Upgrade motherboard/CPU or GPU first? Does Mantle matter right now?

[wer_dragan]

I'm buying a gaming computer from a friend. It's running a pair of Radeon HD 7870s in Crossfire and an FX 8150 CPU. I'm concerned that the CPU is going to be lagging behind in current and future games, and I'd like to swap out the mobo and get an i7 or xeon in there. However, I'm also aware of issues with multi-gpu and Crossfire in particular, and I prefer Nvidia anyway, so I'd really rather upgrade to a more powerful single card like a GTX 780. If I can afford both, I'll get both, but which would be the most beneficial?

Additionally, I've been reading that the upcoming Mantle API makes the most difference on the CPU front. Will Mantle-supported games keep a CPU like the 8150 relevant for longer?

Thanks so much for your time!

 

[legend001523]

I'd go for a i5 and a z97 board, unless your friend renders or stuff like that, a i5 will save you money and give you the same performance in games, in terms on mantle, even amd cards are still beaten by their nvidia equivalents in bf4, even though it's optimised for AMD, if you had the money, I'd suggest a ii5 4690k and a board to go with it, hen a 770 or 780

 

[wer_dragan]

If it was just for gaming I'd definitely go for the i5, but I do AV work as well so an i7 or Xeon fits my needs better.

 

[legend001523]

ahh okays, so i7 4790k, a board to go with, that will leave you with a 770

 

[SuperChil]

if you are planning to swap all those components you might as well build your own pc from scratch. because if you are getting a new motherboard you will also need a new copy of windows so thats

- New CPU
- New GPU
- New Motherboard
- New OS

which equals new computer

oh and an i5 is the best option handle any game as long as its paired with a capable GPU