What should I upgrade?

I honestly swap out my PC components more often than I change my socks.

Look, I get the logic of swapping parts before they become totally obsolete and lose their resale value, but you seem to be doing it way too often. From what I can gather from your posts about the Radeon HD 6950, then the GeForce GTX 660, and now the HD7870... it just doesn't make sense. These are tiny incremental steps, almost like you're just moving sideways rather than actually upgrading. I bet you'd even sell them slightly below market value just to get 😬
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Honestly, you’re better off saving your cash and waiting for at least the next full generation of GPUs. This is exactly that modern "obsession" trap—like that guy in the link mentioned, focusing more on the hardware itself rather than the actual gaming experience the gear is meant for. I highly doubt a Radeon HD 7870 is holding you back in most titles. If you want to crank up MSAA in those ultra-demanding benchmark games, you'd need a high-end card costing thousands of dollars anyway, which isn't worth the investment. Besides, I assume you've already finished the heavy hitters, so I don't see much point in this

Timothy Kim60 said:Look, I get the logic of swapping components before they become totally obsolete—you want to sell them while they still have some value—but it feels like you’re upgrading way too often. From what I can gather by following this thread—moving from the Radeon HD 6950 to the GeForce GTX 660 and then onto the HD7870... honestly, it doesn't make much sense; those are tiny leaps, almost more like side-grades than actual upgrades. I wouldn't be surprised if you even try to sell them slightly below market value just to get rid of them 😬
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I’d suggest saving up your cash instead and waiting for at least the next full generation of cards. This kind of thing is a real "modern era ailment"—like that guy in the link mentioned, people get too obsessed with the hardware itself rather than just focusing on the actual gaming experience (which is why we buy this stuff in the first place!). I really don't think a Radeon HD 7870 is holding you back in most games—and besides, if you want to crank up the MSAA in a few ultra-demanding benchmark titles, you’d need a card costing thousands of dollars anyway, which just isn't worth it. Plus, I assume you've probably already finished those heavy hitters, so I don't see the point.

I mean, sure, they aren't massive jumps, but hey, if you want to stay right on the cutting edge of tech, that's your call. Personally, I actually swapped out my Radeon HD 7770 for a GeForce GTX 770 just a few days ago, and I have to say, that felt like a legitimate, substantial upgrade because the difference was actually noticeable...

P.S. Happy Holidays!

I totally get where everyone is coming from, but I don't actually have a job or any steady income—my folks basically bankroll me, so whenever I catch a bit of extra cash, I dive straight into upgrading my rig. I just swapped out my CPU and motherboard, so I should be pretty much set for the next three years. The only thing holding me back now is the GPU; I know the Radeon HD 7870 is still a solid card by any standard, but if the opportunity to jump to something more powerful comes up, I’ll definitely take it. It's just tough when so much of my budget goes toward other stuff, like dating 😍

Larry Ortiz5 said:I get the logic, but I don't have a job or any steady income. My parents cover my bills, so when I stumble onto some extra cash, I dump it into PC parts. I just swapped out my CPU and motherboard, so I'm set for three years. The GPU is the only thing holding me back. I know the Radeon HD 7870 is decent enough, but if I can swing an upgrade later, I'll take it. Most of my money goes toward other stuff, like dating 😍
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If you actually had a girlfriend, you definitely wouldn't be blowing your cash on a GPU upgrade. 😂

Man, what kind of setup is that? She’s still driving me around in her own car just to get to her place 😍 It really should be the other way around, shouldn't it?

I swear, I wasn't even trying to troll you here.🤣

But hey, if you want to take it that way, fine by me.🤣

It’ll be quiet for about three years. After that, games will be designed to be intentionally more demanding. We're talking more cores, faster DDR4, smaller manufacturing processes, and so on.
Before you can finally settle down, if you're looking for high-performance, lightning-fast shooting games, you've got maybe two years tops.

Back in 2009, my i5 750 was actually pretty decent at handling the latest big titles. I honestly wouldn't have swapped it out if I didn't have to—but since I finally had the extra cash sitting around, I decided to upgrade the socket. It feels good to get that peace of mind, too... I'm 110% sure I won't have to worry about another upgrade for at least another two years or so.

Larry Ortiz5 said:I totally get where you're coming from—honestly, I don't have a steady paycheck or any kind of income coming in right now; I mostly rely on my folks to help me out, so whenever I manage to scrape together a decent chunk of change, I tend to dump it straight into PC components. I actually just upgraded my CPU and motherboard, so I should be pretty much set for at least the next three years. The only thing really holding me back at the moment is my GPU—and look, I know the Radeon HD 7870 is still a perfectly respectable card by any standard—but if the opportunity pops up to swap it for something beefier, I’m definitely going to jump on it. It's just tough to balance everything when so much of my budget goes toward other life stuff, like taking my girlfriend out on dates 😍
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🙂 Run for the hills while you still can! 😂

So, I finally pulled the trigger on that Corsair 200R case. Once I've got some extra cash flowing in, I'll pick up a high-quality power supply—and then it’ll be time to hunt for a new graphics card...

