What to upgrade?

[theodean]

Hi,
I've had my current system for about 4 years now, and it has come to the point where playing the latest games at a decent frame rate is no longer possible 🙁 .

My question to you, what do I need to upgrade? I am looking at getting a new graphics card (1050 ti looks good). Will I also need to upgrade my CPU? I am a student, so I don't have a lot of money, therefore I just want to spend as much as I need to be 1080p 60fps capable for the next few years.

Thanks

Current Specs:
|AMD FX-8320 |
CM HYPER 212 EVO |
ASUS M5A97 R2.0 |
G-SKILL RIPJAWS X 2133Mhz 8GB |
SAPPHIRE HD7870 GHZ OC |
WD BLUE 1TB |
OCZ ZS550W PSU |
ANTEC 300|

 

[bjornl]

If you can upgrade the CPU as well, they would be great. But a 1050ti will help you out a lot by itself.

 

[SkyNetRising]

HD 7870 is about the same performance as gtx 1050 ti. That would be pointless upgrade.

Upgrade your CPU first.
Either to AMD Ryzen or Intel i5 (if you go Intel 8gen, then even i3 will be a great upgrade).

 

[Sam Hain]

Depending on said-budget, a GTX 1060 would provide a more significant upgrade over the GTX 1050 Ti, as believe it or not it's not that much of an upgrade over the HD 7870, when one compares specs, benches and cost of the GPU. In otherwords, you may or may not see as much of an improvement as you are hoping for.

The GTX 1060 will not "bottleneck" your system when playing titles that are more GPU-centric. Titles that are more taxing on your CPU, the GPU upgrade will do little to improve performance numbers here.

 

[bjornl]

HD 7870 is about the same performance as gtx 1050 ti. That would be pointless upgrade.

Upgrade your CPU first.
Either to AMD Ryzen or Intel i5 (if you go Intel 8gen, then even i3 will be a great upgrade).

We had an older 7870 and a 1050ti we tried in my son's i7-3770 system and the 1050ti was 10% or more faster in the games he tried.

I agree with the other poster that a 1060 would be faster, but it would also be 50-100 more.

 

[SkyNetRising]

We had an older 7870 and a 1050ti we tried in my son's i7-3770 system and the 1050ti was 10% or more faster in the games he tried.

And do you think - paying $120 for 10% performance increase is a good upgrade?

 

[bjornl]

We had an older 7870 and a 1050ti we tried in my son's i7-3770 system and the 1050ti was 10% or more faster in the games he tried.

And do you think - paying $120 for 10% performance increase is a good upgrade?

It depends. If it takes you from stuttering/jerky to smooth then yes.