upgrade my graphics card or go intel with an I5 4690 or I7 4790.

[lazaruskeen]

As the topic states, i am looking to upgrade my gpu but am wondering if i would be better off jumping into intel 1150. I currently have a fx 6300 and m5a97 r2.0, budget would probably be 400 usd

 

[nekulturny]

Upgrade it for what purpose? And from what? Not nearly enough info to advise you properly on anything.

For gaming, a better GPU is almost always the solution, as a strong CPU is not going to make a weaker video card perform better. You don't mention what one you have now. What you feel your computer is not doing for you now that it could do better. Or are you running productivity software? Thats a CPU primarily. You can't just go "oh I'm looking to upgrade, I got 400 bucks" without explaining exactly what it is you need with that 400 bucks.

 

[anti-duck]

Currently having the same dilemma lazaruskeen I did order a GTX 970 but then cancelled it when I realised that I could get a Z97X-UD3H + i5 4690k for around £20 more.

What GPU do you have now?

 

[sincreator]

You will only need a GPU, and maybe a bit of an overclock on your current CPU. You will need adequate cooling and a decent power supply to do this. You allready have a good enough PSU, so just grab a coolermaster evo 212 cpu cooler. You should be able to hit 4.5ghz easily.

PS: Guys, hover over his profile pic to get his complete specs

 

[Warfyr]

Basically what nekul said.. I will say that unless your making a large leap in cpu its generally a very marginal difference between the amd - intels.. in real world gaming you seldom need to go beyond i5's power so normally upgrading your gpu will get you farther in the whole.. "what can my pc run on high settings' department.

Thats all I could say without more info tho.

Edit.. Yes go with better gpu.. that will kick your gaming in the nuts given a 400$ budget

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709&IsNodeId=1&srchInDesc=r9%20290

here is a bunch of r9 290s and this is just new egg so you might be able to find even better deals

 

[nekulturny]

You will only need a GPU, and maybe a bit of an overclock on your current CPU. You will need adequate cooling and a decent power supply to do this. You allready have a good enough PSU, so just grab a coolermaster evo 212 cpu cooler. You should be able to hit 4.5ghz easily.

PS: Guys, hover over his profile pic to get his complete specs

I haven't been active on Tom's in a couple years, I HATE this new (I guess its not so new by now) forum layout, I think its absolutely obnoxious, I click his profile picture, I don't see any information bout what GPU hes running, unless I'm blind.

 

[Warfyr]

HD6870

for you Nek

 

[nekulturny]

HD6870

for you Nek

Thank you, yea that was a decent card a couple years back, still decent depending on what you're doing with it.

 

[lazaruskeen]

I mainly play diablo 3 ros. My card plays my games well but its also a 4 year old card. i was thinking maybe a r9 280x. Is the evo 212 a good cpu cooler for overclocking?

 

[lazaruskeen]

Currently having the same dilemma lazaruskeen I did order a GTX 970 but then cancelled it when I realised that I could get a Z97X-UD3H + i5 4690k for around £20 more.

What GPU do you have now?

i currently have a HIS HD6870. I can buy another for 75. Would it be a good solution to crossfire?

 

[nekulturny]

I mainly play diablo 3 ros. My card plays my games well but its also a 4 year old card. i was thinking maybe a r9 280x. Is the evo 212 a good cpu cooler for overclocking?

Diablo 3, as with most MMORPGs aren't particularly resource intensive, they have to be highly scalable due to the amount of simultaneous players in a single server. Honestly, if thats the most demanding game you're playing, you don't really need anything at all.

As you can see here, even the lowest end CPUs perform within spitting distance of high end ones. When you're talking over 100 frames per second average, theres no visible difference. And the only reason the Athlons are falling short in my educated guess would be because they lack an L3 cache.

http://www.techspot.com/review/532-diablo-3-performance/page5.html

As for video cards--
You're still looking pretty good pulling 83FPS and these benches were done with better than 1080 resolution (1920x1200 vs 1920x1080)
http://www.techspot.com/review/532-diablo-3-performance/page3.html

 

[nekulturny]

And yes, the 212 is a very respectable CPU cooler. Its what I'd recommend for both a 600-700 dollar budget build and a 2000+ premium build just the same. They are a pain in the ass to install in my opinion however. I found my CoolerMaster Hyper N520 much more installer friendly.