At least the case looks solid. You can find some incredibly pricey hardware out there that’s honestly mediocre. I guess you finally found some peace of mind once you dropped all that cash 😬

I can tell you that I am—it’s a shame about the GeForce GTX 680, really, but what's the point of owning an expensive component if you don't have a warranty? Plus, my power supply isn't exactly top-tier, so I wouldn't feel totally confident running it without any hiccups. I'm not saying it would fail immediately, but the PSU would definitely be working overtime whenever the card hits 100% load... and since the card only has a single fan, I'd probably be dealing with some pretty high temps, too.

Hey everyone, I’m reviving this thread after almost five years... 😁 man, where does the time actually go? 😁 Since the Christmas season is right around the corner, I figured it was finally my turn to treat myself to a new CPU, motherboard, and RAM. I’ve been an Intel guy my whole life, so I was thinking about making the jump to a newer i5 9600k. It's looking like it'll cost me about $733 which isn't really breaking the bank for me. I think I'd see a massive boost compared to my current i5 4670—which, to be fair, has served me well—but lately, I've been hitting some serious bottlenecks in a lot of games. Playing at 1080p just means my processor can't keep up with my GTX 1070 anymore. I don't plan on swapping out the monitor, just these specific parts.

I was leaning towards something like this:

Maybe pair it with a Gigabyte or Asus Z-series board and 16GB of RAM? What do you guys think?

The price isn't quite as inflated anymore, so maybe, but I’d probably just go with the Ryzen 5 2600 😛 Or honestly, perhaps even this 😲 https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ryzen+1700

You'll save $333, and you won't see any difference in gaming performance when paired with a GTX 1070.

#1(not sure if you need a cooler, $88):

Corsair 2X8GB DDR4 3000 C15, COR-CMR16GX4M2C30C15
Intel CPU Desktop Core i5-9600K (3.7GHz, 9MB, LGA1151) box
SilentiumPC Fortis 3 HE1425 CPU Cooler, P/N: SPC130
GIGABYTE Gaming Desktop Motherboard Z390

Total: $1601 - Best Buy

CPU AMD RYZEN 5-2600 (3.4GHZ UP TO 3.9GHZ, 19MB (3MB+16MB), C/T: 6/12, AM4, COOLER, 65W), 36MJ
MB ASRock B450 Gaming K4, AM4, ATX, 4x DDR4, AMD B450, S3 6x, DP, VGA, HDMI, 24mj (90-MXB8A0-A0UAYZ)
DDR4 16GB (2X8GB), DDR4 3000, CL16, DIMM 288-PIN, G.SKILL F4-3000C16D-16GISB, 36MJ

$1073 - Newegg

Intel is just in my blood 😁—I can’t help myself, honestly. I was actually looking at that exact RAM and a similar motherboard... I don't know if I should pull the trigger just yet, but I know if I did, I'd have peace of mind for years. Plus, I could probably sell off this old i5 4670k, the Gigabyte Z87-HD3, and the 8 gigs of RAM... might recoup a little cash that way.

Larry Ortiz5 said:Intel is in my blood 😁 and I can't help it. Honestly, I was looking at that RAM and a similar motherboard too. Not sure if I should pull the trigger yet, but I know I'd have peace of mind for years... plus, I could sell this i5 4670k, the Gigabyte Z87-HD3, and 8 gigs of RAM to recoup some cash..

intel fanboy lol

So you're really gonna drop an extra couple hundred bucks just for a tiny bump in performance?

Personally, I'd rather grab a Ryzen 7 1700 or a 2700 for that kind of money.

That’s kind of like asking if I want a Mercedes-Benz or a budget compact with all my gear included—especially since the total package ends up being $10,000 cheaper anyway. 😁 Look, I’m not saying AMD is bad. Honestly, ever since Ryzen dropped and they set that standard of 6 cores for mainstream CPUs—which forced Intel to actually step up their game—I’ve definitely gained some respect for them. But at the end of the day, Intel is just Intel... it's like how Nike is Nike when it comes to sportswear 🙂 rather than Adidas. If you catch my drift? For me, price isn't even the biggest factor here, since I'll be making some money back by selling off my old components.

It was something like Ford vs. Mercedes-Benz a while back.

BTW, Adidas > Nike

Haha, not really... if I have to admit one thing I actually like about Nike, it's their old-school tracksuits—everything else feels pretty bland to me