What should I upgrade in my PC?

[CalamityCascade]

Hello! My name is Jason. I have a budget of 300 dollars. Thank you!

CPU: AMD FX - 6300 Six Core Processor ~ 3.5GHz (No OC)
CPU Cooler: Stock one that comes with processor.
Graphics: 2048MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series (It's actually a 7870. I don't know why it says this.)
Ram: Ballistix Elite DDR3 8GB (2 x 4GB)
Motherboard: AMD Corporation 970A-D3
Storage: 931GB Seagate ST1000DM003-9YN162 ATA Device
Case: Apevia X-Plorer 2
PSU: Coolmax ZX-600 (600W)

 

[mcnumpty23]

how about a ssd drive?

and a decent psu?

and a cheap but better heatsink than the stock one?

 

[Guest]

I would say just spend an extra $30 and get a GTX 970. I guess you could invest in an SSD but if I was in your situation I'd just spend $330 dollars on the 970.

 

[mcnumpty23]

personally i wouldnt stick a $330 gpu on a coolmax psu

 

[shper]

well i think that your pc is great there is nothing to chang in it. but if you want to spend your money i think that you should upgrade your gpu to a gtx 760 or r9 270x these graphic cards or the best for your cpu and buy a cooler for your case too!! its a good way to ceep everything cool

 

[Guest]

how about a ssd drive?

and a decent psu?

and a cheap but better heatsink than the stock one?

I agree with the PSU, About the heatsink: if he isn't overcloking he doesn't need anything more than the stock cooler. Also an SSD is a luxury not a requirement.

 

[Guest]

personally i wouldnt stick a $330 gpu on a coolmax psu

In two or three months he can just spend another $70 on a better PSU.

 

[mcnumpty23]

far as i am concerned once you have used a ssd its not a luxury--you couldnt pay me to go back to a mechanical drive

a mechanical drive is the slowest component in your pc so upgrading that to a ssd makes perfect sense to me

 

[Guest]

far as i am concerned once you have used a ssd its not a luxury--you couldnt pay me to go back to a mechanical drive

a mechanical drive is the slowest component in your pc so upgrading that to a ssd makes perfect sense to me

I would rather have a 970 than an SSD that saves me a couple of seconds of load time.

 

[mcnumpty23]

far as i am concerned once you have used a ssd its not a luxury--you couldnt pay me to go back to a mechanical drive

a mechanical drive is the slowest component in your pc so upgrading that to a ssd makes perfect sense to me

I would rather have a 970 than an SSD that saves me a couple of seconds of load time.

not going to argue the point but its not just a couple of seconds load time its every time you turn it on and just about everything you do is faster--in the course of a week that adds up to quite a lot of time saved

over a year it would be a pretty large amount of time saved

 

[game junky]

I guess it depends on what you're doing on that PC:
-The 6300 is a proficient processor for gaming though there are definitely faster options on the market
-Your 7870 is a good budget card and adding another one would improve your overall GPU performance but the 2GB of video memory is pretty limiting and crossfire doesn't double your memory so you're not really addressing that problem with adding another 7870
-600W is more than enough for a single GPU unless you're using the most demanding cards on the market - I would prefer a Corsair in terms of quality, performance and reliability (Seasonic is the best still, but they're also more expensive). I would say replace your power supply down the road
-A solid state drive for your operating system is the most impressive day to day usage performance upgrade you can make, but it doesn't make a noticeable difference in multiplayer gaming so if your goal is a better gaming experience you can skip it. I would still recommend it down the road, makes your computer feel zippy by decreasing your boot time and your load times - I like the Samsung 850 Evo: good performance and reliability for not a huge price tag

If your goal is a better gaming experience, I would look at a selling your current card and upgrading - if you want to stick with your budget and AMD, you're looking at a R9 380. Go with a 4GB model like this one:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-r9380gaming4g

I personally prefer Nvidia - if you don't mind jumping ship, you're looking at a 970. I would recommend throwing in an extra $20-$30 to get one of the overclocked options. I have the 770 version of this card - it's a frickin animal:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp43975kr

 

[Guest]

far as i am concerned once you have used a ssd its not a luxury--you couldnt pay me to go back to a mechanical drive

a mechanical drive is the slowest component in your pc so upgrading that to a ssd makes perfect sense to me

I would rather have a 970 than an SSD that saves me a couple of seconds of load time.

not going to argue the point but its not just a couple of seconds load time its every time you turn it on and just about everything you do is faster--in the course of a week that adds up to quite a lot of time saved

over a year it would be a pretty large amount of time saved

Yes I understand your point. So considering this is a gaming PC which I think it is an SSD obviously won't affect performance, unless you consider how long it takes for your battlefield game to load performance. The 970 is one of the best price to performance cards out there and in my eyes I would take one 970 over something like a 270 or a 270x and a better PSU.

 

[mcnumpty23]

far as i am concerned once you have used a ssd its not a luxury--you couldnt pay me to go back to a mechanical drive

a mechanical drive is the slowest component in your pc so upgrading that to a ssd makes perfect sense to me

I would rather have a 970 than an SSD that saves me a couple of seconds of load time.

not going to argue the point but its not just a couple of seconds load time its every time you turn it on and just about everything you do is faster--in the course of a week that adds up to quite a lot of time saved

over a year it would be a pretty large amount of time saved

Yes I understand your point. So considering this is a gaming PC which I think it is an SSD obviously won't affect performance, unless you consider how long it takes for your battlefield game to load performance. The 970 is one of the best price to performance cards out there and in my eyes I would take one 970 over something like a 270 or a 270x and a better PSU.

i guess if the OP chimes in to say what they hope to improve by upgrading it would help

 

[Guest]

far as i am concerned once you have used a ssd its not a luxury--you couldnt pay me to go back to a mechanical drive

a mechanical drive is the slowest component in your pc so upgrading that to a ssd makes perfect sense to me

I would rather have a 970 than an SSD that saves me a couple of seconds of load time.

not going to argue the point but its not just a couple of seconds load time its every time you turn it on and just about everything you do is faster--in the course of a week that adds up to quite a lot of time saved

over a year it would be a pretty large amount of time saved

Yes I understand your point. So considering this is a gaming PC which I think it is an SSD obviously won't affect performance, unless you consider how long it takes for your battlefield game to load performance. The 970 is one of the best price to performance cards out there and in my eyes I would take one 970 over something like a 270 or a 270x and a better PSU.

i guess if the OP chimes in to say what they hope to improve by upgrading it would help

Agreed, it's kinda pointless arguing over what we would do if we were in his situation.

 

[CalamityCascade]

Hello everyone! Thank you for all of the feedback! Here a couple things to note: will my processor bottleneck the 970? If it does bottle neck what cpu should I upgrade to? My motherboard is AM3+ and I'm not comfortable with replacing that. Should I go for the 8350?

 

[Guest]

Hello everyone! Thank you for all of the feedback! Here a couple things to note: will my processor bottleneck the 970? If it does bottle neck what cpu should I upgrade to? My motherboard is AM3+ and I'm not comfortable with replacing that. Should I go for the 8350?

It won't bottleneck with the 970.

EDIT: So I read some forums and people are saying it sometimes bottlenecks but when it does it's by a very small amount. It all depends on the game.

 

[mcnumpty23]

if its gaming improvement you want then yes go with the gpu upgrade--though i still wouldnt be happy plugging an expensive gpu in that cheap psu

if its over all day to day improvement you want go for the ssd