Upgrade time!

A

avnos

n00b
Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
53
Hello [H]ardforum, I've been out of the computer upgrade loop and looking for some suggestions on how to get the most bang for my buck!

Current Rig is:

GA-p55 gigabyte mobo (LGA 1156)
Gefore GTX 460
i5-750 @2.6ghz
16 GB Ram DDR3 PC12800
Win 7 home
500GB HD (not SSD)

Currently playing guildwars 2 and performance is fine except for when I hit WvW i'm getting ~14-20 FPS in Zerg fights which is playable but I would like to also start frapsing my gameplay.

My current budget is $400-$500.

If anyone has some input it would be much appreciated. Am I pretty much hosed on having to get a new motherboard since the 1156 seems to be quite dated? Or is there a processor I can step up to that would be significant while keeping the same motherboard? (but at the cost of future uprgades)
 
Just OC your CPU and upgrade the GPU and you'll be ok. Maybe add in a SSD as well. The current Intel CPUs won't provide a large enough increase in gaming performance to justify the costs of a new mobo and CPU especially once you start overclocking the Core i5 750.

As for which GPU to buy, a few questions:
1) What PSU do you have?
2) What case do you have?
3) What's the max resolution of your monitor?
 
Thank you danny,

1)
1 x COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Bronze Certified
2)Cooler master case (not sure of model sorry)
3) 1400x900 19" (was thinking about a 24" here)

I just used the tuning on my mobo to get it to 3.8 GHZ....totally forgot i didn't do that. I'm testing right now and seem to get ~30-40 in big fights with fraps on....decent but I wouldn't mind boosting it higher as the fight was a medium sized seige.
 
Please find out what case you have.

As for the GPU, at that low of a resolution, you shouldn't be having that much issue with the GTX 460 unless you have the 768MB version. With that said, if you do upgrade to a 24" monitor, which means you'll have a resolution of 1920x1080 or 1920x1200, you definitely need a new GPU. I recommend looking a the GTX 660 2GB/3GB or the HD 7950 2GB.
 
Even 768 would be plenty. 1440x900 is less pixels than 1280x1024 and back when that resolution was the "standard" 512MB cards were the norm.
 
I would read some overclocking guides. I'm sure you could probably get that i5 going a little faster doing manual overclocking.
 
this one is simple. you cant do what you want at that budget.

to fraps guild wars 2 WvW at 30fps I'm guessing you might need to replace everything. so, 2x your budget at least.
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions, Also my case is : Cooler Master RC 690, love this thing, it was cheap but was spacious and had very easy installation
 
Get as much GPU and as large an SSD as your current budget will allow. Then save up as much money as you can until Haswell is released for your full blown upgrade.
 
GPU upgrade for sure, maybe a 660Ti for your resolution. Also looks like you may want to overclock that CPU some more.
 
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