How to upgrade for better gaming

[Jayteescout]

I haven't purchased the components yet and have $40 more that I'd like to apply to some sort of upgrade on either the CPU or the GPU. Something that will increase my gaming experience with a higher framefate and/or the ability to use higher graphics setings. These are the CPU and GPU I was planning on getting:

Phenom II x4 3.4GHz-$95

GTX 650Ti Boost 1Gb-$150

Which of these could I upgrade for $40?

 

[PP Mguire]

If you can swing 9 more bucks then get a 660.

 

[Jayteescout]

If you can swing 9 more bucks then get a 660.

Its better than the 650 boost 2Gb?

 

[PP Mguire]

By a long shot, yes. The 650ti boost is a regular 650ti with a higher boost clock, some unlocked ROPs, and more RAM than the reference card. The 660 has almost 200 more shaders than the 650ti boost.

 

[Jayteescout]

Nice, looks like I'll go with that then

 

[Jayteescout]

If you can swing 9 more bucks then get a 660.

Wait which one are you thinking about specifically? There are so many :d

 

[PP Mguire]

EVGA 02G-P4-2660-KR GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Newegg.com

 

[Jayteescout]

EVGA 02G-P4-2660-KR GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Newegg.com

And that wont bottleneck the phenom II or vice versa? (Now that I think about it, probably vice versa if anything )

 

[Jayteescout]

Oh and lastly, will that card support a 1080p monitor?

 

[PP Mguire]

You can run up to a 680 easily with the 965 before you need to OC.

Both cards in question (650 and 660) will run a 1080p monitor. But some games require beefy cards for high settings @ 1080p. Namely, the two in question. Now, BF3 will run easily on the 660. Something like Crysis 3 won't.