Upgrade CPU or GPU for BF3

[djohn3853]

I read that BF3 was more about the cpu than the gpu.

Which would you upgrade if you had my rig? or would you do nothing?

 

[greenhawk]

Hard to say as only reviews of hardware with the alpha code have been seen.

A few links to the russian reivew in the BF3 thread IIRC, but more importantly, is how much are you looking to spend as a maximum?

 

[djohn3853]

looking at $300 max

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I have a barely better rig than you, Q6600 / 4890. I'm upgrading the CPU and waiting as long as I can to see what happens w/ next AMD (and to a lesser extent, since it's further out, the next nVidia) launch. Then I'll either buy the new stuff or get 6xxx/5xx cheaper.

You'll need closer to $350 for a 2500K though unless you have a microcenter handy.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I read that BF3 was more about the cpu than the gpu.

Which would you upgrade if you had my rig? or would you do nothing?

It'll probably use four cores at least, seeing as almost all games this year do. I'd recommend you upgrade both, but upgrading the whole platform from the RAM to the CPU, GPU and motherboard seems pretty tough. If you want two high-end cards in your future you'll need a PSU with 4x PCIe connectors, too. If you want to save as much money as you can you can milk more out of your current platform.

What's your budget?

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Don't upgrade anything until the game is out. Then decide. Your rig should at least run the game while you order new parts.

 

[ss284]

Considering how much of a dog bfbc2 was on dual cores, you need at a minimum 4 cores. I would suggest saving up a bit more, and grabbing a 2500k/motherboard/ram combo($400) and whatever nvidia/amd is selling for around $200. Double your budget, but I don't think its worth upgrading to anything slower. At $300, you can probably pick up an old core2quad, overclock it, and sill get that $200 video card.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

looking at $300 max

Oh. There's some good deals on eBay for the Core 2 Quad Q9400 (6MB L2) and Q9450 (12MB L2). My advice is that since you have a PSU that has 2x PCIe connectors and a motherboard that supports CrossFire you buy the Core 2 Quad Q9450 at $150 and use the other $150 to buy a Radeon HD 6850. Then, if you feel like you need more performance again, you can buy another one without having to replace anything.

The Core 2 Quad Q9450 is around the same speed as a Phenom II X4 945 stock and it can OC to around 3.8-4GHz.

 

[djohn3853]

Axel, are you talking about me running both gpu's? The one I have with the 6850?

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Axel, are you talking about me running both gpu's? The one I have with the 6850?

LOL, no. What I'm saying is that you should buy the Core 2 Quad Q9450 and the Radeon HD 6850 since it totals your max budget of $300. Since you have a CrossFire board you can buy another 6850 later and milk everything out of your current platform. The 45nm Core 2 Quads scale better at over 3GHz than the Phenom II X4s so you won't see any noticeable bottlenecking running CF.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Don't upgrade anything until the game is out. Then decide. Your rig should at least run the game while you order new parts.

bingo. i'll never upgrade in advance again. op, unless there's a specific issue, i would upgrade the video first.

 

[Zenoth]

If anything just wait until next year's GPU architecture is out, Kepler, for the moment and until the game is released nothing should be done, just wait at least until the game is released as TakeNoPrisoners said.