've heard crazier things from people. If that was not what you meant, I apologise.

Now to the OP:
You wanted it kept under £400-£500 so we'll do that. Generally, I've found that EclipseUK is the best source for computer components in the UK so I will use them. If you can find better prices on the same gear, by all means, go for it.
CPU: AMD FX-6300 (6-core, 3.5GHz) - £89.94 inc. VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=CPA-FX6300
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme4 - £120.60 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=MBA-990FX4
Video Card: AMD R9 280X (HD 7970) 3GB - £227.10 inc.VAT
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=GC-XR928X2
Total: £437.70 inc. VAT

That neatly fits into your budget and will make your computer an amazing gaming machine. I checked and the RAM used on the EVGA nForce 790i SLI FTW motherboard you already have is DDR3 so just transfer your RAM to the new motherboard. You'll be quite happy with the results as the R9-280X is the same card as the HD 7970 (that I have two of) and the GTX 260 just cannot compare to it. I know, I had two Radeon HD 4870s in crossfire (the HD 4870 and the GTX 260 ran about equal back in the day) for four years but one R9-280X is more powerful than even those two meaning that you will more than double your gaming performance with this setup. Before getting the motherboard and CPU however, I would recommend getting the card and seeing how it works with your existing setup. If it is satisfactory to you, I would just go with that. Your motherboard is made for gaming and I don't think that the Core2Quad will be a huge bottleneck to this card. It will be one, but if you get the results you want, despite the bottleneck, that is all that really matters isn't it? Cheers!

 

[Sanotal]

The core 2 quad is about the power of an Athlon X4 750K. It will prove to be a pretty big bottleneck with the R9 280X, I believe. You can check this video out if you want some guidance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIT9uLDjZcg. The R9 280X is somewhere between a 7870 and a 780, so just try to imagine a little bit. The system above wouldn't bottleneck the R9 280X at all, but if you do things that are CPU intensive like video rendering or things like that, I would suggest intel. If you wanted to go intel, you could do it for just a tad bit more money with the following setup (Going to use Amazon):
Sapphire Dual-X AMD Radeon R9 280X OC 3GB GDDR5 Graphics Card:http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FL8H57W/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A17AS5ETPMZ9A1
Asus Z87-K USB3.0 Motherboard: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CXL3ZQ0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
Intel Core i5 4670K Quad Core Retail CPU: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CO8TBOW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
Total: 516
You can also downgrade the processor to a 4570 to knock off about £30: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CV3E3WK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE