Quick upgrade decision for a happy birthday

cdr_74_premium

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 20, 2010
Messages
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Ok, today's my birthday, and I'll treat myself to some gear. It's been two years, screw it.

My current rig:

i3-4170
Onboard Intel graphics
Asus Q87M-E/CSM
16GB G-Skill DDR3 1600MHz (2x 8GB)
1TB HDD
Asus 1080p monitor.

I don't want to spend a lot, around 200 CAD, so I have a few options:

1) Get an i5-4570K for 168 CAD, comes with HSF. Deal with GPU later. I'm playing old WoW, so the onboard graphics are OK for the moment.

2) Number 1, coupled and a Radeon HD 7770 that's on the local classified ads for around 50 bucks. I can try and knock it down a little.

3) Another guy selling a full rig, as follows:

Evga gtx 460
750gb HD
8gbs ram ddr3
I5 3450 processor
Not sure of the motherboard
700w power supply
Steel series headset with mic
Arctic computer chassis
250 OBO

I could do a "greatest hits" of this rig + my rig and the resulting one would be my gaming rig, and the frankenstein leftover would be an amazing server to replace my old 771 Xeon. My current MoBo has lots of SATA ports, so it would be nice as a server, and also quiet.

I would have to get that for around 200, so it remains to be seen if he would take that.

4) None of the above. Something else, or nothing at all.

What would you guys do?
 
The Radeon guy will take 40 bucks for it, but seems he also have a GTX 1050Ti for 140... now I am even more confused. LOL.
 
Have you looked around for a cheap used i7-4790 or such?
Also if you have a HDD, a SSD would also be a good upgrade & 512gb ones used are pretty cheap.
Then when you get some more money, add in a video card depending on the deal that comes your way.
 
I don't play WoW, but if I remember right it is very CPU dependent and mostly single threaded. If that is the case the i5-4570k has a lower clock speed so it probably won't do much. It may smooth things out if you run a bunch of stuff in the background. Unfortunately your MB doesn't support overclocking. I think you would be best off shopping for a i5 4690K and Z97 MB combo and overclocking. They seem to be going for just over $200US if you can stretch your budget.
 
Have you looked around for a cheap used i7-4790 or such?
Also if you have a HDD, a SSD would also be a good upgrade & 512gb ones used are pretty cheap.
Then when you get some more money, add in a video card depending on the deal that comes your way.

Had an SSD, then got an i5-2400 for my wife and decided to make it killer for her, so there it is now.

There's no such a thing as a cheap i7 as far as I've seen, they're easily past the 250 CAD mark.

I don't play WoW, but if I remember right it is very CPU dependent and mostly single threaded. If that is the case the i5-4570k has a lower clock speed so it probably won't do much. It may smooth things out if you run a bunch of stuff in the background. Unfortunately your MB doesn't support overclocking. I think you would be best off shopping for a i5 4690K and Z97 MB combo and overclocking. They seem to be going for just over $200US if you can stretch your budget.

Benchmark says i5-4670 is faster single-thread than my i3, but it may be wrong. Still, I never had a dedicated GPU on this machine, so I have no idea how it would perform in games. That's the itch.

So far, seems that grabbing the GTX 1050 would be the best use out of 150 bucks I could make, even more so than replacing the processor.

I do think this MoBo allows me to change quite a few things, but I haven't played with it because I don't bother with OC. I would stretch it a tiny bit if I were to get a K, though.
 
buying a GPU it's always a better choice than a baby step up in the CPU department.. with that said, go with the strongest GPU you can afford and in the future you can upgrade your current CPU, as you play only WoW at 1080P used GTX 970 can do wonders helping to max out that game and provide great FPS.
 
You can't overclock, so there's not any point in going with a CPU that ends in a K. There isn't such a thing as a 4570k by the way, it's a 4670k or 4690k.

Looks like on eBay.ca you can pick up a 4570 for ~$115 CAD. That'd leave you with $85 to spend on a GPU, which oughta get you close to a second hand RX460 2GB or GTX1050 2GB, or something in their performance class from yesteryear that will decimate the onboard GPU.

In reality, it might be worth it to save up an additional $100, because you can easily buy twice the computer for $300 CAD than you can buy for $200 CAD.
 
the 7770 for $40 is about right but the 1050ti is like triple the performance. ^ a used 970 is a good idea too. you've scoured Kijiji?
 
the 7770 for $40 is about right but the 1050ti is like triple the performance. ^ a used 970 is a good idea too. you've scoured Kijiji?


buying a GPU it's always a better choice than a baby step up in the CPU department.. with that said, go with the strongest GPU you can afford and in the future you can upgrade your current CPU, as you play only WoW at 1080P used GTX 970 can do wonders helping to max out that game and provide great FPS.

You can't overclock, so there's not any point in going with a CPU that ends in a K. There isn't such a thing as a 4570k by the way, it's a 4670k or 4690k.

Looks like on eBay.ca you can pick up a 4570 for ~$115 CAD. That'd leave you with $85 to spend on a GPU, which oughta get you close to a second hand RX460 2GB or GTX1050 2GB, or something in their performance class from yesteryear that will decimate the onboard GPU.

In reality, it might be worth it to save up an additional $100, because you can easily buy twice the computer for $300 CAD than you can buy for $200 CAD.

Paid 40 bucks for the 7770.

Nobody uses Kijiji around here that much, oddly. And most of the time people ask too much for PC parts, finally found someone who was reasonable.

I ended up grabbing the 7770. The guy said someone's on hold for for the GTX 1050Ti, he'll get back to me later if the potential buyer backs down. If so, I'll just put this one on my wife's computer (has a HD 6670), as she plays WoW with me. And off we go. I'll just keep the rest around and look out for whatever pops up in the meantime.

Thanks everyone.
 
You can't overclock, so there's not any point in going with a CPU that ends in a K. There isn't such a thing as a 4570k by the way, it's a 4670k or 4690k.

Looks like on eBay.ca you can pick up a 4570 for ~$115 CAD. That'd leave you with $85 to spend on a GPU, which oughta get you close to a second hand RX460 2GB or GTX1050 2GB, or something in their performance class from yesteryear that will decimate the onboard GPU.

In reality, it might be worth it to save up an additional $100, because you can easily buy twice the computer for $300 CAD than you can buy for $200 CAD.

Yes, 4670.

And I am curious to hear your thoughts related to your last sentence. What would 300 CAD get?
 
Go for it my friend.. sell your machine.. put a new gpu there and bring new life to your gaming experience.
i just picked up a cheap fx-4130 to resurrect Frank, ill be here in a few days. if that doesn't work and this is still available, I prob will.
 
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