Former HTPC/New Gaming PC

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1

I built a new HTPC a few months ago, and have since decided to use it as a console replacement.  I'm wanting to do an upgrade or two and I wanted your opinion on what I should do first.

I'm a big Battlefield fan and can't wait for BF4, but I will be satisfied with Medium/High settings on 720p if it will run at a consistent 60fps or higher.  BF3 seems to run pretty well on the current rig with those settings, but it occasionally drops to 40fps or so and there's a noticeable difference.

Here are the current specs:

  • Core i3-3220
  • Radeon HD7770 GHz Edition 1GB
  • Asus P8B75-M
  • 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz
  • Cougar RSB400 80 Plus Bronze Certified 400w PS

 

I've been pretty satisfied with the i3, and it handles all my other HTPC tasks just fine - XBMC, Sickbeard, Couchpotato, SabNZBD, etc.  However, I haven't seen any videos of yours mentioning it.

I was considering getting a GTX760 as an upgrade. I don't think the i3 will be bottlenecked by that GPU, but I'm not sure. Do you think the video card is the next logical step, or should I go for a bigger power supply and an i5 instead?  

You guys are awesome!  Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

2

you definitly need a new gpu for battlefield 4. I dont think a 760 is the next step, perhaps a 660 ti. The i3 is a dual core and sadly, they dont perform as well as quad cores in bf. You could go with a scaled down but all around better upgrade:

i5 3570k

GTX 650 ti boost 2gb superclocked $160

and a 550w psu.

If your on a budget i say go for just a gpu upgrade, its what needs it the most.

3

Get a 7870 and probably a quad core cpu. A 7870 will perform quite a bit better than a 650 ti

4

Get a 7950; they are about £20 more at the moment.

5

a 650 ti boost is not the same as a 650 ti. Its 30% faster and has a diffetent architecture. More like a 660 LE, but the 7870 would be faster.