Computer Upgrade Help

[nate1x]

Hey everyone, so atm i have around 200$ to throw around and i was looking into upgrading some parts in my PC.

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: GA-970A-D3
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.20 Ghz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 670

I use it to play WoW mostly, but play other games aswell, Guild wars 2, Saints Row the third etc. The reason i want to upgrade is in some games i tend to get fps drops, especially so when i have programs in the background. I dont know too much about computers but i think my graphics card isnt the issue, I have only just recently upgraded that. Opening multiple programs tends to put a strain on the PC aswell, so knowing that what would be the best upgrade choice, should i go for more ram? a new processor? Any help would be appreciated.

[Pyranas]

You are only using 4gb of RAM. RAM normally creates the bottle-neck in performance. See if your motherboard can handle a Corsair 1666 MHz Modules. I would upgrade to at least 8gb. Also, running programs in the background will also use up memory so try to limit that as much as possible.

As far as I can tell, your Processor and GPU are good. I believe your memory is the issue.

[Hantzu]

Use all $200 and grab yourself ram and a SSD. SSD will have amazing impacts on general system responsiveness as well as severely cut down load times and program open/close times.

The suggestion of Ram is a good one. However, lets be a bit more/less specific on it:
1) How many ram chips are inside the computer right now. Does it have open slots? If so, try to find a model # on the ram thats in there and buy another of the exact same chip. Otherwise you will want to replace both. That corsair memory Pyranans suggested is expensive, go with an 8gb kit (2x 4gb sticks) of Gskill ddr 1600 (or even 1333). You can get these on newegg for $50.

2) SSD: Grab yourself a Vertex 4 120g for $99, never look back again

---------- Post added 2012-11-10 at 02:29 PM ----------

Also, for WoW: your processor is actually a weakness. I am also an AMD user, Intel is superior for blizzard games at all price points. $200 is not sufficent for a new CPU/Motherboard though. However if you get another $350~ together, grab yourself an ivy-bridge i5 and motherboard.

[nate1x]

Use all $200 and grab yourself ram and a SSD. SSD will have amazing impacts on general system responsiveness as well as severely cut down load times and program open/close times.

The suggestion of Ram is a good one. However, lets be a bit more/less specific on it:
1) How many ram chips are inside the computer right now. Does it have open slots? If so, try to find a model # on the ram thats in there and buy another of the exact same chip. Otherwise you will want to replace both. That corsair memory Pyranans suggested is expensive, go with an 8gb kit (2x 4gb sticks) of Gskill ddr 1600 (or even 1333). You can get these on newegg for $50.

2) SSD: Grab yourself a Vertex 4 120g for $99, never look back again

---------- Post added 2012-11-10 at 02:29 PM ----------

Also, for WoW: your processor is actually a weakness. I am also an AMD user, Intel is superior for blizzard games at all price points. $200 is not sufficent for a new CPU/Motherboard though. However if you get another $350~ together, grab yourself an ivy-bridge i5 and motherboard.

Links to newegg below, are these the ones you suggest?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227791

Also a question about SSD's, i have alot of games/movies on my PC atleast 250gb worth id say, so i would need to get a Portable HD aswell right? If so do you have any recommendations for one of those? The last one i had died within weeks. 500gb size should be fine.

[yurano]

Links to newegg below, are these the ones you suggest?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227791

Also a question about SSD's, i have alot of games/movies on my PC atleast 250gb worth id say, so i would need to get a Portable HD aswell right? If so do you have any recommendations for one of those? The last one i had died within weeks. 500gb size should be fine.

Samsung 830 is cheaper, especially if it goes on sale: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147163 . The newer version is the Samsung 840, but its about as expensive as the Vertex 4.

For RAM, consider these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231428
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231416
The stick underneath is the same, but the heatsinks are different. Pick the one you think is pretty.

You can also consider Corsair: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...1&name=Corsair

With regards to your Portable HD question, I'm going to assume you're currently using an internal HD that is at least 250 GB. What you would do is buy a 128 GB SSD and install Windows and your favorite programs onto it. You would assign your current internal HD as a separate drive, eg. D:\. You do not need to buy an extermal HDD unless you've filled up your SSD and your current HD or want the portability.

I feel like you have an extremely powerful graphics card but a weak-ish CPU. This is important because you seem to be playing CPU heavy games like WoW and GW2 in contrast to GPU heavy games like BF3. You mentioned that you tend to lag whenever you have additional programs running in the background which is a CPU bottleneck. Unfortunately, upgrading to a 3570K would cost $210 for the CPU + $125+ for a motherboard. Maybe consider overclocking your current CPU.