AMD upgrade - will it be worth it?

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radiohead08

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Hi,

First off, this is going to be my last upgrade for a while so I want to ensure I get it right (got a baby on the way so income isn't going to going on things for me!)

My current set up is a:

AMD Phenom II x 4 945
ASUS M4A89GTD-Pro motherboard (AM3 i think)
N560GTX-448 Twin Frozr III Power Edition
8 Gig DDR3 (not sure what speed)

The PC is used for gaming and I'm looking to add a new cpu/motherboard (i5 3570K perhaps and overclock to 4.2Ghz) but i'm not sure if it will be worthwhile upgrading it (will I see any noticeable gains i.e. FPS increases in games?) or is it a better idea to look into getting a new video card or perhaps SLI?

I've got around £400 i'm willing to spend so could you guys please give me your thoughts on what my best options would be to "future proof" my PC for the next gen of games coming out.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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As a rule, a graphics card upgrade will be more satisfying. Your cpu is old, but still competent.

To help clarify your options, run these two tests:

a) Run your games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 50%.
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.


Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
set to 50% and see how you do.


You could also experiment with removing one core in the bios. This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.

If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system, and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
 
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HEXiT

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Mar 13, 2011
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400 will just cover the motherboard ram and cpu but will yield very little in the way of fps in games with your current card.
sli aint a great idea on that setup as your pretty much 2/3rds on the way to bottlenecking. ie add another 560 ti and your system will bottleneck the performance by about 30%.
your best bet for now would be to by a 760 and be done with it, maybe add a 3rd party cooler to the cpu and crank that up about 15% you may even be able to find a used amd 960 on ebay for a reasonable ask, if so it would be enough to keep you going until you can afford a full upgrade (depending on your budget restraints, as kids are expencive, but you know that ;) ).
 
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radiohead08

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Thanks for you replies.

my current card is around the speed of a 570 (its the 448 cores version of the 560). If I was to go for a new video card such as a 770 (the R9 290 looks tempting), would my current CPU hold back on the FPS or not do you think?
 
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burdenbound

burdenbound

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Yes the 945 will hold back both of those cards.
 
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Digestive97

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The 945 will probably not be sufficient for a gtx 770. A good combo for a gtx 770 is the intel i5 haswell series which are basically the i7 line but without the hyperthreading in it.
 
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burdenbound

burdenbound

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In current games I wouldn't be surprised if you were help back 20+ fps due to the 945 if you matched it with a 770. The more intensive the game the bigger the gap, with the newer consoles games will be pushing heavier on the CPU. If you go to your motherboard's manufacturer website it shows it has beta support the FX 8150 CPU. It will probably require updating the motherboard to the latest firmware but the 8150 with a little over clocking should show better performance than the 945.
 
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Digestive97

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There are but if you're going for a really expensive card you may as well get an i5 thus why you should probably get an 280x instead IMO, almost at the performance of an 770 but for 100$ less! Great deal right?! :)
 
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HEXiT

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switching platform is always expensive mate... look and see what the best cpu your current board can handle and then see what you have left over for a gfx card. the 560 ti is a decent enough card if you dont mind reducing settings on games like crysis and bf3/4 but pretty much everything else in the current gen of games will likely max out and give at least 30 fps. which although aint great is still very playable.(just add motion blur the higher your fps the less you need, which is a common mistake made by gamers).
anyhoo like i said look for the best cpu your current system can handle and hopefully it will have enough grunt to allow an upgrade to a better gpu.
 
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burdenbound

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I like the 280x (I have the 7970 which is the same thing) but they just drop the prices of the 780 to $499 and the 770 to $330 so they are not far apart any more.
 
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casper1973

casper1973

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EDIT:

Realised you significantly upgrade both CPU and GPU while staying within budget.

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£161.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£92.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card (£133.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £388.97

Amazing deal on the 7870 XT as usually they are around £180-200. In case you are unaware the 7870 XT is basically a toned down 7950.
Didn't have enough to accommodate a CPU cooler but that's something you can always pick up later (or maybe you already have one?)
 
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Digestive97

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If you for the 770 make sure you get the EVGA one. It's a goddam beast!
 
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radiohead08

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Hi Guys,

Just wanna say thanks for all the advice. I ended up ordering this which is over budget but im hopeful i can sell my old parts!
Intel Core i5 3570K,1155, Ivy Bridg 1 £173.87
Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H, USB 3.0 Intel 1 £76.52
3GB Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Dual-X 1 £231.94

Just hope this will see me through for a good few years
 
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Digestive97

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Make sure you do a really high overclock on that CPU if you can manage it. But only if you feel that you can't run everything on ultra with good fps. I heard some people get insane clocks on that CPU but increasing CPU clocks alone won't give any significant increase in games so you have to overclock the GPU as well so that you can get a really awesome synchronization between those two.
 
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Outlander_04

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Probably not in games like Crysis3 and BF3
 
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