I'm looking to get more FPS, as any other pc gamer is looking for. And future proof it for a bit. I'm pretty satisfied with my GPU, and I THINK my CPU is becoming a bit old. Not quite sure as it's possible I just FEEL like I need to upgrade but in reality it's not necessary.
Just looking for any advice, and all advice is very welcome.
Your Pc is still very strong if you want to upgrade something i would buy a new cpu and mobo. A Xeon e3 1231 would be great for you and somethimg like a asrock h97 pro4 as a mobo.
Dear Lord NO... For gaming the 2 frames advantage will be thankful for all the money he will throw for this CPU... And H97 mobo? No... Not worth it. The PC is good for the next let's say 2 years... No need to upgrade now, especially when DDR3 is going out, and DDR4 is coming in.
If you feel the need, and i really mean you FEEL the need for more CPU or GPU power - wait for 300 radeon and DDR4 intel CPUs and then upgrade. Now buying a new mobo and CPU for DDR3 is pointless.
You didn't say anything about cooling, but if you don't have a CPU cooler, check Zalman LQ315... 70$ and great performance.
I totally agree with you that his pc is still very strong, and just for gaming it dosent makes too much sense to upgrade.
But if he wants to upgrade i would upgrade the cpu as its the slowest part in his pc.
For me it dosent make any sense to wait for ddr4 ,as it wont make a huge difference,and the intel parts wont experince a huge performance jump as ther isnt any pressure from amd in the High end market
If you have the money upgrading the cpu to a 8350 or even a 9590 since they have come down in price so much recently would give a performance boost, everything else is fine for gaming.
As he dosent want to overclock i think the 4690k isnt a good idea,And a xeon with a h97 board will be a bit faster and cheaper http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pynqP6
But also a FX8350 will bottleneck a highend gpu, in cpu bound games @1080p
THats why i recommend an haswell core i5, or that Xeon1231V3 that @miro24 recommends,
Intel haswell cpu´s have much better single threaded performance, and better ipc. (they have simply faster cores) Allot of games still bennefit from this especialy on 1080p.
No matter how high you would overclock a FX8350, they will still fall behind an haswell i5 in gaming. especialy in cpu bound games like MMO's RTS, RPG´s and what not.
So it depends abit on the games you are playing, But a haswell i5 is simply the better allrounder for pure gaming.
FX cpu´s are simply starting to show their age, and i say this as a FX8350 owner. They do not perform that bad, but they simply cannot keep up with current haswell cpu´s in cpu bound games, or cpu + gpu bound gaming scenario´s like heavy multiplayer.
Wow, there was really not much of a difference at all.
Hmm, I'm starting to think I should go with intel though, just because I'll see a better fps increase in the games I actually currently play. Do you know of any $500-$600 builds I could go with? I'll need a new mobo (obviously)and cpu fan (heard the stock ones were garbage). And I'd like for it to have surround sound inputs, and 3.0 USB.
Also, I have absolutely no idea what to do when it comes to switching out the motherboard, do I need to get a new Windows 7 license? Can I use my current license?
Nevermind, I just saw your current specs again. Since you only need to upgrade motherboard, cpu and gpu, yes it is affordable with 500-600$ for new parts. For gaming purposes only, I'd go with an i5 4690k, motherboard somethink like a gigabyte z97x or anything in the 150$ price range (from asus, MSI, gigabyte or asrock)
Your gpu is fine for now, really fine. If you feel the need to upgrade go for a r9 290x, a gtx 970 or wait for the new AMD stuff to come out.
With the extra money think about efficient and quiet fans, a new case or new keyboard or mouse.
I never understood forking over 100-200 more dollars for a 5-8 fps difference at certain peak moments. If the fps wasn't displayed you wouldn't tell the difference. That's just me, though. I'd use an intel cpu for something else like work or video editing.