What should I upgrade?

Darwin9657

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Jan 14, 2014
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I got some money over Christmas and I decided I would spend it on pc u[grades put I have no idea what I should upgrade first.

Here are my pc specs

CPU- Intel Pentium G2120 Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 Dual-Core

GPU- EVGA 04G-P4-2649-KR GeForce GT 640 4GB 128-bit DDR3

PSU- LOGISYS Computer PS575XBK 575W ATX12V SLI Ready Power Supply

Memory- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500)

Motherboard- GIGABYTE GA-H61MA-D3V LGA 1155 Intel H61 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Hard Drive- I think I have a 500GB caviar blue but I'm not sure. I took it out of my old pc.

If you could give me some advice that would be great. Thanks! :thumbup:
 
What games do you play? How much money do you have? Are you satisfied with your performance in these games? If not, which games perform unsatisfactorily?
 
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What games do you play? How much money do you have? Are you satisfied with your performance in these games? If not, which games perform unsatisfactorily?

I play Source games, Battlefield, and starting to play Cod games. I have about $200 to spend on upgrades. The Source games run perfectly but the Battlefield and Cod games don't run as smooth.
 
Interesting and tough question. I think you can leave the GPU alone for now. The CPU is definitely worth an upgrade, but should it be the entire budget...

Option 1:
Upgrade CPU only
For $200, you can get the i5 3340S and i5 3470S CPUs. There's actually a break in newegg's pricin where the 3470S is actually $2 cheaper than the 3340S. Plus, the 3470S runs at 2.9GHz Quad-core vs the 3340S' 2.8GHz Quad-core.. That's the smart money on the upgrade.

Option 2
Upgrade CPU and RAM
Seeing as you have "only" 4 GB of 1066 DDR3 RAM, it may be worthwhile to boost it up some more. Buy another stick of G Skill Ripjaw 1066 DDR3 RAM for $43.99 That'll leave about $156 in your budget, which straddles the line between the i5-3350P ($180) and the i3-3250 ($150). If you manage to find a way to save another $30, this would be a very tempting upgrade as it'll give you a good increase in CPU performance, plus give you more memory for the PC to work with.

There's no sense in upgrading the GPU as the CPU and RAM will limit such an upgrade's ability to perform. If you're going to upgrade it, you will definitely need a faster CPU, preferably an i5 or better Ivy Bridge.
 
I actually have 8 GB of RAM i just forgot to put it in the specs.

...I don't think you forgot the RAM. You very clearly claimed to have 4 GB.

"Memory- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500)"
 
Darwin, jump on an AMD 8320 and matching MOBO... you'll see a major difference... both should run you under $200. Just make sure your power supply has 24 pin power and it has necessary adapter(s) for the AMD mobo...(It should...)ram should just carry over but it won't max the clock speed (who cares). I bought this over black Friday and WOW! Granted I have 16GB DDR3 (idk what clock... it was fastest available lol). My Setup cost $700... I already had the PSU, GPU and Case I wanted tho. But the mobo and processor were inexpensive. Look up pcpartpicker.com
 
Darwin, jump on an AMD 8320 and matching MOBO... you'll see a major difference... both should run you under $200. Just make sure your power supply has 24 pin power and it has necessary adapter(s) for the AMD mobo...(It should...)ram should just carry over but it won't max the clock speed (who cares). I bought this over black Friday and WOW! Granted I have 16GB DDR3 (idk what clock... it was fastest available lol). My Setup cost $700... I already had the PSU, GPU and Case I wanted tho. But the mobo and processor were inexpensive. Look up pcpartpicker.com

It's out of his budget at the moment from what I can find, unless you happen to find a good mobo for under $40 seeing the 8320 at $160
 

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