Looking to make some efficient upgrades for gaming

[McRackin]

Hey everyone,

I built my PC (in sig) 2 years ago for Battlefield 3 with the advice of everyone on these forums. Awesome build, and allowed me to max out BF3 graphics while still functioning very well for lots of software I use for school.

It still functions very well for what I need for school, but now I'm eyeing BF4's release. I tried the demo and its barely playable (to my standards) with a very low frame rate. I'm wondering what upgrades you all would suggest I make to my system to get it up to speed for BF4. I would like to keep it under $500, but if an easy $250 graphics card upgrade will do then that's even better - but I'm sure that may not be enough.

Thanks in advance and you guys are all awesome

Edit:

I'm looking at this Toms Hardware Review ( http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-4-graphics-card-performance,3634-7.html ) so I'm eyeing the GeForce 660 (about $200 at my local store) and the 670 (about $300 at my local store). Think these are good options to consider?

I should also note that I play games at 1920x1200 reso.

 

[Nenu]

Wait until BF4 code is final and an updated video driver is released before deciding on the hardware.
There have been issues with performance that look like they are getting resolved, but could worsen too.
Decisions like Win8 vs Win7, AMD vs NVidia gfx, 2GB vs 3GB vmem, 4 core vs more cores ...

ie if you arent a fan of Win 8, you my want to wait and see how Win 7 performance pans out.
NVidia get significantly higher framerate comparing the GTX770 vs R280x but the AMD card was smoother when [H] tested an earlier beta.
Some have reported that 2GB can be exceeded, as more gfx options get used, this could increase, especially if you like high res and AA.
In large multi player maps, there may be final code overheads that arent in the code yet that push the CPU very hard.

 

[Dangman]

I absolutely agree with everything that Nenu said: Wait until the game is actually out and articles have been done on it so that you can get a more informed plan of upgrade. With that said...

Hey everyone,
I'm looking at this Toms Hardware Review ( http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-4-graphics-card-performance,3634-7.html ) so I'm eyeing the GeForce 660 (about $200 at my local store) and the 670 (about $300 at my local store). Think these are good options to consider?

Well one thing you're using Tom's as a source. Rarely a good idea considering how often their articles tend to be inaccurate or poorly written.

Second, those cards aren't good choices at those price points now that AMD has released new GPUS around those price points and that older AMD GPUs now have decent/massive price cuts on them.