To upgrade the CPU or GPU? That is the question.

[Deleted]

Heya people,

I need some advice on what is going to be the biggest upgrade for my computer as I'm currently getting bad fps problems when it comes to large aoe in 25man raids, I'm stuck on weather or not to spend money and go for a better CPU upgrade or replace my GPU.
I'm not looking to spend alot of money as I'm in the process of saving up and building a brand new high-end build. I just want to try and improve performance on this computer meanwhile and hopefully squeeze the maximum performance out of it.

Anyways here is my computer specs, and yeah I know it's a bit outdated and in need of a overhaul! :

Mainboard : Gigabyte M52L-S3P
Processor : AMD Athlon 7750 Black Edition Dual-Core @ 3000MHz
Physical Memory : 4096MB (2 x 2048 DDR2-SDRAM )
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT - I'm also playing at 1920 x 1080 resolution so this is probably putting alot of stress on my fairly old GPU.
Monitor Type : Samsung SM2333T - 23 inches
Operating System : Windows 7 Ultimate Professional Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (32-bit)

As I said I'm in the process of building a new rig so if you think upgrading the CPU or GPU is not going to affect my frame rates at all or is not worth the money then I will just wait until I've got my new build.

Any information would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks, Saybia.

[Viertel]

If your only concern is for WoW, get the best processor you can afford. WoW is more heavily CPU dependent than it is GPU. You'll see larger gains with that improvement over a GPU boost.

EDIT: Saw that you're making another build. Honestly, if you're building a newer system anyway, just tough it out in the meantime. Dumping some money on what you have may be tempting, but you'll be better served to just put it in the pile for the new system and get that bought/built ASAP.

[Asera]

CPU.

That is an old K10 Agena grade piece of junk core. At least it doesn't have the old TLB bug... but they are still underwhelming power hogs with awful performance.

Especially if you are playing WoW, you will see a MUCH bigger gain going to a K10.5 Phenom II. Even more going from that to a Sandy Bridge if you were planning on going that route.

[Darkan]

or go ahead and get a graphics card to use in your new build as long as your psu is good enough.

[Deleted]

Not really worth upgrading the CPU since AMD bulldozer is weeks away. So what ever CPU from amd you get now is old in 3 weeks... GPU would be the only choice imo but not worth it since your CPU is pretty.... bad.

[Korgoth]

Both your CPU and GPU are so old and would cripple the system if you upgraded either. You need to upgrade both if you are going to do it at all. If you can spend it, id suggest replacing the Mobo, Cpu, Gpu, and Ram. Getting a cheap p67 or h67 mobo, an Intel Core i5 2400 or 2500k, 8gb of DDR 1600 ram, and a Geforce GTX 560 1gb. Which all told would be around $600-700 depending on tax and shipping and brands.

[Emandrawkcab]

WoW is CPU heavy so it would be more beneficial to go that route. But at this point, you'd pretty much have to replace the motherboard and memory along with it. GPU is really the only option if you're not looking to spend much. But even then, don't expect a large performance gain.

[Deleted]

If your only concern is for WoW, get the best processor you can afford. WoW is more heavily CPU dependent than it is GPU. You'll see larger gains with that improvement over a GPU boost.

EDIT: Saw that you're making another build. Honestly, if you're building a newer system anyway, just tough it out in the meantime. Dumping some money on what you have may be tempting, but you'll be better served to just put it in the pile for the new system and get that bought/built ASAP.

"get the best processor you can afford."
No.
Sorry, just have to point out, that even though people say that WoW is CPU-dependant, it DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU SHOULD FORGET ABOUT THE GPU!

Dual-core is known for performing the best in games, so I don't think you should worry too much about the CPU just yet. Of course, it's an old model, but you aren't going to see difference even if you switch to an i5-2500k or a Bulldozer with your current specs, I tell you.

The best upgrade in your situation is a mid-range GPU. I recommend the GTX 460, it's gone quite cheap lately and it performs quite nicely in raids. I record 45FPS raid kill videos of our 10man progression team.
If you choose to wait with upgrading and get a monster rig, I'd recommend the GTX 560Ti, or the HD 6850 if you want an ATi card.