What to get first?

[Brookesy]

hey all..

I'm in need of upgrading my Motherboard, GPU and CPU.

I'm getting a Z87-G45 in a few weeks but don't know what to get after that due to it being too much to buy all at once.

Current spec:
GPU: Radeon HD 5700
CPU: i5 760 2.8 GHz

[Bonebreaker777]

Well if you are getting a 1150 MoBo, might as well go for the CPU first, and then the GPU.

Otherwise going for a GPU and having a MoBo unused is pretty much a waste.

You plan to overclock, hence the Z87 mobo so the CPU is pretty oblivious - i5-4670k.

GPU budget set yet?

Will be reusing your current memory modules?

[Brookesy]

bit I forgot to say is which should I get first for gaming. and my budget is £230 for GPU was looking at MSI GTX 770.

I do plan on overclocking but not looked into it yet.

[scaryjim]

You seem to be going about this wrong. There's no point getting a new motherboard if you're not going to get the CPU to go with it - your existing CPU won't work in a socket 1150 motherboard. So you'll need to buy the mobo and CPU together.

Personally, I'd forget the mobo, upgrade the GPU (at the price you're looking at either a GTX770 or a Radeon R9 280X would be good choices), overclock the i5 760 (which is still a decent CPU), and then start saving for the new Mobo and CPU. You can sell your existing GPU to help raise money for the rest of the upgrade.

[Bonebreaker777]

Ahh I thought the part where "I'm getting a Z87-G45" was set in stone already and unlikely to change.

In the light of new developments same as Jim, overclock your current system (still an i5) and just get a beefier GPU while selling your current. You will definitely save money on this and probably end up with more performance.

[pastymuncher]

I went from a i5 760 clocked at 4ghz to the 4670k i have now and to tell you the truth i was dissapointed with the "upgrade". Get a decent cooler if you don't already have one and get your i5 760 overclocked. Buy your new GTX770 and enjoy the perfromance boost.

[DanceswithUnix]

What power supply does your PC have? That might need an update too if you go for a really decent graphics card.

Otherwise another vote here for just update the GPU. Processor development is pretty meh these days, perhaps when DDR4 starts taking off it might be worth updating.

[Bonebreaker777]

I don't think that the DDR4 will shoot the CPU into the sky when they can really utilize DDR3 beyond 1600Mhz. But let's be hopeful. ..

[DanceswithUnix]

I don't think that the DDR4 will shoot the CPU into the sky when they can really utilize DDR3 beyond 1600Mhz. But let's be hopeful. ..

Yes, but it is more that I expect it will herald the start of the new platforms. We might get SATA-express taking off around that time too.

[Bonebreaker777]

Hopefully. So far I seen ONE port per MoBo or add-on card which is for system disk only...? And the width reminds me of PATA data cables (least the width of the port cause it is two SATA cables).

[Brookesy]

The reasoning for me wanting to upgrade the Mobo is that mine is a GA-P55-US3L rev 1.0. It doesn't SATA 3 , USB 3, or any 3.0 PCIe slots, will putting a 3.0 GPU into the 2.0 slots slow it down a lot ?

[Bonebreaker777]

By not much. 5-7% tops I would say.

[Brookesy]

ok thanks then guys, will have a try at overclocking my current CPU, and will get the new GPU.

[kalniel]

The reasoning for me wanting to upgrade the Mobo is that mine is a GA-P55-US3L rev 1.0. It doesn't SATA 3 , USB 3, or any 3.0 PCIe slots, will putting a 3.0 GPU into the 2.0 slots slow it down a lot ?

Won't affect it at all. Do you have a need for SATA3 or USB3? You could always get an add-in expansion card if so.

[Pob255]

By not much. 5-7% tops I would say.

not even by that, maybe if he was to go crossfire (note that board doesn't support sli) because he'd be dropping down to x8+x4 but on a single card x16 pci-e 2 vs x16 pci-e 3 is under a 1% drop on current cards.

Only thing I'd really question is that motherboard's ability to sustain an overclock long term

Overall I'd agree gpu first, then cpu&motherboard combined later if needed

[pastymuncher]

The biggest problem i can see with your current board is that there is no vrm/mosfet cooling at all. It doesn't help that it only has a 4 pin cpu socket too although the lack of cooling is a bigger problem.