Gaming computer upgrade question.?

Question

Im looking to strictly upgrade either my CPU, GPU or if suggested, my motherboard and want to know what one needs upgraded the most.

SPECS:
1. CPU- AMD phenom II x4 @3.2ghz 840t "No L3 cache"
2. GPU- Sapphire HD 6850 1gb
3. MOBO- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138199

Im 14 so im on a budget of around 150-200$, i want it to be a balanced system so are my GPU and CPU bottlenecking? and of coarse what should i upgrade.

My plan:

If its CPU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851
If its GPU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102924
If its MOBO- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130269

Answer 1

I would skip those upgrades and go for a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103934&Tpk=980%20be There is a 10-20+ FPS increase when going from the 1055T to the 980BE http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/147?vs=362 . As the other answer suggested it really doesn't help at all to have six cores when gaming is your primary task. Your 6850 isn't going to do it and the 980BE MIGHT help the 6850 to ultra but I doubt it. As the other answer suggested you should save up for a high end 6970. You can't get to ultra on a mid-range card and baby steps isn't cost effective. When I moved up from my old school AMD Compaq system I went from a Sempron 3400+ to a 2500K and from a HD3870 to a GTX 570 Classified HD and from 1.5GB RAM to 8GB. It was save for a month, buy a part rinse and repeat till I had all of my parts. You want a significant increase in power then you need to make a serious upgrade. The reason I suggest a 980 BE is because it will allow the 6970/50 to effectively spread her wings better than the 840T could.



I invested $359 into my gfx card not necessarily because price = performance but because I knew from many reviews that it was an extremely strong card that would not leave me thinking what if. It was also the point where I felt the price vs performance sweet spot was.

Answer 2

Are you upgrading for the sake of upgrading or do you have a goal in mind? You have to help us out and tell us what you want to do with your computer.

Do you have the 840 or the 840t? The 840 has no L3 cache the 840t does.

If you have the 840t then grab a GTX 570 and you'll be able to play BF3 on ultra. If you have the 840 then you should upgrade to the Phenom II X4 980 and the GTX 560ti or the HD 6950, or the GTX 570 if you can still afford it.

Upgrading the 6850 to the 6870 is worthless, you'll barely see any improvement for your $200. You need to spend at least $250, preferably $300 to make it worthwhile.

Answer 3

you have a good system the 6870 isnt gonna improve you much at all maybe a few fps but not much , but your system would show an improvement with a faster cpu with an l3 catch for that money id recomend the phenom II 980 black edition its clocked at 3.8 ghz , and comes with an 6 mb l3 catch which is good and an ulocked multiplyer, and with the other 30 you could buy and attach this aftermarket cooler as an extra fan in your case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835264001 with the help of this im sure you could overclock to at least 4.2- 4.5 ghz and at that speed i think it could give the i5 2500k a run for its money

Answer 4

Your GPU is fine (A 6870 is only going to be a little faster). Your CPU is fine (A six core is utterly pointless for a gaming computer anyway). Your motherboard is fine (You'll see virtually no difference in performance). Save up some more cache. You'll get little boost from any of those upgrades. Wait until some newer goodies come out and you can grab something that will make a difference.

Answer 5

Best thing you could do to uncork that system...

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.3GHz, 3.7GHz Turbo AM3 125W 6-Core CPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103913... $170



A better motherboard would be step 2 but you will have to reload the OS after changing the motherboard so hold off until you are better prepared, the 1100T needs to be kept cool so make sure it stays cool, stock heatsink/fan might not cut it but wait and see before upgrading the colling system