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Looking to upgrade - best option?

Tags:
  • Gaming
  • Components
  • Systems
  • AMD
Last response: in Components
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August 6, 2014 12:42:06 AM

Hello peoples,
firstly here is my specs

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 @ 3.4 ghz
CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo
Motherboard: ASRock 980DE3/U3S3
Memory: Corsair 4x2gb @ 1333mhz ddr3
Gfx card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 6770
PSU: Antec ECO 520w
HDD's: 1x Seagate Barracuda 1TB, 2x WD Blue 500gb

I was wondering, what do you guys think is the best and most cost effective way to play any new games (and future games, within reason) at at least medium settings+ (1080p)?

More about : upgrade option

a b 4 Gaming
a b À AMD
August 6, 2014 12:50:51 AM

i'd get a graphics card, something around the radeon 265 / 270x
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August 6, 2014 12:53:39 AM

Okay. thats what i was thinking.. will my mobo support it? Pretty sure its only pcie 2.0 compatible :/ 
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a b 4 Gaming
a b À AMD
August 6, 2014 12:57:32 AM

Yes, your motherboard should be able to support that upgrade. If you can't get it to work right away, you could always try updating the bios and seeing if that solves that issue. It's not a really big issue on the motherboard side. It's more of a concern toward your PSU, and your PSU should be able to handle it.
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August 6, 2014 1:08:23 AM

Calnin said:
Yes, your motherboard should be able to support that upgrade. If you can't get it to work right away, you could always try updating the bios and seeing if that solves that issue. It's not a really big issue on the motherboard side. It's more of a concern toward your PSU, and your PSU should be able to handle it.

Alright, thank you both
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August 6, 2014 1:09:42 AM

Tom's did an article a while back about using PCI-E 3.0 cards in 2.0 slots, which I found useful since quite a few older AMD mobo's only have 2.0 slots.

They found no noticeable difference in performance until they got up to VERY high end cards at extreme resolutions, for most users you will not be pushing more bandwidth through the 2.0 slot than it can handle. It takes a ton of data flow to saturate even a 2.0 slot.

I have a 7870 paired with a 975 BE, works well together. R270x is a newer, better versio of that card if I remember correctly, very good bang for the buck, great at 1080p. Check what connections your psu has available. My card needs two 6 pins.
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a b 4 Gaming
a b À AMD
August 6, 2014 1:11:43 AM

As far as I'm aware, there aren't really any mobos that support 3.0 for the AM3/AM3+ socket motherboards. There aren't many cards that will fully saturate a 2.0 slot as of right now anyways.
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August 6, 2014 1:16:27 AM

There are a few that support 3.0, one example being my Gen 3 Sabertooth, which is one reason I chose it.
But yes, not very many cards will saturate even 2.0. Thus the Op should be fine, barring making sure he has the right psu connections for his choice.
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