Need replacement CPU, APUs seem cheaper, already have a Graphics Card.

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phoenix919

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Sep 27, 2013
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Since I've been playing Skyrim more and more and would like some better graphics performance, I'm thinking it would benefit me if I replaced my old AM2+ AMD Phenom X4 9750 2.4Ghz quad core with something else that's at least up to AM3+ architecture. That said, I'm running a PCI-E Radeon HD 4670 with 1Gb of DDR3 memory (PCI 2.0 128bit... When I got it, my old board was AM2 only with PCI-E 1.0 only... yech).

My understanding is that Radeon doesn't yet support PCIE 3.0, so upgrading my video card to boost performance doesn't seem like the smart move until either they do, or I get an Intel machine that does. That said, there are some deals in my area right now for APU/motherboard combos, and even though I don't need an APU, I keep wondering if, since I already have a video card, at least a new board and a more up-to-date APU would benifit me more than a new video card, even though PCIe 3.0 wouldn't be supported on those, either. Then again, my Processor isn't terrible for an AM2+ processor.

Some additional information: My motherboard only allows 333mhz FSB and so I have 4Gb of PC2-5300 memory, though my CPU clock shows 200 when I use CPU-Z. It's an AsusTek M2N68AM plus (included GeForce 7025 chipset for onboard vid and Nforce 630a southbridge, but again, I have my own graphics card).

So what do you think, Am I wrong, and should I just upgrade the video card instead? Maybe I'm just stuck on this idea of replacing my board and really should be focusing on replacing my video card, but I'm just not sure what would be the right move. Thoughts?
 
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ingtar33
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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ok. you need some info to clear up the confusion so here it is.

PCI-E is a "mostly" universal interface. meaning a pci-e 3.0 video card should work in a pci-e 1.0 motherboard. understand that in general this does depend on the BIOS. however, asus does a fantastic job keeping their legacy motherboards up to date with new tech, so as long as you have the most recent bios update you should be alright.

Now, you can get 60fps+ in Skyrim with a new current gen AMD system; so if you want to spend $600+ dollars on an all new system you certain can do that, and it will play skyrim just fine at 1080p.

THAT said... if this isn't a vital thing to you, i would suggest you wait till christmas. besides the normal deals that come out around xmas time, AMD will be releasing their all new product like, with new GPUs which should drive down gpu prices for current stuff across the board. the new APU, Kaveri should be out as well... and if the leaking numbers I've seen turn out to be real, it might be worth a look by itself (i'm having issues buying the numbers i'm being fed, but if they turn out real, Kaveri will be a real player in the mainstream desktop market; think sandy bridge i5 + hd 7790 igpu performance in a quad core 95W cpu for less then 200).
 
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phoenix919

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Sep 27, 2013
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If those specs / Price are real, are real, that blows my mind.



I think maybe you misunderstood my statement on that. To be clear, I've got no trouble buying a PCI-E 3.0 card, and using it if it will actually boost my performance... but my quandary is if it will actually do so or not. However, given what you said about Kaveri (which I was just reading up on last week, but didn't quite absorb the details), it might be worth a wait.
 
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phoenix919

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Sep 27, 2013
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24" 1920x1080. My power supply is around 800 watts or so. My Opsys is... flexible, but currently running OEM Win7 64 ult. I certainly don't plan on putting win8 on my drives, if that's what you're asking.

At the moment, I'm just looking for a quick fix for around 200 or less. If I had about 2-3k to blow on a new board/chip/card, I'd have no questions about what I'd get. ;)
 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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well the numbers i just saw yesterday claim the igpu part is supposed to be a min of almost 50% (48% to be specific) improvement over the current igpu they have on the a10-6800k using DDR3 1600 ram, a 50% improvement would put the igpu somewhere between a hd 7770 and a hd 7850... closer to the hd 7850... which would land it around the hd 7790 in it's performance. the information i saw yesterday claimed the steamroller improvements increased power efficiently greater then AMD originally anticipated, and the net improvements put the cores somewhere between nehalam and sandybridge, closer to sandybridge then nehalam. Which would mean there was something like a 20% improvement in IPC for steamroller.

the igpu numbers are the most unbelievable for me, the steamroller numbers are in line with what aMD has been claiming for almost a year now, so it's consistent. the power efficiency numbers are the surprise in the steamroller numbers. They're claiming the quad core cpu alone is a 40W-60W part... which is why they were able to pump up the igpu, and keep the whole thing under 100W. I have a lot of issues buying that the bulldozer architecture suddenly became 100% more power efficient in 1 generation, without a radical overhaul of the underlying structure.

since there are 2 unbelievable points in this info i saw, i am taking it with a grain of salt.


As to your question... a hd7850 won't be bottlenecked much by a pci-e 1.0 x16 slot. and you should get a nice boost in performance. but you're right, for skyrim your main problem is the cpu not the gpu. so it's doubtful you'll see much of an improvement for skyrim with a simple gpu upgrade.
 
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swifty_morgan

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Feb 10, 2006
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a 955 with the right BIOS and a 2gig 7850.................. ( for your old board )

the apu will have 6670 performance ( gpu ) and about 955 performance ( cpu )............ apu will require a new board and new ram..................... the faster the better for an apu build......... 1866/2133
 
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