30 replies to this topic

[MechaBattler]

I've got about $150 of spending money after tax return. But it's only enough for maybe one solid upgrade to my comp. So what would be the best bang for my buck purchase.

Basic Comp Specs:
AMD Phenom™ II X4 965 Processor
Nvidia Geforce GTX 650
6 gigs of memory 1600

I'm thinking 12 gigs of ram. Or a 750 TI.

The reason I ask what's best. Is because MWO is one of those games that is kinda weird about hardware.

[HighlandCoo]

Generally - you will never need more than 8GB for gaming.

Most games are 32 bit so are limited to using 3-4gb. The rest of the ram is really only holding your OS and any background programs.

So don't get 12gb of RAM.

... Do you have an SSD? An SSD is an awesome upgrade for loadtimes.

[MechaBattler]

HighlandCoo, on 28 February 2015 - 10:06 PM, said:

Generally - you will never need more than 8GB for gaming.

Most games are 32 bit so are limited to using 3-4gb. The rest of the ram is really only holding your OS and any background programs.

So don't get 12gb of RAM.

... Do you have an SSD? An SSD is an awesome upgrade for loadtimes.

I don't. But I'm more concerned with in-game performance. Though I suppose I could look for some $60 SSDs and $60 8 gig memory.

[-Natural Selection-]

My suggestion would be a 256bit card would do you well. I believe even the 750ti is 128, the same as the one you have.

[Summon3r]

indeed the 750ti would be a huge upgrade for you seeing mobo/cpu is out of the question

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Hm

$150 isn't really enough to accomplish much.

You don't need more RAM.
A SSD won't improve your game FPS - It will improve load times
I don't feel the 750ti is going to improve your FPS by a significant margin either, it isn't a great card and MWO is more CPU dependent than GPU.

Your other problem is that while that Phenom II is the last of AMD's decent processors it leaves you a mediocre upgrade path for MWO.

An option would be to get a decent Z97 motherboard, pick up a cheap Pentium K and cooler.
That would perform better than the Phenom II in MWO and will bridge the gap till you can move up into I5/I7 territory

But i think i would bank the $150 scrimp and save another $150 if you finances aren't flush and then go into Z97 and I5 4690K territory which will net you significant improvement in performance.

Edited by DV McKenna, 01 March 2015 - 03:37 AM.

[Ghogiel]

I'm going to say based on my own past experience with a 955BE and this game... a good chance that the CPU is probably wanting a better card than a 650ti. Anything after a 750ti may not gain much fps, I know the 955 bottlenecked a 5830, so anything like a 760 or more might do ziltch . With the recent fps improvements it's hard for me to say though as that might have freed up enough cpu bandwidth to make gpus worth a lot more in todays MWO.

But yeah a better GPU should do you some good in that system.

Ram increase is going to get you no noticable fps improvement.

[xWiredx]

Probably a 750 Ti would be the best upgrade with such a tiny budget. You will definitely want to save whatever you can for a new Intel CPU and mobo in the future, though. MWO eats CPU cycles.

[Hydrocarbon]

Jesus DIED for me, on 28 February 2015 - 11:05 PM, said:

SSD

nothing else

Best upgrade you can make at this time--it will make your socks go up and down.

TRUTH. I run a smaller SSD for the OS & main games/apps, then magnetic for media/etc. The Samsung 850 EVO 120gb is only ~$80 at newegg. When I put them in my parents' PC's, they were asking for days what else I had done besides the drive. They couldn't believe it.

If you can stomach a used card, the HD7950's are going for less than $100 on ebay. I don't think brand loyalty should be an issue since this card is technically AMD like your CPU...

[xWiredx]

An SSD adds literally nothing to gaming performance. It can help textures and objects load faster, but there is a zero fps increase. How this kind of obvious misinformation spreads when its been debunked hundreds of times over the course of 3 or 4 years is beyond me.

[Smokeyjedi]

whats the mobo and is OC possible on it?

[ShinobiHunter]

Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a Radeon R9 270 would probably be a better graphics card for that price range.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Jesus DIED for me, on 02 March 2015 - 05:04 PM, said:

Yep. For the price he wants to spend on uprgade, nothing else by SSD would make the biggest bang for the buck. He won't gain anything by going CPU or GPU or RAM upgrade roads--there is just not enough there to make a significant 'woompf' but SSD is another story.. it's money well spent. I have Samsung 840 Pro and I am not going back to magnetic boot up drives.. the difference is like night and day.

What people who moan don't understand is the price to performance value here, not some imaginary 3 fps increase for $150.

For general system improvement yes.

For gaming no.

That's what people are saying

[xWiredx]

The 650 isn't that great. The 650 Ti BOOST was when it came out.

Bottom line: the SSD will not give OP the benefit that a GPU will. The SSD will help his boot time, a GPU will help him with an FPS gain. Quit spreading misinformation.

[Kuritaclan]

When selling the Amd Mobo and CPU its the question if he is able with additional $150 to purchase a second hand Haswell i5k+Mobo.

[Gumon Choji]

All that is said is true. You will run into CPU bottlenecks here very soon. Most of the new cards are starting to use the 16X 3.0 standard and I think your fastest lane is 16X 2.0. This us less then half the speed. Also the game does the particles and fog on your CPU, same with the hud. This is my main limit on FPS and I run 290x in crossfire. As a side note have you explored AMD. They offer more bang for the buck. Nvidea is usually a little better performance for much more cost. Thus not bang for the buck. Good product but not bang for the buck.

http://www.nowinstoc...ocards/amd/270/

http://www.nowinstoc...vidia/gtx750ti/

Also the 750 is old.

[Goose]

Nobody cares about PCI-E 3.0: An 8-speed PCI-E 2.0 is within ~3% of being adequate for any card you can name …

[Lord Letto]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $147.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-09 15:46 EDT-0400

or


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270X 2GB PCS+ Video Card ($143.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $143.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-09 15:52 EDT-0400

[Hardin4188]

I'd say get a new video card. An ssd wouldn't help once you're in game, and I would argue that a pentium dual core might look good in benchmarks, but it wouldn't be practical for daily computer use. If the only two choices were an ssd or a dual core I would go with the ssd, but a new video card would serve you really well.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Hardin4188, on 09 March 2015 - 12:45 PM, said:

I'd say get a new video card. An ssd wouldn't help once you're in game, and I would argue that a pentium dual core might look good in benchmarks, but it wouldn't be practical for daily computer use. If the only two choices were an ssd or a dual core I would go with the ssd, but a new video card would serve you really well.

Well, im glad to say your wrong about the Pentium.