What is my next component upgrade?

[netputty]

I installed Battlefield 4 the other day and came to the realization that my rig was no longer cutting it. Max resolution with "Low" across-the-board game settings still left me with brutal tearing.

A little searching puts a few of my components still in decent shape, so I'm wondering what you folks think the undergeared bit(s) might be.

Intel i7 920 @2.66
GeForce GTX 295
12 GB Corsair Vengence RAM
ASUS P6T Deluxe Mobo
OCZ Vertex 4 SSD
Win 7 64bit

Thanks!

 

[Computerchap]

Definitely the graphics card, that's the most important part of gaming and it's getting old. In the near future I would recommend getting a i5 4670k and a new motherboard, but that RAM is fine for gaming.

 

[netputty]

What I dont get then is this chart though: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html
Is it wrong, or is the 650 Ti tier of things just not that great?

 

[Computerchap]

The 650 Ti is a very entry level card, and won't play BF4 on ultra either. In fact, it can only play BF3 on high.

 

[chris2634]

Your cpu should be good for gaming for a little longer and everything else looks good so like computerchap said you should get a new graphics card. Your GTX 295 is good preformance wise but its an old card. The 650 Ti which your card is about equal to preformance wise should play battlefield on lower graphics settings but to play with high/ultra settings I recommend a 7870 or a 7950 if you have the money.

 

[netputty]

Thanks CC, Chris

770 sound like a good next step or am I outpacing my mobo/cpu at that point?

 

[chris2634]

The 770 sounds great and should play battlefield ultra pretty well. Your cpu/mobo should be good but your next upgrade should definelty be your cpu and motherboard to a i5 4670 or similar and a compatible motherboard.

 

[netputty]

My thought was i7 4770K. I'd like to get 4 years of gaming out of everything I buy.

Thanks again Chris!

 

[chris2634]

Well I don't know what the requirement for games will be when you decide to upgrade your CPU but right now i7's are overkill for gaming. The only thing i7's are really good for is video rendering and CPU intensive tasks that make use of hyperthreading. As of now there are few cases where hyperthreading helps in gaming.