Need help upgrading my GPU and RAM

I’m looking to beef up my rig without swapping out my motherboard or CPU. The plan is to grab a new GPU, bump my RAM from 4GB up to 8GB, and maybe upgrade the PSU if I absolutely have to. I know everything needs to be compatible with my board, but honestly, I’m a bit lost on the technical side of things. Can anyone suggest a solid GPU and some RAM that won't break the bank—ideally staying within the $1000-$500 range? Also, I noticed my old DDR3 RAM seems more expensive than the newer stuff; if my motherboard can actually handle newer modules, I'd rather just buy 8GB of the new stuff and sell my old sticks. Any advice would be huge. Thanks!

Here’s a link to my current specs: View on imgur

It all comes down to what kind of power supply you’ve got under the hood.

If the power supply is solid, then you're good to go. $0.50 Grab some 4GB of 1333 CL9 DDR3 RAM for around... $83 So, if I’m reading you right, you’ve still got $1,250 left for a GPU. You could grab a GTX 750 Ti 2GB if you're leaning toward Nvidia, or an XFX R9-270A 2GB if you want to go with AMD. But honestly? If you can stretch that budget from $1,250 up to $1,450, just get the GTX 950—it’ll absolutely eat those other two for breakfast. Just make sure you check what kind of power supply you're running in there first.

Are you upgrading to actually play games, or is there some other reason?

Since you're running an HD 6870 that pulls about 150W at peak, $500 most modern cards are much more efficient, so you shouldn't need to upgrade your power supply.

analogtiger19 said:As long as your power supply is solid, you might as well grab 4GB of 1333 CL9 RAM for about $0.50 $83...

Having just a single 4GB stick of RAM has been pretty much outdated for a while now, sitting well below $67 😁

Upgrading your GPU probably won't make a massive difference here; the HD 6870 is roughly on par with, or maybe even slightly weaker than, the GTX 750 or an R7 360. You’d really need something more powerful to make it worth the money... honestly, I'd say prioritize adding an SSD instead. And obviously, get some more RAM.

I agree, upgrading from an HD 6870 to a GTX 950 isn't worth the money.

crimsonstag84 said:Single 4GB sticks have been bottoming out for a long time now. $67 😁

Upgrading your GPU isn't going to be a game-changer here. An HD 6870 is basically performing at the same level, if not slightly worse, than a GTX 750 or an R7 360. You’d need to grab something significantly more powerful to actually see a return on your investment. Honestly, you're better off throwing that money toward an SSD instead. And obviously, get some more RAM.

Is $199.00 a fair price for 1600 CL11 4GB RAM? 😬His 1333 CL9 kit is actually a bit more expensive. 😛

Regarding the GPU, I honestly don't see much point in anything other than upgrading to a GTX 950—specifically that Gigabyte WF2 OC model. Anything else would just be a waste of money. $480 I mean, can things really get this stretched out?

Alexander Moore67 said:I'm with you—upgrading from an HD 6870 to a GTX 950 just isn't worth the money.

The GTX 950 is pulling nearly 50% more FPS than the 6870...

Here goes. Gigabyte GTX 950 WF2 In every single benchmark I run, this thing is outperforming the GTX 750 Ti or the R9 370 by about 40-50%, and both of those cards already eat the HD 6870 for breakfast.

According to that performance summary link, a random GTX 950 is about 38% faster than an HD7790 at 1080p—which means it’s basically performing at the same level as his current card. Ha, I guess he'll have to decide if that little bump in power is actually worth the upgrade.

So, what counts as a legit GPU upgrade starting from $483? Here’s the deal: I’m pretty sure my graphics card is dying on me. My PC keeps freezing whenever I try to run Heroes of the Storm, and sometimes my mouse cursor gets all pixelated and weird—even when I've got everything dialed down to medium settings. Honestly, I don't even need a beastly setup; I just want my current rig to actually work right, and some extra RAM wouldn't hurt either. The problem is, I have no clue how to check if my GPU is actually trashed or if it's something else. Is there some kind of software out there I can use to test it?

Maybe run CPUID HWMonitor just to check your CPU and GPU temps, just in case. You could leave it running in the background while you play for a bit to see what those peak temperatures actually look like.

I guess an upgrade wouldn't really be worth it until you hit something like the Nvidia GTX 960 or an R9 380, which is >$550.

Just run some tests.

Thanks for all the input, everyone. I’ve got one more question for you guys. If it turns out my card actually dies on this 750, will I end up just getting back what I already have?

https://www.amazon.com/nvidia-gpu/19...e-gtx-750.html

This one's a bit more powerful than yours, I guess.

https://www.newegg.com/nvidia-gpu/21...mx-oc-2gb.html

You'll probably notice a pretty significant jump in performance with this one.