CPU upgrade. Which way to go?

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kevinski

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Jan 12, 2014
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Hi all. First time ever on a forum! My machine :- Name AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
Codename Windsor
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
Package Socket AM2 (940)
on a gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H motherboard. Chipset AMD 780G
500 watt antec psu, 8gig DDR2 ram duel channel,

Now from what i can work out via gigabyte,s blurb on my mob http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2758#ov (i am a novice with this stuff so please bare with me) this board is up gradeable to a AM3 socket which will run AMD Phenom II X 6 processor according to that info. Has anyone out there had any experience with this mob and an upgrade?

This machine is mainly used for gaming but is getting a little slow for newer games. I know it's a couple of Gens old but even an upgrade to a Phenom 2 x4 might be the trick. I'll most likely also install a new GPU being an ATI HD 7850. Currently it has a Radeon HD 4670 card installed. Anything above the ATI HD 7850 will probably suck to much power for my psu if i upgrade to a quad or 6 core.

Basically after a long period of searching the net for compatible chips i'm unsure of what i can really upgrade to for this mob both in socket compatibility and power. I don't want to overspend on an old machine but i'm hoping (as you do) to get a boost that might change running Far Cry 3 from lower settings to some better eye candy settings for example.Thanks in advance for any advice or info. Kev from Oz
 
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WhiteSnake91
that motherboard in option 2 is pretty horrible according to various reviews, and it's for an AMD APU FM2 socket, you'd need an AM3+ socket for the 6 core 6300. 8gb ram is optimal, the 7870 gpu is good but yeah that's priced awfully high right there. Look for a good reviewed AM3+ 970 AMD mobo and grab the 6 core, I would. The consoles now are using 8 core AMD cpus so things will only start to use more cores/threads
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WhiteSnake91

WhiteSnake91

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it appears that it will indeed support the phenom x6 cpus

http://ee.gigabyte.com/products/page/mb/ga-ma78gm-s2h_10/

"Supports new generation of AMD Phenom™II X6 processors"

rather old board. I did a little reading online and it appears it may need a bios update depending on which version you have, but it couldn't hurt to try it, you'd see a big improvement
 
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swifty_morgan

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Feb 10, 2006
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for a processor.............. look for a quad core 955 or 965. don't mess with trying to run a 6core phenom on that board. I did and it never ran right.

graphics card............look for a 2gig model.

FarCry3 really needs a new platform......... an i5 quad at least. the older processors just can't keep up with modern coding.
 
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Bonecrushrr

Bonecrushrr

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That's why I asked budget, a new build may just be easier and more worthwhile.
 
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kevinski

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I'm hoping to get an upgrade for an old platform like mine for around $250 Au with processor and new GPU card. The GPU card i was looking at retails for around $140 here at a shop so it's the bulk of the spend. No idea really what i would pay for some of the suggestions you guys have made regarding Processors. Was about to start my quest on ebay first. Thanks for the feedback guys
 
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WhiteSnake91

WhiteSnake91

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yeah I was going to say that in my post as well, the prices on the x6 phenoms are too high....you'd be better off with a cheap mobo, fx 6300, but then you'd need to buy ddr3 ram.

if your psu is good enough, I'd say get a good gpu, then slowly upgrade the rest.

a phenom x4 955 might be cheap enough and paired with a 7770 or 7790 would play stuff decent at 1080p
 
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kevinski

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By the way WhiteSnake91, Mr Coverdale is one of my all time fav vocalists.

Sorry. What is 1080p?
 
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kevinski

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What about sinking the money into a higher end card. I heard it's all GPU for games now anyway. Is that true? Or would my machine just bottle neck in the CPU with a high end card?
 
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kevinski

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Hi Bonecrushrr. I'm hearing ya. Any suggestions in an ATI card? More of an ATI fan to be honest but mainly due to lack of experience with the other GPU brand
 
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WhiteSnake91

WhiteSnake91

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the AMD (AMD bought out ATI years ago) r9 270 and r9 270x are around that price point and are better than the 660. Higher than that, and the price jumps are very high. The high end right now on AMD is in shortage due to bitcoin miners buying them all.
 
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swifty_morgan

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you mentioned FC3................. big nono for a bad cpu and bad gpu............... even a 7850 with your current cpu won't help much.............. it's all too old.
 
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WhiteSnake91

WhiteSnake91

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1080p is just the monitor resolution, 1920x1080

what is your monitor resolution, 720p? 1366x768? If your resolution is lower, getting the r9 270x would let you play decent until you can upgrade everything else :p
 
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kevinski

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o.k gents. Can i trouble you for some more opinion/advice? Thanks in advance. After a day to think about this upgrade i've decided to ditch just up gradeing my current rig and instead, join the current generation of cpu's.

Shopped around a little today at some local CPU stores and got a couple of price lists for the following. Keep in mind my total budget for this is 600-650Au The two choices that were presented by sales folks that fitted around that budget were: OPTION 1 Ga B85M-D3H Mobo $119, Ci5 4440 CPU $239, ATI HD7870 GPU $288, 4gb kingston 1333mhz DDR3 ram $58 OPTION TWO was: F2-A75M-D3H (liked the sound of this one) $126, AMD FX6300 black CPU $200, ATI HD7870 GPU $288, 4gb Kingston 1600 DDR3 ram $67. This all fits with my existing Antec Case and Antec 500watt PSU. After a quick surf i can see these items all quite a bit cheaper on the web. Also this weekend there is a computer fair that happens monthly which is very crazy but will offer priced somewhere between the net and the shops i visited. So, Any feedback or direction is most welcome. You guys may know of a better set up for the same kind of dosh, or a system that's slightly more bucks (can't be much more) but with better results. A thousand thanks.
 
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WhiteSnake91

WhiteSnake91

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that motherboard in option 2 is pretty horrible according to various reviews, and it's for an AMD APU FM2 socket, you'd need an AM3+ socket for the 6 core 6300. 8gb ram is optimal, the 7870 gpu is good but yeah that's priced awfully high right there. Look for a good reviewed AM3+ 970 AMD mobo and grab the 6 core, I would. The consoles now are using 8 core AMD cpus so things will only start to use more cores/threads
 
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K

kevinski

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Jan 12, 2014
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Thanks mate. I'll have a look for an alternate mobo.
 
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