Q for Logan on hardware upgrade

Level1Techs INBOX.deb
1

Hello Logan,

I've watching the show for some time now and I like tit very much. I saw all your discussions about hardware related tests and benchmarks and so I have a question for you. My gaming system is as follows:
Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz
Gigabyte EP45T-UD3LR
4GB PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
Powercolor Radeon HD 5770 850MHZ 1GB 4.8GHZ GDDR5

All placed in a black&beautiful Fractal Define R2 XL (nice interview with Josh Smith btw). I play things like Starcraft 2, FarCry, COD, Assassins Creed, Crysis, at a 1920x1080 res. All these games play fairly well on full HD (except Crysis where I play @1600xsomething). All these games play well and I don't have any issues except that sometimes my VGA gets to 72C and for some games I can't play @ 1080p without turning down considerably the graphics settings. Ram is cheap so that won't be a problem to upgrade, although I bet that's not the bottleneck.

My questions are:

1)is it worth to upgrade JUST the Graphics card to be able to play all these kind of games at full 1080p on medium settings? OR

2)should I get a completely new modern platform computer?

3)what do you think is/are the biggest bottlenecks in my system? CPU or VGA? something else?

Thank you,

Alex

 

2

I think Core2Duo is definately past it's prime.  and i would think that's your bottleneck.  a 5770 is also a fairly old card which started as a budget card.  I would honestly put money towards a whole new system.  You can obviously keep the case/psu but i would look at picking up a new Haswell i5 and perhaps a 7850 or better.  

Got a budget?? lol :)

3

get a fx 8350 or 6300 and a 660 ti or 7870xt would be the best way to go.  But let us know what your budget is.

4

i would upgrage everythign as well. Go at least a i5-3570k for cpu and for gpu at least a GTX 650ti

 

5

Yea, upgrading anything past a 6 series AMD and you'd have a bottle neck.  As other stated, if you are on a budget, AMD FX build + good recent graphics cards and you'd be golden.  

6

Thanks for all you answers folks. I could go around 250$ for the VGA this time around (not a budget card). I'm thinking stretching it for a few months and then change the system completely. I'm still not sure if my Corsair 750TX (first gen-2010) would still be good for Haswell. I guess I'll have to wait for an official document. Judging by this http://is.gd/MImxK1 it looks like it does.

7

I'd go the AMD FX over Haswell... i just cant justify the price if your primarily gaming and the 8350 is worth every penny matched with the right GPU

8

if you can spend 250 dollars for a gpu then buy a Powercolor 7870XT myst edition.

You also get some cool free games with it.

249 dollars on newegg.

grtz Angel ☺

9

Here's a list of compatible PSUs

http://www.intel.com/reseller/psu_selector/