What should my upgrade priority be for system longevity?

Rolando_d · Apr 1, 2014

Hey guys, once again I appreciate the help. This is an awesome active forum and community.

Right now I have a pretty decent Co-op position and I have the extra cash on hand but I have to go back to school and finish my degree in Aerospace Engineering in the Fall. So my goal is to really build my PC so that it will be a high quality machine for the next atleast 3 years while I can. The computer is used for Engineering programs Autocad etc, rendering type stuff and a passion of mine is Simulation Games such as FSX as well as FPS games like BF4.

Here's my current system:

FX 8320 8 Core Processor 4.1 OC
EVGA GTX 760 GPU
8Gb Gskill DDR3 RAM
GA-970a-ud3 Mobo
600W PSU
120Gb Samsung EVO SSD Boot Drive
500Gb 7200rpm barracuda HDD

I was strongly thinking of switching out the Mobo and CPU with I7 4770k and Z87 Plus Combo from Tigerdirect. Here is the link. I almost hit the checkout button before I decided to check and see if anyone had any better ideas than the CPU. The reason I was thinking CPU is because Simulation games such as FSX require a ton of CPU power

Also the PSU is 600W, should I look at switching that out first?

AgentTran · Apr 1, 2014

I would much rather have you switch out the 8320 with the 4770K, it will be much better and it is unlocked.
Get a good CPU fan too, and you can over clock the CPU to quite acceptable standards.

The 760 is more than enough for BF4 and Simulation games, but based on what you are studying the 4770K would be alot better.
Plus, go with the Z87 combo so the mobo is compatible by socket for the 4770k.

maddogfargo · Apr 1, 2014

In multithreaded games like BF4 the FX 8320 & 8350 aren't far behind a 4770k. At 1080p, we're talking 2-4 FPS in the 60-80FPS range. Building from scratch it wouldn't matter. But if you already have one or the other, it is not worth changing platforms...not by a long shot. You'll end up spending ~$500 on just board and CPU for almost no difference.

Your current motherboard is a 970 chipset with 8+2 power phase. This can support the FX 8 core well enough, but a better board will allow better overclocking features and stability. It will also support multiple GPUs better.

Consider the GA-990FXA-UD3 Rev. 4.0, or the UD5 or even the UD7. Asus Sabretooth is also very good. You can add a 2nd GTX 760 later on and the 990FX chipset will support both at PCIe x16. The 970 board can't do multiple GPUs at full x16.

And double-check your overclocking settings against a detailed guide on the 8320. It takes a bit more than just a multiplier and vCore bump to make these CPUs reach their potential. But it will work very nicely once you get it there.

600w PSU is 'enough' for 1 GPU. But you need to think about a 750-850w PSU if you add a 2nd GPU.

Rolando_d · Apr 1, 2014

I have a Hyper 212 EVO aftermarket cooler right now on the CPU and one thing I've noticed is that even OC to 4.1 Ghz the Core 3 temp seems to heat up. Also my system seems unstable past 4.3Ghz and I was getting some weird stuff happening when the CPU was 100% loaded and I was trying to fly FSX with a framerate of 10fps. On FSX the CPU was 100% loaded, and I was getting crashes so thats why I was thinking about chucking out AMD for the 4770k since I've read it has 32% higher multithread performance and 75% higher single thread. so do yall think I should stick with the AMD and problems are being caused by the board? Or should I make the Jump to Intel?

Rolando_d · Apr 1, 2014

Let me clarify.

For longevity, and to help increase stability over the long run,
is it smarter to go with a higher quality Mobo and stay with AMD or is intel a better long term solution to remaining a high performance system?

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What should my upgrade priority be for system longevity?

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