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Is this upgrade worth it?

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  • Asus
  • GPUs
  • AMD
  • 3M
  • Phenom
Last response: in CPUs
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July 23, 2014 1:50:09 PM

I currently own the AMD phenom and the Asus m3a78-3m MOBO and im going to buy this GPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... and would like to know if I should upgrade to the AMD Athlon x4 750k and the Asus a55bm... I want to run games like BF4 and Thief on med-high and im on the Acer x193w monitor(if it helps) Is there anything cheaper? or Is this build okay?

More about : upgrade worth

July 23, 2014 2:06:01 PM

What gpu are you using now? But mainly yes the gpu is worth it. The CPU + platform upgrade isn't though. Unless it is one of the original phenoms (not phenom 2s). But still I'd probably hold out for an i5 4330p and a cheap mobo. Its maybe 120 bucks more but if you are going to do a whole platform upgrade thats what I'd recommend. (I'm not recommending the AM3+ simply because its a dead socket, doesn't make them bad cpus but I wouldn't buy a cpu for a dead socket)
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July 23, 2014 2:11:49 PM

mouse24 said:
What gpu are you using now? But mainly yes the gpu is worth it. The CPU + platform upgrade isn't though. Unless it is one of the original phenoms (not phenom 2s). But still I'd probably hold out for an i5 4330p and a cheap mobo. Its maybe 120 bucks more but if you are going to do a whole platform upgrade thats what I'd recommend. (I'm not recommending the AM3+ simply because its a dead socket, doesn't make them bad cpus but I wouldn't buy a cpu for a dead socket)


It's a Phenom Quad core 9600
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July 23, 2014 2:12:25 PM

mouse24 said:
What gpu are you using now? But mainly yes the gpu is worth it. The CPU + platform upgrade isn't though. Unless it is one of the original phenoms (not phenom 2s). But still I'd probably hold out for an i5 4330p and a cheap mobo. Its maybe 120 bucks more but if you are going to do a whole platform upgrade thats what I'd recommend. (I'm not recommending the AM3+ simply because its a dead socket, doesn't make them bad cpus but I wouldn't buy a cpu for a dead socket)


And currently I have no GPU
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July 23, 2014 2:17:11 PM

Baily Case said:
mouse24 said:
What gpu are you using now? But mainly yes the gpu is worth it. The CPU + platform upgrade isn't though. Unless it is one of the original phenoms (not phenom 2s). But still I'd probably hold out for an i5 4330p and a cheap mobo. Its maybe 120 bucks more but if you are going to do a whole platform upgrade thats what I'd recommend. (I'm not recommending the AM3+ simply because its a dead socket, doesn't make them bad cpus but I wouldn't buy a cpu for a dead socket)


And currently I have no GPU

Get the GPU instead of the CPU+mobo. It will be more cost-effective and give you more performance.

Hope I helped!
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July 23, 2014 2:19:48 PM

zeyuanfu said:
Baily Case said:
mouse24 said:
What gpu are you using now? But mainly yes the gpu is worth it. The CPU + platform upgrade isn't though. Unless it is one of the original phenoms (not phenom 2s). But still I'd probably hold out for an i5 4330p and a cheap mobo. Its maybe 120 bucks more but if you are going to do a whole platform upgrade thats what I'd recommend. (I'm not recommending the AM3+ simply because its a dead socket, doesn't make them bad cpus but I wouldn't buy a cpu for a dead socket)


And currently I have no GPU

Get the GPU instead of the CPU+mobo. It will be more cost-effective and give you more performance.

Hope I helped!


I was going to get the GPU not matter what! :) 

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July 23, 2014 3:23:39 PM

Hello,

Your CPU is the first generation Phenom; if you can find a well priced Phenom x4 940, 945, 950, 955, 960, 965, or Phenom x6 1035, 1055, 1090 you can keep your actual motherboard and memory.

Of course, if you have the budget, you can do a platform change, but please don't go with that motherboard, take at least one with A75/A88x chipset (SATA3 + USB3.0):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Or even better, you could go for an FX6300 and a decent motherboard with at least 970/980 chipset (but your case must accomodate full ATX motherboards):


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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July 23, 2014 3:42:07 PM

Cristi72 said:
Hello,

Your CPU is the first generation Phenom; if you can find a well priced Phenom x4 940, 945, 950, 955, 960, 965, or Phenom x6 1035, 1055, 1090 you can keep your actual motherboard and memory.

Of course, if you have the budget, you can do a platform change, but please don't go with that motherboard, take at least one with A75/A88x chipset (SATA3 + USB3.0):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Or even better, you could go for an FX6300 and a decent motherboard with at least 970/980 chipset (but your case must accomodate full ATX motherboards):


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

So will it bottleneck with my gpu I chose?
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July 23, 2014 4:04:40 PM


So will it bottleneck with my gpu I chose?
[/quotemsg]

For the R7-260X, the Phenom II x4, x6 or an Athlon x4 750k/760k will be a good choice.
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July 23, 2014 4:13:58 PM

Cristi72 said:

So will it bottleneck with my gpu I chose?


