GPU vs CPU upgrade

Technology and Gaming
#1

Ok, I’m going to be upgrading either my gpu or my cpu next month. My price range is only 120$. Don’t even think about saying “Get both, and also upgrade RAM and get a liquid nitrogen cooling system” (sarcasm) I’m only getting 1 and I was wondering if I should upgrade my cpu or gpu. I mostly game on my pc.
My specs:
3GB DDR2 Ram
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB DDR3
AMD Athlon X2 5000+ at 2.6 ghz

My cpu is dragging but I only play games on my pc, I only have one PCI express slot so if I get a new video card my current one is going bye bye, no dual GPUs. I was looking at an AMD Phenom X4 9850. I don’t think this would be too much of an improvement however. I’m not sure what GPU I’d get, but I’m pretty sure the 9600 is one of the best cards for my price range. Any help would be appreciated. Also, be nice, not everyone has $3000 dollars to spend on a hobby.

#2

You will get a bigger upgrade for your money from a GPU. Although you can buy CPUs for 120$ the jump in power from your current cpu wouldn’t be as much as for a GPU.

#3

Thanks! Can you think of any cards that would be a significant improvement for my price range?

#4

If I can go ahead and assume that you will sell your old card for $60-$100 (about right for a used 9600), then that brings your budget close to $200. in which case I would suggest a GTX460, although thats really pushing your money and maybe you already factored that in. for just $120 though, I cant think of any significant improvements over a 9600 in Nvidia’s lineup. maybe an ATI fan has an idea for that.

#5

For an ATI, you could get an HD 4870, or whatever the equivalent is for their DirectX11 lineup. I believe they both cost about $150 on Newegg.

#6

At ~$120, you’re not looking at very good upgrade options. If you can somehow bump it up to about ~$150, you could get a Radeon HD5770 1gb, which would be a good upgrade for the price. If you can get to about $200, you could go with an Nvidia GTX 460 1gb or an ATI 5830 1gb, which would be better upgrades.

#7

Right, I have $120, not including what I could make after selling my current card, where is a good place/site to sell my card?

#8

Pretty much ebay is the best way to go there. Forget craigs list or something. ebay gets results.

#9

I got good results selling my card on craigslist, but I got pretty lucky that time. ebay’s probably the way to go.

In any case, if your budget is dead-set at $120 right now, my advice would be to wait. There’s no sense in jumping the gun and upgrading to a card that’s only slightly better than what you have already. Wait until you can afford more and then buy a better card that will noticably improve your gaming experience.

Also, I wouldn’t recommend buying a used card, unless the manufacturer’s warranty is still good and that’s all the assurance you need. If you buy new then you have the store/site warranty plus the full manufacturer’s warranty (and that feeling of unwrapping a brand-new toy :stuck_out_tongue: )

#10

At that point it would be easier to argue that he buy a CPU. The only reason I was recommending a GPU was the budget. If your gonna save up more money I suggest just saving for a CPU. If you want the upgrade more for gaming then normals stuff just pick up a better dual core, most games don’t use quads that well.

#11

Actually, for his socket, he could upgrade his CPU for much cheaper than a GPU.

In any case, upgrading the GPU will always have a much bigger impact on your gaming performance than anything else. The GPU is doing almost all of the work when you’re playing a game. The CPU is really just a bottleneck for the GPU to work in. As long as the CPU is halfway decent, then the GPU can work to full capacity.

His CPU is fine, so upgrading it would have pretty much zero effect on gaming, plus it’s a big hassle to change. However, upgrading to a card that isn’t much better than his current card would also be pointless. That’s why I suggested he waited until he had $30-$70 more so he could buy a worthwhile upgrade.

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