Requesting recommendations for upgrades to old gaming PC

[Soulgarde]

Hi guys,

It's been 3 years since I purchased my PC, and currently, I am having trouble trying to record my own game-play in FFXIV without the FPS dropping down to like 20-30 FPS.

I would like to seek your help in suggesting what are the bare minimum parts I should upgrade just so that I can record FFXIV gameplay videos while still maintaining a good FPS in-game(50-60).

At the moment, I am thinking of getting either a GTX960/970 for that huge GPU boost and NVIDIA Shadowplay (Heard it doesn't have much CPU usage). I wonder if that's sufficient for my needs atm or I need a better CPU as well.. I would prefer not to upgrade something unnecessary as the aforementioned is probably the most CPU/GPU intensive task that I do using my computer.

My budget is not fixed, but the highest i would go for is probably $500 for a GPU if it will be somewhat future-proofed. Not sure about CPU though..

P.S - On a side note, my computer has been getting really noisy (I can even hear the fans running while wearing a headset). I am not sure if it's just because of the huge amount of dust or if I should change the stock fan to something quieter. (Would prefer not to have liquid cooling).

Here is my current config:

Intel i5-3.2 GHZ (i5-3470)
MSI B75M-P45 MAINBOARD
GSKILL 1600 8GB DDR3 RAM
WD 500GB BLUE SATA3 7200RPM HDD
Samsung 24X DVD-RW SATA2
POWER COLOUR HD 7850 2GB PCS + DDR5
SEASONIC S12II 520W 80 PLUS BRONZE
SHARKOON MS140 BLACK USB 3.0 MICRO CASING
LOGITECH MK120 USB KEYBOARD/MOUSE
MS WIN 7 HOME PREM 64BIT
SSD Plextor M5P 128GB

Thanks in advance!

 

[Koenig168]

Don't use ShadowPlay. Try Fraps or some other recording software.

$500 will get you a decent GPU upgrade. I would wait a couple of months for Pascal.

 

[BiomedicalPasta]

palit 970. Get division for free.
Or lazada 390x at 555. Im not sure if you can get 25bucks off if u use their promo though.

 

[Soulgarde]

Don't use ShadowPlay. Try Fraps or some other recording software.

$500 will get you a decent GPU upgrade. I would wait a couple of months for Pascal.

Are there any other recording software that are not that CPU-intensive? I tried OBS(a bit more efficient than FRAPS) and I was still getting 20-30 FPS in-game. Not sure if it's mainly because of CPU or GPU bottle-neck.

How does my CPU fare in comparison to the newer models out there for recording/gaming?

 

[Soulgarde]

palit 970. Get division for free.
Or lazada 390x at 555. Im not sure if you can get 25bucks off if u use their promo though.

Thanks for your recommendation!

How much better is the 390X compared to the GTX 970 in terms of future-proofing/performance? I understand that the 970 has issues with low vRAM(for the future), but I am worried that the 390X will be too much for my PSU(520W)/MOBO to handle.

Shadow-play is a plus as well, but as Koenig168 mentioned, maybe it's not that good hahas.

 

[Goodshot]

That's why I never recommend ppl to buy 520w psu , $100 can get a super flower real gd psu already , never save $$ on psu

 

[Koenig168]

Are there any other recording software that are not that CPU-intensive? I tried OBS(a bit more efficient than FRAPS) and I was still getting 20-30 FPS in-game. Not sure if it's mainly because of CPU or GPU bottle-neck.

How does my CPU fare in comparison to the newer models out there for recording/gaming?

Your CPU is fine. Any bottleneck will be at the GPU level. I use Fraps. Can't really comment on other software as I am not familiar with them.

 

[Ohayo!]

Windows 10 got inbuilt recording software called gamebar.. you can try that

 

[WhiteHunter]

palit 970. Get division for free.
Or lazada 390x at 555. Im not sure if you can get 25bucks off if u use their promo though.

get 970 and geot free game. this game quite nice.

 

[WhiteHunter]

That's why I never recommend ppl to buy 520w psu , $100 can get a super flower real gd psu already , never save $$ on psu

which psu do you recommend??

 

[Goodshot]

which psu do you recommend??

For review now seems superflower 600- 650w gold is the best deal, I won't go for seasonic because i seem recently alot of going rma

 

[Soulgarde]

Tried Windows 10 Gamebar before.. Had the same amount of FPS as OBS. I think it's just my GPU throttling the FPS.

If I were to get the 970, which brand/model would you recommend? Palit seems to be the cheapest while having above average performance, but I am not sure about it's build quality/coil whining/customer service support. MSI/Gigabyte have the best votes, but they are so much more expensive than the Palit one..

2 options I thought were pretty good was the Palit 4GB JETSTREAM at $475 vs MSI 4GB ARMOUR O.C at $529. Is it worth paying $50 for the better build quality/RMA support?

 

[nexusRAGER]

Now no promo on qoo10. If not can get Zotac 970 at $395.

Also now have a promo with free game so you can sell the game and spend sell than $350 on a 970.

 

[yknyong1]

Actually your current config should be more than sufficient to record using OBS. You can try using AMDVCE instead of x264.

 

[shiodong]

tahan a few months for new gpu from both nvidia and amd. 14/16nm and high bandwidth memory(HBM). either future proof with that or hoot at cheap sales of current gen cards. ie if you can tahan that few months.