What should I upgrade?

I guess the GTX 1650 would need at least 1024 CUDA cores just to keep pace with the RX 570, though I highly doubt that'll actually happen.

It’s definitely possible, though I’m honestly skeptical it won't perform at least as well as an RX 570, which already beats out the GTX 1050Ti. If you look at the math, the gap between a 1660 and a 1660Ti is about 20% (1280 vs 1536 CUDA cores), whereas dropping down to 1024 cores represents a straight 25% decrease compared to the GTX 1660. It makes perfect sense for them to release something that fills that specific performance gap between the GTX 1050Ti and the GTX 1060. In fact, it might even lean closer to the GTX 1060 level.

I finally managed to talk them into giving me an extra 8 GB of DDR3, so I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the RX 570 with 8 GB. Once I get my processor overclocked, this setup should hold its own for a while longer.

jadetrucker43 said:I finally worked out getting an extra 8 GB of DDR3, so I went ahead and ordered the 8 GB RX 570. With a CPU overclock, that should hold me over for a while.

👍

Timothy Kim60 said:It might actually be closer to a GTX 1060.

Which is basically an RX 570.

That’s exactly the sweet spot we need. For Nvidia, this will be a budget card (small chip, low memory), but since AMD Polaris production is already fully scaled, they'll be heavy competition in that <=$200 segment.

jadetrucker43 said:I finally worked out getting an extra 8 GB of DDR3, so I went ahead and ordered the RX 570 with 8 GB. Once I overclock the CPU, this setup should hold its own for quite a while.

It definitely will! With those specs, you can play absolutely anything. You might have to dial back the settings on the most demanding—or rather, poorly optimized—titles if you want massive FPS, but you'll be able to play...

Basically, it’s a very solid GPU upgrade. It opens up a huge library of games for you because, for example, Doom 2016 absolutely hates 2GB cards (you get all sorts of stuttering regardless of your settings), and we're seeing more and more games like that lately.

wiredotter14 said:That’s exactly the sweet spot we need. For Nvidia, this will likely be a budget card with a small chip and limited memory, whereas AMD Polaris is already a mature architecture, so they’ll be a powerhouse in that sub-$200 segment.

AMD needs to start selling GPUs for peanuts now click, and I'm expecting a significant price drop for the RX 590 too...

As for what jadetrucker43 bought, I don't expect prices to drop much further. I think they've hit bottom, especially since Nvidia isn't really threatening them in this space—they don't have anything truly competitive there. These will probably sell out first.

My current rig is about 4 years old now:

1 x AMD CPU Desktop FX-Series x4 4300 (3.8GHz,8MB,95W,AM3+) box

1 x LC POWER LC-CC-95, socket 775/1155/1156/AMD

1 x GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P, AM3+

1 x Crucial 4GB DDR3 1600 Mhz (PC3-12800) CL11

1 x HDD Desktop Toshiba DT01ACA050 (3.5", 500GB, 32MB, SATA III-600)

1 x MSI R7 260 OC, 1GB GDDR5, VGA, DVI, HDMI

1 x Samsung SH-224DB

1 x MS PHOENIX case without PSU

1 x Fortron Hyper 500W, 80+

What do I need to swap out if I actually want to play FIFA?

And if you guys can give me some immediate part recommendations, please do.

According to the official system requirements, you could definitely run it on low settings, provided you have 8GB of RAM available (which basically means picking up another 4GB stick)

You’ll definitely need at least 4GB of RAM ($50 brand new, $33 used) and I guess you should try to find 1600MHz CL11 to match. You might even want to look into a GPU upgrade:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/graphics-card-listing

crimsonstag84 said:You definitely need at least 4GB of RAM ($50 new, $33 used) and make sure it's 1600MHz CL11. You might want to upgrade the GPU too:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/graphics-card-listing

Honestly, getting a 470t for $267 🕺
isn't even much of a steal.
CLICK CLICK

Then he could also try this: click, click, click (updating the BIOS if necessary) and just sell his CPU and GPU for whatever he can get. At this point, that Boeing 747 would be severely bottlenecking any decent graphics card

Timothy Kim60 said:If you look at the official specs, you could probably squeeze it in on low settings, but you’d definitely need 8GB of RAM—so basically, go grab another 4GB stick from Best Buy or something.

I'll give that a shot first

So, what kind of frames am I actually looking at here?

DDR3 (preferably 1600MHz CL11)

Make sure you don't accidentally grab SODIMM—those are the short, chunky sticks meant for laptops.

If you're shopping for newer modules, check these out:

https://www.amazon.com/Transcendent-Memory-Modules-Desktop-Computer/dp/B07XJ8K5R9?tag=usax-20
https://www.newegg.com/apacer-ddr3-1600mhz/p/N82E1682013123
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/team-group-ddr3-4gb-desktop-memory/1456789