Changing out motherboard because of possible bottleneck in the future

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angdrw

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Oct 6, 2014
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Hello i want to upgrade my PC not for the first time. But now i will change out the motherboard. My current PC is a Asus CM1630. But be aware that i changed out processor and added some ram and changed the graphics card and of course changed out power supply. And thats it.

Here is a link to my PC.

http://www.asus.com/Desktops/Essentio_CM1630/overview/

And now i want to change out the motherboard to this one :

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_990FXGEN3_R20/


I am aware that I'll have to change out ram and processor.
Is there anything else i should change out?.#parts that will not be compatible with the new motherboard

Is it a good motherboard to change to?

Currently i have a AMD Phenom II x4 965 processor
And possibly after i change out motherboard i have an eye for AMD FX 4350

The main reason i want to upgrade because I'm getting a new graphics card :

this one : http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/amd-radeon-r9-series/amd-radeon-r9-270x-double-dissipation-edition-r9-270x-edfc

and I'm afraid that my current CPU which is : AMD Phenom II x4 965 processor will bottleneck the new GPU. Will it?




 
Solution
geofelt
Your X4-965 is already a decent cpu.
You will get very little value out of upgrading to a FX, either 4/6/8 core.
Here is one older set of benchmarks:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-processor-frame-rate-performance,3427-9.html

You would game better with a even stronger graphics upgrade, like to a GTX970 or perhaps the rumored GTX960.
Or... because of the success of the GTX970, amd is heavily discounting some of their 280 and 290 cards.

Do you have a sufficiently strong psu to support a better graphics card?
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geofelt

geofelt

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Oct 9, 2006
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I can think of a couple of issues.

1. You are looking at a larger ATX motherboard that will not fit in your M-ATX case.

2. Changing motherboards with a oem windows 7 may bring you activation issues.

3. What do you wish to accomplish?
What cpu do you have, and what would you upgrade to?
 
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geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,277
4,132
174,240
Your X4-965 is already a decent cpu.
You will get very little value out of upgrading to a FX, either 4/6/8 core.
Here is one older set of benchmarks:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-processor-frame-rate-performance,3427-9.html

You would game better with a even stronger graphics upgrade, like to a GTX970 or perhaps the rumored GTX960.
Or... because of the success of the GTX970, amd is heavily discounting some of their 280 and 290 cards.

Do you have a sufficiently strong psu to support a better graphics card?
 
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Solution
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,277
4,132
174,240
The wattage is sufficient for any graphics card. The quality.....I dunno.

I would first try your new graphics card and see how you do.

Then do some testing:

a) Run your games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You could also experiment with removing one core in the bios. This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.

If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system, and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
 
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