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AMD System Upgrade - CPU or 2nd GPU?

Tags:
  • CPUs
  • AMD
  • Systems
  • Sapphire
  • Phenom
  • GPUs
Last response: in Systems
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October 22, 2013 2:08:02 AM

Hi guys,I have an AMD Phenom II 970 BE, Sapphire HD7870 Ghz Edition, 16GB RAM all sitting in an AsRock 990FX Extreme 4. I am looking to upgrade and am not sure if I would gain more from upgrading the CPU (to an FX-8350) or by adding a 2nd HD7870. I mostly game at 1920x1080 but do run 3 monitors for work purposes. Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks.

More about : amd system upgrade cpu 2nd gpu

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October 22, 2013 2:56:44 AM

vanmatrix said:
Hi guys,I have an AMD Phenom II 970 BE, Sapphire HD7870 Ghz Edition, 16GB RAM all sitting in an AsRock 990FX Extreme 4. I am looking to upgrade and am not sure if I would gain more from upgrading the CPU (to an FX-8350) or by adding a 2nd HD7870. I mostly game at 1920x1080 but do run 3 monitors for work purposes. Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks.


the 970 BE would probably bottleneck two 7870. upgrade both if you can. personally, I'd put an fx-8350 in it, and after that a second 7870.
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October 22, 2013 2:57:38 AM

I'm not quite sure, but if this helps:

If you get the CPU, and overclock it a bit, you won't have a CPU bottleneck for the foreseeable future.

If you get the GPU, you might get some performance, you might get CPU bottle-necked, and you might get micro-studdering problems or a lack of game support for dual graphics configs.

Also, for large screen resolutions, more cards can help, but if you are using AA (or just in general), remember that it uses quite a bit of VRAM.

Edit- Why not meet half way? Grab an FX-6300 (and overclock this 6-core CPU) and another card (identical make and specs). If you ever want to go up to the 8350, it will fit the same board as the 6300.
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October 22, 2013 9:59:38 AM

razvan_mz said:
vanmatrix said:
Hi guys,I have an AMD Phenom II 970 BE, Sapphire HD7870 Ghz Edition, 16GB RAM all sitting in an AsRock 990FX Extreme 4. I am looking to upgrade and am not sure if I would gain more from upgrading the CPU (to an FX-8350) or by adding a 2nd HD7870. I mostly game at 1920x1080 but do run 3 monitors for work purposes. Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks.


the 970 BE would probably bottleneck two 7870. upgrade both if you can. personally, I'd put an fx-8350 in it, and after that a second 7870.


Thanks. That is the plan. On a side note, would a 620W CoolerMaster PSU be sufficient for X-fire and the 8-Core CPU?
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October 22, 2013 10:01:32 AM

robax91 said:
I'm not quite sure, but if this helps:

If you get the CPU, and overclock it a bit, you won't have a CPU bottleneck for the foreseeable future.

If you get the GPU, you might get some performance, you might get CPU bottle-necked, and you might get micro-studdering problems or a lack of game support for dual graphics configs.

Also, for large screen resolutions, more cards can help, but if you are using AA (or just in general), remember that it uses quite a bit of VRAM.

Edit- Why not meet half way? Grab an FX-6300 (and overclock this 6-core CPU) and another card (identical make and specs). If you ever want to go up to the 8350, it will fit the same board as the 6300.


Thanks for the response :)  I have read lots of mixed views when it comes to X-fire. So really not sure if I want to go that route. As for the CPU, I'd prefer to rather go for the 8350 right off the bat and not have to worry about upgrading for a while.
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