Hi, I want to upgrade my PC but I'm not sure what's the best approach.
Currently I have a Q8400 with 4GB DDR2 RAM and a GTX460 1GB (the mainboard only supports PCIe 1.0 if this matters). Unreal Engine games usually run fine with 60 fps most other games are around 30 fps or less. At least with all the settings high and I don't like lowering graphical settings.
I thought about replacing CPU/mainboard/RAM to a i5-4670k with 8 DDR3 but I'm not sure how much this will help. More RAM is certainly nice and adding DDR2 to my current system doesn't seem like a wise investment but I have the impression that it's more the GPU is not fast enough for high settings in games. Lowering to medium/normal usually increases the fps significantly. The only exception I noticed was Splinter Cell Blacklist where the CPU is limiting.
The next game I'm looking forward to is Assassin's Creed 4 and AC3 only runs at ~15-20fps in cities with max settings and the lowest settings cap at 30fps (the game probably has no triple buffering).
Lowering the resolution down from 1080p is not an option for me and 60fps would be nice, but are not absolutely must have for me. And with AC4 having all those nice graphical improvements I fear it will be unplayable on the highest settings. The other game I'm looking forward is the Witcher 3 but that's probably too far in the future to guess hardware requirements.
So I'm not sure what to do. Worth it to spent 200 for a new CPU? Mine is relatively old but doesn't feel that slow in most games. Better buy a new GPU instead and keep the rest? Wait for a better time to upgrade? The little RAM I have is annoying though.
If I would replace all parts together the only GPU I could affort would be a GTX 670 with 2GB or a 760 with 4GB or at highest a 770 with 2GB but that's already stretching my budget (below 300, more towards 200, higher end of 200 only if necessary or stupid otherwise to save a few instead of getting a noticeable improvement). Would this be sufficient? Only 2GB makes me a bit nervous. And for the last ~15 years I never spent that much money on a GPU and got along fine with it but below 200 doesn't seem to give a worthy improvement right now.
So I rather spent more but don't want to waste money and don't want my new PC to be outdated too fast, especially with the new console generation starting and system requirements for PC games probably rising. I just want to play modern games with nice visuals.
I hope someone can give me his/her advise or thoughts