Computer Upgrade - Which First?

[AlanOC91]

Hey guys I think it has come to that time again where I need an upgrade. I can feel my PC lagging behind the more modern systems lately although not too much as I can still play almost all of my games comfotably but I do like to be prepaired!
So I am going to list my specs and could you guys recommend which I should upgrade first? I dont exactly have a bundle of money so unfortunately I cannot upgrade in bulk.

System Specs:
•Windows 7 64 bit
•8GB DDR3 ram
•AMD Phenom II x4 overclocked to 3.4ghz
•Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 which has been overclocked around 25% according to my cousin who did it for me
•Some Gigabyte Technology Motherboard


Now what I would LOVE to upgrade is my Processor but apparently I need to upgrade my motherboard too for that

What do you guys recommend?
Thanks!

[ragan651]

You could do with a better video card to start.

[mrtramplefoot2]

new mobo and cpu for sure

[cplcarlman]

This isn't the sexy answer, but if your computer is still doing what you need it to do, just save your money towards a major upgrade/rebuild for later. Money always will buy more bang for your buck if you wait.

However, if you really wanted to upgrade now, I would go video card. I don't know your budget, but maybe a GTX 570 or something similar. (Or another GTX 460 if your motherboard supports SLI.)

[fincher234]

It's never a good idea to spend money to "be prepared". It is almost impossible to predict what you will be running in future, what you will have performance problems with and what you will need to change to deal with its performance issues.

The best thing to do is to wait until you have a specific problem with a specific game(or application) and then you can get good advice on how to deal with that.

[roguekiller2323]

overclocking the graphics card that much might be causing you some ingame problems. that is a lot to overclock a graphics card.

after 3-5% overclock the graphics card will start to get more errors in calculations and then it starts to resend that data, this can cause frame rate drops rather than gains.

lower the clock and do a test with futuremark after each overclock and check your score, once the score starts to drop you should take it back to the last overclock.

http://www.futuremark.com/

make sure that you update your drivers also.

the only thing holding you back gaming wise is the graphics card, that is the first thing i would upgrade.

[AlanOC91]

Originally Posted by roguekiller2323

overclocking the graphics card that much might be causing you some ingame problems. that is a lot to overclock a graphics card.

after 3-5% overclock the graphics card will start to get more errors in calculations and then it starts to resend that data, this can cause frame rate drops rather than gains.

lower the clock and do a test with futuremark after each overclock and check your score, once the score starts to drop you should take it back to the last overclock.

http://www.futuremark.com/

make sure that you update your drivers also.

the only thing holding you back gaming wise is the graphics card, that is the first thing i would upgrade.

Cant say I know a thing about overclocking graphics cards myself unfortunately. I wouldnt take the risk touching anything like that.
My cousins has been doing his own for years though and he did my last two graphics cards too without any problems. He runs stress tests and all that, checking temperature and stuff while doing it. I have no clue!

I am not currently getting any problem though with games, like I can run Crysis 2 with the patch and stuff comfortably but I feel like I am slipping to the edge of just about playing games on high detail.
Metro 2033 with DX11 features cripples me.
There is 1 or 2 options in the Witcher 2 I cannot use.
GTA 4 could be a small bit better.

Other than that I just want to be prepaired for the 'next generation' of games.

Originally Posted by fincher234

It's never a good idea to spend money to "be prepared". It is almost impossible to predict what you will be running in future, what you will have performance problems with and what you will need to change to deal with its performance issues.

The best thing to do is to wait until you have a specific problem with a specific game(or application) and then you can get good advice on how to deal with that.

Yeah true true! I guess its just in me for the last few years. I went years with a Windows 98 PC barely scarping AOEII and AOM then in like 07 got my first real PC to play Oblivion and ever since then I only wanted the best in my system xD

[seseorang]

I'd like to know what the board is exactly. There are multiple Phenom II x4 processors including those that have been unlocked and being listed by people as an x4.

[AlanOC91]

Originally Posted by seseorang

I'd like to know what the board is exactly. There are multiple Phenom II x4 processors including those that have been unlocked and being listed by people as an x4.

From what I recall it was bought really cheap as a Tri Core processor and my cousin unlocked its 4th core and ran extensive tests to make sure it was running when needed which it was apparently.
He told me sometimes you can unlock the 4th core in them and it does nothing (a dummy core) or something along those lines but with others the 4th core will work perfectly when unlocked (as with mine).

Let me see if I can get some info:
AMD Phenom II X4 20 Processor. I think its the black edition too but I am not too sure.