Hi:
I'm having a really tough time deciding which is the best buy for me right now, i really don't have alot of money about $350 usd and i want to spend what i have wisely, i currently have a gigabyte z97x-sli mobo (a gift) with an i3 4150 and a sapphire r9 280 (not the x version), for now it works for me for decent gaming at 1080p between 30 and 60 fps, but its getting to the point that an update is needed. but here is the point, i don't know if updating the cpu to a 4690k will give me a real performence bump, or if i should buy a better gpu like a 970 or if it is best to just wait a little more get some more money, i think $600 usd will be enough for a decent mobo cpu and gpu combo, and build a new system around them, zen, polaris and pascal are supposedly releasing this year and they say is a real performance bump compared to the current hardware.
i also have heard that my mobo its a z97 but the power delivery is weak for oc so there could be no real benefit of a k cpu
what would you do with a tight budget?
I'd say go with the GPU upgrade, since you're using your PC mainly for gaming, it will impact your performance in a good way.
Also make sure that you have a decent PSU to power the new GPU.
Well, I would probably grab a Xeon E3-1231V3 or a E3-1241V3 instead of a 4690K if you don't think you will get much out of an OC.
You will spend the same as an i5 but also gain an additional 4 threads if you want to do a bit more multitasking.
I would wait until June or around August to upgrade to a new GPU, usually you can get the previous gen of nVidia or AMD cards at a lower price because sellers want to free up space for new stock.
You could also consider a decent sized SSD for games if you are low on space or feel like you could gain an advantage if you are using an HDD as a boot drive.
The SanDisk Ultra II is currently a sweet spot for the capacity and speed.
Also consider what games you are playing currently?
Are they more CPU bound or GPU bound? Throw us a few tittles.
Another area to look at is the monitor.
The 280 is still a decent card, so I would personally wait for another generation or two to upgrade. Your i3 should keep you gaming at 1080p for a while as well, unless you are trying to push insane frame rates.
That being said, if you have that itch and you've taken good care of your parts, you could sell the i3 ($100) and the 280 ($150) on Ebay. Then you would have enough to spring for both the 1231v3 and a 970 or 390, which would be a pretty big jump. BOOM!
thanks guys, i'll probably wait for a new build then, funny enough my cpu and gpu are the weakest parts of my build, i've got an evga 1000 watts p2 for like $70 dollars, my 240 gb ssd was $30 dollars and a dell 24 inch 1080p was less than 20 usd at my country's dell webstore, i don't live in the states and sometimes when the stores can't sell high end parts they drop the price massively and other times they don't really know what they are selling so im always hunting for deals, but cpus and gpus still have a very high price, that xeon you recommend is the same price as a 4790k and just 50 dollars less than a 6700k, so i probably leave it as it is for now, its enough for 60 fps at mid settings in my games, i have seen some benchmarks were the i3 basically cuts the performance in half for the same card compared to an i5 and my other alternative for cpu is the 4590 but if im only gaining 5-7 fps there is really no point in doing it
1 Like