Will the GTX 970 work well with my CPU?

thinkskeptic · Nov 14, 2014

I have the CPU below and I'm worried that it might not be able to handle the "heat" of a GTX 970 because the CPU is a few years old.

AMD Phenom II X6 1075T Thuban 6-Core 3.0GHz

Thanks

iron8orn · Nov 14, 2014

Not very well at all.

jaimelmiel · Nov 14, 2014

It will be a close call. Do you have a black edition? if you can overclock it may helo.

iam2thecrowe · Nov 14, 2014

it wont push the gpu to its full potential at 1080p no. Some games that can use its 6 cores will fare better than others. If you can oc to 3.5ghz+ it stands a better chance, but at this stage i would wack in an 8350 if you can afford it if you want to get that gpu. Even better would be to switch to an intel rig.

jaimelmiel · Nov 14, 2014

Is your phenom a black edition?

rmpumper · Nov 14, 2014

jaimelmiel :

Only 1090T and 1100T are black editions.

For the CPU, it's not worth getting anything better than 280X, but even that will be bottlenecked (even with 4GHz overclock).

thinkskeptic · Nov 14, 2014

iam2thecrowe :

Are you talking about one like this? It doesn't look expensive at all (compared to the GPU), so I'd be happy to upgrade the CPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284

iron8orn · Nov 14, 2014

What motherboard do you have?

thinkskeptic · Nov 14, 2014

iron8orn :

I guess I should have posted all my specs

Memory: 16GB of G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
Mobo: ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1075T Thuban 6-Core 3.0GHz Socket AM3 125W Desktop Processor HDT75TFBGRBOX
GPU: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
PSU: RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS 730W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V

iron8orn · Nov 14, 2014

Looks like you cant use a FX on your board.

I would say go Intel. That FX line is way behind anyway and may not be sold for much longer.

maxalge · Nov 14, 2014

thinkskeptic :

For that system a gtx 760 at most.

If you want a 970 it's time to upgrade.

RobCherry · Nov 14, 2014

i had a fx6300 paired with my gtx970 before i switched to my current intel i5 build, and i did think it was working well with it until i swapped to my i5-4670k build. and now i gain at least 20+ fps on all the top titles !!

RobCrezz · Nov 14, 2014

I wouldnt use that RAIDMAX PSU with a GTX 970.

You should still get reasonable performance with a 970 if you overclock your CPU.

thinkskeptic · Nov 14, 2014

RobCrezz :

I thought 730W would be enough. How much do you think I need?

iam2thecrowe · Nov 14, 2014

thinkskeptic :

730w is plenty....but its a radimax psu.....There is a reason they are less than half the price of a true 700w psu. They are built from rusty old nails (metaphorically speaking)

thinkskeptic · Nov 14, 2014

iam2thecrowe :

Ok, I guess I'll have to upgrade everything

Thanks for the help so far y'all. I can't pick more than one answer as "the answer," right? Because many of you helped.

iron8orn · Nov 14, 2014

eh just give it to rob, needs a badge

iam2thecrowe · Nov 14, 2014

thinkskeptic :

iam2thecrowe :

Ok, I guess I'll have to upgrade everything

Thanks for the help so far y'all. I can't pick more than one answer as "the answer," right? Because many of you helped.

Why dont you first invest in a quality psu from antec, seasonic, xfx or corsair. Then get your vid card and just see how it runs. Then if you feel your not getting the performance you wanted look at upgrading the cpu/mobo etc.

thinkskeptic · Nov 14, 2014

iam2thecrowe :

The thing is, I'm bad at judging what part of my setup is holding the rest back. This is what I'm thinking of getting. Let me know if it could use any improvement, value-wise.

AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8-Core 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Desktop Processor FD8350FRHKBOX

CORSAIR CX series CX600 600W ATX12V v2.3 80

MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC GeForce GTX 970 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5

ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX + SB950

iron8orn · Nov 14, 2014

Well.. as pretty much already explained even a 8350 while giving good fps will still be holding back the 970 and is the reason why AMD made the 5ghz 9590.

I think I would agree with crowe to just get the 970 first and then you can get a i5/i7 when your ready for another upgrade.

thinkskeptic · Nov 14, 2014

iron8orn :

Yeah, that seems like a safer choice, but "iron8orn" said it won't work well "at all" with my CPU

iron8orn · Nov 14, 2014

It's not going to in the majority of games that use 1 thread but it should at least be playable till you can afford another upgrade.

thinkskeptic · Nov 14, 2014

iron8orn :

I didn't notice it was you, sorry for referring to you in the third person

Ok, I'll try the GPU and if I notice any sluggishness, I'll go ahead and upgrade everything else

iron8orn · Nov 15, 2014

rmpumper · Nov 15, 2014

thinkskeptic :

Why drop so much cash on high end AMD mobo and pair it with sub-i5 performance CPU? What's the point? Better get i5-4690K with mid range Z97 mobo (i.e. ASRock Z97M Pro4 - full ATX boards are useless anyway if you are not doing 3-4 GPU setup) for the same overall price.

Will the GTX 970 work well with my CPU?

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