What is my bottleneck?

Hardware Build a PC
1

Okay, so I'm looking to upgrade my PC. I'm doing it incrementally, as I'm in high school and only have a part time minimum wage job. I'm trying to decide what order I should purchase the upgrades in. Here's the list of parts that I'm going to be getting, in no particular order: http://amzn.com/w/2DP6QPYQ98B30

My current specs are:

Motherboard: Intel DH67BL

CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 @ 3.1GHz

RAM: 8GB 1333MHz

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti

Hard Drive: 1TB Seagate 7400RPM

Those are the parts I'm going to upgrade first, the rest come later. So what I'd like to know is what order I should do the upgrades to get the biggest boost as fast as possible. Of course, I need the new motherboard in order to use the new CPU.

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

2

The only thing you really need to upgrade is the GPU, which may require a PSU upgrade as well. The CPU and RAM are fine. An SSD will help with system response, and reduce loading times, but will have just about null impact on gaming performance.

One of the best bang for the buck GPU's is the 7870 XT (Tahiti LE).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131487

3

yep go for 7870xt

4

I was looking into getting the 7970. Would it be worth the extra cost or not?

 

5

For most people, no. The 7870 XT is about as fast as the 7950 in gaming, the the 7870 by itself is already capable of delivering playable frame rates on most, if not every game out, at maxed settings at 1080p. Plus, some of us like to save some money for games.

 

6

Is the 7870 XT overclockable?

7

Very. It's based on the Tahiti core, which is known for overclocking well. If you want to overclock, I'd considerin the one from Sapphire.

8

I agree with everyone about the 7870 XT, and if you can get over the fact that the blue PCB on the Sapphire one matches absolutely nothing, it has a really good cooling solution.

In regards to adding an SSD, make sure that you check and that your motherboard is compatible with SATA 3.0 6Gb/s, otherwise the controller in the SSD will cut your transfer rates in half, regardless of whether or not the connection could support the bandwidth. Also, if your motherboard supports it, I would later look into getting some faster RAM, at least 1600 MHz, if not faster. I like the look and price/performance of Patriot Viper 3 2133 MHz RAM

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/L9pG

The processor is only there to show what you already have

9

If you looked at my wishlist I linked, I'm already looking into getting 2133 RAM.

I'll probably wait until I get my new motherboard and CPU (which is also in the wishlist) before I get a SSD though.

10

If you looked at my wishlist I linked, I'm already looking into getting 2133 RAM.

I'll probably wait until I get my new motherboard and CPU (which is also in the wishlist) before I get a SSD though.

11

The thing is, you don't need to upgrade your CPU at all for the next 2 - 3 years minimum It's still an amazing CPU for being 2 years old...  

Even if you do upgrade to an 8350 like you have listed in the wishlist your motherboard you listed is incompatible with it you chose an FM2 and it should be AM3+

12

On their website, it says it's compatible with the 8350.

http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/detail.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=1&m=M5A99X%20EVO%20R2.0&cpu=FX-8350%28FD8350FRW8KHK,4.0GHz,8C,125W,rev.C0,AM3+%29&pcb=ALL&sincebios=1006&memo=

13

Just get a new gpu and psu and call it a day dood.

14

If you had a 650ti i'd sahy get an ssd, but the 550ti is just.... ugh... +1 for the 7870XT