Is it good to upgrade

Azfar Siddiqui · Jul 1, 2014

Looking to upgrade my old gaming rig with
EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked 1046MHZ 2GB
and AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

Current system is amd athlon x2 6000
6gb DDR 2
bfg 9800 GT 512 mb.

Im looking to play games on 20" monitor with about high graphics(medium if not) with playable quality. also want to know how long would this hardware will last before dying out with games

p.s please keep in mind i cant choose any processor with am3+ socket coz i have am3 socket MB.

please let me know if its worth upgrading,

Andrew Buck · Jul 1, 2014

Well, I think you would be better off with a GTX 760, but it is up to you. That Phenom may also bottleneck you on games like Battlefield.

swifty_morgan · Jul 1, 2014

if you get anything bigger than a 2gig 6950 or 7850/70 it'll never get used to it's potential.

Andrew Buck · Jul 1, 2014

swifty_morgan :

It depends on the game, but this is true. You should use something like an R7 265.

Azfar Siddiqui · Jul 1, 2014

swifty_morgan :

is it because of the phenom?

jaraldo · Jul 1, 2014

Considering we don't know the PSU either it's hard to say.

A 750ti shouldn't bottleneck too much, should run just as fine in pci-e 2.0 and will run off the PCI-E slot and not the PSU. It can get 30+ fps in ultra on most new games.

Azfar Siddiqui · Jul 1, 2014

Andrew Buck :

R7 265 for me is same price as EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked 1046MHZ 2GB because its on sale. Plus i get free watch dogs lol

Azfar Siddiqui · Jul 1, 2014

jaraldo :

I have a 750 watt corsair psu

jaraldo · Jul 1, 2014

Well that's at least acceptable, even if it's a CX model.

You could get the r7 265 then, as it's in the same tier as the 7850; going by swifty's recommendation. (and comes with watchdogs

)
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

Andrew Buck · Jul 1, 2014

Azfar Siddiqui :

Hmm... Those usually aren't the best, but I have one and have no issues... The 750 Ti still runs off of the PSU through the motherboard. The 660 is probably fine, but the GTX 750 Ti is also good.

jaraldo · Jul 1, 2014

Andrew Buck :

Azfar Siddiqui :

Hmm... Those usually aren't the best, but I have one and have no issues... The 750 Ti still runs off of the PSU through the motherboard. The 660 is probably fine, but the GTX 750 Ti is also good.

Yeah, thanks for clearing that up. (could have confused someone forsure)
Just meant there was no 6-pin required

swifty_morgan · Jul 1, 2014

Azfar Siddiqui :

yes, it has it's limits. even when over clocked. games and coding changes. cpu's don't.

the 750 listed wouldn't be a bad card but I really don't like the small bus. you can still play lots of games but FC3/Crysis2-3/dogs/and many other newer games will suffer regardless of card. sometimes it's all in the cpu so to speak.

Andrew Buck · Jul 1, 2014

jaraldo :

Andrew Buck :

Yeah, thanks for clearing that up. (could have confused someone forsure)
Just meant there was no 6-pin required

Yeah, but on some there are.

Azfar Siddiqui · Jul 1, 2014

so AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition wouldnt really be a good choice as per say?

Andrew Buck · Jul 1, 2014

Azfar Siddiqui :

If you could afford a new motherboard like the M5A97 LE R2.0, you could put in an FX-6300 and get great performance.

jaraldo · Jul 1, 2014

@ Azfar Siddiqui

What? why?

It's one of the best options you have. They were an amazing CPU in their day.

I'd go with the phenom and the r7 265, unless you have the budget for adding in a new mobo to.

Andrew Buck · Jul 1, 2014

jaraldo :

In their day. This isn't their day anymore. The Phenom would be great, but may slightly bottleneck that GPU. The 265 is good, though.

Azfar Siddiqui · Jul 1, 2014

Andrew Buck :

i would but than new mb means new ram and it all adds up to a big cost. Not that much of big fan of gaming to spend 4-5 hundred dollars for upgrade to play some games here n there(far cry 4, rome total war 2, company of heroes 2) etc

Andrew Buck · Jul 1, 2014

Azfar Siddiqui :

True, forgot that AM3 was DDR2. You should be fine with your setup now, so go for an R7 265 or something along those lines. Good luck!

jaraldo · Jul 1, 2014

Agreed. The phenom and r7 265 will play those games easily.

Azfar Siddiqui · Jul 1, 2014

so is r7 265 better than EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked 1046MHZ 2GB ? am asking because i been nvidia fan since first day,and its only 20 bucks more.

Andrew Buck · Jul 1, 2014

Azfar Siddiqui :

Well, they are pretty close. You would get close to the same performance with both, because that bottleneck will still barely be there.

jaraldo · Jul 1, 2014

Here's some benchmarks. As stated, about the same performance.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r7-265-review,3748.html

swifty_morgan · Jul 1, 2014

if you look on newegg they had a 6970 for about $100 after rebate............ up front price was like $130........ this was in the past few days. you should look.

Azfar Siddiqui · Jul 1, 2014

one last thing. is 6gb ram good enough or should i invest in 8gb. i currently have 2gb+2gb+1gb+1gb setup. all slots full. if i do go for 8 gb ill have to take out the 1 gigs.

Is it good to upgrade

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