Hi everyone Just after some advice, I'll list what my PC is currently and explain in more detail below. Budget: £300 Main uses of intended build: Gaming, internet, SKYPE, streaming videos. Parts required: unsure (see below) Previous build information (list details of parts): CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 955 MB: ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO GPU: MSI Twin Frozer 7870 OC RAM: Corsair Memory XMS3 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz PSU: Corsair 550 Storage: Crucial 256 SSD Case: Antec 300 Monitor resolution: 1920 x 1080 Storage requirements: n/a Will you be overclocking: Unlikely Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): Extra information about desired system: I'm looking to upgrade my current PC as I have noticed the motherboard and CPU are getting on a bit to run current games. I'm currently playing farcry 3 and it plays quite well FPS range from 25(only did this once) up to 60 but the average is between 29 - 45, more so at the lower end. Crysis 3 goes around 25 - 35 all on full settings. I made the assumption that is was my CPU holding things back a little but I did the test where I lowered the graphics in game and my FPS jumped right up, suggesting the CPU isn't actually the bottleneck. I was surprised as I thought my GPU was still quite good, perhaps I'm expecting too much to have everything on ULTRA. I was looking to get a i5 4690 with a Gigabyte Z97 Gaming 7, which might be OTT for what I want, as I doubt I'd OC and I doubt I'd have more than one GPU but I love the idea of a debug LED. I'm confident at actually building a PC, not so much if it goes wrong, so the debug LED would help me ALOT. I was looking at the MSI Gaming 5, slightly cheaper and with a debug LED but some people are quite scathing of MSI motherboards so its put me right off. Do say if there is a much cheaper motherboard for my needs though. Saying all that it seems my CPU isn't actually causing a problem? Only other things I notice is chrome can be quite laggy, a page can load but takes a few seconds for the links to become clickable and so on but over all my PC still runs okay for me. So any advice would be great, I don't upgrade often, my CPU must be about 6 years old.. But when I do I like to get reasonably decent stuff to future proof it and get a few years out of it. Thanks
Your current CPU and GPU are quite well matched for gaming. The 7870 is good for gaming at 1080p at modest detail settings (generally med/high) but not really ultra. You'd benefit from upgrading both CPU and GPU - upgrading just one would still hold you back really. I'm in a similar situation (i5 760 with a 660 GTX) and am saving up for a new i5 and 970 combo. If you want to get something now, you could aim for a more modest CPU (perhaps second hand Sandy/Ivy Bridge) plus an R280?
IMO you have quite a decent system. From what you have said I assume you have never overclocked your cpu? You may want to get a decent cooler and overclock it for the meantime. You may want to look at this method, seems quite simple https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE_j9j3i4j8 These Phenom processors in particular have a very high overclocking potential, I'd say try this out first, and if then you still aren't impressed, you only spent £20 or so on a cooler.
You could get an i3, motherboard and a 280x for just over £320 on scan.co.uk Alternatively you could keep you current 7870 and run it in crossfire with another.
Wouldn't get an i3 for gaming now. You could do as haris15 suggests, get a decent cooler and OC your current chip. Even if you decided to change board and chip, the cooler could be transferred to the new build.
Thanks for the replies. I missed off that I do actually have a good cooler, the name escapes me right now though. I tried following that link and after about 4 incremental increases my PC rebooted (the temp never went above 44. Maybe the Motherboard is holding it back? I think I might just dial down the settings for now, it seems a shame to replace my GPU when its actually the newest part and my CPU is really old but seems to hold up well. I might spend a bit extra and look at replacing the Motherboard and CPU next month and then upgrading the graphics card towards the end of the summer when I've saved up. Or i might just wait for the newer intel chips to come out, I'm not in a massive hurry after all. I do really appreciate your advice so far It's been such a long time since I've been able to play games and I'm really enjoying getting back into it
I would upgrade the Motherboard/cpu first, just like you have suggested. If you post a picture of the heatsink somebody could probably tell you what it is.
This makes a very good case for gaming on an i3: (summary) An i3 is a good option, but if you're going for longevity, an i5 is a better bet.
Very interesting read that James, but I can't help but feel that the i3 is going to struggle more and more to keep up with new games. It certainly performed better than I expected in their tests though.