For the R7-260X, the Phenom II x4, x6 or an Athlon x4 750k/760k will be a good choice.[/quotemsg]
How come other people I've asked on different forums said I would be fine with my current CPU? http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/185183-best-gpu-to-...
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July 23, 2014 4:34:43 PM

zeyuanfu said:
Baily Case said:
mouse24 said:
What gpu are you using now? But mainly yes the gpu is worth it. The CPU + platform upgrade isn't though. Unless it is one of the original phenoms (not phenom 2s). But still I'd probably hold out for an i5 4330p and a cheap mobo. Its maybe 120 bucks more but if you are going to do a whole platform upgrade thats what I'd recommend. (I'm not recommending the AM3+ simply because its a dead socket, doesn't make them bad cpus but I wouldn't buy a cpu for a dead socket)


And currently I have no GPU

Get the GPU instead of the CPU+mobo. It will be more cost-effective and give you more performance.

Hope I helped!



A modern gpu with his current rig would be a total waste of money. His 4 core original Phenom is extremely slow by today's standards. A 750K or 760K would be like night and day.
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July 23, 2014 4:36:28 PM

bmacsys said:
zeyuanfu said:
Baily Case said:
mouse24 said:
What gpu are you using now? But mainly yes the gpu is worth it. The CPU + platform upgrade isn't though. Unless it is one of the original phenoms (not phenom 2s). But still I'd probably hold out for an i5 4330p and a cheap mobo. Its maybe 120 bucks more but if you are going to do a whole platform upgrade thats what I'd recommend. (I'm not recommending the AM3+ simply because its a dead socket, doesn't make them bad cpus but I wouldn't buy a cpu for a dead socket)


And currently I have no GPU

Get the GPU instead of the CPU+mobo. It will be more cost-effective and give you more performance.

Hope I helped!



A modern gpu with his current rig would be a total waste of money. His 4 core original Phenom is extremely slow by today's standards. A 750K or 760K would be like night and day.


So grab a 750 or 750k?
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July 23, 2014 4:37:01 PM

bmacsys said:
zeyuanfu said:
Baily Case said:
mouse24 said:
What gpu are you using now? But mainly yes the gpu is worth it. The CPU + platform upgrade isn't though. Unless it is one of the original phenoms (not phenom 2s). But still I'd probably hold out for an i5 4330p and a cheap mobo. Its maybe 120 bucks more but if you are going to do a whole platform upgrade thats what I'd recommend. (I'm not recommending the AM3+ simply because its a dead socket, doesn't make them bad cpus but I wouldn't buy a cpu for a dead socket)


And currently I have no GPU

Get the GPU instead of the CPU+mobo. It will be more cost-effective and give you more performance.

Hope I helped!



A modern gpu with his current rig would be a total waste of money. His 4 core original Phenom is extremely slow by today's standards. A 750K or 760K would be like night and day.


Or could I just keep the phenom and game with the r7 260x?
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July 23, 2014 4:47:33 PM

Baily Case said:
Cristi72 said:

So will it bottleneck with my gpu I chose?


For the R7-260X, the Phenom II x4, x6 or an Athlon x4 750k/760k will be a good choice.

How come other people I've asked on different forums said I would be fine with my current CPU? http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/185183-best-gpu-to-...
[/quotemsg]

Your Phenom has only 2.3 GHz (and the notorious TLB bug), while the other ones are over 3GHz and are much better in single threaded applications (and alot of games are still single threaded). You can use any graphics card you like, but when using anything over R7-250 the bottleneck will be always on the CPU side.

After installing the new card, do some benchmarking first with your CPU at stock frequencies, and then give the CPU a slight overclock (from 2.3 to 2.5 GHz for example) and see what happens with your framerate. I can assure you the framerate will always go up when the CPU is overclocked, and that means any improvement on CPU side will give you also a good boost on graphics.

Of course, if by changing only the GPU you will see big improvements over your actual GPU, it is nothing wrong to keep using that Phenom. I would do exactly the same thing: change first the GPU and if the upgrade don't bring the expected improvements only then thinking of some other ways to boost the performance.

Please check this:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-c...

In gaming, your Phenom (in the chart appears the 9650, which is a slightly improved Phenom) is on par with newer generation dual cores.
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July 23, 2014 4:56:35 PM

Baily Case said:
bmacsys said:
zeyuanfu said:
Baily Case said:
mouse24 said:
What gpu are you using now? But mainly yes the gpu is worth it. The CPU + platform upgrade isn't though. Unless it is one of the original phenoms (not phenom 2s). But still I'd probably hold out for an i5 4330p and a cheap mobo. Its maybe 120 bucks more but if you are going to do a whole platform upgrade thats what I'd recommend. (I'm not recommending the AM3+ simply because its a dead socket, doesn't make them bad cpus but I wouldn't buy a cpu for a dead socket)


And currently I have no GPU

Get the GPU instead of the CPU+mobo. It will be more cost-effective and give you more performance.

Hope I helped!



A modern gpu with his current rig would be a total waste of money. His 4 core original Phenom is extremely slow by today's standards. A 750K or 760K would be like night and day.


So grab a 750 or 750k?


This is what I would do. Some people are suggesting a 6300 which is an AM3+ cpu and a 970FX board. It would be a great, affordable upgrade for you. Others have suggested the 750K or 760K which are four core cpu's. They use the FM2 socket. You then would need an FM2 or preferrably an FM2+ board. The advantage here is FM2+ is a more modern chipset than 970/990. And the socket has a future. Another advantage is you could by an APU like the 7850K. The advantage to the AM3+ board is the 6300 is a little stronger 6 core cpu. I would get a NICE FM2+ board and a 760K which overclocks like a banshee. Whatever you do buy a board that has 8+2 phase power. AMD processors thrive on 8+2 phase power boards.
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