torcator

Junior Member
Apr 7, 2018
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I have an old windows computer with this hardware:

Mother: ASRock H97 Killer
CPU i5-4690
Memory 16 GB DDR3 1600
GPU AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
Hard Drive Samsung 850 Evo 480 GB

My main use of this computer is basic gaming: Civ 6 and GTA V.
But I'm thinking about using this computer for some photo & video editing.
So, keeping the same motherboard I was thinking of getting a better CPU and GPU.
https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty H97 Killer/

So, following those specs the best CPU that I can get is an i7 5 generation and GPU I don't really know.

My questions are:
Does it make sense to keep the actual system or just renew everything?
If so, what should I upgrade?

Thanks in advance for the answers.
 

lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
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Your base system is decent and it is your money so you will need to decide for yourself.

Mild upgrade (cheapest) video card only.

Medium upgrade GPU and CPU. The CPU will be limited to what the main board can handle. A new i7-4790K CPU for that mainboard is more expensive than the 6 core i7-8700. I would not do this because of the cost unless you find a deal on an i7-4790K.

Large upgrade: Whole new system with perhaps an i7-8700 having 6 cores and maybe up to 4.7GHz for $300-330 or so. This is a compelling CPU, I want one! Obviously this would be the most expensive.
 
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whm1974

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Jul 24, 2016
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Your system is fine. I have almost the same specs but with a GTX 970 and two 1TB M500 SSDs running on a i5-4670 CPU. A GTX 1070 and a larger size SSD would be the best upgrades you can do.
 

torcator

Junior Member
Apr 7, 2018
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Your base system is decent and it is your money so you will need to decide for yourself.

Mild upgrade (cheapest) video card only.

Medium upgrade GPU and CPU. The CPU will be limited to what the main board can handle. A new i7-4790K CPU for that mainboard is more expensive than the 6 core i7-8700. I would not do this because of the cost unless you find a deal on an i7-4790K.

Large upgrade: Whole new system with perhaps an i7-8700 having 6 cores and maybe up to 4.7GHz for $300-330 or so. This is a compelling CPU, I want one! Obviously this would be the most expensive.

So the mild upgrade, aka the GPU I think it makes sense, and maybe I could go with the
. A larger SSD for me it's not a good idea. I do have a spare 3 TB Drive and a NAS for more space.

Regarding the medium, it's not that good, I rather prefer to get a full motherboard, memory and CPU upgrade sometime later. Maybe I should get first the GPU and wait a few weeks to get an offer on a 8 gen I7 CPU right?
 

whm1974

Diamond Member
Jul 24, 2016
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So the mild upgrade, aka the GPU I think it makes sense, and maybe I could go with the . A larger SSD for me it's not a good idea. I do have a spare 3 TB Drive and a NAS for more space.

Regarding the medium, it's not that good, I rather prefer to get a full motherboard, memory and CPU upgrade sometime later. Maybe I should get first the GPU and wait a few weeks to get an offer on a 8 gen I7 CPU right?
It's your money, but I don't think you will see as much improvement with upgrading the CPU as you would compared to the GPU. Do you ready need another 2 cores/4 threads that badly?
 
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lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
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I'm not a big fan of the ":medium" upgrade. I agree with whm1974 that the GPU will have the biggest impact.

Best thing to do is get the video card and put it in your old system and see what you think. If you feel like your CPU is holding you back you can always buy a whole new system and put your new video card in there.
 
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Feb 25, 2011
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A new GPU is unlikely to have any noticeable effect on photo or video editing performance. (video transcoding/encoding, yes, but not the hours you spend fiddling before you go and press the "publish" button.)

But if you just want an excuse to upgrade your gaming PC, then forget I said anything.
 

torcator

Junior Member
Apr 7, 2018
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LOL
But if you just want an excuse to upgrade your gaming PC, then forget I said anything.
I have no rush, so I'd added an alert in some websites to wait for an opportunity on the GPU.

I agree with you guys, I won't notice any effect even if I change the CPU and GPU for my current use case, so I'll wait for an opportunity