Upgrade my HD4870 at the expense of a better CPU?

[tossum]

Hello,
I'm about to upgrade my dual core pentium system on a tight budget. Initially I was thinking of an i5 3350P to pair with my aging-but-still-decent HD4870. But now I'm considering whether to spend less on the CPU (with an i3 3220) and buy a new GPU.
Has anyone got any advice they can give me on whether its worth spending less on the CPU in order to upgrade from a 4870 to a 7770 or at most a GTX650ti? Or better to stick with my existing GPU and get the better CPU? In the hierarchy tables the 7770 is only one category higher than the 4870 (I know its only a loose generalisation though). Many thanks people.

 

[Norlag]

What are your pc's specs and what is your resolution? What kind of games do you play if any, and what settings are you expecting?

 

[9a3iqa]

If you are mainly going to use the PC for gaming the i3 + 7770 would be superior to the i5 + 4870. A processor is not as important as the GPU in gaming and the difference between the i5 and i3 will be minute whereas the 7770 is ahead of the 4870 performance wise (with the latest drivers I'm assuming its 30% faster than a 4870 not to mention it overclocks much higher).

 

[tossum]

Thanks people. I am going for the i3 with a 7850. Saw that juicy little number while checking out the 7770 prices on Dabs. £124 and I'm biting hard. Looking forward to putting the hardware together this weekend.
Absolutely dreading trying to fresh install win 8 from an upgrade disk though.....