Which upgrade would be best for my rig?

Aegis270

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Dec 1, 2015
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I recently bought Just Cause 3, and, as expected, my rig can barely run this. Any explosions start happening and it all gets far too "Cinematic" (Read: ~24 fps) for my tastes. I saw this coming, since my rig is scrapping the bottom of the minimum spec requirements, and it seems this game is unforgiving even without barely meeting the requirements.

Well, I've been meaning to upgrade my rig for some time now, and now seems as good a time as any to do it. I'm just fairly new at upgrading a build, however, and need some expert opinions on this. My current specs are:

GTX 680 (2GB) (EDIT: I could have sworn I had a 3GB 680, but I must have been mistaken)
i-5 3470 @ 3.4 Ghz (In an LGA 1155 socket)
8 GB RAM
Corsair VS 550W Power Supply
DH77EB Micro ATX Motherboard
3DMark: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9526052?

Unfortunately, money is a bit tight at the moment, and I can only afford to do one of the following options. I'd like an opinion on what would give me the most bang for my buck, and what would be most future-proof

My options are:
1.Upgrade my GPU to a R9 390. From my research, this is currently the best GPU on the market for my needs. Costs a fair bit, but seemingly very future proof. Plus, GPU upgrades seem to work best in terms of bang-to-buck rates for most games. This is the one I am most leaning towards.

2.Upgrade my CPU and Motherboard. I'm considering this mainly due to the lack of options my current socket type gives me for upgrading. It will likely by to some kind of LGA 1151 socket type in expectation of upcoming Skylake CPUs, and getting the i5 6500 @ 3.2ghz for right now, but I'm open to suggestions about which combo CPU/Motherboard would be best overall. This could either be more expensive than the GPU upgrade or cheaper, depending on which combo is best. I'm fairly clueless about this sort of thing, I've only upgraded a GPU previously (Which seems more obvious which the best one is)

3. Upgrade my CPU without changing my motherboard. Most likely to an i-7 3770. Overall the cheapest option, however it's not very future proof as it seems the days of 1155 socket type CPUs are past us. Still, would likely help run this and other games for a while at least. This is the option I like the least, since it only postpones the upgrade to my GPU+Motherboard, and I would have spent money on a CPU I can no longer use when that day comes.

Keep in mind that I only have about $650 NZD to spend here, so I can't get too crazy with my components. Nevertheless, I would like some good quality stuff that would last me quite a while if possible. If you think I would be best served to wait a month or 2 for something you know about, feel free to let me know. I am just a bit anxious to get into Just Cause 3.

Thanks for the help.

(Note: I didn't know quite where to put this, since it's about GPUs/CPUs/Motherboards. If any moderators think this is the wrong place, feel free to move it)
 


I suspected that was likely the case. However, it look from my research that the R9 390 is a better overall GPU than the 970. It's got double the VRAM, and benchmarks as good or better than the 970 at all resolutions (Even if only a little). Is there any compelling reason to pick the 970 over the 390?
 
Dude a GPU upgrade will help you with better performance now, but the cpu and mobo is only getting older. That 680 is not a bad card and if you slap another one on there later on then you should be good for another year or so. I`d say go for the i5 6600 non k and a Z series board. Granted you will have to change the ram also but it`s a much more future proof build and then when the new Nvidia or AMD Gpu`s come along later then you will have the system that can do the job fine.

You will not have such a huge jump in performance as with the GPU upgrade but it`s in my opinion the best of the 3 choices for now. And the little performance jump you will get will be enough for a while seeing as JC 3 is a PC rapist by nature, you will not have that problem with most of the newer titles. JC 3 is special that way.
 


I`m a Nvidia fanboy most of the time and I`d say no. The R9 390 is the better card in this case.
 
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Generaly the 390 is better than 970 but 970 is more faster and can be overclocked more than the 390.
 


Thanks for the reply. I have a few questions though:

1. The only place I can find a 680 to SLI with is second hand, and I'm fairly iffy about buying second hand components for my rig. It's also a different manufacturer, if that makes a difference (EVGA VS ASUS), and my ASUS one is huge as it is, so that would probably limit my options. Does this still stand as my best bet even if I can't SLI it together?

2. Do you have a specific motherboard you'd recommend? Like I said, I'm very clueless with this sort of thing, and I'm worried I'm going to get the wrong part somehow. I didn't even realize DDR3 won't work with a Z series board until you brought it up.

3. If I do upgrade my Motherboard to a Z series, is there a set of DDR4 RAM you would recommend? Doesn't seem like it's as simple as buying 2 sticks of 4GB for $20 a stick and slapping it in there anymore. Is 2x4GBs still a good total, or is now the time to step up to 2x8GBs?

 
1. Buying second hand computer components is not bad only if we test the component first or some evidence that the card work.
You can do SLI two different manufacturer but is not the best think you know.

2.
MB: MSI Z77 MPOWER ATX &#9733&#9733&#9733&#9733&#9733
MB: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 &#9733&#9733&#9733&#9733&#9733

3. There is no DDR4 for your system.
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 C9 &#9733&#9733&#9733&#9733&#9734
 


Whoops, my mistake, I meant a Corsair VS 550W power supply. Edited now. Hope that's still enough to support any potential upgrades.

Drivers aren't released yet for Just Cause 3. Even with them, I'm probably going to have to turn off most effects to get a half decent frame rate, which I'm not keen on. Better to update now before it becomes a problem with other games.

Would it really make that big a deal? I know my motherboard isn't exactly top of the line, and I doubt it's gotten much in the way of support for gaming. Nevertheless, I will update my BIOS now.
 


Here you are:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9526052?
Seems that I have a 2GB 680, instead of a 3GB one. I could have sworn I got a 3GB one, but I must be remembering wrong.

I was hoping that I wouldn't need to upgrade my power supply on top of everything else, but I've learned the hard way what happens when you skimp on the power supply.