Gee, don't I feel stupid. Maybe you could help?

DontDoWhatIDid

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Aug 29, 2013
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10,510
I was looking to upgrade my PC for gaming. I built it for gaming two (three in november) years ago but never upgraded a thing on it. I just didn't care.

I was talking to a friend about upgrading and I was pondering whether it would be a better idea to upgrade the mobo first and then everything else or just go with what I have (I know mobos' are pretty cheap). He has a pretty nice PC and has knows lots. When I asked him about my CPU he said it was OK because it was pretty advanced for the socket type on the MOBO. I went with the second option. I also did not have a lot of money to spend on upgrades.

Now I'm in a bind. I've spent close to $400 on RAM and a gfx card. The CPU is the bottleneck I've discovered. Windows' resource monitor shows it maxed at or near 100% when playing games like Natural Selection 2 and Planetside 2.

My question is there any way I can buy a new processor and mobo that would fit my current components and still be relatively modern? Perhaps someone could find me this setup. Or plan B: find some way to sell off these parts? They are new with about a month of mileage on them. The ram I know is not so plausible because every mobo is different but my new gfx card is fine.

System specs:

MOBO: MSI NF980-G65
CPU: AMD Athlon 2 x4 640 3.0 Ghz
GFX: Asus GTX 650 Ti Boost OC
RAM: 16 GB's of (don't judge me) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 Pro 4x4GB sticks
The case is big enough. Its a giant ugly mother f***er that weighs 30 lbs.

Please don't attack me, I feel awful enough already.
 
Solution
Its a nice board you have and an overclocked Phenom II will keep up with a 650Ti boost but if you may be looking to upgrade the graphics in future then getting a new board and more modern CPU but if you just want to get the most from your 650 Ti a Phenom will do the job, except maybe planet side which just doesn't like AMD much.

DontDoWhatIDid

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Aug 29, 2013
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I would buy anything that works... $350 is max I suppose... See I run a new youtube gaming channel and two months in I decided I would switch to PC gaming. The only problem is the CPU is not powerful enough after these upgrades like I said.
 
Aug 15, 2013
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Well... for $350 you can buy an i5 4670k + Z77 mother board and that's a top of the line deal.

However, you have a really nice AM3 motherboard with 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots if you ever decide to go for a dual GPU setup. Since your motherboard supports phenom ii chips up to the phenom ii x6 1090T (the 1100T probably works too) I'd recommend you pick up a phenom ii x6 for $100-150 on ebay and upgrade your GPU to an HD7950 with the left over $200. Then you'd have a righteous machine.

Example phenom ii x6 chip on ebay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Phenom-II-X6-1090T-3-2-GHz-Six-Core-HDT90ZFBK6DGR-Processor-/171114976836?pt=CPUs&hash=item27d73f5644
 

DontDoWhatIDid

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Aug 29, 2013
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Yes I web searched "Best AM3 processor" and found that this morning too. I'm just concerned that if I got that it might not be powerful compared to a more recent processor though I don't know when the one you suggested was first made. If I can get a relatively modern and powerful CPU for the current build I would be more than happy! :D


I thought I said that I just upgraded the PC but the CPU was the bottleneck. The RAM and GFX card (Asus GTX650 Ti Boost OC) are brand spanking new with about a month of mileage on the RAM. I don't think I will upgrade the GPU again for that reason. The CPU always runs at near 100% when playing Planetside 2 or Natural Selection 2. The frame rate is variable especially when I'm in combat and there's lots going on (completely unplayable!). My friend also told me that AM3 is the newest socket type my CPU can use, which is why I was looking for a new MOBO as well if nothing can beat what I aleady have by a reasonable amount.
 
Aug 15, 2013
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10,810


With your GPU it's not gonna matter as it's gonna bottleneck any decent CPU.

Heck, even with an HD7970 you'll be fine with an phenom ii x6 1090t (pretty nearly as good as the fx8350 even today once overclocked). You'll lose a few fps to the i5/i7 systems of course but the difference isn't worth $200-300 in my book when that money could go to a much better GPU.

Also, I'd strongly recommend throwing your 650Ti up on ebay and getting an HD7950 when you get the money.

This review of the fx8350 includes ivy bridge, thuban, and deneb CPUs as well so you can compare them more or less.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8350-vishera-review,3328-14.html
 
Its a nice board you have and an overclocked Phenom II will keep up with a 650Ti boost but if you may be looking to upgrade the graphics in future then getting a new board and more modern CPU but if you just want to get the most from your 650 Ti a Phenom will do the job, except maybe planet side which just doesn't like AMD much.
 
Solution

DontDoWhatIDid

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Aug 29, 2013
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OKay thanks guys. But I just don't understand what Narcisstic last said. How can my GPU be bottlenecking my CPU? I thought my CPU was slower than the GPU hence why it was bottlenecked and running at 100% on ps2 and ns2. Or maybe the GPU is so fast that any decent CPU of modern make is not fast enough? From what I know about CPU's and GPU's, a CPU is a RISC type processor, and a GPU is the opposite but I don't remember the acronym (something ISC). The RISC processors are slower because they are built to do one thing at a time, while GPU's can do many things at one time. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 
Aug 15, 2013
257
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10,810


Sorry, I hadn't slept in about 60 hours when I wrote that so I was less clear than I'd like.

What I meant to say is that if you upgrade to a phenom ii like the x4 965 or x6 1100t, the GPU will be maxed out on most games. In otherwords, your GPU will be the weakest link in your system after you upgrade.