Upgrading my PC.

[dakata1337]

Hello guys,

So i have a Fujitsu OEM pc with an i5 3470, 8GB RAM(4x2 1600Mhz) and two HDD's (250 and 160GB-7200RPM) and a GTX 1050 2GB. The PSU is a 280w, some unique form and cannot be upgraded easily.

It runs most of my games just fine but i've seen some issues in newer titles. I've got a budget of around 120-30$ and for that i can get:

i7 3770 - 123$
Crucial mx500 - 108$
GTX 1050 Ti - 146$
16GB(2x8) G.Skill Ram - 120$

So which would be the smartest and most efficient upgrade, that will give me the most noticeable difference in performance.

 

[jay32267]

I think the SSD will give you the most speed for the dollar.

Your CPU is plenty fast for a 1050 or a 1050 Ti.

8GB is OK.....maybe go to 16 down the road.

and a 1050 Ti isn't going to be much faster than a 1050

 

[dakata1337]

I'm currently playing AC: Origins and im getting 40-60 fps on low 720p which is fine for me, but after 10-15 minutes the cpu throttles and the game starts to lag. I think i will buy a cooler first. Right now it has some stock heatsink and the case has only 1 intake fan.

 

[jay32267]

Have you checked your temps?

Are you sure it's throttling?

If so....yes....I would jump on that quicker than anything.

I wasn't aware of the throttling.

 

[cryoburner]

It sounds like AC: Origin's performance tends to be greatly limited by the CPU, supposedly due to the inefficient DRM that it uses, so a CPU upgrade might help a bit. The per-core performance of the 3770 isn't actually that much faster than what you have though. That CPU's main benefit would be that it adds hyperthreading, though I don't know how much that would help this particular title. Something tells me that you might have difficulty getting 60fps with any CPU compatible with your existing motherboard and RAM in that game. Given the fact that your performance is likely currently more CPU-limited in that particular title, you could probably turn many graphics options up further without affecting your existing performance that much. Running the game at only 720p low is unlikely to help your frame rate much compared to 1080p at more moderate settings.

Honestly, I don't think any of those upgrades would provide a huge improvement to gaming performance though. The SSD would do next to nothing for frame rates, though it would improve load times of any games installed on it, along with general system responsiveness if you install Windows and your applications on there. And it does sound like you could use some more storage if you only have around 400GB now, on what appear to be older, slower drives.

The 1050 Ti might allow you to turn up graphics settings a bit higher in that game at the same frame rates, but I wouldn't expect much higher frame rates from it if the CPU is limiting performance more. Personally, I wouldn't bother upgrading from a 1050 unless the new card offered at least 1060-level performance. Your PSU's capacity might be a little low for one of those, but a new generation of lower-powered cards will likely be available by this winter, and it might be worth looking into what kind of performance those will have to offer in the sub-100 watt range.

As for the RAM, nearly all games can still get by well enough on 8GB, so long as you are not heavily multitasking with web-browsers and other things open at the same time. More RAM will be needed eventually, but it's priced relatively high at the moment. Plus, if you eventually decide to upgrade your CPU and motherboard to a faster, more recent option, you will need to replace it with DDR4 anyway.

 

[dakata1337]

I used MSI Afterburner and the CPU goes to 71-73 degrees max at 100%. The GPU is at 95-6% load and 60 degrees. Sometimes the CPU load goes all around the place like 80-90% and then it starts lagging. I think what im gonna do is wait to see if the GTX 2000 series has an equivalet of the 1050/1050Ti which requires no power connectors and get that. Also looked at what temps are ok for my CPU and 70 degrees under full load seems ok, so i will hold back on the cooler for now.

 

[dakata1337]

Also i was gonna build a new pc with a i5 8400 but the prices have doubled in my country. Also for AC: Origins i tested a lot of settings and i found 720p low to be the most stable.

 

[dakata1337]

Bought the SSD and im gonna buy a cooler.